This document outlines common errors made when writing research papers, including procrastinating on deadlines, choosing topics that are too broad, and not properly citing sources. Some key mistakes discussed are failing to acknowledge limitations of the study, including plagiarized or irrelevant content, using poor grammar, and not having others review the paper for errors or missing elements before submission. The document provides guidance on how to structure sections of the paper, ask for help from professors, narrow the topic, and ensure proper formatting and flow.

1. CommonErrorsinWritingaResearchPaper
By
MUHAMMAD ANAS
Roll No.250 BSc (Hon) 7th
semester
Department ofPlant Breeding and Genetics
Submitted to
Prof. Dr. GULAM HASSAN SIR
The University of Agriculture PeshawarPakistan

2. CommonErrorsinWritinga ResearchPaper
RESEARCH
 Disciplineof research- basicscience /appliedscienceorsocial science
 Nature of research- qualitativeorquantitative
 Type of research- historical /survey/experimental /descriptive
Elements of Any Research Paper
Take the time to clearly outline yourresearchpaperbefore youbegintowrite,keepinmindwhateach
sectionneedstoaccomplish
 Title
 Abstracts
 Introduction
 Reviewsof literature
 Objective/s
 Hypothesis
 Methodology(sample/sample size/tools/dataanalysis)
 Resultanalysis
 Conclusion
 Implementations
Letting your deadline slip(procrastination)
 You nevermeantodo it,but somehow deadlinesoftencreepupoutof nowhere.
 For bigresearchpapers,try makinga timeline inyourplanner.
 Schedule datesthatyou’dlike tohave certaintaskscompleted(suchasyouroutline andthe first
draft),
 Andmaintainyourprogress.
Letting your deadline slip(procrastination)
“Chunking”
 “you maybe able todivide some of yourresearchtasksup intosmall chunkswhichcanbe
tackledwheneveryouhave atitle spare time.
 For example,if youtake photocopiesof materialsyouneedtoread.”
 Be sure to notwait until the lastminute toaskfor helpwiththingsyoushouldhave begunlong
ago, though.
Being Afraid To Ask For Help
 Everyone struggleswithresearchpaperwritingnow andagain.

3.  Professors,advisorsandlibrarianswillall be able eagertohelpyouorgive advice where they
can. Don’thesitate tocontact yourprofessorif you’re notsure how to get startedor how to
progresswithyourpaper;they’re there tohelpyou.
 Schedule ameetingandbringalongsome of the workyou’ve done sofar.
Lack of Research Before Choosing The Title
 Sometimes,whenstressedorbusy,students/researchscholarswill rushtheirselectionof a
subjectfora paper.
 As a result,theirfocusandconnectionwiththe subjectmattercansuffergreatly,andinevitably
thiscomesthroughin theirwriting.
 Doinggoodresearchand choosinga subjectforyoufeel youcan connectto are importantsteps
inwritinga successful thesisstatement,andultimatelyasuccessful paper.
Making Your Topic Too Broad
 Once you start developingideasforyourresearchpaper,tryto narrow yourfocusdowneven
further.
 Papersthat lackfocusonlyskimthe surface of a numberof conceptsbut neverdelve into
details.
 The thesisshould serve towpurposes,theyshouldguide youwhile youwrite andguide the
readerswhentheyread.
Limitations of the Study Are Not Acknowledged
 One mustmentionthe delimitationof the study.
 It islike outermostboundaryof your research.
 Your discussion sectiontellsreaderswhatyourstudyisall about.
 Includinglimitationsshowsathoroughevaluationof yourmethodsandresults.
PAPER THAT CONTAINS PLAGIARIZED CONTENT
 A paperthat containstextcopiedfromanotherpapermore or lessreduce yourchance of begin
accepted,dependingonthe amountof textthatyou copied.
 All the textinyour papersshouldbe writtenbyyourself only.
 It iseasyfor a reviewertodetectplagiarizedcontentusingthe internet.
PAPER THAT CONTAINS PLAGIARIZED CONTENT
 A paper that contains text copied from another paper more or less reduce your chance
of being accepted, depending on the amount of text that is copied.
 All the text in your papers should be written by yourself only.
 It is easy for a reviewer to detect plagiarized content using the internet.
PAPER THAT CONTAINS PLAGIARIZED CONTENT
 You must not use the ideas or words of others without giving the exact source;
 if you are found to have committed plagiarism, your paper will be rejected, and the case
will be reported.

