9 Ways to Improve Your Research Paper

Here are the top 9 tips to make the research papers more interesting to read.

1.?????Choose appropriate title and subtitles

This is a very important part of your manuscript and can affect readership. People often choose what to read based on first impressions. Make sure your title doesn’t put people off. The title should give an overview of what your paper is about. This should be accurate and specific and reflect the content of the paper. Avoid jargon where possible.

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2.?????Interesting abstract can increase the intention to read the article

The abstract is the first part of the paper that’ll be read. You need to persuade the reader to continue reading. A clear abstract should outline the workings of your research. This will help you to carve out a very specific space in your field. You should also consider other published work in the field. Mention some notable achievements and explain how your research builds on them. This will help you place your research. Those who know the area well will be able to understand which direction you’re going in.

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3.?????Use most suitable keywords for the research paper

In the journals’ webpages, they use keywords for indexing. This makes work more searchable. Many researchers search using keywords related to their field. This gives you a chance to get more eyes on your paper. Make sure your choices are precise and are not in the title already. You want to cover as much ground as possible.

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4.?????Maintain the novelty in the research work

Have you conducted a thorough search of the latest findings? Knowing about these will improve the originality of your work. Reviewers are asked to rate your manuscript on novelty. Your research should advance the current knowledge in your field. Avoid repeating what may already be out there.

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5.?????Make sure the outcomes of the result work make sense and exciting

Your results should not only be novel, but also significant. Attracting readers and citations will be easier if the results are exciting. Interesting and exciting work will encourage others to build on what you have discovered.

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6.?????Avoid Self-Plagiarize

Self-plagiarism is a problem because you are just producing a copy of your work from before. This creates the illusion of new ideas when there aren’t any. This can happen without you realising it, so be careful. To avoid this, use short quotes from your past paper. You should place these in quotation marks and cite the original. Be succinct but comprehensive.

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7.?????Maintain the journal / publisher template at the early stage itself

You can increase your chances of good reviews by making sure your work is clearly organised and easy to understand. Templates are great for this and can definitely help you to improve your research paper throughout the writing process. This can give your paper a more professional look from the outset. It’s also important to maintain good formatting throughout.

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8.?????Swap and share ideas to improve the quality of the research work

Research can be solitary. It is easy to forget that there are other people – co-authors, colleagues, peers, associates – in the same boat as you. Their feedback can help you spot mistakes that you may have missed. Meeting with a colleague can also give you a break from your paper and allow you to come back to it with a new mindset.

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9.?????Never forget to cite the references

Tools like EndNote and Mendeley can help you with the formatting of references in your paper. These manage your references based on what you enter and then organise them in the References section. You can also use free reference generators. For example, the online tool ‘Cite This for Me’ allows you to format individual references.