Page 352 - English for Writing Research Papers

342

The main problem with Example 2 is that it seems to have been written in a great
hurry and has not been re-read by the author. How? So why does it merit publication
now? How can you be so certain? Why? Who exactly are ‘inquiring people’? What
are the implications of this work? Can the methodology be applied in other areas of
the digital humanities?

EXAMPLE 2 Although the research setting of the present research may be considered of
l ittle interest from an economic perspective, given the economic performance of the fi rms
in the sample, the relation between the unit of analysis (i.e. learning dynamics) and eco-
nomic performance is not in the scope of the present research . However, this limitation
constitutes a trajectory for further research .
The word research is repeated four times. Repeating key words is a good idea (see
6.4 and 6.5 ), but research can hardly be considered a key word here. In addition, it

is not clear whether the phrase that begins given the economic performance is linked
to the previous phrase or the following one - better punctuation would clarify this
point. Finally, it is not a good idea to refer to your own research as being of ‘little
interest’ - if you don’t think it is interesting, then the referees certainly won’t, and
they will consequently not recommend that it be published.
Another issue with Example 2, which is also found in the last sentence of Example
3, is that it is extremely vague and sounds rather pompous. The referees are likely
to suspect that this vagueness is the result of the author i) not really knowing how to
deal with his/her limitations, and ii) the author trying to disguise his/her lack of

confidence and belief in his/own work.
EXAMPLE 3 The sample is not representative of social finance institutions currently oper-

ating in Europe and, therefore, the results may not be extended to the entire fi eld of social

finance. Nevertheless, it includes innovative SFIs providing social finance in Italy and

Ireland which have never been included in previous studies. This enhanced our research to

analyze alternative financing models and operating structures that may enrich the current
debate on social fi nance.
The last sentence of Example 3 does not make grammatical sense ( this enhanced
our research to analyze ). Given that this sentence may be the last sentence that the

referees read, it is going to give a bad final impression. In the first sentence, may not

should probably be cannot . Such grammatical errors might well make the referees