Effective Scientific Writing

Writing a scientific article in English is often a major challenge for non-native speakers of the language. They not only need to produce a well-structured and coherent text, but they are also expected to use correct and idiomatic English throughout. While many books and guides deal with academic writing in general, few focus specifically on writing a scientific article, and most are not written with non-native speakers of English in mind. This guide now offers help. It provides comprehensive and practical advice for non-English graduate students (Master's and PhD) and researchers from various disciplines who wish to communicate their work effectively. It presents all the essential elements for writing a successful scientific paper: (1) getting started and structuring your thoughts; (2) structuring your paper; (3) citing sources; (4) writing well-structured and coherent paragraphs; (5) constructing effective sentences; (6) considering information placement and word order; (7) adopting the right style and using appropriate vocabulary; (8) avoiding the pitfalls of English grammar; (9) using correct spelling and punctuation. This guide is the culmination of Taalcentrum-VU's years of experience in providing clear language and communication consulting in combination with practical tools to aid the aspiring writer of scientific English.

The detailed, practical, step-by-step advice in this user-friendly guide will help students and researchers to communicate their work more effectively through the written word. Covering all aspects of the writing process, this concise, accessible resource is critically acclaimed, well-structured, comprehensive, and entertaining. Self-help exercises and abundant examples from actual typescripts draw on the authors' extensive experience working both as researchers and with them. Whilst retaining the user-friendly and pragmatic style of earlier editions, this third edition has been updated and broadened to incorporate such timely topics as guidelines for successful international publication, ethical and legal issues including plagiarism and falsified data, electronic publication, and text-based talks and poster presentations. With advice applicable to many writing contexts in the majority of scientific disciplines, this book is a powerful tool for improving individual skills and an eminently suitable text for classroom courses or seminars.

Scientific writing is often dry, wordy, and difficult to understand. But, as Anne E. Greene shows in Writing Science in Plain English,writers from all scientific disciplines can learn to produce clear, concise prose by mastering just a few simple principles. This short, focused guide presents a dozen such principles based on what readers need in order to understand complex information, including concrete subjects, strong verbs, consistent terms, and organized paragraphs. The author, a biologist and an experienced teacher of scientific writing, illustrates each principle with real-life examples of both good and bad writing and shows how to revise bad writing to make it clearer and more concise. She ends each chapter with practice exercises so that readers can come away with new writing skills after just one sitting. Writing Science in Plain English can help writers at all levels of their academic and professional careers—undergraduate students working on research reports, established scientists writing articles and grant proposals, or agency employees working to follow the Plain Writing Act. This essential resource is the perfect companion for all who seek to write science effectively.

Mary Grace Soccio. My writing could not please this kindhearted woman, no matter how hard I tried. Although Gifed and Talented seventh-grade math posed no problem for me, the same was not true for Mrs. Soccio’s English class. I was frustrated that my frst assignment only netted me a C. I worked harder, making re- sion afer revision, a concept I had never really put much faith in before. At last, I produced an essay that seemed the apex of what I was capable of wr- ing. Although the topic of that essay is now lost to my memory, the grade I received was not: a B?. “Te best I could do was a B??” Te realization sank in that maybe I was not such a good writer. In those days, my youthful hubris did not understand abouc t apacity bui- ing. In other words, being challenged would result in my intellectual growth— an academic restatement of Nietzsche’s “What does not destroy me, makes me stronger.” Consequently, I asked to be withdrawn from Gifed and Talented English in the eighth grade.

Writing and publishing scientific papers is the core business of every researcher, but is often experienced as difficult and frustrating. Good scientific content of a paper alone does not guarantee its publication in a good journal, because various aspects affect the writing and publishing process. This book is a quick guide into effective writing and publishing papers. It provides authors with clear and concise key information on 12 major parts of the process, from how to get started to dealing with reviewers’ comments. We describe each part succinct and easy-to-read, structured into background information (‘‘What you should know’’), concrete advice (‘‘What you should do’’), and a checklist of the main points to consider. Authors can read the book as a whole but can also use it as a reference book to look-up advice for a particular part while writing. With the information from this book authors from the medical and health sciences increase their joy in writing papers and their effectiveness in getting them published in good journals.

"This is a new edition of The Scientists Guide to Writing, published in 2016. As a reminder the book provided practical advice on writing, covering topics including how to generate and maintain writing momentum, tips on structuring a scientific paper, revising a first draft, handling citations, responding to peer reviews, and managing coauthorships, among other topics. For the 2nd edtition, Heard has made several changes, specifically: - expanding the chapter on writing in English for non-native speakers - adding two chapters: one on efficient and effective reading and one on selecting the right journal and how to use preprint sites. - doubled the number of exercises - various other add-ons to existing chapters, including information on reporting statistical results, handling disagreement among peer reviewers, and managing co-authorships"--

This timely and hugely practical work provides a score of examples from contemporary and historical scientific presentations to show clearly what makes an oral presentation effective. It considers presentations made to persuade an audience to adopt some course of action (such as funding a proposal) as well as presentations made to communicate information, and it considers these from four perspectives: speech, structure, visual aids, and delivery. It also discusses computer-based projections and slide shows as well as overhead projections. In particular, it looks at ways of organizing graphics and text in projected images and of using layout and design to present the information efficiently and effectively.