The Do's and Don'ts of Writing Research Papers
A research paper is an important piece, denoting your research work, Therefore, it needs to be written keeping all the minute details in mind. With a well-written research paper, there will be few questions that reviewers would ask and it would eventually, increase the chances of acceptance.
Following are some do's and don'ts that one should follow while writing a research paper:
The Do's:
- Use language such that the ideas are presented clearly without any ambiguity. Do not write stories.
- Present your ideas and methods used in the research. Use to the point observations to justify your research.
- Make sure the data, figures, formula etc you are using is correct. Check the sources from where you might have taken the data.
- Try to write in a sequence so that the readers can understand the flow of the research carried out.
- Ensure you have carried out your tests with sufficient number of test cases.
- Maintain all the sources and carefully, mention all of them. Cite the references properly.
- Use plain and simple style of writing. Do not use “flowery” language. Readers will prefer simple and understandable language rather than high vocabulary words.
- Check for nay spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors.
- Check for nay spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors.
The Don'ts:
- Do not make use of words like “in my opinion” or “I believe” or “I think”. Instead, use words like, “It is recommended”.
- Don’t use first person pronouns ("I", "we", "me", "us", "my", and "our").
- Do not start sentences with “Well,…just don’t”
- Do not make up stories and add unnecessary details just to increase the length of the paper or to justify any point.
- Do not make general statements. Present you findings without giving too many overview from different papers and sources.
- Do not exceed the mentioned word limit. Follow the guidelines specified.
- Do not cite Wikipedia as a reference.
- Do not forget to mention the references of the source for supporting material.