Writing an academic biography is part of many academic activities. Whether your paper is accepted in a journal or you’re asked to present your findings at a conference, you will be required to submit a biography. How would you begin writing? How long should it be? What should you include? The following article is in continuation of the article ‘How to Write a Good Academic Biography–Part 1’.

Structure

In a short biography, you will be limited to just a few sentences or a short paragraph. It is important that you include just the basic information about yourself. One of the main objectives of a biography is to emphasize your accomplishments. This will provide the reader with an overall idea of your background. This information need not be too detailed. Additionally, a biography is written in the “third person.” This means that you should avoid using “I” and present yourself as though you are reading someone else’s biography. The sentences below provide examples of the appropriate format.

Starting with the basic information about yourself and include the following:

• Full name: How often do you write your full name? There could be others with the same name and you want to distinguish yourself from them.
• Position: Your position at your academic institute lets the audience know more about your background and interests. If you are a graduate student, it will be impressive that you have been asked to present your research or that you have been published.
• Institution: It is important that you acknowledge your organization or institution.

This information should be presented in a prose format in the actual academic biography, not bulleted as here. For example, the piece might begin with the following sentence:

“Joseph Tiberius Schmoe is a doctoral candidate at the University of Minnesota.”

You can follow this introductory sentence with information about the main areas of your research. For example:

“Mr. Schmoe conducted research on the social structure of the Bonobo monkeys (Pan paniscus) in the Congo Basin of Central Africa.”

After these introductory sentences, you can add other details, such as how long you’ve been studying the species. You can add a hypothesis and how your research differs from that of others. You might also include some research milestones.

Short academic biographies are usually about 35–50 words. However, long biographies can range from 100 to 400 words. These would include more detail and the context would be different. For example, in a longer biography, you might include the following:

• Academic degrees
• Specific academic projects
• Awards and/or honors
• Published pieces
• Personal interests
• Hobbies
• Background

Longer academic biographies can be used on a personal website or be a part of the job application. This is usually not the format for conferences and seminars.

Know Your Audience

Although you must limit your biographical information, you can still gear it towards the audience or reader. Keep in mind the following three specifications:

• Your audience: Who is going to read your biography? Are they conference attendees or funding sources?
• The context: Will the biography be printed in a journal or in a conference proceeding? Will it be posted on a university or corporate website? Wil it be shared in events such as disciplinary conventions. Read biographies of your peers for reference.
• The purpose: Why are you being asked for a biography? Are you meeting with other researchers in the same field? Are you meeting with clients or funders?

These three main points will help you choose the information that would be most relevant to those reviewing it. It will also help you create a specific writing tone or style for that audience.

What Not to Do

You don’t have much space to write about yourself so make it count. Be sure that you are succinct and relevant. The following should be heeded:

• Avoid using humor. In short biographies, there is no space for it but be careful with it even in long biographies. You can include some humorous stories aside from your biographical information on your webpage.
• Avoid very personal information. This is especially important at a conference. Your first impression is important and you want people to remember you for your accomplishments. Be professional.
• Avoid providing too much information. Present the information concerning your current position, research, or employment. Information about your past, such as high school, is not necessary.

Remember to keep your writing somewhat formal.

A colleague of yours is asked for a biography for a conference in her field of study. She has attended several prestigious universities and has conducted many research studies. She was also a Peace Corps volunteer and a medic for Doctors without Borders. She would like to list all of these details because she believes that they are important. How would you advise her?

In academic writing, footnotes, endnotes, and headnotes provide additional information on a particular topic. They are placed in the document as a supplement to the main text. These notes can be inserted into the document as a footer or at the end of a chapter.

The notes should be kept as brief as possible. The objective is to provide more information without distracting the reader. We discuss the different types of notes, how to use them, and their pros and cons.

What Are They and Why Use Them?

Footnotes

A footnote is a reference placed at the bottom of a page or footer. When writing your research paper, you would use a footnote to cite sources of facts or quotations. Footnotes are referenced in the text in the same way as a citation. That is, the referenced text is followed by a superscript numeral, which corresponds to the numbered footnote at the bottom of the page.

