Writers · problem and fix
How international PhD students improve English academic writing on Mac in 2026
You improve English academic writing as an international PhD student by fixing errors in a repeatable way, then asking for feedback on your argument first. On a Mac, start with tools already in Word and Pages, plus a plain error log. The extra cost is real, so plan time for it and do not blame your ideas when the draft comes back marked up.
The short answer
- A 2023 PLOS Biology study found non-native speakers took longer to read and write English papers, and reported more rejections for language.
- Start with an error log. Sort your corrections into groups, then fix the group that returns most often.
- Use Proofread before Rewrite, and keep only the changes you can explain in your own words.
- Ask for feedback on your argument before feedback on language. Paid editing helps, but it does not build the habit.
- The evidence for doctoral-specific fixes is thin, so measure your own writing time and revision count each month.
What english academic writing as a non-native phd student costs you
Extra reading time
Early-career speakers with moderate proficiency took a median 46.6% longer to read an English paper in the PLOS Biology study. Low proficiency took 90.8% longer. The authors estimate 10.1 extra working days a year for moderate proficiency and 19.1 for low, based on 200 articles and a 7-hour day.
Rejections for language
Among the PLOS respondents, 38.1% of moderate-proficiency speakers reported rejection for English writing. Native speakers reported 14.4%. Each rejection adds a resubmission cycle, which means more weeks before your work reaches readers.
Revision requests
Many non-native speakers in the survey were asked to improve their English during revision, while very few native speakers were. Each request is another round of work on a draft your supervisor has already read.
Paid editing
Vendor prices cited in a secondary summary run from upwards of US$90 for grammar and style correction of 1,500 words to US$484 for Springer Nature's gold service on a similar article. That adds up fast if every paper needs it.
Speaking and conferences
About 30% of early-career speakers from high-income non-native groups, Japanese and Spanish combined, often or always skipped English-language conferences. Over 65% of low-proficiency early-career speakers often or always found it hard to explain their work confidently in English.
Wellbeing
A Nature Biotechnology survey of 2,279 graduate students, not focused on language, found 41% with moderate-to-severe anxiety and 39% with depression. That is far above a 6% general population figure. Language stress was not measured there, so treat it as context, not proof.
Why it happens
Your reading is mostly in English
Most of the papers you need for a literature review are in English, and the vocabulary of your field is dense. Reading takes longer when every paragraph asks you to decode a term, a hedge and a verb tense at once. That load comes before you write a single sentence.
Argument and grammar compete
Writing in a second language means you hold the argument and the grammar in mind at the same time. Under deadline, grammar usually loses. The draft then looks weaker than your ideas, and your supervisor reads the weakness before the thinking.
Self-assessment blind spots
In a Hungarian survey, doctoral students rated their citation skills highly and their error-free text low. Those ratings point to a gap in how you judge your own writing. You may not see the errors you repeat, because they feel normal to you.
Few doctoral-focused services
A Canadian study of doctoral students who write in English as an additional language recommends doctoral-focused services over general writing centres. General help may miss the conventions of your discipline, and it rarely knows your thesis timeline.
Journals rarely promise leniency
Of 736 biological journals whose policies were reviewed, only Nature and Nature Plants say language alone will not lead to rejection. Most journals leave you to meet the bar yourself, which means the language work lands on you.
Supervision time is limited
One department head reported, anecdotally, that some faculty avoid supervising international students because of editing time. The study did not measure this. Still, the editing load is real for supervisors, and it can shape how much help you get.
How to fix it
These work with or without any app.
Build one error log
Put every correction from your feedback into one file. Group the errors into types, such as articles, prepositions, tense, hedging and citation format. Count how often each type returns in each draft. The top group is your next lesson. Use Word, Pages or Google Docs, whichever you open every day.
Read one model paragraph aloud
Choose a paragraph from a paper in your target journal. Read it aloud, then mark the verbs that report results and the phrases that show caution. Keep those phrases in a bank, but change the content to match your study. Copying a whole structure without changes can read as borrowed.
Use Proofread before Rewrite
Select one paragraph. Control-click it and choose Writing Tools > Show Writing Tools, then pick Proofread. Accept only the changes you can explain in your own words. Reject the rest, and write down why in the log. Rewrite can wait until the argument is settled.
Ask for argument feedback first
Send the claim and the evidence before the language. Ask one clear question per section. In a Canadian study of doctoral students, personal feedback was the support named most often. That feedback works best when you name the problem you want solved.
