Commonly Misused Words in Research Paper

In the book The Elements of Style, Strunk and White list down the commonly misused words in writing. These words are non-existent, improperly written or confused with other words. Sadly, these words are often found in students’ research papers.

          1. All right

            All right must not be written as “alright” 

          2. But

            Students often use “but” after using the word doubt and help. This, According to Struck and White, is wrong. To avoid the wrong usage of “but” in research papers, students must understand that it means other than or however. Hence, if students are used to use “but” in bad style, they rather rearrange their sentences.

          3. Character

            Students must avoid the habit of using “character” because this often causes confusion. They must make sure that the word “character” is not present in their research papers, unless they are writing literary research papers.

          4. Consider

            It is wrong to add “as” to the word consider when students want to say “believe to be”. They cannot say I consider him as competent; rather he must extract “as” from the sentence. The act does not harm the sentence, rather it makes it concise. 

          5. Disinterested

            The literal meaning of disinterested is “impartial.” Hence, students cannot use disinterested if they mean they are “not interested” to something.

          6. Etc

            It is very common see students use the word “etc” in their research papers after giving several examples. They often use this to save space and lessen effort. This can be used meaningfully if the literal meaning of this word is clear to the user. Etc means “and so forth”, “and other things”, and “and the rest.” One must not use “etc” if he means to say “and other persons”.

          7. Further

            Students must not confuse ‘further” with “farther”. “Further” is used for time and quantity. For example, students can say “you can pursue the subject further”.

      There are many other words, which are misinterpreted by many. However, the given words above are those which cause much trouble when misused. Writing [url=http://www.besttermpapers.com]research papers[/url] is formal; hence, students must pay attention to errors like these.