The two types of footnotes are:

• Content: Supplements or simplifies substantive information; not detailed.
• Copyright permission: Cites quoted text and any reprinted materials used in the text.

The format of footnotes is fairly standard (see below for specific rules) and is the same as that for references as follows:

Adrian Johns. The Nature of the Book: Print and Knowledge in the Making(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), 623.

When citing the same reference again, the footnote can be shortened as follows:

Johns. Nature of the Book, 384–85.

Some older journals use “ibid” instead of a shortened version of the reference. Ibid is short for the Latin “ibidem”, which means “in the same place.” This format was previously used in most printed text but rarely used now.

Endnotes

Endnotes are much the same as footnotes except that they are placed at the end your research paper instead of at the bottom of a page. In books, they can be placed after each chapter or at the end of the book.

In many cases, the book publisher decides the best placement. Endnotes, as footnotes, are numerically noted in superscript. The format is the same as that for footnotes.

Headnotes

Headnotes are used as introductions in legal documents or as summaries of the text that follows them. In academic writing, headnotes are explanatory notes included with tables and figures. They are placed below the table itself or just below the figure title and typed in a font size that is smaller than the main text (e.g., 8- or 10-point font). Headnotes are used to define acronyms used, units of measure, significance, etc. Because tables and figures should be able to “stand alone” without the main text, headnotes should always be used.

Format for Footnotes, Endnotes, and Headnotes

Although the format for footnotes and endnotes is almost similar, there are specific rules depending on the journal where the paper is submitted. Most scientific journals use specific reference formats; however, some style guides do not allow footnotes and endnotes.

For example, the Modern Language Association (MLA), which deals specifically with disciplines in the humanities allows limited use of footnotes. These are to provide the reader with other sources for more information on the subject covered. The MLA style for these notes is shown in the example below and the number corresponds to the superscript number noted in the referenced text:

See [name of author], especially chapters 3 and 4, for an insightful analysis of this trend.

MLA suggests using “content” footnotes when necessary to avoid interrupting the text with an explanation or other details.

In contrast, the American Psychological Association (APA), the style for the behavioral and social sciences, does not usually allow footnotes. Your particular journal guidelines will provide that information.

A third style guide, the American Medical Association (AMA), is used mostly with papers in the biological and medical sciences. AMA also discourages the use of footnotes but allows them on the title page. The information on the title page would include the authors’ names and affiliations, corresponding author, members of affiliated groups, etc.

Pros and Cons

Scientific papers do not usually include footnotes. Endnotes may be used sometimes, but sparingly. Other disciplines, such as law and history, still use them regularly. There are pros and cons to each.

The advantages of using footnotes are that they provide the reader with a fast reference and link to additional information. They are easy to insert and will automatically print. The advantage of using endnotes instead of footnotes is that their placement is less distracting. They also provide the reader with an easy reference list in one place.

According to the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), endnotes are preferred to footnotes simply because they don’t clutter up a page. CMOS does caution that it can seem disconcerting to a reader to see pages of notes at the end of a chapter or book, so use them sparingly.

Again, another disadvantage to footnotes is that they tend to interrupt the flow of the text. The reader might feel that he must stop and look at the note before moving on, which can be very distracting. Some disadvantages to endnotes are that the reader must turn to the end of the text or chapter to find the additional information. In books with several chapters, this can be tedious, especially if the endnotes are renumbered in each chapter.

As for headnotes, there are really no drawbacks to using them in tables and figures. They offer the reader helpful information that is readily available as they read the data or interpret a figure.

Bottom Line

The style to which you conform when writing your paper will ultimately depend on the journal’s guidelines. Pay careful attention to its protocols for citations and references and whether it will allow footnotes and endnotes. If allowed, be mindful of the disadvantages of both and consider either greatly limiting them or eliminating them altogether.

In academic writing, grammar and sentence construction are of paramount importance. While this is also true for informal pieces of writing, grammar mistakes in academic writing can instantly reduce the credibility of the author. Therefore, it is important to ensure that subjects and verbs always agree with each other. The relationship between subjects and verbs lie at the heart of grammatically correct English writing. Subject-verb agreement unifies a sentence and makes it easier to understand.

