OWSD Nigeria National Chapter Presents Leveraging Tech for Enhancing Grant Writing Skills, Research and Publications
July 02, 2021
OWSD Nigeria National Chapter University of PortHarcourt Branch series of scientific communications:Rosemary Ogu on Leveraging Tech for Enhancing Grant Writing Skills,Research and Pubs
Leveraging Tech for Enhancing Grant Writing Skills, Research and Publications
By
Prof Rosemary Ogu
Introduction
Applications for grants and appraisals necessitate writing and publishing. Grants enable research. Research is the pathway to making discoveries and enabling social interventions in our society. Research propels humanity forward. It is through research that we discover the answers to questions. So as scientists, we must ask questions and seek answers. Our results must be published to enable effective sharing. Academic publishing is the subfield of publishing which distributes academic research and scholarship. Most academic work is published in academic journal article, book or thesis form. Carrying out research and publishing the resultant finding is expensive. Grants enable research activities and publications. Grant are funds given by an entity – typically, a public body, charitable foundation, or a specialised grant-making institution – to an individual or another entity for a specific purpose linked to public benefit. Thus, every scientist must be able to apply for a grant. In the same vein, every scientist must be able to write, report and publish their research findings. To apply for a grant, a summary of your previous activities is usually required. Prior published work in the area of interest is advantageous. So, which comes first – the chicken or the egg?
What are the tools available to aid grant application? These are the same tools that aid writing up research results. The same tools will enable effective documentation for academic publication. Tools to enhance writing include software like word document, reference managing software like Zotero, Mendeley, endnote, formatting software like typeset and the English language writing enhancement application Grammarly.
Microsoft Word is a word processor developed by Microsoft. Microsoft Word creates professional-quality documents, reports, letters, and resumes. With embedded spell check, grammer check, font formatting, image support, track changes, and compare documents, Microsoft word enables the researcher to communicate effectively with his/her audience. Authors can insert 3D model images directly while writing or transform the word document into a web page. Microsoft Editor goes beyond checking spelling and grammar so authors can write with confidence. Users get intelligent suggestions in the Editor Overview pane in Word.
Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides are a word processor, a spreadsheet and a presentation program respectively, all part of a free, web-based software to enable multi authored researchers especially, to track all changes, edit and comment.
Grammarly is an English language writing enhancement application. Grammarly ensure everything typed is clear, effective in delivering the message, and mistake-free. Grammarly’s sophisticated artificial intelligence not only corrects grammatical mistakes, but also makes the writing more understandable and make the right impression on the reader based on the selected audience and goals. In addition, Grammarly is able to check the tone of the correspondence, provide synonym suggestions to make the text more readable and precise, as well as check documents for plagiarism. Grammarly’s algorithms flag potential issues in the text and make context-specific suggestions to help with grammar, spelling and usage, wordiness, style, punctuation, and plagiarism. The software explains the reasoning behind each suggestion, and the writer can decide whether or not, and how, to correct an issue.
Reference management software, citation management software, or bibliographic management software is software for scholars and authors to use for recording and utilising bibliographic citations (references) and managing project references. Once a citation has been recorded, it can be used repeatedly in generating bibliographies and lists of references in scholarly books, articles and essays. The development of reference management packages has been driven by the rapid expansion of scientific literature. These software packages normally consist of a database in which full bibliographic references can be entered, plus a system for generating selective lists of articles in the different formats required by publishers and scholarly journals. Modern reference management packages can usually be integrated with word processors so that a reference list in the appropriate format is produced automatically as an article is written, reducing the risk that a cited source is not included in the reference list. Reference management software also have a facility for importing the details of publications from bibliographic databases.
Reference management software does not do the same job as a bibliographic database, which tries to list all articles published in a particular discipline or group of disciplines. Such bibliographic databases are large and have to be housed on major server installations. By contrast, reference management software collects a much smaller database, of the publications that have been used or are likely to be used by a particular author or group, and such a database can easily be housed on an individual's personal computer. These can be used repeatedly in generating bibliographies and lists of references in scholarly books, articles and essays. Examples of reference management software include Endnote, Mendeley, Zotero
Zotero is a free and open-source reference management software/ easy to use tool to manage bibliographic data and related research materials. With Zotero, scientists can collect, organize, cite, and share research. Zotero is developed by an independent, nonprofit organization- the Corporation for Digital Scholarship, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development of software and services for researchers and cultural heritage institutions.
Mendeley is a desktop and web program produced by Elsevier for managing and sharing research papers, discovering research data and collaborating online. It combines Mendeley Desktop, a PDF and reference management application available for Windows, macOS and Linux. Mendeley generate references, citations and bibliographies in a whole range of journal styles with just a few clicks. With Mendeley, scientists can import papers and other documents from desktop, existing libraries or websites quickly and easily. Mendeley automatically captures author, title and publisher information. Elsevier acquired Mendeley in 2013.
EndNote is a commercial reference management software package, used to manage bibliographies and references when writing essays, reports and articles. It is currently produced by Clarivate Analytics. Most bibliographic databases allow users to export references to their EndNote libraries. This enables the user to select multiple citations and saves the user from having to manually enter the citation information and the abstracts.
Once articles have been identified, they should first be skimmed or read. Then summaries of the important information in each of the references should be made. These should then be classified so that the information can easily be retrieved. Finally, the literature should be included in your protocol or reference library.
Typesetting software include Typeset….
Typeset is a software that lets the author choose the journal template and then auto-formats the content to the journal guidelines. It also guides the author on mandatory sections to be written for the journal and what needs to be written, allowing authors to get started on their research paper immediately.
Conclusion
Various tech softwares exist to service scientific writing and research and include Writing (Word doc), Referencing (Zotero, Endnote, Mendeley), Formatting (Typeset), English language writing enhancement application: spell, grammar, and plagiarism checker (Grammarly). Every scientist must be able to write, report and publish their research findings.
Contact:
Prof Rosemary Nkemdilim OGU, MBBS, MScRH, FWACS, FMCOG, FICS.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,
Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Email: rosemary.ogu@uniport.edu.ng
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5467-302X
REFERENCES
Microsoft Word. Available @ https://www.microsoft.com/en-ww/microsoft-365/word. Accessed 27th June 2021
Zotero. Available @ https://www.zotero.org. Accessed 26th June 2021
Mendeley Reference Management Software. L Mendeley - 2019 - London (UK): Elsevier BV.
Shin J. Mendeley Mobile: Powerful Cloud-Based Article and Reference Management in Your Pocket. J Digit Imaging. 2016;29(6):635-637. doi:10.1007/s10278-016-9907-8
Mendeley. Available @ https://www.mendeley.com/reference-management/mendeley-desktop. Accessed 26th June 2021
Endnote. Available @ https://endnote.com. Accessed 26th June 2021
