Writing a research paper in English for Arabic speakers
An Arabic-influenced research paper carries «al-» into English «the», drops «is» before adjectives, and chains methods with «and». Here's the Diglot workflow for journal-ready English.
Why Arabic speakers face this differently
Arabic-speaking researchers writing in English meet their L1 most in the Methods and Results: definiteness from «al-» produces over-used «the», the absent present copula drops «is/are» before adjectives («the correlation strong»), and «wa-» coordination turns a methods paragraph into one long run-on. Diglot reads these as Arabic-leak, fixes them to journal register, and pairs with citations and authorship proof.
The Diglot workflow for research paper writing
- 1
Draft sections in Arabic or English
Draft Methods, Results, and Discussion in whichever language is faster. Diglot handles RTL Arabic input and translates section-by-section into the formal register journals expect.
- 2
Translate to journal register
Research English has its own register — precise, often passive in Methods. Diglot translates to that, not to casual English, keeping your terminology and structure.
- 3
Run L1-aware grammar check
Diglot catches the Arabic patterns in scientific prose: article over-use, missing copula before adjectives in Results, and wa- run-ons across a Methods paragraph that should be separate steps.
- 4
Manage citations and references
The Citations module formats references in your target style (APA, IEEE, Vancouver) and keeps them consistent — one less thing to get wrong while you focus on the English.
- 5
Plagiarism + Authorship Certificate
Run a plagiarism check before submission, and keep the Authorship Certificate as proof of human authorship if a journal's AI screen falsely flags non-native English (~2× false-positive rate, Stanford 2023).
Arabic → English patterns Diglot catches
| Draft (Arabic-influenced) | Corrected | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The sodium was added to the the solution at the room temperature. | Sodium was added to the solution at room temperature. | Definite-article over-use from «al-» — duplicated «the» and «the» on generic «room temperature». English drops articles on generic/mass references. Pattern: `definite-article-overuse`. |
| The correlation strong between the two variables. | The correlation is strong between the two variables. | Missing present copula — Arabic has no present-tense «to be», so «is» drops before the adjective in Results. Pattern: `missing-copula-be-present`. |
| The samples were heated and the temperature was recorded and the data were stored and the analysis was performed. | The samples were heated and the temperature recorded. The data were stored, then analysed. | Run-on from «wa-» coordination — Arabic chains methods steps with «و» where English uses sentence breaks and shared auxiliaries. Pattern: `wa-coordination-runon`. |
| This paper discuss about the limitations of previous studies. | This paper discusses the limitations of previous studies. | «discuss about» calques «يناقش حول»; English «discuss» takes no preposition. (Subject-verb «-s» also dropped.) Pattern: `discuss-about-calque`. |
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Frequently asked questions
- Does Diglot handle scientific and technical terminology?
- Yes. It translates and checks around your terminology rather than altering it — it fixes the Arabic-leak grammar (articles, copula, run-ons) while leaving your domain terms, units, and citations intact. You stay in control of the science; Diglot handles the English.
- Will a journal's AI detector flag my paper?
- It is an increasing risk as journals deploy AI screening. Stanford research found non-native English faces ~2× the false-positive rate, and Arabic-influenced English gets flagged because its article and copula patterns look unusual to detectors trained on native English. Diglot reduces the triggering patterns AND provides an Authorship Certificate as cryptographic proof if you are flagged.
- Can I write the Methods in Arabic and translate it?
- Yes — drafting Methods or Discussion in Arabic and translating section-by-section is a supported workflow. RTL input is handled cleanly, and L1-aware grammar fixes the article and copula patterns that a direct translation would carry into your English draft.
- Does Diglot format my references?
- The Citations module formats and keeps references consistent in APA, IEEE, Vancouver, and other common styles. It will not invent sources — you provide the references, and it handles the formatting so the bibliography is not another place for errors to creep in.