Subject-Verb Agreement in Academic Writing

A subject denotes the person or thing that acts, whereas a verb denotes the existence, action or occurrence. For instance:

George played.

She brushed her hair.

He reviewed for the exams.

Christine renewed her license.

In each of these sentences, it is clear to the reader who performed the action. It is also clear what they did. The subject-verb agreement in each of these sentences is clear and the reader is not left wondering who did the action and what they did. It becomes clear that subject-verb agreement is essential and even critical in all forms of English writing. Why should you care? Well, for starters, the purpose of writing is to get your message across and this won’t be possible if your reader doesn’t understand what you are trying to say. Secondly, it is always a good idea to practice proper grammar in writing because it makes you credible.

Writing Conventions Involving Subject-Verb Agreements

The first rule in making your subjects and verbs agree is that the subject has to match with the verb. Since there are many forms of subjects and verbs, this isn’t as simple as it sounds. In general, if the subject is plural, the verb must be plural as well:

Joshua talks. (Singular)

The women talk. (Plural)

Regular verbs written in the present tense when converted to plural omit the use of s at the end of each verb. In the past tense, however, verbs do not change:

I played. (Singular)

They played. (Plural)

The trick to making your subject and verb agree with each other is to identify the quantity of your subject and match the verb to it.  However, there are phrases which are not as easily calculated. For instance:

Everyone changes their mind.

No one greets the waiter.

No one saves the day.

The previous sentences denote indefinite pronouns. In these instances, it is good to remember that anyone, everybody, everyone, nobody, no one, and someone are always taken as singular and they need to be accompanied by singular verbs. It’s always tempting to think that everybody is a plural subject. However, it refers to singulars in that it refers to each and every person in a crowd. Therefore, it is singular. On the other hand, indefinite pronouns like all or some can either be singular or plural.

All of the dogs barked.

Some of the bees landed on the flower.

All and some can refer to things that cannot be counted, and therefore agree with singular verbs:

All of the air escaped.

Some of the water spilled.

Subject-Verb Agreements in Instances

Many nouns seem like plural nouns, and these are instances where anomalies in the English language can be observed. These nouns look plural but actually count as singular nouns. Improving your writing requires understanding these instances to ensure grammatical correctness.

The party starts at 9 o’clock.

The crowd cheers on.

The team remains calm.

It should be noted that if the members of the noun are not acting in unity as a group, then the noun should be treated as plural and matches with a plural verb.

After the movie, viewers exit their seats.

The jury are hesitant about the plaintiff.

However, not all such collective nouns become plural. For instance:

Thousands of voters attend.

The moviegoers line up.

When in doubt, you can add a modifying word or use a different word entirely:

Members of the party enter the building.

The moviegoers enter the cinema.

Nouns that denote amounts of time, money, and distance are treated as singulars:

Eight thousand dollars is more than I will pay for a bag.

Nine kilometers was the most I could run.

Twelve hours was a long time to wait.

However, fractions are singular if they are used to modify singular nouns. They are plural if they are used to modify plural nouns:

A fourth of the audience did not like the performance.

Fifty percent of the book is composed of pictures.

Using neither or either is always accompanied by singular verbs:

Neither of the dogs is black.

Either the restaurant or the café is fine with me.

How Subject-Verb Agreements Affect Academic Writing

Using these conventions is important for proper English writing. In academic writing, neglecting subject-verb agreements has serious consequences. These include not getting your message across, confusing your readers, and reducing your credibility. Academic writing is characterized by perfect syntax, sentence structure, and grammar. These things cannot be ignored and you need to pay attention to your subject-verb agreements when writing your manuscript.

It’s not as easy as it sounds, but not as hard as it looks either. However, it is essential and even critical for you to master. Study these rules and you’ll be on your way.

Do you get confused when using subject-verb agreements? How difficult or easy do you find to implement these rule? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

In our previous article, we introduced the definition of plagiarism and instructions on reusing intellectual output from others without committing plagiarism. We also provided links to helpful tools to help organize your references (e.g., EndNote or Reference Manager) and check plagiarism (e.g., iThenticate and HelioBLAST [formerly eTBLAST]). This article offers additional information and examples on paraphrasing, patchwriting, and quoting.

