Title
___ too long
___ does not begin with
a key word or contains dead words (intro to, method of, mechanism for)
Abstract
___ is not an informative summary or reads like a table
of contents
___ contains unneeded background
Introduction
___ begin with what is new in this paper, not a platitude like thin films are important in many areas
Units, numbers, symbols
___ pls use SI units wherever practical - put SI units
first and non-SI in ( ) or omit them entirely
___ insert space between digits and unit symbol (5 nm,
not 5nm; 5 in, not 5in)
___ insert a centered dot between unit symbols (10 J•s,
not 10 Js, nor 10 J s)
___ don't use repeated slashes [J/(m2•s),
not J/m2/s, nor J/m2•s]
___ spell in text (a few kelvins) but generally
abbr otherwise (10 K)
___ don't spell some units or chemical symbols and abbr
others (1 J/s or 1 joule per second, not 1 joule/s nor 1 joule/second)
___ contains naked decimal points (0.3048 not .3048)
___ pls use spaces (not commas) in long numbers (2.997
924 58, 6 022 137), both sides of decimal pt
___ don't set symbols off with commas (the force F
was ..., not the force, F, ...)
___ write from A to B and between A and B
not the hybrids from A-B and between A-B
References
___ contains private communication -- pls omit or move
to acknowledgements
___ comma, period shd precede quotation marks,
superscripts
___ do not precede ( ) with a comma (in references or
in text)
___ include title and last page (inclusive pagination)
___ avoid et al. -- include all authors unless
there are more than, say, 6
Figures, tables, equations
___ axis labels contain trailing zeroes (1 not 1.00; 2.5
not 2.50)
___ give both physical quantity and its units, both axes
___ see units, above. ___ see trade names,
below
___ lettering too small for legibility
___ don't put a box (frame) around a graph
___ align decimal pts vertically in tables, legends
___ number all equations that are set off from text
Trade names
___ pls omit unnecessary trade names & move crucial
trade names to endnotes
___ pls capitalize such trade names as Pyrex, Teflon;
___ do not use ® or TM
General
_X_ use the active voice (incl I and we)
more
___ sentences too long; write 1 thought per sentence
___ contains dangling or misplaced modifiers ([by]
reading the meter, the power was measured; a fixture that ... was
made, not a fixture was
made that
...)
___ contains run-on sentences, these are sentences (like
this example) joined by a comma instead of a semi-colon
___ avoid superfluous words like process, method, technique,
level, basis; it is ... or it was ...; it was found that, it shd be noted
[or pointed
out] that,
note that; tends to; well known; particular; namely
___ avoid circumlocutions (power was measured or
we
measured the power, not measurement of the power was accomplished;
the bell tolls
for thee,
not there is a bell that is tolling for thee)
___ avoid freight train nouns (tendency to use nouns
as adjectives, not adjective noun use tendency problem)
___ avoid compared to or compared with
as a substitute for than
___ avoid respectively (A was 1, and B was
17, not A, B, C, and D were 1, 17, 9.8, and 4, respectively)
___ avoid i.e. and e.g.; use instead that is or
for
example. in either case, set them off by commas
___ put period outside ( ) unless a whole sentence is
inside; do not precede ( ) with a comma
___ do not use single ) -- (1) not 1)
___ do not use both period and paren -- 5. not 5.)
___ don't use commas to excess (we have a dog, and
a cat; we ate, and drank; those who follow long subjects
with commas, are called
comma-kazes)
___ contains inconsistent or incorrect hyphenation (usu
no
hyphen with 1-syllable prefixes or -ly words)
Copyright © 1999 by
Matt Young. All rights reserved.
Date posted, 10/16/00.