Tag: books

The Battle of Screens vs Books: A Deep Dive

The bookshops are empty and dusty, but the cinemas and comedy halls are overflowing. The books are closed, but the screens are beaming. The eyes are wide open, but the brain is gradually falling into a slumber. Reason has been imprisoned, but emotions are on rampage. The world is going through a rapid evolution of sorts. It has become one big eyeball without brains. It only sees but cannot understand. It only feels but cannot ground the signal in reason. This is the tragedy of an age that lives on the screen – television screen, computer screen, mobile phone screen.

The mobile technology has definitely caused a paradigm shift which has metamorphosed into a pandemic shift. We grew up reading books. This generation is growing up dreaming and drooling over screens. Even adults now clutch onto mobile devices with the tenacity of an infant guarding her plastic toys. People now generally spend a disproportionate amount of their day watching video. They would rather watch a thousand videos than read a chapter of a book. In an age ruled by screens, where most knowledge is delivered through short videos, visual slides, and voice notes, we’re beginning to treat reading like an optional luxury. And yet, something deep within me resists this shift — not from nostalgia, but from a growing conviction. It’s not just a stylistic preference. It’s a neurological, psychological, and even moral concern. It transcends the periphery of theory into the sacred realms of science, experience and observation.

1. The Brain on Books vs. Screens

Let’s begin with the brain. Reading is not a passive activity — it’s an active, energy-consuming process involving multiple complex regions of the brain. Reading engages several parts of the brain that facilitate critical thinking while watching of videos adulterates the learning process by subtly stimulating the emotional region of the brain – the amygdala. Studies using fMRI confirm that reading — especially deep reading — is mentally taxing and builds cognitive stamina, focus, and abstract reasoning. On the contrary, the sights and sounds built into videos facilitate quicker absorption of information by the brain with minimal efforts. They engage more of the limbic areas (emotion) but less of the frontal lobes (reasoning) thus lowering internal visualization, analysis and synthesis of information.

Activity	Key Brain Regions Activated	Cognitive Outcome
Reading	Visual Word Form Area (VWFA), Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area, Prefrontal Cortex, Angular Gyrus	Deep comprehension, memory integration, critical reasoning
Watching Video	Occipital Cortex, Auditory Cortex, Amygdala, Default Mode Network	Passive absorption, emotion-based reaction, reduced analytical effort

Parts of the brain activated during reading or watching videos

Overall personal development through reading — Reading facilitates overall personal development

Research using fMRI scans shows that children who read more have stronger connectivity between the VWFA and the brain’s language and executive function areas. In contrast, excessive screen time is correlated with weakened white matter in those same regions — especially those tied to language and self-regulation. The motive here is not to totally write off watching of movies for entertainment or educational purposes. I believe that videos are a powerful learning aid when used to augment but not substitute reading. The catch however, is that inordinate use of visual media cultivates mental passivity. It short-circuits the brain’s deep-learning circuits, weakens cognitive stamina, and replaces reflection with reflex. Visual aids essentially mimic a feeding bottle or spoon-feeding syndrome where partly digested food is feed directly into the intestine of an infant without engaging the tongue and teeth. Videos and visual aids impair deep and long-term learning by reducing cognitive ability, decreasing attention span, weakening of imagination and internal visualization in addition to reducing shallow processing. What we gain in speed, we often lose in substance.

Reading builds the mental scaffolding for structured thought. Watching lets that scaffolding sit unused.

2. The Passivity of Watching: Recline and Decline

Have you noticed that people often watch videos lying down? Reclining on a couch or bed, mentally drifting, barely blinking? That’s not a coincidence. When the body reclines, the brain receives a clear signal: ‘It’s time to rest.’ The posture we choose becomes the posture of our mind. Sit up, and we signal readiness. Recline, and we invite passivity. That’s why real learning rarely happens when we’re lying down. But unfortunately, entertainment and educational visual media naturally invite us to “relax and enjoy” or “learn with fun”. Both messages send signals to the brain to slow down mental activity.

