Punctuating Academic & Scientific English Properly

If you are new to writing the academic or scientific English prose needed to report and publish your research or even if you have been writing and publishing in the English language for years, you may at times find yourself questioning basic punctuation choices. The right punctuation in the right places is, after all, crucial to clarity, accuracy and precision when communicating complex information and sophisticated ideas in writing. Even the smallest and simplest punctuation marks can confuse a reader if they are used inappropriately in English text, which is why these three resources on the basic principles and uses of full stops, semicolons and colons in academic and scientific prose are so helpful. 

Most researchers easily master the use of full stops (.) in formal English, but for those who are accustomed to informal writing or whose mother tongue is not English, the basics of using full stops in complete and correct English sentences as outlined in this post will be useful. Even the terminology of full stops (stops, periods, etc.) is clarified, and using full stops in incomplete sentences when quoting informal speech and the like is also covered. 

The colon (:) is used in English prose more rarely than the full stop, though at times their uses overlap. This article describes the benefits of using colons well in academic and scientific writing and provides a detailed list of the different uses an author might make of the colon while reporting the procedures and results of advanced research. From introducing quotations and examples to presenting scholarly citations and references, colons can increase the clarity and variety of your writing. 

Last but not least, the semicolon (;) is also an extremely useful piece of punctuation for academics and scientists, but only if it is used properly. This post offers a detailed list as well, this time of the many effective uses of semicolons in scholarly prose. Semicolons, it seems, can link independent clauses, separate the items in complex lists, punctuate references, correct run-on sentences and comma splices, and generally promote a clear and concise scholarly writing style.

Why Is Academic Proofreading Important?

Effective academic proofreading is absolutely vital to the production of high-quality scholarly and professional documents. When done carefully, correctly and thoroughly, academic proofreading can make the difference between writing that communicates successfully with its intended readers and writing that does not. No author creates a perfect text without reviewing, reflecting on and revising what he or she has written, and academic proofreading and scientific editing are extremely important of this process.

Why are scientific editing and academic proofreading important for academic and scientific authors? First and foremost, a proofreader brings a fresh and ideally objective perspective to your writing. He or she will almost certainly not be as familiar with your research as you are and in most cases will have no predetermined idea about what you are trying to communicate. This means that a proofreader will be able to focus on exactly what your text does say and catch ambiguities and errors that you, as the author well aware of what you want to say, may read right over without noticing. If the proofreader is a trained professional who is an expert in the English language and a specialist in your subject area, he or she will have the skills to correct and polish your grammar, spelling and punctuation, determine if your references are accurate, thorough and consistent, and ensure that your writing meets the high standards expected in your discipline and field. An academic proofreader will also have the disposition and time to give your writing the exacting attention it requires to ensure that every detail is as it should be so that your work communicates with precision and sophistication. Many members of our research paper editing and proofreading team focus on journal editing, manuscript editing, dissertation proofreading services, thesis editing services and phd thesis proofreading. An academic proofreader can be thought of as an author’s ambassador, and while an author can and should be his or her own ambassador whenever possible, it is always wise to benefit from an ambassador with the appropriate linguistic and academic skills to ensure that your writing represents both you and your work as professionally and effectively as possible. Some of our carefully trained editors and proofreaders work exclusively on PhD thesis editing, master’s dissertation proofreading, bachelor’s dissertation proofreading, thesis editing, dissertation editing, thesis proofreading and dissertation proofreading, applying their education and instructional skills in providing thesis editing and dissertation proofreading services that help advanced students to improve the formatting and language of their theses and dissertations.

Why is journal article editing important for the readers you hope to reach? The most obvious answer is that a journal proofreader is a reader, often the first reader beyond the author of a text, and a reader who acts as an advocate for all future readers. Professional journal proofreaders serve the needs of authors by anticipating the needs of readers, and doing so with an objective but critical eye alert to potential problems. Descriptions of methodology and explanations of trends that seem perfectly clear to the author who is familiar with the material may in fact prove ambiguous, confusing and even misleading for readers who do not possess the same knowledge. Tables and figures that are not clearly designed, labelled and referred to may obscure procedures and findings for viewers instead of highlighting and clarifying them. Arguments presented in language that contains errors of grammar, spelling and punctuation may fail to convince readers even when the evidence presented is extremely persuasive, and terminology designed for communicating in sophisticated and specific ways may lose readers entirely if it is not defined, explained and used with care. An academic proofreader, scientific proofreader, medical proofreader or journal proofreader can detect and help you resolve these and many other kinds of problems that prevent the successful communication of complex and ground-breaking research.

Why is proofreading services important when submitting your scholarly writing for publication? As a general rule, the editors responsible for accepting or rejecting the manuscripts that academics and scientists submit for publication are inundated with text. They receive far more submissions than the journals and publishers for whom they work can ever publish, so they are looking for reasons to reject manuscripts as much as they are seeking reasons to accept them. A manuscript that accurately and precisely adheres to a publisher’s guidelines, boasts a structure that organises material in a logical and effective fashion, and uses language that clearly and efficiently communicates facts and ideas is sure to receive more positive attention and far more likely to be successfully published than a manuscript that does not achieve such a high standard. Since these are the very aspects of scholarly writing that a professional proofreader can help you perfect, engaging the services of a qualified academic or scientific proofreader can prove invaluable, particularly if your manuscript has been rejected due to problems with language and formatting. Once you have benefitted from the proofreading services of a professional proofreader, you will no doubt be able to determine for yourself why PRS proofreading is so very important to successful authors.

If you are in the process of preparing an article for an academic or scientific journal, or planning one for the near future, you may well be interested in a new book, Guide to Journal Publication, which is available on our Tips and Advice on Publishing Research in Journals website.

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