Dictate a rough draft, then edit
A rough first pass is easier out loud. Hold fn and dictate the idea in plain English into any text field. Then edit for academic style in a second pass. Separating the idea from the language stops you from stalling on one sentence.
Check the journal's language policy first
Read the author guidelines for your target journal. Check whether it mentions language editing, and whether it says language alone will not lead to rejection. Only Nature and Nature Plants make that promise in the 736-journal review. Plan your own editing time for everything else.
Join or start a writing group
Peer groups meet on a fixed schedule and read each other's sections. Bring one section and one question. Keep the group small enough that every member can read the draft before the meeting. The routine matters more than the venue.
What English academic writing costs non-native PhD students
The best measured evidence comes from a 2023 PLOS Biology study. It surveyed 908 researchers in environmental sciences from 8 nationalities. The team compared non-native speakers with native speakers on reading, writing, presenting and revising. The sample is not only doctoral students, so read the numbers as a strong signal, not a PhD count.
| Task | Moderate proficiency | Low proficiency |
|---|---|---|
| Reading an English paper | 46.6% more time | 90.8% more time |
| Writing a paper in English | 50.6% more time | 29.8% more time |
| Preparing an oral presentation | 93.7% more time | 38.0% more time |
Reading is the largest gap in the table. Early-career speakers with moderate proficiency took a median 46.6% longer to read an English paper. Low-proficiency speakers took 90.8% longer. The authors estimate 10.1 extra working days a year for moderate proficiency and 19.1 for low proficiency. That estimate assumes 200 articles read per year and a 7-hour day. Change those assumptions and the total changes too.
Writing shows a different pattern. Moderate-proficiency speakers took a median 50.6% longer to write a paper in English. Low-proficiency speakers took 29.8% longer. The study found no such gap among later-career researchers. The lower figure for low-proficiency speakers is hard to explain, and this study cannot tell you why. Do not read it as a sign that your English is fine.
50.6%
Longer median time to write a paper in English, moderate-proficiency speakers vs native speakers
The manifold costs of being a non-native English speaker in science (PLoS Biology, 2023)38.1%
Papers rejected for English writing, moderate-proficiency non-native speakers (native speakers: 14.4%)
The manifold costs of being a non-native English speaker in science (PLoS Biology, 2023)42.5%
Moderate-proficiency non-native speakers asked to improve English during revision (native speakers: 3.4%)
The manifold costs of being a non-native English speaker in science (PLoS Biology, 2023)42 to 17 minutes
Average minimum time for useful writing, before and after a doctoral writing workshop (small trial)
Doctoral writing classes work, randomised trial finds (Times Higher Education)Language also shows up in editorial decisions. In the same survey, 38.1% of moderate-proficiency speakers and 35.9% of low-proficiency speakers reported rejection because of English writing. For native speakers the figure was 14.4%. The authors put the gap at 2.5 to 2.6 times higher. Revision requests follow the same pattern. Many non-native speakers were asked to improve their English during revision, while very few native speakers were.
Journal policies offer little shelter. Of 736 biological science journals whose policies were examined, only Nature and Nature Plants say a paper will not be rejected solely because of the author's English. I could not open Nature's own pages, so this figure comes from a Pesquisa FAPESP summary. Check the policy of your own target journal before you assume anything.
The same summary says 6% of journals told reviewers not to reject immediately for grammar or fluency problems. About half of the editors interviewed suggested free online editing services or tutorials. Only 1% offered free mentoring. Expect to pay for help, or find it inside your department.
Where the self-ratings point: a survey of international doctoral students
A Hungarian survey asked 255 international doctoral students to rate their own English writing. They came from 49 countries. They studied in 65 English-taught doctoral programs at 14 Hungarian universities. The sample was voluntary and self-reported, so treat it as a pattern, not a score.
The lowest self-rating at the current stage was 'Errors are rare in my texts', with a mean of 4.25 on a 6-point scale. The highest was 'Citing and referencing sources', at 5.02. At entry, 'Being critical' scored lowest, at 3.55. Students at B2 level scored lowest on every item. C1 and C2 students scored higher at both time points.
- Confidence in citation was the strongest self-rating in the sample.
- Confidence in error-free text was the weakest at the current stage.
- Critical writing was the weakest area at entry.
- B2-level students scored lowest on every self-assessment item.
- The paper gives 255 students in the abstract and 225 in one Discussion passage. Check the number before you cite it.