Watching encourages passivity. Videos present pre-processed imagery, tone, pace, and even emotion. There is little left for the viewer to construct or wrestle with. Studies have shown that students who frequently consume visual media score low on reading comprehension and delayed recall. It has also been reported that heavy screen viewers manifest reduced working memory activation.

Reading is the opposite. You sit up. You process. You imagine. You ask questions. It challenges your imagination and you challenge the validity of the information. Your intellect wrestles to construct a full picture of the message in the text. A man watching a video has little control over the rate at which information is being transmitted. He may hit the pause or replay button but we all know how inconveniencing that can be. On the other hand, a book is under the full control of the reader, thus giving them the leverage to pause, think deeply and reflect before continuing. What does the book do? It simply sits on the table waiting for the reader to continue or turn the next page. This is the level of engagement that makes knowledge to permeate and consolidate in the mind. It is usually in the pauses that inspiration is birthed. Ever heard of the saying “reading maketh a full man?” This concept in rooted in Indian tradition which believes that reading builds character and intellect. The same cannot be said of overindulgence in watching videos. If anything, it can be said that watching videos reduces men to babies.

Trait	Reading	Video Watching
Mental Effort	High	Low to moderate
Depth of Processing	Deep	Often shallow
Retention	Long-term	Shorter-term
Emotional Influence	Controlled by reader	Often manipulated by pacing & music
Builds Discipline?	Yes	Rarely

Quality of learning obtained by reading and watching videos

The more we replace reading with watching, the more we risk training a generation of minds that can consume but not construct; react but not reflect; receive but not realize; absorb but not assimilate.

3. Moral and Social Dimensions

The repercussion of over-dependence on visual media and its gradual displacement of reading culture also extends to the social and moral domains. Reading cultivates a climate of inner stillness. It invites quiet, contemplation and judgment. Even in a room full of readers, you find a sacred hush — the outward sign of inward thought. In contrast, video-watching thrives amid chaos. A room of a hundred people watching separate screens feels louder, more fragmented, mentally unsettling and more emotionally volatile. A generation raised on reading tends to be reflective. A generation raised on flashing videos risks becoming restless, impulsive, and shaped more by image than by insight. Readers pause. They weigh. They apply reason and moral reflection to what they receive. Even when they are persuaded, the process is deliberate and often transformative.

Video, however, often bypasses that mental discipline. Its pace, music, and visuals stir emotion before reason has had its say. Even when you don’t agree with the narrative being pushed in a video, it still leaves its footprints on your subconscious mind, thus subtly influencing or weakening your convictions and slowly softening convictions or reshaping them in ways we don’t detect or would have consciously permitted. For example, most African traditional values have been eroded as a result of uncensored exposure to decadent western lifestyle propagated through movies.

A sharp contrast between how reading and watching videos affect morals and behaviours can be drawn using crime novels and crime movies. There is some evidence that violent visual media (like crime movies or TV) may increase aggressive behaviour or desensitization to violence, especially in vulnerable individuals. However, reading crime novels does not show the same effect — in fact, it often engages empathy, moral reasoning, and reflection. While both video and written content can influence thought, overwhelmingly visual media (films, games, and online videos) have been directly linked to violent criminal behaviour. The emotional immediacy and immersive nature of videos make them more likely to incite impulsive action, especially in unstable individuals. Reading, by contrast, tends to encourage reflection, delay, and distance — even when the material is dark or violent.

Video scenes tend to partially hijack the viewer’s mind to the extent that they sometimes begin to mentally participate in the acts being relayed. This is because the brain mirrors the action being watched especially in highly emotional or immersive situations. For instance, watching a football match involving your favourite club and reading a novel about the same game do not produce the same effect. The video version will engage your emotions more and can even induce a fever in you if your club loses. This exactly why some football fans do weird things while watching a game they are vested in. Common reactions include:

Flinching when their team almost concedes
Shouting “Shooooot!” and thrusting their legs forward
Jerking their heads as if dodging a ball
Even falling off chairs during penalty shootouts!

I am not a football fan, but I once watched a football match involving my country. My body temperature rose by several degrees during that episode, yet I could not stop watching. A book wouldn’t have caused me such trauma.