More than Just Words

Many, if not most, people presume that plagiarism refers to copying others’ words without giving that person credit. They would be correct; however, plagiarism is more than that. It also involves copying another’s “ideas” and data. Ideas, just as words or data, are “owned” by the person who created them. Taking one’s ideas as your own without proper credit is just as serious as copying his or her words without credit. Plagiarism is a serious professional infraction. The actions taken against the offender can be anything from the retraction of a paper to the loss of research funding.

Quoting vs. Paraphrasing

In a research paper, references are used throughout to support findings. To help the author,  journals provide guidelines for in-text citations and references (e.g., articles, books, essays) based on the recommended style guide. It is also important to determine whether to quote a reference directly or paraphrase it. What’s the difference? Again, don’t be pulled into the trap of believing that paraphrasing won’t be considered plagiarism. You must be very careful here.

Quoting is reproducing someone else’s words. Although it is often necessary, quotes should be used sparingly. When necessary, quotes are used to clarify, define something in the text, or support a claim.

Example:

The elephant is the largest mammal in the world and can weigh nearly eight tons. It has a “massive body, large ears and a long trunk, which has many uses ranging from using it as a hand to pick up objects, as a horn to trumpet warnings, an arm raised in greeting to a hose for drinking water or bathing.” (Source: https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/elephant)

This quote (note the quotation marks) gives a good verbal description of what an elephant looks like. We don’t need to add anything to it and it would be difficult to paraphrase and retain the visual. We have given credit to the source in the parentheses.

Paraphrasing is using your own words to express what someone else has written. As with quotes, paraphrasing must also be cited. Remember to give credit even when paraphrasing. When paraphrasing, ensure that the reference is provided and the main idea/concept is not altered.

Example:

The elephant is the largest mammal in the world and can weigh nearly eight tons. Its large floppy ears help to cool its body and protect it from insects. Its proboscis that runs from its head to the ground and is used as a tool and for drinking and bathing. (Source: https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/elephant )

Here, the information has been paraphrased, but the quoted version is a better definition. As mentioned, quotations can be quite useful for defining and clarifying an idea, but must be used only when necessary.

Paraphrasing is quite useful but it can be difficult to do. Some good guidelines for paraphrasing are as follows:

• Ensure that you are completely aware of the message behind the quote.
• Compose your paraphrase without referring to the quote.
• Compare your paraphrase with the quote to ensure that the meanings are the same.

This takes some time but it will help avoid any accusations of plagiarism.

Patchwriting

Patchwriting refers to text that is too similar in format and wording to the original quote. This can be a sign of not fully understanding the message. Be mindful of this. It is not acceptable to simply use synonyms to replace original words.

It is easy to simply copy text off the Internet for just about anything we want to discuss. We copy and paste it into a blank virtual piece of paper. We cut out superfluous information and add our own words. This is patchwriting, and it is still plagiarism.

Example:

The pachyderm is the largest mammal in the world. It weighs anywhere from 500 pounds to eight tons. It has a huge body, big ears, and an extended trunk that can pick up objects, sound warnings, greet others, drink water, or bathe.

Would this need to be cited? Yes, this is clearly patchwriting. We merely deleted some words and shortened the sentence, but the original message is the same.

Remember, when paraphrasing, do not just substitute synonyms for original words. Think about what is being conveyed. Write down the “thoughts” behind the original words, not the words themselves. This will help you avoid the patchwriting trap.

You are asked to write a definition of “species.” Can you copy verbatim the definition out of the dictionary without having to cite it? Can you use the definition in Wikipedia without a citation? Why or why not?

You’ve done your research, you’ve made your bibliography, and you’re ready to write. But after a short time, you find yourself stuck. In-text citations are driving you crazy! Do you really have to list all six authors of the paper you are referencing? What if the first two authors are the same on two different papers? Is it the same regardless of citation style? Read on to remove your confusion about multiple authors in-text citations.

Single Author In-text Citations: A Refresher

There are three major styles of citation: APA, MLA, and Chicago/Turabian. APA is used most often by Education, Psychology, and Sciences,  MLA is favored by the Humanities, and Chicago by Business, History, and Fine Arts. As the guidelines for author in-text citations vary slightly among the three, it is important to know the difference.

