📝 The Most Common Habits from More Than 200 English Papers Written by Graduate Chinese Engineering Students

Based on analysis of over 200 technical papers authored by Chinese graduate engineering students
By Felicia Brittman | Original Source 📘 Chinese community interpretation: Detailed summary & notes (in Chinese)

This guide identifies the most frequent language, grammar, and formatting issues that obscure clarity and reduce the chances of acceptance in international journals. It is designed to help authors self-edit effectively, especially when a native English-speaking editor is unavailable.

The original report has gained wide attention among Chinese researchers and students. A well-known Chinese-language summary and annotation can be found on CnBlogs.

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🎯 Purpose & Background

Most Chinese universities require master’s and doctoral candidates in engineering to publish at least one English paper in an international journal to graduate. However, this is challenging because:

• Prior English training often emphasizes listening/speaking, not technical writing.
• Many students have never lived in an English-speaking country.
• Even native English speakers take dedicated technical writing courses.

Papers are often rejected for “poor English.” While hiring editors helps, it’s costly, unsustainable, and ineffective if the editor lacks technical expertise—they may miss incorrect technical terms or fail to ensure technical clarity.

This report empowers writers to recognize and correct their own recurring habits.

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📌 Section 1: Top 10 Critical Issues

1. Missing or Misused Articles (a, an, the)

• Why: Mandarin has no articles.
• Rule: Every singular countable noun must have a determiner (e.g., a, the, my, this).
• Examples:
  • ❌ on surface of main and splitter blades
  • ✅ on **the** surface of **the** main and splitter blades
  • ❌ chosen to be **a** 3D modeling tool (only one tool used)
  • ✅ chosen to be **the** 3D modeling tool

💡 See the Article Decision Flowchart .

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2. Very Long Sentences

• Problem: Direct translation from Chinese leads to 60+ word sentences with multiple ideas.
• Fix: Limit to 1–2 ideas per sentence. Use lists for parameter/data-heavy content.
• Example:
  • ❌ One sentence listing gear grade, gap, nonlinearity, MATLAB block, and initial value.
  • ✅ Break into short sentences or use a bulleted list:

    - Gear transmission grade: 7  
    - Gear gap: 0.00012 radians  
    - Nonlinearity modeled via phase function method  
    - Initial gap in MATLAB backlash block: 0

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3. Prefacing the Main Idea with Purpose/Location/Reason

• Issue: Main subject buried after introductory clauses.
• Fix: Put main subject first.
• Examples:
  • ❌ For the application in automobile interiors, this paper studies...
  • ✅ This paper studies... for application in automobile interiors.
  • ❌ Inside the test box, the space was filled with asbestos.
  • ✅ The space inside the test box was filled with asbestos.

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4. Starting Sentences with Time/Condition Phrases

• Avoid: When..., If..., Based on... at the beginning.
• Better: Lead with the key result or figure.
• Example:
  • ❌ When U is taken as the control parameter, the BDs are shown in Fig. 8.
  • ✅ Figure 8 shows the BDs... when U is taken as the control parameter.

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5. Unclear Antecedent for “which”

• Problem: It’s unclear what which refers to.
• Example:
  • ❌ The bridge possesses the largest jacking force, which is built in 1978.
    → Was the force built in 1978?
  • ✅ The bridge, which was built in 1978, possesses the largest jacking force.

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6. Misuse of “respectively”

• Correct use: Only when two ordered lists correspond one-to-one. Place at end of sentence.
• Common errors:
  • ❌ Equations 2–6 can be respectively linearized...
  • ✅ Equations 2–6 can be linearized..., respectively.
  • ❌ Measured using two thermocouples respectively. (no second list)
  • ✅ Measured using two thermocouples.
  • ❌ Studied before respectively [1–4]
  • ✅ Studied before [1–4].

⚠️ Do not use respectively if order is obvious or irrelevant.

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7. Overuse of “In this paper/study”

• Limit: ≤3 times per paper.
• Appropriate uses:
  1. In Introduction/Conclusion to frame the work.
  2. In body to contrast with others’ work.
• Distinguish:
  • In this **study** → refers to the research activity.
  • This **paper** presents... → refers to the document.
• Example:
  • ❌ In this paper, IDEAS was used...
  • ✅ In this study, IDEAS was used...

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8. Numbers and Equations in Text

• Never start a sentence with a numeral:
  • ❌ 12 parameters were selected.
  • ✅ Twelve parameters were selected.
• Spell out small/general numbers:
  • ❌ All 3 studies concluded...
  • ✅ All three studies concluded...
• Avoid inline equations:
  • ❌ If SOC > SOClo...
  • ✅ If the SOC is greater than SOClo...

📝 Most journals discourage embedding even short math expressions in running text.

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9. Formatting Issues

Issue	Wrong	Correct
Paragraphs	No indent or single-sentence paragraph	Indent or add blank line
Figure/Table refs	Fig.6, Figure6	Fig. 6 or Figure 6
Variables	C = 5	C = 5 (italic)
Capitalization	The mark... mid-sentence	the mark...

🔸 Be consistent: choose one style (e.g., always Fig. or always Figure).

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10. Misusing “such as” and “etc.”

• Never combine: such as A, B, and etc. → ❌
• such as = incomplete list; complete list → use colon:
  • ❌ Three characteristics such as X, Y, Z.
  • ✅ Three characteristics: X, Y, and Z.
• Correct use of such as:
  • ✅ Focus on products such as motors and printers.

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📋 Section 2: Additional Common Mistakes

Issue	Avoid	Use Instead
Uncountable nouns	equipments, literatures	equipment, literature
Redundant phrases	research work, simulation results	research, results
Plural agreement	different node	different **nodes**
Sentence start	8 samples..., Fig. 3 shows...	Eight samples..., Figure 3 shows...
Phrasing	by this way	using this method or by doing this
Sentence start	How to optimize...	Determining how to optimize...
Verb form	results are showed as Fig. 2	results are **shown** in Fig. 2
Tone	Obviously, this is novel.	This is novel.
Location terms	at home, abroad, our country	in China, overseas
Filler phrases	that is to say, namely	Rewrite clearly in one sentence
Informal ending	..., too.	Omit in formal writing

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📎 Appendix: Article Decision Flowchart (Simplified)

Use this to choose a / an / the / no article:

Is it a noun?
 └─ Is it countable?
     ├─ Singular?
     │   ├─ Specific? → "the"
     │   └─ General?
     │       ├─ Starts with vowel sound? → "an"
     │       └─ Starts with consonant sound? → "a"
     └─ Plural?
         ├─ Specific? → "the"
         └─ General? → (no article, or use determiners like "some", "these")