Read the pattern this way. Citation skill and error-free text are different problems. A student can cite well and still write sentences that a reader stumbles over. Split the two in your error log, or you will fix the wrong thing.
Work through one paragraph before you touch the whole thesis
Start small. Pick one paragraph from your latest chapter. Copy it into a new Word document so the original stays intact. In Word, go to Home > Editor. The Editor pane lists corrections and refinements, such as Conciseness, Grammar and Clarity.
Microsoft's help page says advanced multilingual grammar and spelling help requires signing in with a Microsoft 365 account. Check what your copy shows before you rely on any refinement. A basic check still helps with typos and repeated words.
Accept only the changes you can explain. If you cannot say why a change is better, reject it. Write a comment beside the sentence and ask your supervisor about it. That comment goes into the error log.
Then close the document and rewrite the paragraph from memory. Compare the two versions. The gaps show which sentences you cannot yet produce alone. Those gaps become your study list for the week, not a list for the whole thesis.
Apple Writing Tools for a first pass, not a final edit
Apple's Writing Tools work across many Mac apps. Select the text, Control-click it, and choose Writing Tools > Show Writing Tools. Proofread checks grammar and spelling and underlines each change. Rewrite offers Friendly, Professional or Concise tones, or a change you describe.
Use Proofread first. Each change shows on the page, so you can see what the tool wants and why. Rewrite is riskier for academic text. It can soften a claim, swap a term your field uses, or shift the meaning of a hedge.
Apple's support page does not state a minimum macOS version for Writing Tools. It also says Apple Intelligence is not available in all languages or regions, and usage limits may apply. Check the feature on your own Mac before you build a routine around it.
Pick a grammar checker by the job, not by the ad
- Word Editor: open it from Home > Editor. Good for a first pass on Word documents.
- Pages Writing Tools: select text, Control-click, then choose Writing Tools > Show Writing Tools.
- Grammarly Free: spelling and grammar checks, with 100 AI prompts per month, according to Grammarly's plans page.
- Grammarly Pro: listed at $12 USD, with full-sentence rewrites, fluent English writing and 2,000 AI prompts per month. The page does not give the billing period, so check their pricing page at checkout.
Grammarly's desktop page says its suggestions appear in the apps you already use, with no copying or pasting required. That helps if you write in several places. Running several checkers on the same paragraph gives you conflicting suggestions, so pick one and stick with it for a while.
What doctoral writing support has been shown to do
The evidence for fixes is thin. One small trial of a doctoral writing workshop recruited 35 PhD candidates, and 32 completed it. The average minimum time needed for useful writing fell from 42 to 17 minutes. The study found only weak evidence that output increased, and no evidence that writing quality improved.
A trial of AI feedback found gains, but with a different group. Researchers randomized 259 undergraduates at one Chinese university to a 4-week intervention. Overall writing improved, and so did language use. The authors cite limited generalizability, so do not assume the same result for your thesis.
Ask for feedback your supervisor can actually use
A Canadian mixed-methods study looked at doctoral students who write in English as an additional language. Of 114 students, 56% (64 respondents) rated personal feedback on their writing as the most important support. 41% (47) named thesis-writing workshops and one-on-one work with language experts.
The same study recommends doctoral-focused writing services over general writing centres, plus discipline-specific training. It suggests a formal course early in the program. Ask your graduate school which of these exists in your department.
Ask for one kind of feedback at a time. Send the argument before the language. Language feedback on a weak argument wastes time for you and for the reader.
- Argument: Does this section make one clear claim?
- Evidence: Does each citation support the sentence it sits in?
- Language: Mark the sentences you are unsure about, with your question beside each one.
- Pace: Which section do you need back, and by when?
One department head said, anecdotally, that some faculty avoid supervising international students because of editing time. The study did not measure this. Do not assume it applies to you. Do ask early about editing support, because the answer shapes your plan.
Mistakes that waste the most time
- Rewriting a whole chapter with a tool before you know your own error patterns.
- Accepting every suggestion because the new sentence sounds more fluent.
- Paying for editing before you check the journal's language policy.
- Waiting for a perfect draft before you ask anyone for feedback.
- Treating a self-rating as a test score. The Hungarian survey measured perception, not skill.
The most expensive mistake is the first one. A tool can make a chapter read well while the argument stays weak. Your supervisor then has to read the whole chapter to find that out.