APA requires two types of information: the author’s last name and the date of publication of the work you are citing. If you are citing a direct quote, you must also add the page number.

There was no direct causal relationship found between the two events (Burnett, 1995)

Burnett (1995) noted that “Subsequent investigation revealed that the two events had no direct causal relationship to one another,” (p.147).

MLA style requires only the author and page number, as seen in the example below. There is no difference in citation style between a direct quote or a paraphrase.

It is still unknown whether caffeine delays the onset of Alzheimer’s disease (Grant, 204).

Chicago style requires all three whether you are paraphrasing or not.

A daily serving of broccoli was found to help patients recover more quickly from scurvy (Poblanski 2015, 99-100).

Citing Multiple Authors: How should you use “et al.”?

“Et al.” is a Latin term that means “and others,” and is used for in-text citations of works with multiple authors. The guidelines for using “et al.” vary slightly among the three major formatting styles.

MLA uses “et al.” for works with three or more authors, while Chicago calls for using it with four or more authors. APA format requires that you cite all of the authors at the first mention if there are three, four, or five, and use “et al.” afterward. If there are at least six authors, then you may use “et al.” from the first mention. In all cases, you should use the last name of the first author followed by “et al.” in your in-text citation.

For a paper written by Henderson, Watts, and Kirkland, the MLA citation would look like this:

Peanut butter is a rich source of protein (Henderson, et al. 328).

According to Henderson et al., peanut butter is a rich source of protein (328).

For a paper written by Rhyu, Lee, McSnyder, and Xi, the Chicago citation would look like this:

• Japanese wartime aggression remains a controversial topic in much of East Asia (Rhyu et al. 2012, 45).

According to Rhyu et al. (2012), Japanese wartime aggression remains a controversial topic in much of East Asia (45).

For the same paper cited in APA format, the first citation would be as follows:

• Japanese wartime aggression remains a controversial topic in much of East Asia (Rhyu, Lee, McSnyder, and Xi, 2012).

Additional in-text citations of the same paper in APA format would look like this:

South Korea’s state history textbook controversy of 2014 is a good example of this debate (Rhyu et al. 2012).

Same Authors, Same Year, Different Article

“Et al.” can create ambiguity in some situations. Take the following example of two publications.

• Lee, J. N., Lebowski, B., Kelly, J., & Ryan, T. (2000). “Intellectual Property Law in FTA Negotiations.” Journal of East Asian Affairs, 13, 14–25.
• Lee, J. N., Lebowski, B., Kelly, J., & Ryan, T. (2000). “Multinational Corporate Influence in the WTO.” Journal of World Trade, 67, 38-55.

Each citation style solves this problem a little differently. MLA adds the name of the text in parentheses, while APA and Chicago recommend adding a letter after the year to distinguish between the works.

MLA: Lee et al. point out that FTA negotiations have gone far beyond the original scope of goods and services trade to incorporate regulatory measures (“Intellectual Property Law in FTA Negotiations,” 20).

APA/Chicago: Lee et al. (2000a) point out that FTA negotiations have gone far beyond the original scope of goods and services trade to incorporate regulatory measures.

Note that in the bibliography of your paper, if you are using APA or Chicago style and you distinguish two papers this way, your bibliography should reflect this. For example:

• Lee, J. N., Lebowski, B., Kelly, J., & Ryan, T. (2000a). “Intellectual Property Law in FTA Negotiations.” Journal of East Asian Affairs, 13, 14–25.
• Lee, J. N., Lebowski, B., Kelly, J., & Ryan, T. (2000b). “Multinational Corporate Influence in the WTO.” Journal of World Trade, 67, 38-55.

Et al. is Always Plural

One last thing to note about “et al.” is that it is plural: it can never refer to only one author. What should we do in the following situation? We are citing the following two papers in APA format.

• Lee, J. N., Lebowski, B., Kelly, J., & Ryan, T. (2000). “Intellectual Property Law in FTA Negotiations.” Journal of East Asian Affairs, 13, 14–25.
• Lee, J. N., Lebowski, B., Kelly, J., Ryan, T, & Grant, R. (2000). Pharmaceutical Access and Intellectual Property Law in the WTO. Pacific Review, 15, 177–209.