Behavior	Crime Movies	Crime Novels
📈 Increased aggression	Linked in multiple studies, especially in youths, impulsive individuals, or frequent viewers	No strong evidence of aggression increase
📉 Empathy erosion	Possible with repeated exposure to violent visuals	Rare; often enhances moral sensitivity
🔄 Mimicry of crime	Documented cases exist (e.g., “copycat crimes” tied to films or series)	Extremely rare from reading novels
📚 Cognitive stimulation	Low-moderate, mostly sensory	High: visualization, inference, judgment

Contrast between crime novels and crime movies

What enters the soul unfiltered eventually becomes part of the soul. And the unfiltered flood of images that defines our era may be forming not just our thoughts — but our character

4. Neuroscience of Atrophy: Empirical Evidence

Only very few people understand the long-term damage inordinate watching of videos inflicts on people. On the other hand, almost everyone agrees, even without knowing why, that reading builds intellectual stamina, stimulates critical thinking and generates inspiration. Early exposure to books has been found to correlate with stronger brain connectivity, better school readiness, and higher long-term cognitive scores. There are parents who sedate their children with a high dose of videos until they become addicted to virtual alternatives. A good reading habit is an art of discipline that is gradually fading away, thus producing a generation that can hardly grasp complex issues let alone resolve them. Reading requires patience, persistence and focus. A book might take weeks to read, but it can be watched in two hours when condensed into a movie. One is like planting a tree which takes years to mature. But when it does, it is entrenched in the ground like a colossus. The other is like the emergence of the butterfly from the chrysalis – dazzling for a moment and then fading into oblivion. You may think of watching videos as sustaining a person on semi-digested liquid food and reading as serving someone a solid balanced diet.

Reading and watching videos affect the mind differently — Effect of reading and video watching on the mind

So how exactly does watching videos affect the brain? The following scientific evidence should immediately convince any doubting Thomas of the superiority of reading to watching videos.

A study published in JAMA Pediatrics showed that children exposed to more screen time had thinner cortexes in areas responsible for language and executive function.
Another found that screen-heavy children had reduced white matter integrity in regions tied to reading and self-regulation.
A 2020 study reported in Health.com found that adults who read regularly had better memory, cognitive flexibility, and even lived longer.
EEG studies (electroencephalograms) show that during passive video watching, especially television, the brain produces more alpha waves — the same waves associated with relaxed, unfocused, or even drowsy states.
Watching videos (especially YouTube, TikTok, or autoplay series) causes frequent dopamine surges. Over time, this leads to diminished reward sensitivity, less motivation for tasks that require effort (like reading or deep work) and a “lazy” cognitive state, even while the viewer feels entertained.

These aren’t minor differences. They’re structural. They literally reshape the brain.

Function	Enhanced by Reading	Impaired by Excessive Watching
Verbal Reasoning	✅ Yes	❌ Weakened
Abstract Thinking	✅ Yes	❌ Blunted
Focus and Attention Span	✅ Improved	❌ Reduced
Imagination and Simulation	✅ Engaged	❌ Outsourced to visuals
Emotional Regulation	✅ Strengthened	❌ Dysregulated by hyperstimulation

mapping of mental capacity development to reading versus watching videos

Watching may inform. But reading transforms.

5. Final Reflection: Why This Matters

There is no doubt that videos can support learning, especially when well-designed, but they do not replace the deep neural engagement required for mastery, critical reasoning, or long-term transformation. A society becomes shallow, reactionary, emotionally volatile, and less equipped to handle ambiguity. Reading is not just another format. It’s a workout for the mind. It’s a test of character. That’s why books still form the backbone of education, research, and even spiritual development. Should video triumph over reading, we risk raising generations of screen-fed zombies — hollowed minds, dulled hearts

Reading is not just a habit; it is a virtue! It is not just a culture; it is curative! If we lose it, we don’t just become passive consumers. We become intellectually disarmed citizens of the Animal Farm!

Start reading again from today, and you will start living fully again!