What paid editing costs and what it does not fix
Paid editing has real prices. Springer Nature's silver service was listed at US$243 for a 1,500-word article, and gold at US$484. Enago was quoted at upwards of US$90 for grammar and style correction of 1,500 words. These are vendor figures from a secondary summary, so check current pricing pages before you budget.
In the PLOS study, non-native speakers usually had papers proofread for 75% or more of their papers. Most native speakers did so for less than half. Lower-income respondents rarely used paid services. Editing fixes one manuscript. It does not teach you the habit that caused the errors.
Look after your health while you work on your English
Writing in a second language can be tiring. A 2018 Nature Biotechnology survey of 2,279 graduate students found 41% with moderate-to-severe anxiety and 39% with depression. The general population figure cited was 6%. The sample was a convenience sample, and the study did not focus on non-native speakers. It does not measure your risk, but it shows how common strain is in PhD life.
Build a weekly loop, not a one-off fix
Start with an error log. Each week, add the errors from your feedback and sort them into groups. Look for the groups that keep coming back. Pick one group to fix in the next draft, then check whether it shrinks.
Keep the log where you already work. A Notion page, a Word document or a Google Doc all work. Pick one, open it every week, and date each entry. The dates show which fixes stuck, and which ones were only a good week.
Where Lazur fits, and where it does not
Lazur is a voice assistant for the Mac. Hold ⌥ ⌘ to ask about anything on your screen, and Lazur answers out loud. Ask where Editor sits in Word, and Lazur draws a circle and a label around it. Ask how to run Show Writing Tools, and Lazur guides you one click at a time, waiting for each click.
Lazur does not click buttons, edit files, or operate other apps for you. It is not a plugin or add-in for any app. You make every edit. Hold fn to dictate a rough paragraph at your cursor, then fix it yourself. Lazur explains a sentence or types a draft when you ask, and you check it.
Lazur listens and looks at your screen only while you hold the shortcut. Audio and the screenshot go to AI providers to answer, and they are not stored. Content is never used to train AI models. Plans and pricing are on the pricing page.
For the drafting side of your routine, the Pages guide for writers and the Word guide for writers cover templates and drafting in more depth. Start with the error log before you add any tool.
Faster with Lazur
Where Lazur helps with english academic writing as a non-native phd student
Hold ⌥ ⌘ and say what you want. Lazur sees your Word window. Lazur looks at your screen and answers out loud.
- 1
Hold ⌥⌘ and talk
- 2
Lazur looks at your screen and answers out loud.
- 3
You stay in Word. Nothing to copy into a chat window.
More things to say in Word
- “Hold Option and Command, then ask what this sentence means in plain English.”
- “Where is Editor in Word?”
- “Walk me through Show Writing Tools on my Mac.”
- “Hold fn and dictate a rough paragraph at the cursor.”
- “Draft a plainer version of this sentence for my methods section.”
- “Research the author guidelines for journals in my field.”
Free for 3 days, then $18/month. Download for Mac
You say“Hold Option and Command, then ask what this sentence means.”
Lazur · explains what's on screenLazur reads the sentence on screen and explains it out loud. You rewrite it yourself and keep your claim intact.
What writers say to Lazur for this
Each one is a single hold of ⌥ ⌘.
“Hold Option and Command, then ask what this sentence means in plain English.”
Lazur reads the sentence on your screen and explains it out loud. You decide whether to change it.
Explains what's on screen
“Where is Editor in Word?”
Lazur draws a circle and a label around Editor, so you can find it without hunting through the ribbon.
Points at it
“Walk me through Show Writing Tools on my Mac.”
Lazur guides you one click at a time and waits for each click before it moves to the next step.
Walks you through it
“Hold fn and dictate a rough paragraph at the cursor.”
Dictation types clean, formatted text where your cursor sits. You still read and edit the text yourself.
Types what you say
“Draft a plainer version of this sentence for my methods section.”
Lazur types a draft you can check against your data and your sources before you keep any of it.
Drafts it
“Research the author guidelines for journals in my field.”
Lazur runs research in its own Chrome tabs and comes back with a summary and a report. You check each source yourself.
Researches in the background
“Remind me every Friday to review my error log.”
Lazur adds the reminder to Apple Reminders, so the weekly loop does not depend on memory.
Handles the small stuff
A plan you can start this week
- Day 1
Make your error log
Open a draft chapter in Word or Pages. Mark each error you can find with a comment. Sort the comments into groups such as articles, prepositions, tenses, hedging and citation format. Keep the list in one place you open every week.