The first in-text citation of these two papers would be as follows.

• (Lee, Lebowski, & Ryan, 2000)
• (Lee, Lebowski, Ryan, & Grant, 2000)

However, if we write (Lee et al., 2000), we are left with two identical citations. We cannot use (Lee, Lebowski, & Ryan et al. 2000), because “et al.” should refer to two more people. So, we must write all four names each time we cite it.

How do you make sure to use et al. correctly? What else confuses you about citations? Let us know in the comments!

We see these words often in written works—the italicized abbreviations that no one seems to be able to define. They are commonly used in scientific papers. We should ensure that we are consistent in the use and format. Moreover, for Latin or any foreign phrases should we use italics, boldface, or regular font? The following will help.

Different Styles

First, let’s discuss different style guides. It wasn’t long ago that we had to italicize every word that was not written in English. Unfortunately, Latin terms are used so often in scientific papers that they become cumbersome. Some style guides have since adopted a “no italics” style for many common terms.

ab initio, meaning “from the beginning.”

This is most often used in law.
Example: “The agreement was declared void ab initio.”

et al., meaning “and others.”

Note the period after “al.” In any writings, especially when using citations and references, “et al.” is commonly used.
Example: Rogers et al. (2016) provide more evidence on the hypothesis.

in situ, meaning “in its original place.”

In biology, this often describes a plant or animal in its native habitat.
Example: The wolf was photographed in situ.

in vitro, meaning “taking place outside an organism.”

in vivo, meaning “taking place inside a living organism.”

Both in vitro and in vivo are most often used in scientific writing.

Example: The cancer cells were grown in vitro in a controlled environment.

The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) and the American Psychological Association suggest that common abbreviations need not be italicized. For example:

“etc.” is short for “et cetera,” and means “and so forth” or “and others.”

“e.g.” is short for exempli gratia and means “for example.”

“i.e.” is short for id est and means “in other words.”

Many authors confuse “e.g.” and “i.e.” Be sure that you know the difference. An easy way to remember them is that “e.g.” begins with “e” and so does “example;” “i.e.” begins with “I” and so does “in.”  ( hyperlink for EA article)

Example: The family pet (i.e., the dog) ran around the house and chewed up everything left on the floor (e.g., shoes and toys).

“n.b.” is short for nota bene and means “note well.”

Except for use in legal papers, the term has been replaced by just the word “note.”

Example: “Note the following information to help you decide.”

“ca.” or “c.” is an abbreviation for “circa,” which translated means “around.”

These are used with dates to indicate approximation.

Example: Although not certain, the bones might date back to ca. 2000 BC.

“vs” or “v” is an abbreviation of the Latin “versus,” which means anti, opposed to, or against.

It is most often used in legal references but is also often used in scientific writing to compare results or statistical information.

Example: In the case Doyle vs. Hoppe, the witnesses did not show up.

“sic” is short for sic erat scriptum and is placed in brackets after quoted text to inform the reader that the text was quoted exactly as it was written.

It is often also used to denote misspellings.

“c.v.” is short for curriculum vitae, meaning “course of life.” This term has replaced the term “resume.” You will at some point be asked for your “c.v.” when applying for jobs or funding.

There are several abbreviations used specifically in references as follows:

“Ibid” and “Id.” are used to save space by not repeating the citation.

They indicate that the subsequent reference(s) is from the same source. Ibid. is the abbreviation of ibidem and means “in the same place;” id. is the abbreviation idem, which means “the same person.”

Example:

1. Doyle, 115–120.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid. or Id., 250. (Note a new page. Id. can also be used.)

“cf.” is short for “confero,” which means “to compare.”

It indicates a reference that is in disagreement with the author’s statements.

Example: Anderson 2008; cf. on populations Kramer 2016.

“Passim” is not an abbreviation but is Latin for “here and there.”

It indicates that a reference is found in several places in the cited text. CMOS recommends avoiding this term if possible. If not, include a date range.

Example: Anderson 2008, 200–300 passim. (Note: no italics.)

Latin Names

Scientific writing is somewhat unique because it often mentions species names. This is especially true in biology, ecology, and medicine. Although many style guides state that Latin or other foreign terms need not be italicized after their first mention, species names are the exception.

