Suit and Tie

So my research entitled “The Disparity of the Common Grammatical Errors among Researchers” was accepted as part of an international research conference. Remember when I shared that I started my master’s degree in English last June. Yeah, well, I took my Research Process class on the first semester. That class is considered the hardest class in all of the subject courses. Most of the students take that subject at the last semester of their master’s. But I unknowingly got myself enrolled in that class on my first semester. I thought it would be fun—research is fun. Nobody told me we actually have to come up with a full-proof research, as in scientific journal article level, at the end of the semester. Truthfully, out of my fifteen classmates, only three successfully came up with a research and got a grade—yours truly heading the class. LOL.

            I read over 100 research articles for my research. The gathering of data and writing the text were h-a-r-d (thinking of adjective before the word hard is exhausting). Quick summary, I compared the frequency disparity of the common grammatical errors between native and nonnative English-speaking researchers. I tallied the errors of 40 articles for each group, a total of 19 countries included (3 native, 16 nonnative). Being a copy editor for four years really helped by the way. Conclusion, these PhD holders, medical doctors, and other experts have problems with their commas and verb, noun, and adjective inflections. The frequency disparity is 28–72, meaning 72 percent of errors tallied came from nonnatives.

            For the third time, the university will conduct an international research conference, inviting young researchers around the globe to showcase their research. My teacher in Research Process really liked my research and urged me to submit my abstract to the conference’s official submission e-mail. It took only one day of waiting. My research has been selected, and I found myself mandated to prepare a ten-minute presentation—and a suit and tie. It will be on Feb 20 at the Marco Polo Hotel. It actually is a competition too because the best research will be awarded. I am most nervous about the open forum after my presentation. I am never good at answering questions, and a crowd of highly educated individuals ready to pounce does not help either.

            Nonetheless, this is a significant event of my life. If I can pull this off, I might find my first research printed on an international journal. In the academic world, that is a huge deal. You get to go places with your research. Anyway, got to go. Need to fit some new suit and tie.