4.  The worst kind of plagiarism at the moment is the cutting and pasting of (mostly bad
/inappropriate) passages from the internet and other’s work.
 It is just as bad to simply type off passages from published essays or books without
listing the authors whose texts you are using.
INCREMENTAL EXTENSION OF THE AUTHOR’S PREVIOUS WORK (SELF- PLAGIARISM)
 Where the author extended his own work, published just a few months/years ago.
 The problem with that paper was that the author just made a few minor changes before
submitting it as a new paper.
 A new paper should present on a same topic should present at least 30 to 40 % new
content and there should be a significant difference with the previous work.
OVER-LENGTH PAPERS
 When a paper is submitted to a conference or journal, there is generally a page limit.
 If the page limit is not respected, several reviewers will not like it.
 The reason is that reviewers are generally very busy, and they have to review many
papers.
 Reviewers should not have to spend more time reading a paper because someone did
not want to spend time to make it fit within the page limit.
DELETE ANY PARAGRAPH WITHOUT CONSIDERING IT’S IMPORTANCE IN A PAPER
 When asked to reduce size of paper, this is the most common practice.
PROOFREADING AND UNREADABLE PAPERS
 A paper should be well-written, and the author(s) proofread it before submitting it.
 Sometimes we come across some unreadable paper that look like they were
automatically translated by Google.
 (This is a guaranteed reject.)
NOT USING THE PROPER FORMAT
 Grantham, for instance, has adopted a system- wide protocol that all papers should be in
APA format.
 APA format is very similar. It is a format that starts with a running head, a title page,
certain margins, certain font – and it standardizes everything.
 Don’t be afraid to check out the OWL Purdue site.
 IEEE format APA format MLA format.
THE RESEARCH QUESTION IS NOT ANSWERED
 Because the discussion section allows for the most freedom, it also can be the most
difficult section to write.
 Before you start this section, go back to your research question and think about how you
want to answer it.
 Revisit your research question frequently while writing the discussion.
NOT USING PROPER CITATION
 If you use someone’s exact words, wrap that thing in quotes and put a bow on top of it
with a proper internal citation.

5.  If you paraphrase, you still have to put the bow on it – but you can leave the wrapping
paper at home.
 When writing a paper, it is recommended to add a few newer references in your paper to
show that you are aware of the newest research.
NOT USING PROPER CITATION
 Several reviewers check the dates of the references when evaluating a paper. For
example, I have read a paper recently where all references where from before 2016.
 This is a bad sign, since it is unlikely that nothing has happened in a given field since
2016.
 Follow proper style of Citation for your bibliography and Reference section.
 APA Style, MLA Style, Chicago Style.
POOR ORGANIZATION / PARAGRAPHS SHOULD FLOW NATURALLY
 It is important that the various parts of the research papers are connected by a “flow”.
 What I mean is that when the reviewer is reading your paper, each section or paragraph
should feel logically connected the previous and next paragraphs.
FIGURES/CHARTS THAT DO NOT LOOK GOOD OR ARE TOO SMALL
 About charts, it is important to make them look good.
 Besides, a second mistake is to make the charts or figures so small that they become
unreadable.
 If the reviewer prints your paper to read it, he should be able to read the text without
using a magnifying glass.
 Moreover, it should not be expected that the reviewer will read the PDF version of your
paper and can zoom in.
FIGURES THAT ARE IRRELEVANT
 In some papers,authorsputa lot of figuresthatare irrelevant.
 For example, if a figure can be summarized with one or two lines of text, it is better to
remove it.
POOR GRAMMAR & IMPROPER USE OF LANGUAGE
 Take help of your teacher/guide or subject expert or colleague at any point in your
writing, especially when you’re polishing and finalizing your research paper.
 Confirm about proper use of correct Spellings, Punctuation marks, Capitalization.
 Proper use of grammar should be there.
TRUSTING THE COMPUTER TO SPELL-CHECK
 Just because you’ve managed to avoid those red squiggles while typing your research
paper doesn’t mean your paper is error-free.
 Your computer won’t always let you know when you’ve used the wrong form of a word
such as “you’re” or “their” but your professor/guide certainly will.
 Carefully read over your entire paper when you’ve finished to be sure you’ve avoided
simple spelling and grammar mistakes.
 You must hate making silly mistakes.

6. BEING SNEAKY
 Changing the margins?
 Adjusting the line spacing?
 Altering the font size ever so slightly?
 Resist the temptation to do this.
IRRELEVANT INFORMATION
 Some papers contain irrelevant information or information that is not really important.
 For example, if your paper is a data mining paper submitted to a data mining or artificial
intelligence conference, it is not necessary to explain what data mining is.
 It can be assumed that the reviewers who are specialist in their field know what is “data
mining”
 Another example is to mention irrelevant details such as to why a given software was
used to make charts.
A RESEARCH PAPER IS NOT “CONNECT THE QUOTES
 Some students/ researchers believe that a research paper is 30-40% quotations – and
they simply connect commentary between each additional quote. That’s not the way
research papers work.
 Good research papers should synthesize material.
 Use original quotes sparingly and avoid the temptation to play connect the quotes.
NOT HAVING A FRIEND READ IT OVER / EDITING /REVIEWING
 Sometimes after you’ve spent so many hours and days on a research paper, your
exhausted eyes can start to miss things. Concepts that may make sense to you after
doing all your research may not make sense to anyone else.
 Have someone else do a read-through of your paper, even if it’s a quick one, to make
sure that your paragraphs are coherent, and you haven’t made any obvious mistakes.
 Also, consider visiting your guide or subject expert for further help if they offer one. The
more reviews, the better.