Page 366 - English for Writing Research Papers

357

… Russia, Canada and the United States. In the former …

Then, in order to put the countries in alphabetical order, Author 2 modifies it as
follows:
… Canada, Russia and the United States. In the former …

The problem is that the former in Author 1’s sentence refers to Russia. But in Author
2’s sentence the former refers to Canada. To avoid such mistakes it is always best to
repeat the key word rather than using it, that, this, one, former, latter and which. In
any case, if it is your job to read the final version of the manuscript it is worth taking

such problems into consideration.
For more on sources of ambiguity see Chapter 6 .

20.9 Make sure everything is consistent

Referees will suggest a delay in the publication if they find inconsistency in your

paper. Here is a genuine example from a referee’s report. The only thing I have
changed is the key words (X and Y).

1. “Figure 1” on page 4, yet “fig 5a” on page 8.

2. page 4: “Figure 1 shows an example of an X graph,” yet page 5: Figure 1 caption states
“Example of Y”. So is it a Y or an X graph?

3. commas after some equations like on page 10, but not after all equations.
4. caption to Fig 4 states “Initial Size Distribution,” yet the illustration is of a graph not a size

function.
5. sometimes comma after i.e. e.g., and other times not
Here is an extract from another referee’s report, which again highlights the impor-
tance of what you may consider to be fairly marginal issues:

This work is novel and is worthy of publication. However, the presentation of the work is,
quite frankly, unprofessional. There are many sloppy mistakes like spelling mistakes and
incorrect references, as well as inconsistency such as changing terminology and differences
between captions and inline text.

20.10 Check that your English is suitably formal

There are certain words and expressions that are considered by most journals to be
too informal. Check that your manuscript doesn't contain any of the following (note
these are just examples and do not represent a comprehensive list):