Bibliography

1. Bavishi, A., Slade, M. D., & Levy, B. R. (2016).
A chapter a day: Association of book reading with longevity. Social Science & Medicine, 164, 44–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.07.014

2. Cao, Z., Wang, Y., Liu, X., & Zhang, Q. (2024).
People with short-video addiction show altered brain responses during decision-making: An fMRI study. NeuroImage: Clinical, 41, 103312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103312

3. Cheng, T. L., et al. (2019).
Association between screen media use and brain structure in children. JAMA Pediatrics, 173(9), 852–859. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.1759

4. Hutton, J. S., et al. (2015).
Home reading environment and brain activation in preschool children listening to stories. Pediatrics, 136(3), 466–478. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2015-0359

5. Hutton, J. S., et al. (2019).
Associations between screen-based media use and brain white matter integrity in preschool-aged children. JAMA Pediatrics, 174(1), e193869. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2019.3869

6. Krugman, H. (1971).
Brain wave measures of media involvement. Journal of Advertising Research, 11(1), 3–9.

7. Lillard, A. S., & Peterson, J. (2011).
The immediate impact of different types of television on young children’s executive function. Pediatrics, 128(4), 644–649. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2010-1919

8. Lin, M., Jiang, W., Xie, X., & Luo, Y. (2023).
Short-video addiction is associated with impaired executive function: Evidence from EEG and behavioral tasks. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 17, 1139400. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1139400

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July 11, 2025

Avoiding Desk Rejection: Essential Tips for Authors

Desk Rejection – The Author’s Nightmare

You have just finished writing another manuscript and you have zeroed in on a suitable journal with high impact factor where you intend to publish the paper. You submitted your manuscript and went to sleep feeling fulfilled. The next morning, it was back on your desk (email) – rejected! The feeling is akin to how a young man feels when a woman turns down his marriage proposal. It is usually a sore and painful feeling. How do you like the email below sent to you within 24 hours of submitting your manuscript?

To begin with, desk rejection is when an editor returns your manuscript without even the courtesy of sending it out for peer review. In simple terms, the editor is saying “your paper is not good enough for our journal in its current form”. In some cases, the rejection is so quick that you feel crushed and even rejected. After a few days of recovery from the rude shock, then you gather courage and send it to another journal. But the next couple of days, it is bounced back to you again with the same bad news – “rejected” without peer review. At this point most authors become desperate. Perhaps you have submitted the same manuscript to several journals and their verdicts were all sad and same. This is where it becomes tricky and frustrating. In desperation, authors might settle for just any journal that would agree to publish their manuscript. Some even fall into the net of now ubiquitous predatory journals lurking in the shadows of the internet. Others may get demoralized and jettison the idea of publishing the manuscript. This type of reaction can set your research and publication career back. So the first thing to do is to take a second look at your manuscript to know why nobody is interested in reviewing it let alone publish it. But because we are always set in our ways, we do not want to entertain the possibility that there is a problem with our manuscript. We often blame the “cruel” editors who we believe have an axe to grind with us. Occasionally, authors get emotional and send the editor a stinker. A fictional but relatable example of authors lashing out at editors has been presented below:

I have received similar emails from frustrated authors who did not like my decision to desk-reject their papers for obvious reasons. I know you may not have written such an absurd email to an editor before, but you might have felt like doing so. In as much as the above email is a true expression of the authors feeling at the time, it certainly crossed ethical lines. Such a direct attack on an editor borders on blackmail. Depending on the temperament of the editor, they may choose to ignore the email or take a number of steps against the author. Such actions include reporting the author to the author’s institution or international bodies like Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). They might even go an extra mile to blacklist the author from future submissions.

Anyway, my intention in this post is to help you reduce the frequency of desk rejection you receive. Though desk rejection is not totally avoidable, there are several steps you can take to avoid it. I have identified twelve reasons behind most desk rejections. I intend to delve into them in a series of articles. The full list is given below.

Quality of manuscript
Grammar and style
Scope of journal – geographical and thematic
Adherence to author’s guide
Method of submission
Similarity index
Access type and publication model
Journal reputation
Rate of submission to the journal and available resources
Manuscript format
Publication model
Quality of abstract

In this first part of the series, I will concentrate on the first two.

