Abstract: Quite a lot of domestic researchers usually write the Chinese research paper first and then literally translate it into English. These researchers are apprentice writers in terms of English research paper writing. In fact, revising the original Chinese research paper before translating it into English is very necessary and this is due to many objective factors, among which is flawed source text in Chinese. This article focuses on a special Chinese source text: its language and structure is considered acceptable by Chinese readers; but if translated literally into English, they would be regarded as unacceptable by English readers. In terms of differences in thought pattern and language between Chinese and English as well as international convention in discourse structure of research papers, this article elucidates the necessity of revising the original Chinese research paper before it is translated into English. The present study also summarizes the primary strategies of pre-translation revising so as to provide guidelines for pre-translation revising practice and offers new teaching content for research paper translation and writing course for Chinese apprentice writers in the medical field, or even in other scientific fields.