Importance of Professional Writing

Professional writing is clear, concise, and seeks to convey information and ideas quickly. A few typos are understandable, but writing with widespread errors that affect readability and credibility reflects poorly on an Analyst and suggests that the Analyst does not care enough about his/her work to proofread it. This can make a client less likely to trust an Analyst's authority.

Wonder has a built-in spell-checker to catch most spelling/grammar and typing mistakes. Use this spell-checker to ensure your research is error-free. You can also use an external tool (e.g., Grammarly) in conjunction with your own awareness of grammar and appropriate phrasing. Another helpful technique is to step away from the job for a few minutes, then come back with fresh eyes for a final proofread.

Grammar Best Practices

• Make sure that all abbreviations are defined. When conducting research on different topics, we tend to come across acronyms. Define these acronyms at the first usage, for example, FDA will be defined as “the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).” From there on, you can use the acronym in your findings.
• Define units of measurements at the first usage, e.g., “ppm” will be defined as “parts per million” when first used.
• Avoid awkward or ambiguous wording. Reword sentences that are ambiguous or unclear even if they are not technically wrong (e.g., sentences that involve the improper use of passive voice).
• Use commas when presenting numbers greater than 999. If you are describing large numbers, use the comma as a thousands separator (e.g. “1,294”).
• Use American English vocabulary and grammar. While Wonder is a global network serving clients all over the world, Wonder is a US-based company. Please use American English vocabulary and grammar. For example, use “color” instead of “colour”.

Things To Keep Top of Mind

• Make sure the report is professionally written; there are no spelling or grammatical mistakes or awkward phrasing (i.e. incorrectly used words or phrases that are sufficiently unclear /not easily understood). Use a spell-checker (Wonder’s built-in spell-checker, Grammarly, and/or Google docs) to proofread your work before submitting it.
• Be mindful of plagiarism as Wonder has a strict plagiarism policy. Check your work using this free plagiarism tool. To ensure we deliver an original synthesis, we monitor for intentional plagiarism. Note: In-line citations do not absolve you from using quotation marks. If you use 4 or more consecutive words copy-pasted into description text from an article, you are required to use quotation marks.
• Do not rush to submit your research report without thoroughly reviewing it
• Do not submit incomplete reports or reports with no explanation of missing data.
• Do not submit the bare minimum with ample time left on the clock.

Now that you’ve learned more about the importance of research that is written professionally and meets our quality expectations, let’s take a look at our quality management policies.