Quality of Manuscript

A high-quality manuscript is an editor’s delight anytime. And this is because high quality articles published in the right journal can trigger a flurry of citation traffic which is good for the reputations of both the journal and the author. Writing a good research paper begins from the conceptualization stage. It must fill a research gap, be well thought out, and be grounded in literature and sound scientific principles. So, the best way to ensure that your paper is of high quality is to give it a strong and proper grounding right from the word go. No editor wants to publish a paper that will be faulted or considered as fundamentally flawed, thus forcing them to got through the very painful process of retraction. Retracting an already published article can be painful both for the editor and the author, and of course, it amounts to a sheer waste of editorial resources.

Building your research on sound theoretical principles is an indispensable baseline for guaranteeing a high-quality research paper. Having said that, you should ask yourself “what gap does my research fill”? A literature gap does not need to be as wide as the Grand Canyon. It can just be a little crack which amounts to a significant contribution to knowledge when filled. A research gap can be conceptual, contextual, contradictory findings, empirical, methodological, policy, population or theoretical. Make sure to identify one or more gaps which will serve as the guiding post for your research. Let me add that the easiest way to identify research gaps is by reading relevant literature. The problem however, is that when a research gap is population-oriented or contextual, editors might not be willing to publish your paper if the context or population does not significantly relate to the wider global population. For instance, a case study of malaria infestation in remote Maigatari, Nigeria might not inspire as much interest in an editor of a double digit impact factor journal as much as a study of COVID conducted in Melbourne, Australia. You may call this bias or discrimination, but it is far from and beyond that. Editors want their publications to be read, cited and used by as many people as possible. The fact is that more people will read the Melbourne study than the Maigatari study. In fact, it is almost unlikely that anybody from Maigatari will read the study given the low level of exposure and literacy. But this is not to suggest that such a paper cannot be published. It definitely can. “So how do I go about this”? You may ask. The solution is to inject and infuse quality into the research. There are several ways to do that, but I will propose two critical and effective approaches. First, in addition to all that has been said so far, develop a robust methodology and if possible, twerk existing methodology to suit your study area while, conforming to established standards. By so doing, your study will spark intellectual curiosity, while imparting a tinge of novelty to the work. Now, curiosity and novelty are the bait editors find difficult to resist. Whether you adopt an existing methodology, develop a new one or modify old ones, remember that description of your methodology must facilitate reproducibility. Secondly, even if your research appears to have a geographical limitations in terms of application, you can extrapolate your findings to have global significance by connecting them to literature and valid scientific inference. So, even if your research has more of local content, discuss it in a global context to give it a global relevance. I have seen several very good research papers marred by a weak and disjointed discussion which is merely a re-statement of the results. On the other hand, a rich discussion goes a step further to make the reader understand why the results occurred as well the theoretical and practical implications of the findings, clearly indicating whether the results confirm or contradict existing knowledge. Enrich your discussion with current relevant literature to properly contextualize and situate it in the mainstream literature. In summary, a good discussion will have the following components

Insightful interpretation
Literature integration
Demonstration of impact
Amplification of contribution to knowledge
Identification and acknowledgment of limitations
Inspiration for future research

Keep in mind that editors usually do not make a judgment regarding the validity of your claims. That is the work of reviewers. What the editor generally does is to ascertain if the manuscript is rich enough to pass to the peer review stage.

Grammar and Style

One of the most annoying things to editors is a badly written manuscript riddled with grammatical errors. This is a big time turn off. I know that only about a fifth of the world’s population can write and speak English fluently, but if you intend to publish your article in an English language journal, you should be able to write in good English. Well, whether you are writing in English or any other language, it is very crucial to get your grammar correct. Careless writing and wrong grammar devalue your work. The first impression of an editor is that you are a loose person who does not pay attention to details. I cannot overemphasize the importance of polished language in manuscript preparation. In fact, the language quality is as important as the quality of the research because language is the vehicle of communication. If you cannot articulately communicate your work to others, then there are chances that no one will ever use your results. Or it might result in the misapplication of your findings. Incomplete sentences, poor punctuation and misuse of upper case letters are among the most common issues I have observed in manuscripts. There is also the issue of ambiguous statements. Ambiguous sentences are loosely structured sentences that can be interpreted in many different ways by the same or different readers. Ambiguity blurs information and weaken credibility. Have you ever read a sentence and wondered what the writer actually meant? The more you read, the more it messed up your brain – and not for lack of cognitive ability, but because the sentence just seemed slippery. Ambiguous sentences usually result from misuse of terms, articles, tenses or wrong choice of word. An example of ambiguous sentence is:

