One of the first questions students ask when they start a literature review is “When do I stop?” After all, if your goal is to read and evaluate everything that has ever been said on a topic, it may seem like you’re starting on an endless quest.

But there is a solution. It’s called the ’saturation point’.

To make sure that you’re covering everthing that has been said on your topic, don’t worry about reading every possible writer, or every possible article. Instead, concentrate on the things that are being said. After a while, you’ll begin to notice that fewer and fewer new ideas are jumping out of the literature. When that stops happening entirely, you can be pretty sure that you’ve reached the saturation point - and that means it’s time to stop.

‘Holy grail’, ’silver bullet’, ’shedding light’ and ‘missing link’: over at Wired.com is a great list of terrible clichés to avoid in science writing. Have a read of the comments - there’s a number of gems in there as well.

Clichés should, of course, be avoided in any writing; they make your ideas seem tired and derivative. But it’s not quite as easy to get rid of them as that. We all reflexively slip into using clichés - we all slip into using terms and phrases that just roll off the tongue, somehow with our conscious permission. The trick to getting rid of them? Re-read your work, trying to think how many times you might have heard each phrase. I know that I’ve heard ‘roll off the tongue’ many thousands of times.

So - what are the clichés that bug your writing? What are the little phrases that you just can’t seem to do without? Let us know what unthinkingly plagues your writing.

Writing your first literature review can be a daunting task - most students come to the project with a fair degree puzzlement and trepidation. Yet as daunting as it might seem at first, researching and writing a literature review can be fairly painless - and even a rewarding - experience. The key to writing a good literature review (forgive me if this seems overly simplistic!) is to read.

It may seem obvious, but if you want to develop a good literature review, the best advice is to read as much as you can on the issues that surround your topic. You’ll never find a paper that exactly answers your question (after all, if there was a paper that did provide the exact answer, why are you researching that topic?), but there will be lots of interesting writing that surrounds the issue. Perhaps there is a solid literature for you to begin in, and which you can expand by following links and citations.

Eventually, you’ll come to a point where you’ve read just about every major article. You’ll come to what is known as the point of saturation. You can keep reading at this point, but you’ll quickly find that anything new is merely rehashing the same ideas. Once you’ve got to this point, you can start to write!

The key to writing your literature review is to remember your question. What are you trying to answer? Hang every paragraph that follows on this question. Simply consider every side of the issue - what does each article add to your understanding of the question? When you’ve shown what is roughly known about the topic, you can take your reader straight to your research - which should hopefully solve the issue at hand!

For some reason, it seems that people are trying to get rid of the past tense of ‘bias’.  If you have bias against something, then you are ‘biased’, not just ‘bias’.

I often read things like ‘the survey sample was bias because…’.  This is incorrect.  The correct past tense and past participle of bias is biased.  ‘The survey sample was biased because…’.

We all know that first impressions count - and that first impressions of  a job application count even more.  Yet as important first impressions are, catching the eye of a potential employer is a complicated process.  To do this, you have to strike exactly the right balance between giving them what they’re looking for and giving them something new and exciting that makes them think about the job a little differently.  Too boring, and you’ll never get your foot in the door… too gimicky, and you’ll get your application thrown right in the bin.

So what can you do?  You could consider injecting a little personality into your cover letter, talking about your career objectives and how this job fits in with them.  Alternately, you could consider demonstrating your skills in the field by highlighting your most prominent project.  You could even - if you’re brave - consider telling your potential employer what can be improved about the position or the company more broadly.  If they’re looking for ideas - and they’re interested in new thinking - then they’ll be happy to look on your application in a favourable light.

Your choice of essay topic can make an enormous difference to your eventual mark - select the right topic, and you’re on the path to impressive results; pick the wrong one however, and you’ll end up confused and dispirited, handing in a paper below your ability.

