How to Make Scientific Writing Less Painful (With a Little Help From AI)

Let's face it: writing a scientific paper can feel like forcing yourself to mobilise all your powers. You sit down to write something smart, impactful, intellectual… something that reflects months or even years of your work. But what comes out looks like the spaghetti monster.

Your inner critic raises its head and starts saying: the sentences don't sound right, the introduction reads like a banal weather report, and don't even get me started on the discussion section. You know exactly what you want to say, but translating your thoughts into compelling, academically acceptable language seems like an insurmountable challenge.

Even if you want to focus and get it all done, life barely allows you to do it. Endless tasks like admin, teaching responsibilities, deadlines, emails, and maybe even family or social obligations: it's all happening at once, like a flash mob you didn't sign up for. Your brain is tired, but the paper still needs to be written.

Let's make our life a little easier. You don't need to struggle alone anymore. Modern tools can assist a great deal from the initial drafting stages to applying the final polish. Yes, we're talking about AI.

This article will show you how to make scientific writing less painful with AI's help. Continue reading for practical techniques and ready-to-use prompts.

💡 What Can AI Do for You?

Let's clarify this from the very beginning: AI won't write the entire research for you. Yes, it can come up with some decent ideas, and it writes very well, but it cannot interpret your data or decide what findings matter in your scientific field. That's still your job and always will be (I realise that this statement might not age well given the pace of AI improvement 😬)

But what AI can do well is help you with the following things:

• Getting unstuck when you don’t know how to begin your paper

• Generating variations of the same paragraph in different tones of voice

• Rephrasing awkward or overly complex sentences

• Turning bullet points into full paragraphs

• Reorganising messy ideas into a logical flow

• Shrinking long sections of text to meet the word target

• Making your draft more readable

• Suggesting titles and headings

• Following a specific journal style

• Offer constructive criticism on your draft

• And much more…

Using AI is like having a super-patient writing assistant who's available 24/7, doesn't get tired, and doesn't judge you.

All of that for $20 a month or less!

🚨 Is Using AI “Cheating”?

No, using AI in your scientific writing process isn't cheating unless you're asking it to fabricate results or generate fake citations. That said, there is such a thing as too much AI use in academic writing, and fortunately, scholarly publishers have agreed on a common approach.

✅ Basic author support (editing, formatting, grammar fixing, translation, etc.) is perfectly acceptable, but anything beyond this basic support enters a grey area that publishers discourage.

The way I interpret it is that you are the scientist, and the majority of the intellectual contribution should still come from you. Publishers don't want articles that are completely or largely AI-generated from the outset. Essentially, at least draft 1 should be your work. After that, you can use AI to shape it into something more readable and publishable.

⚠️ Side note for graduate students: This is particularly important for anyone writing a thesis. Universities unanimously agree that the intellectual work should be yours. Keep a record of your initial draft and all the prompts you used subsequently, as you'll likely need to submit this evidence with your thesis! Yes, I am serious.

Think of AI as a writing companion - a tool that makes your workflow more efficient and less stressful. You remain the thinker, the scientist, the author. AI simply helps you express your ideas more clearly, especially when you're mentally flat or experiencing writer's block.

Let's not forget that scientists have always used services and tools to enhance their work, long before AI emerged. For instance, when researchers whose first language isn't English hire human editors to improve their manuscripts for publication, it's not considered cheating. AI is simply another tool in the scientific arsenal. Researchers have always sought assistance to complete their papers, whether from human editors or other resources. Why, then, should AI writing tools be viewed any differently?

🤖 Practical Tips to Use AI

Here are a few examples of how you can use AI in the writing process.

1. First steps in writing

You stare at the blank document, and your mind goes blank too. This is where AI can help you get started. Simply give the AI a prompt outlining what you're trying to write.

You can even dictate it verbally since speaking is four times faster than typing. I do this regularly, and while colleagues initially gave me strange looks, they quickly got used to it.

For example:

‘You’re an expert scientific writing assistant helping a graduate student craft a concise paragraph explaining the research gap their study addresses. Use the following notes:

• Topic of the study: [insert topic here]

• Current state of research: [brief summary of what’s known and what prior studies have done]

• Identified gap: [what has not been studied, or where knowledge is incomplete]

• Study contribution: [how this study addresses the gap].’

A few seconds later, the AI will offer you a paragraph. Not perfect, sure, but something for you to work with and build on top of. You rewrite the text and keep what you like.

As a result, the block is broken!

