Prevalence of Grammatical Errors in Journal Article Submissions

• In Event: 66.057 - Roundtable Session 27
  In Roundtable Session: 66.057-12 - Teaching Educational Research

Abstract

Evidence has been provided about the importance of avoiding American Psychological Association (APA) errors in the abstract, body, reference list, and table sections of empirical research articles. Specifically, authors are significantly more likely to have their manuscripts rejected for publication if they fail to avoid APA violations—and, thus, do not write with discipline—in these sections. In addition to adhering to APA, writing with discipline also includes avoiding grammatical errors. Thus, in this study, I analyzed grammatical errors committed in 74 manuscripts submitted to the journal Research in the Schools over a 2-year period. These analyses revealed the most common grammatical errors, and the grammatical errors that best predicted whether or not a manuscript was rejected by the editor.

Author

• Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie, Sam Houston State University