Last minute check list for a research write-up

Below is check list to check a research write-up that I have created over time. I hope this might help new researchers in avoiding the common mistakes:

• Before starting any scientific write-up it always helps to make a skeleton of the concepts and discussion in a well-defined order. This skeleton will guide the author regarding how text will build from once concept to another keeping the reader interest and continuity in reading. It also helps in reducing the unnecessary redundancy of text in manuscript. Once the skeleton is finalized, it should be followed during write-up. If you have not used this technique for your write-up then it is never late to use it. Read you manuscript and identify the skeleton of the text in terms of concepts introduced and their flow. Re-arrange the order to increase the readability and remove the redundant text.
• You have used present perfect tense in your write-up
• Make words consistent all over the thesis
• Please make the case for headings consistent, either make them sentence case or title case. Please do it also for all figures and tables captions as well
• Please make the formatting for bullets consistent across thesis
• Every time figure, table, or section is referenced, the first character should be capital like Figure 10.1, Section 9.8, and Table 98.1
• Please avoid using hard/strong sentences/expressions that cannot be proved. For example, “the most optimal result”, “the most optimal solution”
• Please make sure that terms are abbreviated only on their first usage only
• Usually, the initial Introduction section is closed with information about forthcoming sections and their content.
• Please, do a proof read of your thesis for English and formatting before submission. It will help in increasing the readability of your thesis
• Sometimes author copies too much text from referred resources using “”[] format. It is allowed and legal, however. It is a bad research writing style
• Too long sentence and should be broken into small sentences
• Paragraph starting with the word “Because” is not a good writing style
• Sometime half of the pages in write-ups are empty, a slight effort in formatting could make use of this space and could increase the readability of the research write-ups
• Expression such as  "good idea" and "the best" are not recommended during technical writing
• Instead of writing figure above or figure below, each figure should be referred with its number
• Each figure and table should have a figure/table number and a valid title
• The purpose of related work section is to identify the research work related with you work and then have a discussion about how your work is different from them. Do check that your related work section serve this purpose.
• References should be made consistent with similar formatting (e.g., Either all authors should be written as full, or for all first name is abbreviated and last name is full, or vice verse)
• Try to place information in references with consistent order. (E.g., Authors, Title, Publication venue, Year of publication)
• For web links in references, please identify some reasonable title
• Either separate author names in references using “comma (,)” or “and”. Please make it consistent for all references
• Please identify the year of publication for following references
• References should only contain the source that has been referred in research write-up
• Instead of using symbols, such as &, Please use proper word
• Please check for spaces within text, e.g., some time two words have more than one space
• etc should always be like , etc., 
• e.g. should always be like , e.g., 
• such as always has comma before it
• Have a final view of your text for formatting issues
• You your text using spell check software
• Make sure that the repetition of text and concepts are kept to minimum. A review to identify the redundancy in text and its rectification is a good practice
• Please make sure that colorful diagrams and charts are also properly visible and readable in the printed version
• Always take a print of the research write-up for final verification before submission. Most of the times typos and mistakes are more visible and detectable on printed version rather than on soft copy
• Before submission, please do verify that all reference refer to the correct resources
• Do get your manuscript proof read by a non-author

During my PhD times I came across the webpage of Dr. Felix Neumann from Hasso-Plattner Institute at Potsdam, where he listed few common checks for a research write-up before submission. The web page is no longer available, but I kept it on my record for re-use. Below is the content from that webpage:

Below is a collection of notes and tips on writing English research papers. Some of the hints are taken from "Bugs in Writing" by Lyn Dupre. The lists are unordered. I only list things that can be searched for in a last pass through the paper before submitting. Also, the issues listed here are sometimes particular to authors of German mother-tongue.

Commas

• such as: Always preceded by a comma.
• i.e.: Always preceded and followed by a comma.
• e.g.: Always preceded and followed by a comma.
• because: Always preceded by a comma.
• which: Is preceded by a comma (as opposed to "that").
• Enumerations: In contrast to German, place a comma before the final "and" or "or": ...databases, information systems, and search engines.

Poor/Difficult Words

• will: Can be removed without substitution in practically all instances, except when explicitly talking about the future.
• like: Probably you mean "such as".
• which/that: "That" identifies an object; "which" adds a remark to an object. Removing the "that"-clause destroys the sentence, removing the "which"-clause leaves the sentence intact.
• whole: Usually "entire" is better.
• very: Avoid it.
• bad: You probably mean "poor"
• seems to be: Avoid it.
• in order to: Usually can be replaces simply with "to".
• this: Always let it be followed by the referenced noun.
• a/an: according to pronunciation:
• "an" is not always used before a vowel: "A used book", but "an unintelligible book".
• "an" is not only used before a vowel: "An XML book".
• only: Place it right before the thing you want to modify.
• send vs. sent, build vs built, etc.: We have built a prototype.

Formatting

• Try to place groups of citations in the same order as they appear in the bibliography: [8,25,3] is not as nice as [3,8,25].
• Capitalize the words Figure, Section, Table, etc. if they are followed by a reference to a concrete Figure, Table...
• Avoid calling the first section "Introduction". Give it a telling name.
• You can abbreviate Fig., Sec., Tab. only if the words do not begin the sentence.

LaTeX

• Use \@ after capitalized abbreviations at the end of sentences: We now describe our PDMS\@. The tool lacheck.exe finds those instances in LaTeX documents.
• Another tip: \usepackage{xspace} and \newcommand{\ourModel}{NameOfOurModel\xspace}
• Use tilde (~) instead of a space before citations and references: This evidence was presented by Ullmann~\cite{Ullmann90}.
• Use the utility lacheck.exe on your .tex file to find get some hints.
• Use correct quotation marks: ``quoted''.
• In .bib file be sure to put curly brackets around capitalized abbreviations, such as {SQL}, {XML}, and {Garlic}.

Following Internet resource below could also be helpful:

• Writing Research Papers (RICE University)
• Common Errors in Student Research Papers (RICE University) 
• Selected Writing Rules (RICE University)