2. Help with paraphrasing

Write a sentence, for example, something like: “These results agree with prior studies, but are also not completely similar in terms of terminology.” Then ask AI: “Can you rewrite this in a clearer, academic tone?” And it will give you a version that’s more aligned with academic expectations and terminology without changing your meaning.

• Before: These results agree with prior studies, but are also not completely similar in terms of terminology.

• After: These data are consistent with prior studies, although there are some differences in the terminology used.

3. Solving structure struggles

Sometimes you've got all your content in a Word file, but it's just several good ideas and random paragraphs without structure.

Ask AI:

"Can you organise this logically, starting with the most significant findings?"

As a result, you get a clearer outline to work from.

4. Using AI for clear English

English as a second language, like me? I consider AI almost a godsend! AI can help your writing sound more fluent and polished without replacing your voice. You stay in control of the content, while AI works on the grammar and punctuation. This can make a huge difference in readability.

Here’s a working prompt sample:

‘You are an academic writing assistant. Please help me improve the grammar, punctuation, and sentence flow of the following scientific text.

Keep the meaning, technical terms, and my original tone intact. Only correct grammar, awkward phrasing, and clarity issues. Do not simplify technical content or remove important details.’

And here is an extra tip: If you feel like it’s easier to express yourself in your native language instead of English do that and let AI handle the translation. It’s excellent at that!

If you’d like even more prompts and practical examples, check out my LinkedIn carousel post where I share 10 different ones you can copy, paste, and start using right away.

❗ Important Cautions

Be responsible for each stage of writing and keep these caveats in mind:

• Always fact-check. AI doesn’t know what’s true, it just knows what sounds likely. There is a big difference between the two, and it has fooled many people!

• Never let it generate citations. Don't trust AI blindly, unless you verify that the citations it offers are real and reliable. Fake references can damage your reputation.

• Don’t over-polish. If your text becomes too smooth, it might start to sound generic. Let your tone of voice lead the way. That's what makes your research sound unique.

• Respect ethical standards. If your institution has policies around AI use, follow them. Be transparent about how and where you used AI in the process. Keep records!

🧰 Your toolbox

Everything we've discussed can be implemented with popular LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Copilot. However, here are a few research-focused tools worth exploring. Their main advantage is that they're designed specifically for academic purposes, offering robust citation tools and access to scholarly literature. Depending on how much writing you do, these specialised tools might be worth the investment.

⚠️ DISCLAIMER: That said, some of these tools go a bit further than I’m comfortable with. For example, some will happily spit out a fully written piece of scientific text for you, while others, like Jenni AI, have quirky features such as sentence autocompletion, which I personally find a bit weird. I’m including them here so you know they exist, but please use them thoughtfully. Apply the same critical thinking and boundaries we discussed earlier about what counts as legitimate help versus crossing into “cheating” territory. In the end, you’re the one responsible for the output. The tools are just that — tools.

SciSpace

SciSpace is an all-in-one platform for researchers. It's particularly strong in helping you understand complex papers. You can upload a PDF and ask the AI to explain concepts, methods, or findings in simple terms. It also includes tools for paraphrasing, generating citations in thousands of styles, and converting papers into presentations or even podcasts.

Paperpal

Paperpal is a specialised AI writing assistant specifically trained on millions of research papers. Unlike general-purpose tools, its suggestions are tailored for academic language, tone, and formatting. It excels at in-depth grammar and language checks, paraphrasing to improve clarity while maintaining a scholarly tone, and providing citations from a repository of over 250 million research articles.

Jenni AI

Jenni AI is a collaborative AI writing assistant designed specifically to help with the academic writing process. It stands out by working with you in real-time to overcome writer's block with features like AI autocomplete that suggest sentences in a formal tone. It can also help with research, outline generation, and, crucially, citation management in various formats. This makes it an excellent tool for drafting and structuring content from the very beginning of a project.

WriteMyEssay.AI

WriteMyEssay.ai is a brand-new, AI essay writer built for students who need to create high-quality original essays quickly, even at the last minute. It offers full essay draft generation with minimal inputs required. Drawing from its training on thousands of authentic student papers, it produces complete, well-structured essays complete with proper citations.

Wrap Up

Scientific writing is already hard enough, we don't need to make it more complicated. Transforming complex findings into clear, well-structured copy isn't easy. If there's a tool that reduces the struggle and helps organise your thoughts, use it!

Let AI handle the annoying aspects of editing and polishing, while you concentrate on what truly matters: the insights, the novelty, and the story behind your research.

After all, science is about sharing knowledge. If AI helps your ideas reach others more clearly and confidently, that's not cheating - that's progress.

For more in-depth learning on all things AI, check out our comprehensive course on AI for researchers.