In the postdigital era marked by interconnected human and AI technologies, The Academic Insight Lab leads the movement by embracing new possibilities for knowledge creation, promoting ethical collaboration with large language models, and redefining research, writing, and originality with an ethos of working smarter, not harder.

The planning fallacy occurs when we underestimate the time and resources needed to complete a task, often in contradiction to previous experiences. In the context of academic research, the planning fallacy can lead to poor planning for future projects and collaborations, ignoring realistic estimates of what is required in terms of time, funding, expertise, or other resources. It may also cause dismissal of potential risks and unexpected challenges, with a focus instead on an overly optimistic assessment of one's abilities or available resources.

As the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly common in academic writing, it's crucial to understand how to cite and acknowledge its role in your manuscript. Whether you're using ChatGPT or other AI models, following proper citation practices helps maintain academic integrity and gives credit where it's due. In this blog post, we'll explore the best practices for citing generative AI technology in your academic work. However, it’s important to point out that you are responsible for determining the requirements relevant to your context, so check with the journal if you are publishing and check with the professor if you’re a student.

Nobody speaks “Academic English” as a native language. As an applied linguist, I firmly believe that ALL academics have to take steps to constantly improve our fluency in this dialect. Embracing technology as a language learning tool holds immense potential for assisting researchers in their journey towards successful publication – especially the integration of artificial intelligence (AI). In this blog post, I will share some best practices and three specific takeaways to consider when utilizing technology and AI for improving your “Academic English.”

When just starting a manuscript, it’s often helpful to begin by writing your methods. If we think about the hourglass concept of a research article, the methods occur in the narrowest part of the hourglass, meaning that we are writing with a lot of specificity and focus. Writing about methods also means writing about what we’ve already done, which is a tangible and sometimes easier place to start (as opposed to the synthesis required for writing an intro and lit review). So, today’s post will provide some tips on writing the methods section.

When it comes to publishing scientific research, organizing your manuscript effectively is crucial for conveying your findings and insights to the academic community. The structure and organization of your paper not only enhance readability but also contribute to the clarity and impact of your research. In this blog, we explore the typical structure of a manuscript and provide guidance on creating an effective organizational plan. We will also discuss the significance of section headers and the role of balancing the word counts within each section.

Discover effective strategies for creating a powerful orientation for your research in this blog post. Instead of using the generic term "introduction," we explore the concept of "orientation" to prompt writers to take action and achieve their communicative goals. By following three essential objectives, you can establish a solid foundation, narrow down to a specific problem, and propose a solution.

Discover how to navigate the academic journal landscape effectively with our comprehensive guide. Learn about different types of publications, and find key insights to help you choose the right venue for your research. Explore factors like scope, impact, and audience to ensure your work achieves maximum reach and impact.

As a researcher, publishing your work is crucial to advancing your academic career. However, publishing your research in reputable journals can be daunting. That's where a genre-based approach can help. The genre-based approach is based on the IMRaD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) structure commonly used in research articles. Each section has specific expectations that researchers must meet to effectively communicate their research findings to the reader. In the e-book Preparing to Publish, the authors depict this structure using an hourglass. That shape allows us to consider which research article sections will be general/broad and which will be specific/narrow.

Discover how to break free from the cycle of frustration in research writing and develop compelling arguments that showcase the significance of your work. Join our workshop series, Unlock Your Publishing Potential, led by Academic Writing Specialist, Dr. Kimberly Becker. Learn to define and construct persuasive scientific arguments, understand the structure of research articles, and utilize genre-based strategies to effectively communicate your research.

ChatPDF is a web-based platform that allows users to convert their PDF files into editable documents that can be easily modified, annotated, and shared with others. ChatPDF can be used to help students and researchers to make the most of their time by increasing their efficiency and productivity when working with PDF files. ChatPDF works by analyzing text in a PDF file and summarizing relevant information. Users can ask questions to quickly extract information.

How to Use ChatGPT for Academic Purposes: Artificial intelligence (AI), specifically ChatGPT, has recently received a LOT of attention. I’ve personally found myself wondering, Has the time finally come? Are the robots taking over? Jokes aside, ChatGPT is a powerful language model developed by OpenAI and can be used in various contexts, including academic writing. ChatGPT is designed to understand and generate human-like text using probability algorithms without getting into too much technical detail.

In academic writing, there is a clear distinction between active and passive voice. In active voice, the subject of the sentence is the doer of the action. While both forms are used in academic writing, active voice is generally preferred as it is more concise and direct. Passive voice sentences often use more words, can be harder to read, and can give the appearance of evading responsibility. In this. blog post, I will offer tips on how you can change passive voice to active voice in your own writing.

Critical appraisal is the process of carefully and systematically assessing the strengths and limitations of a research study to determine its suitability for informing clinical decision-making. This process involves asking questions about a study's design, conduct, results, and interpretation to evaluate its quality and usefulness. The types of questions asked during a critical appraisal vary based on the level of evidence.

Counterarguments enhance the credibility of your argument by demonstrating you understand the position of other researchers in your field. Thus, counterarguments are a critical component of an academic argument. But how exactly do you go about doing this? In this bog post, I’ll offer a step-by-step guide on how to develop an effective counterargument for any academic paper.

The MEAL plan is an easy-to-remember and effective way to structure your academic paragraphs. When used correctly, it can help you organize and develop your ideas in a logical manner so that they are clearly expressed.

Writing academic papers can be a daunting task, but with the proper focus and techniques, it can become much easier. In order to produce a well-written and cohesive paper, it is important to use language that flows smoothly from one sentence to the next. Learn how to improve sentence cohesion in your academic papers by following these 7 tips.

The literature review is a critical part of any research project. It provides a comprehensive overview of the existing body of knowledge on a topic, and how that knowledge has been developed over time. A literature review can be structured in a number of ways, depending on the purpose and scope of the work. In general, a literature review should be organized around a central question or theme and use a logical approach to synthesizing and evaluating the existing body of work. In determining the structure of your literature review, it is important to consider the approach you will take. There are four common approaches to organizing a literature review: theoretical, thematic, methodological, and chronological.

A literature review is a well-reasoned, evidence-based, scholarly argument demonstrating your study's need. While your literature review will contain a great deal of information, it is not (primarily) an informative text. Keeping this in mind at the outset can lead you toward a critique that situates your study within the scholarly discourse relevant to your research topic.

The purpose of an abstract is to provide your reader with a concise overview of your research and its findings. As a scholar, I’m sure you’ve seen the benefit of reading abstracts during your research process. They help you decide which studies might be relevant to your interests and give you an overview of what has been studied and learned on a given topic. Think of how much more difficult research would be without abstracts. You would have to read entire articles before knowing their relevance. By writing an abstract, you make your writing visible to other scholars conducting research on your topic.