Review a paper of mine ( topic is chemistry, btw )

[JohnT]

I just knew we could turn this into a debate by the end of the first page.

[Combat Ingrid]

Originally posted by JohnT
Oh, bull. I'm not saying he's writing a commercial, I'm saying that he's selling the worthiness of his ideas to other people.

I know, I'm just so fed up with the whole idea to "sell" your idea. If it's a good idea it should sell itself, unless the audience consists of idiots. Of course, since many of the so called scientists out there are in fact idiots, your point is valid.

[JohnT]

But a good idea, poorly worded, is not a good idea. It's a poorly worded essay that nobody will read.

[Combat Ingrid]

True. The problem is that people tend to exaggerate the importance of their findings a lot, showing only the data that supports their radical conclusion and so on. It borders on fraud many times. Anything to get a good CV, basically

[Zopperoni]

While I agree that scientific outcomes should not be presented in an overly pretentious style, the researchers needn't be cautiously modest either.

"Innovativeness" is an essential part of the academic research/paper. There is no purpose in studying something that's already known, is there?

Yes, some authors have mastered the ancient art of bull****ido to a great extent, but "innovativeness" needs to be there. It forms the scientific purpose of the research; to contribute to the current body of academic knowledge.

[Az]

Yes, some authors have mastered the ancient art of bull****ido to a great extent, but "innovativeness" needs to be there. It forms the scientific purpose of the research; to contribute to the current body of academic knowledge.

We have a couple of jokes running around the department on this, like this doctorant dude who has made a project that was impossible to achieve at the time he has made the paper. completely incidentally, his distant uncle is a professor of chemistry in another, less prosperous country, and has tens of people under his command.

academic corruption

[Provost Harrison]

Maybe later, it's not the best reading for a lazy sunday evening I'm afraid

[Az]

bumping for provost.

[Asher]

It's pretty boring, the plot wanders and the characters underdeveloped. It's also a bit cliche.

[Provost Harrison]

Oh, erm, yeah, I'll have a flick through...it didn't look too long...

[Az]

It's pretty boring, the plot wanders and the characters underdeveloped. It's also a bit cliche.

CSers have absolutely no right to laugh at chemistry papers. NO RIGHT WHATSO****INGEVER, YOU HEAR ME?

[Asher]

CS papers are more fun.

http://grouplab.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/papers/2005/05-lyrictext/lyrictext-diaz-marino-report.pdf

http://grouplab.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/papers/2005/05-CustomNotifications.Report/greenberg-report-2005-777-08.pdf

[Az]

Don't make me pull out the medicinal chemistry papers.

[Jonny]

After a brief look at the first page... I'll echo the general statement that the paper is a bit wordy and unwieldy. Some sentences are too long. Avoiding passive voice would eliminate some of the wordiness and make the paper somewhat easier to read (not to mention that it's considered good form to avoid the passive voice and use of "to be" whenever possible).

For example, I'd rewrite the first sentence of the intro as follows (you misspelled biopharmaceutical, btw) :

The constantly increasing importance of carbohydrates, specifically oligosaccharides, in biopharmaceutical and biotechnological solutions has created a demand for new synthetic tools to manipulate them in various methods.

[Az]

biopharmaceutical

Strange... I thought I've written 'pharmaceutical' properly. I remember fixing it.