Academic & Scientific Proofreading Flashcards
7 cards from real CPP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Academic & Scientific Proofreading flashcards as text
Which of the following is an example of a dangling modifier in an academic sentence?
Answer: Having reviewed the literature, the gap was identified.
In 'Having reviewed the literature, the gap was identified,' the participial phrase dangles because the gap did not review the literature—the researcher did.
In Chicago author-date style, how is a source with no author cited in-text?
Answer: Use the title (shortened if necessary) followed by the year
Chicago author-date style uses a shortened version of the title in place of an author's name when no author is identified.
A scientific manuscript uses both 'mg/dL' and 'mg/dl' for the same unit. What should the proofreader do?
Answer: Flag the inconsistency and recommend standardizing to one form per the target journal's style
Inconsistent unit formatting should be flagged; the proofreader should recommend standardizing to the style preferred by the target journal.
When proofreading an abstract for a research article, which element is LEAST likely to appear?
Answer: Detailed raw data tables
Abstracts summarize research concisely and do not include detailed raw data tables, which belong in the results section of the full paper.
In APA style, how are statistics such as means and standard deviations formatted within a sentence?
Answer: In italics with abbreviations: M = 4.5, SD = 1.2
APA style italicizes statistical abbreviations like M, SD, and p when reporting results in text.
What is the correct use of 'that' versus 'which' in a restrictive clause in formal academic writing?
Answer: 'That' introduces restrictive clauses; 'which' introduces non-restrictive clauses set off by commas
In American academic style, 'that' introduces restrictive (essential) clauses, while 'which' introduces non-restrictive (non-essential) clauses preceded by a comma.
A proofreader finds that a scientific paper's Methods section refers to 'participants' while the IRB approval letter in the appendix says 'subjects.' What is the best course of action?
Answer: Query the author about whether terminology should be standardized
The proofreader should query the author, as the choice between 'participants' and 'subjects' can reflect ethical or disciplinary conventions that only the author can resolve.