“Distilled water was poured into a flask containing 2 g of palm kernel ash and 5 g of sawdust ash shaken together for five minutes”.

The natural question the reader would ask is “was the mixture of water, palm kernel ash and sawdust ash shaken together”? or “were palm kernel ash and sawdust ash shaken together before pouring distilled water”? Let’s go ahead and disambiguate the sentence. If the writer implied that the mixture of water, palm kernel ash and sawdust ash were shaken together, then the sentence should read:

“Distilled water was poured into a flask containing 2 g of palm kernel ash and 5 g of sawdust ash, and the mixture was then shaken for five minutes”.

But if, however, the intention was to say that palm kernel ash and sawdust ash were shaken together before pouring distilled water, then the sentence should read:

“A mixture of 2 g of palm kernel ash and 5 g of sawdust ash was shaken in a flask for five minutes before adding distilled water”.

Now, even though the first option was most likely what the author had in mind because it is more scientifically plausible, the second option provides an alternative confounding sense. In essence, the sentence contains two mutually exclusive meanings. Sometimes ambiguities are introduced when the writer attempts to say too much in one sentence. Hence, keeping your sentences moderate in length can reduce ambiguities. For instance, using the case above, we can easily disambiguate the sentence by breaking the sentence into two simple parts as follows:

“Distilled water was poured into a flask containing 2 g of palm kernel ash and 5 g of sawdust ash. The mixture was then shaken for five minutes.” for the first case,

“A mixture of 2 g of palm kernel ash and 5 g of sawdust ash was shaken in a flask for five minutes. Afterwards distilled water was added.” for the second case.

Another type of grammatical problem you need to watch out for is poor choice of words and wrong use of words or terms. Poor or wrong choice of words will distort the information being conveyed by either giving it a different meaning from the message the writer is trying to pass across or making it prone to varied subjective interpretations. A sentence is deemed to be clear when it is understood in the same way by every moderate English speaker. Though the depth of understanding may vary from person to person depending on how knowledgeable they are in the subject, the danger of contradictory interpretations will not arise. If by any means a misunderstanding occurs, it will not be attributable to the sentence or the writer but the reader. While wrong choice of words alters the intended meaning of a sentence, poor choice of word introduces ambiguity. Types of ambiguities resulting from poor choice of word have been presented in Table 1 for your reference and guidance.

Table 1: Ambiguities cause by poor choice of word

Type	Example	Analysis	Correction
Vague time frame	The sample was analyzed *soon* after collection.	“Soon” is subjective thus depriving the sentence of specificity.	The sample was analyzed within 30 minutes of collection.
Misleading Cause-and-Effect	The cells died *due to* the new compound.	The use of the term “due to” suggests direct causation without evidence.	The cells appeared to die when exposed to the new compound.
Incorrect Preposition Use	The bacteria were resistant *with* antibiotics.	“Resistant” does not naturally go with “with”.	The bacteria were resistant to the antibiotics.
Unclear Pronoun Reference	After filtering the solution, it was stored in the refrigerator.	The sentence does not specify whether it was the filter or the solution that was stored in the refrigerator.	The filtrate was stored in the refrigerator.
Wrong Verb Choice	The mixture was *treated* at 100°C for 5 minutes.	The statement is vague and too general. It is not clear what type of treatment the mixture received.	The mixture was incinerated in the oven at 500°C for 5 minutes.
Ambiguous Quantification	A small amount of catalyst was added.	The use of the term “small” makes the sentence subjective. Secondly the writer did not say what the catalyst was added to.	One gramme of catalyst was added to the mixture.
Improper Conjunction Use	The compound was isolated while it was still hot	“While” is not a specific point in time. This presents a problem for reproducibility.	The compound was isolated immediately after heating
Confusing Homonyms or Polysemes	The test was conducted on the lead sample.	“Lead” has different meanings and can send different signals when used loosely as in this case.	The test was conducted on the lead (Pb) metal sample.

