A path to publication in an international journal

Other language issues


Using standard written English

People everywhere tend to write as they have learned to speak, but there are many differences between the everyday spoken English language and the language of academic journal articles. For example, colloquial words such as “a lot,” most phrasal verbs such as “deal with” (and hundreds of others), and contractions (“don’t”) are not to be used in scholarly journal articles unless the journal specifically allows them. Redundancy (“the reason is because,” “a temperature of 5 °C,” and thousands of other phrases) is to be strictly avoided. The words “man,” “he,” and others are not to be used to refer to all people. In addition, there are many things that native speakers of Russian commonly tend to do in written English, simply because of the way Russian is, that are not standard. These and many related issues are covered in the materials we developed, “Principles and Characteristics of Academic English” and “Common Issues in Academic English for Native Speakers of Russian” (see the attachment below), which in turn are referenced to CMOS, APA, and the book discussed below by Adrian Wallwork for more information and clear examples.

 

British versus American English

As is mentioned in the materials, British and American spellings of quite a few words are different, as is word formation (“socio-economic” versus “socioeconomic” and many others) and some types of punctuation (“versus” and others). Currently, many journals specify whether articles are to use British spelling or American spelling, while many others state that either is allowable—but in any case, it must be consistent. That means not only for each word, but for the article as a whole—if you use “colour” instead of “color,” not only should that be consistent throughout, but also your entire article should use British spelling. The “Principles” and “Common Issues” materials contain more information about this, and where to find lists; also you can use the Merriam-Webster and Oxford dictionaries online to check words and examples of usage.

 

Tip:

In this country, many people have of course been influenced by British English. The main thing is learning to pay attention to the differences and be consistent, checking when necessary and following the instructions of the journal (no matter what country it is published in).

 

Tip:

Your phone is not your source of any information or words you may need--just because someone somewhere somehow says a certain thing in English does not mean that that's "it"!  It's essential to work with the style guides and with other articles on similar topics and research your choices very carefully (more about this in the materials). 

 

Organization and directness

As noted in our materials, the overall style of English-language articles involves being quite direct about what is being discussed, and the highest value is precision and clarity. Some key components are being able to do this are:

 

- organization. Almost every article has a structure of sections and subsections. Creating an outline that corresponds to the sections that will be used and giving each one a meaningful title (if they are not to be just numbered) creates a logical road map of the article that makes it easier for the author to write and the readers to understand.  

 

- meaning. Although there may be additional insights as the author writes, the article should be written when the author knows what she or he means about the relevance and results of the research (even if it leads to further questions). Writing the article is not the way that authors hope to figure out what they might have to say! Complexity is valued but ambiguity, especially intentional ambiguity, is not. As one of our students put it, “In English, people sound smart by sounding simple, clear, and logical.” Another way of saying this is, just say what you have to say and make every word count. The principle is to use a word, or a longer word, only if it adds value to the meaning.

 

- verbs, not nouns. The single most noticeable difference between the Russian and English academic styles is that the Russian tends to use abstract nouns (“the realization of…”, “the formation of…”) and English tends to use verbs (something became a reality, something was created or initiated, and other verbs depending on the context). If authors take the time to find, investigate, and carefully choose a small vocabulary of verbs that will fit the purposes of the article, these verbs will end up doing most of the “work” of the writing!

 

- tone and level. It is crucial to consider the audience who will be reading the article, what will be important and useful to them, and what they already know or not. In general, it is not a lecture “down” to postgraduate students and not something “up” to the most specialized, advanced people in your field. Authors must determine on what level to begin the discussion of the topic and find ways to ensure that all terms and concepts used are understandable even to nonspecialists, while in general having a tone of explaining the topic of your interest to interested colleagues, including those not experts in exactly your topic (the suggestion of APA and of Adrian Wallwork, whose book is described below).

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