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Resources

Below are some resources that will help you improve your writing. You can suggest a resource using the feedback form.

Books

General

  • The Scientist’s Guide to Writing[1] by Stephen B. Heard (a Chinese translation is currently in preparation)

    This is an excellent book about the process of academic writing.

  • Grammar Choices for Graduate and Professional Writers[2] by Nigel A. Caplan

    This book focuses on grammar for academic writing, especially sentence structure.

Style guides

  • Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association[3].

    This is a commonly used guide for academic papers.

  • The Chicago Manual of Style[4].

    This is another commonly used guide for academic papers.

Websites

  • Website of your target journal

    This is the most important resource you have (see Journals). Make sure to follow the guidelines and use the template (if the journal provides one).

  • The Academic Phrasebank

    This site contains a collection of phrases that you can use in your paper.

    For example, if you go to Compare and contrast → Introducing differences, you will find:

    X is different from Y in a number of respects.
    X differs from Y in a number of important ways.
    There are a number of important differences between X and Y.
    …​
    The nervous systems of Xs are significantly different from those of Ys in several key respects.

1. Heard, S. B. (2016). The Scientist’s Guide to Writing: How to Write More Easily and Effectively throughout Your Scientific Career. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
2. Caplan, N. A. (2019). Grammar Choices for Graduate and Professional Writers, Second Edition. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press ELT.
3. American Psychological Association (2022). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
4. The University of Chicago (2017). The Chicago Manual of Style, Seventeenth Edition. Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago.