Extremely long sentences, variation intense usage, improper flow of thoughts, incorrect numbering, and extensive and inconsistent usage of articles such as the’ disturbs and distracts editors, reviewers, and reader’s flow when reading the manuscript. Inconsistency is an error commonly made when writing a research paper, and such an error creates a negative impression of the overall quality of the paper. The results of your study may be of great value, but poor writing and flow may lead to misrepresentation of your work, causing it to be rejected.
Research paper editing by a Native Speaker is quiet helpful prior to submitting your manuscript to your targeted journals. We often think writing comes easier to a writer than other people, but professional writing is difficult. A writer must be aware of the obstacles that may prevent the reader from understanding the content.
Writing to remove these obstacles and delivering thoughts clearly are the prime focus of a professional writer. However, research is a slow process and writing a research paper can be a daunting task. Researchers commonly make consistency errors.
Researchers consider readers are smart enough to understand and overlook inconsistencies, but it is vital to overcome inconsistency errors for the manuscript to be accepted by the journals and for the author’s message to be clearly conveyed to the readers.
For those who are Non-Native Speakers would advise you all to once submit your manuscript for checking its consistency, and English Language errors to Research paper editing company / professional. We will now discuss the five ways in which inconsistencies create problems for a reader.
1. Distractions
Trained readers are great at noticing many things subconsciously that they may not register at all, but it takes a toll on their concentration. For example, Serial Comma is the most common error—a writer thanking “my family, Annie Ray [,] and God.”
Few readers would interpret that the writer’s family is Annie Ray and God when reading without a second comma. At such instances, adding a serial comma improves clarity, but then a part of the mind that decodes punctuation questions whether the omission was intentional or mere carelessness. Each popping question creates mental distraction reducing the reader’s reading speed and comprehension.
2. Hyphenation
As quoted by the Oxford University Press style manual, “If you take hyphens seriously, you will surely go mad.” Perhaps we must avoid hyphen overuse, and take hyphen usage seriously, as they are subtle and powerful tools for clarity.
Adding hyphens when writing paired words makes it easier for readers to comprehend that the two words function as a single unit. However, omitting a hyphen when writing paired words conveys to the reader that the researcher means something else as the author has already established a convention that a hyphen is necessary for a given word pair. Such omissions force the reader to re-read sentences to confirm the real meaning, which is unacceptable when publishing a research study.
3. Inconsistent Capitalization
Usually, in a western language, capitalization is used at the beginning of a sentence or when writing a proper noun. Frequent transitions from upper case to lower case triggers confusion among the readers, making them contemplate whether the writer has switched from discussing a named entity to a generic category.
These transitions reduce the reading speed and understanding but increase the scope of misinterpretation for those who are reading/doing research paper editing/reviewing your manuscript.
4. Word Choice
Technical writers usually grasp the mantra of one meaning per word and one word per meaning, as they are aware of how troublesome such inconsistencies can be when writing about the complex subject matter. At times, writers carelessly add a synonym, leading the readers to assume it as an intentional change and get distracted in the process. Inconsistent word choice makes a complex research paper appear even worse.
5. Inconsistency in Numbers
Many believe that when discussing quantities in a research paper, it is not important whether we write numbers numerically (1, 2, 3, 4) or in words(one, two, three, four). However, a semiology study suggests that the meaning of symbols such as words and numerals is not the same. In addition, there is a difference in the cognitive mechanism when processing words and numbers. Therefore, reading a manuscript using numerals in both word and numeric forms requires a reader to translate, which is an unnecessary additional step that consumes time, reduces reading speed. This can be avoided by not mixing numerals and their word equivalents when discussing quantities.
Authors, writers, and editors, when writing and doing research paper editing, should constantly try to achieve consistency. Eliminating inconsistencies aids readers to understand your research study and comprehend the actual intended meaning, thus simplifying communication. Readers learn the conventions you have used early in a research paper and use that knowledge to facilitate the comprehension of subsequent material.
Editing research papers for consistency makes reading easier for the reader because obstacles that would make that task more difficult are removed.
