Checklist for Writing Manuscripts

Around August and the end of an academic year in UP (that's around Feb and March) I suffer headaches and high blood pressure from reading my students' manuscript - be it SPP papers or thesis manuscripts. Yes, reviewing student papers is an occupational hazard.

Paano ka naman hindi mapupundi e kung yung mga simpleng rules ng pagsulat ng paper, hindi sinusunod! (GRRR!@$)352$#*%@$20)

So to minimize stress, because right now is one of those episodes, I'll make here a list of my top 10 6 pet peeves in manuscripts and I'll tell my students to check the list before they send in their papers. (And mind you, I'm VERY busy right now, but I have to get this off my chest by writing about it. That's how seriously stressed I am.)

1. Figures too small. 
A picture speaks a thousand words but if it is too small to see the details or embedded labels, well forget it, I'd rather you describe the story in three paragraphs. Look, an A4 page with a one-inch margin on both sides has a width for text or figures which is 6 inches plus. 6 INCHES! So why is your figure only 2 inches wide? Maximize figures so their width fill the whole page, My Gulay! That's what figures are for, to be seen!

2. Poor grammar
Nothing gets my goat faster than poor English. Please, if you have problems, have your text checked by labmates or groupmates who have a better command of the language.

3. Poor  or no citation
Listen, this can get you kicked out. Seriously. You can be accused of plagiarism. You either cite the source or don't include that text or figure. If you will use a figure from another paper the appropriate way is to write the author and ask permission. Don't ever forget to cite the source of the figure. Even if you have cited the source in the text, you must also cite the reference in the caption. Visit this site for a primer on plagiarism. There are more sites, just google.

4. No storyline,  poor construction
Writing a paper, even a scientific one, is a form of story telling. So before you write, think about your best friend. Think how you would tell a story to your best  friend. Now think about how you will tell the story of your thesis or research paper to your best friend.  You'd explain it in a way that he or she gets the premise right? Good stories have an arc. Go make one.

5. A long intro- 7/8 about the work of others, 1/8 about your work
A good introduction answers four questions:

1. What are you doing?
2. Why are you doing it?
3. What has been done before?
4. What is new with your approach?

Yes I can see that you did your review of literature but if you think I am impressed, well no,  unless you can put your own work in the context of the work of others.

6. Turning in a revised paper without a detailed list of changes made
When the manuscript has passed through the initial review and you've made the changes, be kind to your suffering reviewer and give a  detailed list of the changes you made. In this way he or she doesn't have to go through the agony of reading your whole paper again but can go straight to check the revised parts. This will speed up the review process too.  Detail means you enumerate the points raised by the reviewer, then you indicate the page number, paragraph, and sentence where you inserted the recommended change.

I'll probably add to this list when I get cranky again. I'm ok now. Nakalabas na ng sama ng loob.