So what is the trick to picking the right topic?  It depends, of course, on whether you’re given a variety of questions to chose from, or whether you’re free to sculpt your own essay question.  Regardless, however, the key thing to do is read all of the questions on offer - or look at all of the course topics you’ve been taught - and follow the one that speaks directly to your curiousity.  Don’t be swayed by what you think is the easiest question, or by what you think your marker is most interested in.  Believe me, they’ll read plenty of those essays, and they’ll loose yours in the mental pile… But if you choose a topic that you’re curious about - that you’re interested in - then you’re bound to convey that interest in your research and in your eventual report.  And that’s what will spark the interest of your marker.

Need to prepare a report?  If you need to get across a lot of information in a report - which is invariably the case with such writing - then you need to think seriously about strucutre.  Without it, you’ll never achieve your goals, and you’ll never get your message across.

There’s no single ‘best practice’ method for structuring a report, but if you keep in mind the needs of your audience, you’re well on the way to building a useful and stimulating report.

The key to structuring your report is to remember that you’re writing for a variety of different readers.  Some will have a lot of time and be interested in every detail; some will be time poor but interested in your key findings.  Others again might only be interested in your take on a particular issue.  With that in mind, make sure you include a helpful Executive Summary in your report, presenting your key messages in easy to understand writing.  Time poor readers will turn straight to this and never look back.  Similarly, make sure you include useful chapter headings and an index to allow readers who won’t read the whole report to find what they want.  Some readers will only be interested in one specific point.  They may not be your key target audience, but if they find your report useful, then you’ve written successfully!

Scientists and researchers - and countless other professionals - have been told for years to get rid of overly technical terms unique to their subject area.  In simple terms, to get rid of jargon.  There’s a good reason for this: complicated words have a way of excluding new readers.  But getting rid of jargon in your writing is easier said than done.  After all, those complicated words are, perhaps by definition, useful within their specific domain.  Some concepts just can’t be talked about without their specific term.  Yet despite the difficulty, you’ll find that if you work hard to minimise the jargon your writing can only be more successful.

The best way to minimise the impact of jargon in your writing is not to get rid of it entirely - after all it is quite useful - but to limit it to what is absolutely essential.  Only use complicated jargon when no other word will suffice.  Always explain the term when you do.  Finally (and perhaps most importantly!) never feel too proud using a word that you’ve only just learned.  If you’ve only just learned it, the chances are that a lot of other people haven’t learned it all - and will be excluded by your writing.

It seems like there’s nothing quite like a speech for striking fear in the heart of the normally composed and intelligent individual. Whether it’s at a conference, a wedding or a business meeting, there are many occasions in our lives when we’re called to talk in front of a group. Yet as daunting as this might seem at first, with a bit of preparation, you can take the worst out of your nerves and pull off an engaging and well received speech. The secret - of course - is preparation.

To get started on writing your speech, consider first the basics - your audience, time constraints, setting and purpose. These aren’t rocket science, but ignore them, and you’ll end up getting everyone offside.

Once you’ve considered the basics, the next thing to do is begin structuring what you want to say - don’t start with jokes or flowery language, start with the key messages. Plot these messages down, and work out how you’ll get to them through your introduction, key messages and conclusion.

Once you’ve done that, you can really begin to hone your speech by polishing and perfecting the writing - make things as flowery or simple or amusing as the event requires, and then practice, practice, practice!

Whatever you’re writing - whether it’s a job application cover letter, a journal article or an essay - you have the right to be understood.

You have the right to expect that other people take your ideas seriously. You have the right to be listened to. You have the right to a fair hearing.

But are you always understood? Are your ideas always taken seriously? Are you always listened to?

There’s a large gap between having the right to be understood and it being realised. Too many people are held back - by problems with their writing, by spelling and punctuation errors, or by simple typographical mistakes.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. You can take control. You can demand to be understood.

Take charge of your writing. Get the editing assistance you need.

My Editing Co. Because everyone has the right to be understood.