The system of “binomial nomenclature” was developed to identify a species using two names, genus and its epithet. In your writing, the genus should always be initial capped and italicized. The epithet, referred to as the “species,” is not initial capped but is also always italicized.

For example, humans are Homo sapiens. Homo is the genus and sapiens is the species. There are always several species within a genus. There are often several subspecies within a species. The general rule is to italicize each of these.

For example, the genus Canis encompasses the wolf, dog, jackal, and coyote. Each has its own species name. Canis lupus refers to the gray wolf but there are 38 subspecies of Canis lupus. In this case, you would italicize the full species names. For example, Canis lupus familiaris refers to the domesticated dog.

This protocol is always the rule. After the first mention of a species name, the genus can be abbreviated to just the first letter but must still be italicized (e.g., C. lupus).

You are ready to write and submit your paper to a prestigious journal in your field of study. The author guidelines do not mention the protocol for Latin and other foreign words and phrases. How do you find out what you should do?

You’ve spent months or years conducting your academic research. Now it’s time to write your journal article. For some, this can become a daunting task because writing is not their forte. It might become difficult to even start writing. However, once you organize your thoughts and begin writing them down, the overall task will become easier.

We provide some helpful tips for you here.

Organize Your Thoughts

Perhaps one of the most important tasks before you even begin to write is to get organized. By this point, your data is compiled and analyzed. You most likely also have many pages of “notes”. These must also be organized. Fortunately, this is much easier to do than in the past with hand-written notes. Presuming that these tasks are completed, what’s next?

When suggesting that you organize your thoughts, we mean to take a look at what you have compiled. Ask yourself what you are trying to convey to the reader. What is the most important message from your research? How will your results affect others? Is more research necessary?

Write your answers down and keep them where you can see them while writing. This will help you focus on your goals.

Aim for Clarity

Your paper should be presented as clearly as possible. You want your readers to understand your research. You also do not want them to stop reading because the text is too technical.

Keep in mind that your published research will be available in academic journals all over the world. This means that people of different languages will read it. Moreover, even with scientists, this could present a language barrier. According to a recent article, always remember the following points as you write:

• Clarity: Clearly define terms; avoid non relevant information.
• Simplicity: Keep sentence structure simple and direct.
• Accuracy: Represent all data and illustrations accurately.

For example, consider the following sentence:

“Chemical x had an effect on metabolism.”

This is an ambiguous statement. It does not tell the reader much. State the results instead:

“Chemical x increased fat metabolism by 20 percent.”

All scientific research also provide significance of findings, usually presented as defined “P” values. Be sure to explain these findings using descriptive terms. For example, rather than using the words “significant effect,” use a more descriptive term, such as “significant increase.”

For more tips, please also see “Tips and Techniques for Scientific Writing”. In addition, it is very important to have your paper edited by a native English speaking professional editor. There are many editing services available for academic manuscripts and publication support services.

Research Paper Structure

With the above in mind, you can now focus on structure. Scientific papers are organized into specific sections and each has a goal. We have listed them here.

• Title: Your title is the most important part of your paper. It draws the reader in and tells them what you are presenting. Moreover, if you think about the titles of papers that you might browse in a day and which papers you actually read, you’ll agree. If the title is not clear and interesting, the reader will not continue reading. Authors’ names and affiliations are on the title page.
• Abstract: The abstract is a summary of your research. It is nearly as important as the title because the reader will be able to quickly read through it. In most journals, the abstract can become divided into very short sections to guide the reader through the summaries. Keep the sentences short and focused. In addition, avoid acronyms and citations.
• Introduction: Include background information on the subject and your objectives here.
• Materials and Methods: Describe the materials used and include the names and locations of the manufacturers. For any animal studies, include where you obtained the animals and a statement of humane treatment. These should be clearly and succinctly explained so that your methods can be duplicated. Criteria for inclusion and exclusion in the study and statistical analyses are included.
• Results: Discuss your findings here. Also, be careful to not make definitive statements. Your results suggest that something is or is not true. This is true even when your results prove your hypothesis.
• Discussion: Discuss what your results mean in this section.
• Limitations: Discuss any study limitations. Suggest additional studies.
• Acknowledgements: Acknowledge all contributors.
• References: All citations in the text must have a corresponding reference. Check your author guidelines for format protocols.
• Tables and Figures: In most cases, your tables and figures appear at the end of your paper or in a separate file. The titles (legends) usually become listed after the reference section. Be sure that you define each acronym and abbreviation in each table and figure.

