Writing Academic Papers in English

Authors who write scientific papers in English as a second language tend to make the same mistakes over and over. Here is how to prepare before you start writing.

Writing Academic Papers for Those Whose Second Language is English

Preparation

I’ve been proofreading scientific papers written in English by non-native English speakers for a number of years. One thing I’ve noticed is that authors make the same mistakes over and over again, and it seems to be a systemic problem.

However, I firmly believe that authors can greatly improve their writing skills by developing a proper approach to writing. Some of this requires good preparation prior to writing a paper and the rest relies on adhering to proper grammar rules.

In this article, I’ll address some of the issues involved in writing papers and how to improve your writing by adhering to proper English grammar. Given that the main audience is the Croatian scientific community, I’ll also be providing rules and suggestions on translating academic papers from Croatian to English, which I think many will find very useful. Nonetheless, the advice can also be of use to other non-native English speakers who, in their job or occupation, are often required to write scientific papers.

The fact is that English is the lingua franca of the global scientific community. English is not going away, and the sooner we master English in communicating scientific concepts and discoveries, the better we’ll be able to transmit our ideas, newly developed concepts and discoveries. Below, I outline a general approach and some techniques for writing scientific papers in English.

To me, good preparation doesn’t mean polishing every sentence before you know what the paper will say. It means reducing avoidable problems before they become scattered throughout the manuscript. A paper is difficult enough to write when the research question, method, results and discussion are clear. It becomes much harder when the author is also unsure about terminology, article usage, sentence structure and the conventions of academic English.

For authors writing in a second language, preparation should therefore include both scientific preparation and language preparation. The two are connected: if the terminology is unstable, the argument becomes harder to follow, and if the same concept keeps changing its name, readers lose the thread.

The first step

One of the things I’ve noticed when proofreading scientific papers is perhaps a certain lack of preparation I’ve come across in some papers. This is reflected in the use of erroneous scientific terms, meaning that often the very scientific terms that are specific to a topic or field of research are written wrongly. This could be the name of a cited author, the name of a chemical relation, engineering concept, mathematical formula and equation, or something of that nature.

I don’t consider this a minor issue. In academic writing, terminology carries a large part of the meaning. A small error in a technical term can make the sentence unclear or can suggest that the author has not fully checked the literature. The same applies to the spelling of authors’ names, names of theories, measurement units, abbreviations and specialised phrases.

Before writing the paper, I recommend identifying the terms that will appear repeatedly. These usually include the central concept of the study, the names of methods, variables, instruments, procedures, materials and statistical tests. Once you’ve identified them, you can use them consistently throughout the manuscript.

MS Excel as a vocabulary tool

In my opinion, one way to overcome this is for the author to create a lexicon for the specific topic while reading their scientific literature. Sounds ridiculously simple? Remember we’re talking about non-native English speakers – people who perhaps are not using English intensively on a daily basis.

No other solution comes to mind at the moment. I would suggest using an MS Excel workbook and copying the specific terms into a column in a worksheet as you’re reading through your literature. You’d be surprised by the number of mistakes I’ve come across relating to incorrectly cited scientific terms. The impression I get is that the author hasn’t subsequently checked the terms. A good proofreader will be able to pick up on these mistakes.

Once you’ve collected the specific terms you’ll be using in your paper, it’s much easier to concentrate on the content rather than searching for specific terms in your literature. What complicates matters further during proofreading is that if the English is of relatively low quality, the proofreader becomes suspicious of even some of the correctly cited terms. That’s why it’s important to use the correct terms from the start. Using the correct terms is the basis of a good paper and eliminates any suspicion on behalf of the reader as to the remaining content.

Your vocabulary sheet doesn’t have to be complicated. I suggest one column for the English term, another for the Croatian equivalent or explanation, and a third for a short example sentence from the literature. A fourth column for the source lets you return to the original article and check how the term was used in context.

If you are writing a medical paper, for example, you may want to record the exact English terms for diagnoses, procedures, outcomes and adverse events. In an engineering paper, you’ll need a stable list of components, processes, materials, test conditions and units. In the social sciences, the key terms may include constructs, scales, respondent groups and statistical methods.

The point is not to translate every word mechanically. The point is to build a small, reliable terminology base before drafting the paper. This reduces inconsistency and helps the author avoid literal translations from Croatian that may sound unnatural in English.

Check phrases, not only individual words

Another habit I recommend is collecting phrases, not only single terms. Academic English often depends on recurring structures such as the results indicate that, the findings suggest, the study examines, the data were collected, or a statistically significant difference was found. These phrases should be used carefully, but they help authors see how academic arguments are normally expressed.

It’s also worth checking which verbs typically go with particular nouns. In English we usually conduct research, perform an analysis, collect data, obtain results and draw conclusions. These combinations are easy to get wrong when translating from Croatian.

Final preparation before writing

Before writing the first draft, I like authors to have three things ready: a clear outline, a list of key terms and several model articles from reputable journals in the same field. Model articles show how introductions are structured, how methods are described and how results are discussed in real academic English.

This does not mean copying someone else’s style or wording. It means learning the conventions of the field. A well-prepared author writes more confidently, uses terminology more consistently and gives the proofreader a much better starting point. The result is not only cleaner English, but also a paper that communicates the research more effectively.

If you are preparing a paper or an abstract for publication, see how proofreading of English texts works, or read more about English-language services.