- Day 2
Read one model paragraph
Pick a paragraph from a paper in your target journal. Read it aloud. Underline the verbs that report results and the phrases that show caution. Copy the phrases you like into a phrase bank, and keep a note of where each one came from.
- Morning
Dictate before you edit
Hold fn and speak a rough version of one paragraph. Do not stop to fix grammar while you speak. Then open the paragraph and run Proofread or Editor. This keeps the ideas separate from the language.
- Afternoon
Proofread one paragraph
Select the paragraph. Control-click it and choose Writing Tools > Show Writing Tools, then pick Proofread. Accept only changes you can explain. Reject the rest and note why in your log.
- Day 3
Rewrite from memory
Close the source. Write the same paragraph again from memory in a blank document. Compare the two versions. The gaps show which sentences you cannot yet produce alone, so those go into the next session.
- Weekly
Ask for argument feedback
Send your supervisor or a writing group one section with a short note. Ask about the claim and the evidence first. Ask about language only after the argument is settled. Log the reply in the same error file.
Questions people ask
Is the extra writing time real for non-native speakers?
The best measured evidence says yes, for some groups. In a 2023 PLOS Biology survey of 908 researchers, moderate-proficiency non-native speakers took a median 50.6% longer to write a paper in English. The survey was not limited to PhD students, and the gap was not found among later-career researchers.
What is the fastest free fix I can try this week?
Make an error log in the document you already use. Then run Proofread on one paragraph in Pages, or open Editor in Word from Home > Editor. Keep only the changes you can explain. The log matters more than any single tool, because it shows the errors you repeat.
Is Grammarly Pro worth it for a thesis?
Only if the free plan misses errors that cost you marks or time. Grammarly lists Free at $0 and Pro at $12 USD on its plans page. Pro adds full-sentence rewrites and 2,000 AI prompts per month. The page does not state the billing period, so check their pricing page at checkout.
Can I let an AI tool rewrite my chapter?
Not without checking every sentence. Rewrites can change a claim, soften a result, or add a citation you have not read. Use a checker on one paragraph at a time, then rewrite by hand. Check your university and journal rules on AI use first.
Do journals reject papers because of English?
Some do, and non-native speakers report it more often. In the PLOS survey, 38.1% of moderate-proficiency speakers reported rejection for English writing, against 14.4% of native speakers. Of 736 biological journals reviewed in a FAPESP summary, only Nature and Nature Plants say language alone will not lead to rejection.
Does a doctoral writing workshop actually help?
It may save time. A small trial of 35 PhD candidates cut the average minimum time for useful writing from 42 to 17 minutes. It found only weak evidence that output increased, and no evidence that quality improved. Take one if your department offers it, and measure your own results.
What if my supervisor will not help with language?
Ask for argument feedback first, and ask for language help as a separate request. Then ask your graduate school whether it runs a doctoral-focused writing service. A peer writing group can fill the gap. In a Canadian study, 56% of doctoral students in this position named personal feedback as the most important support.
Sources
- The manifold costs of being a non-native English speaker in science (PLoS Biology, 2023) · PLoS Biology / PMC · checked 2026-11-08
- How international doctoral students' fields of study, proficiency in English and gender interact with their sense of making progress in English academic writing abilities (PLOS ONE) · PLOS ONE / PMC · checked 2026-11-08
- The language barrier in scientific communication (Revista Pesquisa FAPESP) · Revista Pesquisa FAPESP · checked 2026-11-08
- EAL doctoral students' support needs (Frontiers in Education, 2022) · Frontiers in Education · checked 2026-11-08
- Doctoral writing classes work, randomised trial finds · Times Higher Education · checked 2026-11-08
- Enhancing Critical Writing Through AI Feedback: A Randomized Control Study · PMC · checked 2026-11-08
- Use Writing Tools to write, improve, and summarize content on Mac · Apple Support · checked 2026-11-08
- Check grammar, spelling, and more with Editor in Word · Microsoft Support · checked 2026-11-08
- Grammarly Plans · Grammarly · checked 2026-11-08
- Grammarly Desktop · Grammarly · checked 2026-11-08
- Depression, anxiety high in graduate students, survey shows · Medical Xpress · checked 2026-11-08
Fix english academic writing as a non-native phd student with Lazur, free for 3 days
Hold a key and ask. Lazur sees your screen, points at the button and talks you through it, in any Mac app. No credit card.