I was almost forgetting the problem of fragmentation. Have you ever read a sentence and felt like someone following a path that leads to nowhere in particular? You read again hoping for meaning or sense, but neither of them was present. Then, it suddenly dawned on you that the sentence was either missing a subject or a predicate (verb), or that the verb was redundant. You were most likely dealing with a fragment. It is not uncommon to find one or two fragments in a manuscript as a result of the author not finishing their thoughts or a sentence being broken into two parts during editing. However, there are situations where a manuscript begins with a fragment, runs on fragments and ends with a fragment. On several occasions, I have read a manuscript or thesis that got me so frustrated because of fragments. Such papers usually constitute a mental torture to the reader. In case you are still wondering what fragments look like, I will give a few simple examples.

“In a recent article about loss of habitat due to climate change”.

“Significantly, one particular form of Western Australian finch”.

“The treatment is effective. As the results showed”.

“Becoming extinct because of rising sea temperatures”.

How did you feel reading these sentences? Did you make any sense of them? If you look well, you will notice that they are like open ended questions that require you to fill in the blank spaces without giving you the context. One thing common to all four statements is that none of them makes a complete sense. The first statement was going to tell us what the article said about climate change, but never got to that point. The second one missed out the information regarding the Western Australian finch. The second part of the third statement did not tell us what the results showed, while the last one did not give the subject of the sentence. While the first three lack verbs, the last one was missing the subject. Now let us go ahead and complete the statements.

“In a recent article about loss of habitat due to climate change, it was found that sub-Saharan Africa witnessed the highest number of floods in the past five years”.

“Significantly, one particular form of Western Australian finch was observed to be nearing extinction”.

“The results showed that the treatment is effective”.

“Several species of blue-green algae are becoming extinct because of rising sea temperatures”.

Read the sentences again and notice the difference. Now the path leads somewhere definite and you don’t feel lost anymore. It is now obvious that one fragment can introduce a disconnect in your manuscript but several fragments will make it look like a piece of trash.

You should not allow these petty yet annoying grammatical pests to mar your efforts. If your writing style frustrates the editor, he will be more than likely to desk-reject your manuscript to save scarce editorial resources. Even if your paper gets to the review stage by some stroke of luck, reviewers will still not give your paper a pass. Grammatical and syntactical blunders will constitute noise that will most likely bias editors’ and reviewers’ judgment against your manuscript. My advise is to minimize the noise so as to afford the editor a higher chance of fair initial assessment of your submission. You can sort out the grammatical issues by sending the manuscript to professional language editors to straighten it out. But bear in mind that professional language editing can be quite expensive. Besides, with some more effort, commitment and attention to details, you can do it yourself. So, I would say that sending your manuscript to a professional language editor should be your last resort unless you have a lot of money to throw around. Below is a list of strategies for improving the language and style of your manuscript.

Avoid lengthy sentences. Build your paragraphs with short and clear sentences.
Use the spell check tool to check and correct your spellings.
Use the grammar checker tool to check and correct your grammar.
Apply the 24-hour rule. Just take a break from the manuscript for a while to refresh your eyes and then come back later and read through it again.
Use free online tools like Grammarly to improve on the writing style.
Print the manuscript and proofread the hard copy.
Ask a colleague to proofread your manuscript.

Hopefully, the above guide will help you to tremendously improve your manuscript and minimize the heartache that comes with instant desk rejection. Watch out for the next part soon.

_{Feel free to drop your comments or share your personal experience in the comment section for further engagements}. _{If reading this post was helpful, share it with others who might need it. Subscribe to get new posts directly in your inbox and watch out for more}.

June 27, 2025