As generative AI tools have become increasingly available to academic researchers, so too have the reports of GPT-fabricated scientific papers creeping into the public scholarly record, for example, this 2024 report from the Harvard Kennedy School:
Developing strong scientific writing skills has always been an important component of graduate training in the basic sciences, however, not all scientific authors have the same degree of exposure to writing classes and authorship opportunities. As the burden of recognizing fake papers is falling more and more on the readers of scientific works, there couldn’t be a better way to protect yourself against fraudulent articles than by becoming an expert at scientific writing yourself.
Here’s some resources to explore if you wish to develop your scientific writing skills:
1) E-books from the MSK Library’s collection and full-text book chapters available online
2) Duke Graduate School Scientific Writing Resource
https://sites.duke.edu/scientificwriting/
“The Scientific Writing Resource is online course material that teaches how to write effectively. The material is not about correctness (grammar, punctuation, etc.), but about communicating what you intend to the reader. It can be used either in a science class or by individuals. It is intended for science students at the graduate level.”
“This guide to scientific writing was originally created in 2010-2011 by Nathan Sheffield for the Duke University Graduate School and funded by a Duke University Graduate School Teaching mini-grant. This current site is maintained by the Duke Graduate School. If you have questions about this site, please contact gradschool@duke.edu.”
The MSK Library also provides access to writing support tools, including:
1) Citation Management tools – https://libguides.mskcc.org/citationmanagement
Find out about a variety of citation management software tools that can save you time when you are formatting your manuscript’s references and bibliography.
2) Trinka AI – https://libguides.mskcc.org/trinka
“Trinka is an AI-powered writing assistant designed for academic and technical writing. Trinka corrects advanced grammar errors and contextual spelling mistakes by providing writing suggestions in real-time. It helps academicians write in a formal, concise, and engaging manner. In addition to correcting grammatical errors, Trinka allows you to paraphrase the text and improve consistency, enabling you to enhance the quality of your writing based on your requirements.”
3) iThenticate – https://libguides.mskcc.org/ithenticate
“iThenticate is a tool for researchers and writers to check their original works for potential plagiarism. This resource will check against 93% of Top Cited Journal content and 70+ billion current and archived web pages.”
Questions? Ask Us at the MSK Library!