Hi Scholar!
The advice provided below will greatly strengthen and improve your research writing:
1.Avoid vague pronouns like we, me, you, your, I, our, us, they, etc. when it is not clear who these terms apply to.
2. If you must use a pronoun, abide by the following rules:
I. Pronouns must agree in number.
II. Pronouns must agree in gender.
III. Pronouns can be subjects or objects.
3. Use who as the subject (person doing something) of a verb and whom as the object (having something done to a person) of a verb or a preposition. A little trick: If you ask a question requiring who or whom if the answer is he or she go with who. If the answer is him or her, go with whom. It was Musa who went to Imo on a fellowship (Who went to Imo—he did). The person, to whom the funds were supposedly directed, benefited little from the charitable donation. (Whom were the funds directed—him or her).
5. If you use a pronoun like “their” or “they,” make certain it is clear to whom the pronoun is referring.
6. NEVER use a pronoun to start a paragraph.
7. Avoid redundancy – do not repeat phrases or paragraphs in the same chapter and try to paraphrase information needed from a prior chapter.
8. Avoid using over-sweeping adjectives such as: amazing, extraordinary, outstanding, incredible, etc.
9. Avoid using ‘very.’ Precise adjectives do not need qualifiers. If you need to qualify it, try
replacing it. For example instead of very intelligent, you could use brilliant. "Very" is intended to magnify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. It is subjective. She is very tall and he is very young mean different things to different people. Be specific if possible. The center on the woman’s basketball team is 6'4" and he was 11 years old when he took Calculus.
10. Avoid using adverbs such as: really, clearly, absolutely, etc.
11. Avoid qualifiers such as: a little, definitely, mostly, etc.
12. Avoid emotional language such as: It is outrageous that so many kids today are homeless.
13. Avoid inflammatory language such as: Smith’s study supports terrorism as a means of getting what one wants.
14. Avoid using the word prove when referring to the results of your study or the results from hypothesis testing. Statistics do not prove anything; they merely give you a degree of confidence regarding your successfully rejecting, or not rejecting, the null hypothesis. Statistics are based on assumptions – these assumptions need to be met before tests are performed. Use phrases like "The evidence suggests ..." or "This study indicates ..." rather than referring to "proof" or "proves" because no single study in the education or social sciences can prove a theory or hypothesis
15. Be careful using ‘that’ in a sentence. Most times the word ‘that’ is superfluous. Open any document you have drafted on your desktop, and find a sentence with "that" in it. Read it out loud. Now read it again eliminating the word that. If the sentence works without it, delete it. Never use "that" when you refer to people. "I have several friends that support progressive values." No, you don't. You have friends who support progressive values.
16. Avoid Wordiness. Wordiness is the use of too many words within a sentence or paragraph for conveying an idea which can be expressed more concisely--that is, with fewer words (like this sentence!). Notice how the opening sentence can be restated without losing the essential meaning: "Wordiness" is using too many words to express an idea. We have stated basically the same idea in 22 fewer words!
17. Avoid words like ‘always,’ never’ and ‘best.’ Absolutes lock you into a position, sound arrogant, and detract from your scholarly writing.
18. Use proper in text citations. The way to cite sources in text using APA style is tocite only the author's last name and year of publication (Ado, 2009) the first time a source is cited in each paragraph. For example: APA formatting is challenging to master (Musa & Olajide, 2016).
19. Do not use first names or initials unless the work includes another reference by an author with the same last name. The period comes after the citation if it appears at the end of a sentence. If you are quoting directly, add the page number.
20. If you use the same reference in the same paragraph, you do not include the year of publication after the first time the document is cited in that paragraph if the first citation is not in parentheses (i.e., Emmanuel (2009) not (Emmanuel, 2009)); generally the author’s last name will suffice, unless the first citation is in parentheses.
21. If two or more authors are cited, the & (ampersand) is ONLY used when the citations are in parentheses, otherwise use “and.”
22. Do not use the title of the book or the journal article unless no author is provided. In text citations, never use URLs. The reference section contains information to locate the source.
23. Be careful to not excessively cite any source. Use diverse sources.
24. Cite personal communications in text only, not in a reference list. Offer the first name initials and last name of the author. Example: It is important to understand social media in terms of speech (M. A. Van Dyke, personal communication, August 26, 2016).
25. Make certain every statement is supported with sufficient evidence. Any assertions made without adequate substantiation appear to be rhetoric. Your extensive research of the topic might convince you that your statements are supportable, but you need to convince readers that they are indeed supported by providing validation.
26. Use parallel structure or the same pattern when expressing ideas (e.g., series of words) that have the same level of meaning, emphasis or importance. This means using the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance. This can happen at the word, phrase, or clause level. See http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/623/01/ for examples and guidelines. Examples: (Correct) John likes eating ice cream, watching movies, listening to music; (Not Correct) John likes to eat ice cream, watching movies, and listens to music.
27. Make certain every paragraph has one, and only one, topic sentence (main idea) and is properly developed. Development in a paragraph is any word, phrase, or sentence that answers one or more of the critical questions—who? what? where? when? why? or how?—about the main idea of the paragraph. Paragraphs should flow from one to the other with transition statements. Consider using the MEAL plan when editing your manuscript and make certain that each paragraph contains a) the Main point of the paragraph stated in your own words, b) Evidence to help support each assertions c) Analysis of the evidence, d) and Linking the ideas in this paragraph to the ideas in the next paragraph. Most paragraphs contain 3-5 sentences.
Thank you the remaining 13 key points that strengthens your research report writing are contained in our Research Experts Academy. Click here to get access to the academy and learn more
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