Tools to overcome language barriers and ensure good-quality academic language
Researchers whose first language is not English and who may have inadequate proficiency in the language often consider this lack of skill as a barrier to publishing. Although ChatGPT (generative pre-trained transformer, if you want to know) and other tools based on AI (artificial intelligence) are being used and discussed in publishing circles today, opinion is divided on whether such tools are a help or a hindrance.
Using ChatGPT to facilitate writing
A recent editorial in the journal Nanomanufacturing[1] discusses some of the good practices in using ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence language models for writing research papers. On the other hand, Dittmeyer[2] warns us that “AI-powered language-editing tools are not perfect and may still make mistakes or miss errors. It’s essential to use them as a supplement to, rather than a replacement for, human editing and proofreading.” He compared the errors flagged by AI-based tools with those marked by teachers of English and found that although the tools flagged many more errors, many of those were ‘false positives’—they were not errors at all. Although some of these tools can ‘generate’ even full-length papers based on the data provided[3], before you rush to enlist the tool to write a paper of your own, be warned that the practice is not without its pitfalls, and the tool is known to fabricate references and even data.
There are several other tools and simple techniques you can use to polish your writing and eliminate obvious errors. However, it is best that you come up with the first draft yourself.
Adopting tested writing techniques
Why I recommend you write your first draft yourself is that the very act of writing it will help you to consolidate your thoughts. Petelin[4] elaborates the concept of a ‘writing–thinking–learning connection’ and suggests that in the act of putting words together, we “discover what we are really thinking much more clearly than when we try to mentally visualise our topic before we write”. I should also add that to write even better first drafts, you need to continue working on improving your command of English. Remember that writing is a psychomotor skill that can be acquired the same way you acquire other skills such as driving a car, playing a musical instrument, or learning a new software package[5]. Anikina[6] offers this advice to academics who are keen to improve their English: “Read complicated texts—especially PhD theses produced at UK universities . . . they are likely to be written in good academic English.” That said, let us turn to some of the tools you can use to improve on your draft.
Leveraging the spelling and grammar check in Microsoft Word
As a built-in tool, Word’s spelling and grammar check is easily accessible and you should use it routinely. If you use Harvard-style citations in text (names of authors together with the year of publication), the spelling checker can reveal mismatches, if any, between names as they appear in text and in the corresponding references. The first time you encounter a name (in most cases, the spelling checker will flag it), choose ‘Ignore all’ instead of ‘Ignore’: if the almost identical name is flagged again in references, it means a mismatch (Chowdhury versus Chowdhuri, Mishra versus Misra, or Smith versus Smyth, for example).
To prevent the spelling checker from flagging the many technical terms specific to your field of study – which are unlikely to be part of Word’s built-in dictionary – you could also choose the option ‘Add’ each time a new term is encountered (making sure that it is correctly spelt). Over time, you will have a second dictionary, and Word will access it before flagging an unfamiliar term. This way, the spelling checker will work faster.
The grammar checker will also catch obvious disagreements between the subject and the verb, missing articles, and glaring errors related to punctuation.
Listening to the text as you read it
In the pre-digital era, proofreading was carried out by a team of two: one, the proofreader, would read out the text aloud, including capitals and punctuation marks where needed, and the other, the copyholder, would match the proof against what she or he heard[7]. Now, you can use the same technique but with digital tools, which are variously referred to as ‘text to voice’ or ‘text to speech’ converters. The feature is also present in Acrobat reader: you can save your Word file as a file in PDF and then use it for proofreading. You should have a printout of the same file on which to mark the errors. You will be surprised how many errors you catch this way.
To help focus attention to the piece of text being read aloud, professional proofreaders often hold a piece of stiff cardboard (the traditional 3-inch by 5-inch index cards are handy for the purpose now that you are doing this the old-fashioned way) over the paper so that the top edge of the card rests just below the line being read and keep sliding the card downwards as the reading proceeds.
Using appropriate words and phrases
Talking of old-fashioned ways, a dictionary is also handy tool indeed, now that most of the standard dictionaries are also available online (either open access or on subscription). One less commonly known dictionary is the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary of Academic English[8], which offers detailed information on about 22,000 words and phrases, usage examples, and explanations drawn from more than 25 academic disciplines.
Conclusion
Not having English as your first language is no longer a barrier to publishing your papers in English. In the long run, it is in your interest to become more proficient in writing in English by extensive reading; in the short run, check the tools mentioned in this article and other similar tools—or leave the job of polishing your manuscript and making it submission-ready to a professional copy editor.
Want to ensure that your manuscript adheres to evolving norms and journals instructions for preferred usage? Try Editage’s English editing services, where a professional academic editor performs a thorough check of the language and style used in your article.
References
- Castellanos-Gomez A. 2023. Good practices for scientific article writing with chatgpt and other artificial intelligence language models. Nanomanufacturing 3: 135–138. https://doi.org/10.3390/nanomanufacturing3020009
- Dittmeyer M. 2022. AI can’t cut it: correcting language learners’ writing still has to be done by hand. https://www.hurix.com/ai-powered-copyediting-redefining-the-editors-role/
- Conroy G. 2023. Scientists used ChatGPT to generate an entire paper from scratch — but is it any good? Nature (7 July 2023) doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02218-z
- Petelin R. 2022. How Writing Works: a field guide to effective writing, 2nd edn, p. 6. New York: Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group). 312 pp.
- Joshi Y. 2007. A systematic approach to improve writing skills. Current Science 92: 1343–1344
- Anikina Z. 2021. Don’t focus on English at the expense of your science. Nature (12 July 2021) doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01905-z
- Wijnekus F J M and Wijnekus E F P H. 1983. Elsevier’s Dictionary of the Printing and Allied Industries in Six Languages, p. 159. Amsterdam: Elsevier. 1024 pp.
- Oxford Learner’s Dictionary of Academic English | Dictionaries | Oxford University Press. https://elt.oup.com/catalogue/items/global/dictionaries/9780194333504?cc=global&selLanguage=en.
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