Helpful Rules

In their article entitled, “Ten simple rules for structuring papers,” in PLOS Computational Biology, authors Mensh and Kording provided 10 helpful tips as follows:

1. Focus on a central contribution.
2. Write for those who do not know your work.
3. Use the “context-content-conclusion” approach.
4. Avoid superfluous information and use parallel structures.
5. Summarize your research in the abstract.
6. Explain the importance of your research in the introduction.
7. Explain your results in a logical sequence and support them with figures and tables.
8. Discuss any data gaps and limitations.
9. Allocate your time for the most important sections.
10. Get feedback from colleagues.

Some of these rules have been briefly discussed above; however, the study done by the authors does provide detailed explanations on all of them.

ImageJ is a software package developed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Formerly known as NIH Image, it was originally developed for the McIntosh computer system.  However, it is now also available for Windows and Linux. The software was developed to allow better image analysis and enhancement. It uses Java 1.4 or later versions of Java and can be used either as an online application or downloaded on your computer.

Features

ImageJ is a public domain software, which means that it is available without copyright restriction. Users are allowed to run the program, share copies, and make positive changes to the program.

The software allows you to create graphs from data and display and enhance the images.

ImageJ works with several file formats, such as TIFF, JPEG, ASCII, FITS, and more.

It is frequently used for analyzing fluorescence microscopy images, dot blot analysis, area measurements, particle counting, segmentation and measurements of spatial or temporal features of biological elements, and more. Some of the main features of the program are as follows. These features are especially important to researchers for analyzing their field photographs and images.

• Interactive: Allows you to easily edit and analyze images for printing.
• Supported Formats: Reads TIFF, GIF, JPEG, BMP, DICOM, FITS, RAW, and several other formats.
• Parallel Functions: Supports several images at one time in one display window. Performs simultaneous functions on these images.

ROI (Region of Interest) manager helps in working with multiple selections (all types–points, lines, and text) from different stacks, image locations, and images

Overlays are used to annotate images and mix image ROIs at different opacity levels, allowing to create and work on images non-destructively

• Calculations: Creates statistics according to user-defined parameters, such as mean and standard deviation, using standard SI units.
• Measurements: Based on the image, determines distance, area, and other geometric measurements.
• Output: Creates histograms of population densities and several other types of graphs.
• Scaling: Allows you to zoom in, zoom out, or reorient images.
• Photo Editing: Allows you to edit images to remove flaws, sharpen or mute the image, and apply filters. You can also create different geometric shapes (polygons, arrows, etc.) within the images. The created shapes can be pasted onto other images as well.

Image sets, called stacks are often used in ImageJ to  display multiple spatially or temporally related images in a single window

• Plugins: Allows you to write your own plugins to customize the program to fit your needs.
• Macros: You can create and debug macros that will automate the tasks used most often.
• Applets and Servlets: You can develop your own mini-programs to fit your needs.
• Color: Gray-scale and indexed color are available to help speed up image processing. When speed is not an issue, many other color options are available for creating additional effects.

Ease of Use

ImageJ offers toolbar, status bar, and progress bar. For instance, toolbar provides tools for selecting, zooming, and scrolling images. The status and progress bar shows several features during the program such as time lapsed for current operations, memory used, and memory remaining. It allows multiple images to be displayed at a time. It can also show images in one window that are spatially or temporally similar, called stacks.

The toolbar consists of  tools for making selections, drawings, zooming, scrolling, and more

Description of the tools available in toolbar to edit images

Additional User-Friendly Capabilities

ImageJ network of users support researchers who tend to use the same type of images in their reports. This is valuable for discussing the program’s usage issues and updates. Additionally, it can process 40 million pixels per second! This helps as researchers certainly don’t want to spend much time trying to process images to create the output that depicts research data.