Scientific writing: a reader and writer's guide

223 Pages·2007·1.21 MB·english

by  Jean-Luc Lebrun

SCIENTIFIC WRITING
A R E A D E R A N D
W R I T E R ’ S G U I D E
January19,2007 wspc/spi-b452/FM ScientificWriting:AReaderandWriter’sGuide FA
TThhiiss ppaaggee iinntteennttiioonnaallllyy lleefftt bbllaannkk
J E A N - L U C L E B R U N
Trainer of researchers and scientists from A*STAR Research Institutes. Singapore
Former Director, Apple-ISS Research Centre, Singapore
S C I E N T I F I C W R I T I N G
A R E A D E R A N D
W R I T E R ’ S G U I D E
vp
World Scientific
- - - -
NEW JERSEY LONDON SINGAPORE BElJlNG SHANGHAI HONG KONG TAIPEI CHENNAI
Published by
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
SCIENTIFIC WRITING: A READER AND WRITER’S GUIDE
Copyright © 2007 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher.
For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright
Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to
photocopy is not required from the publisher.
ISBN-13 978-981-270-473-3
ISBN-10 981-270-473-6
ISBN-13 978-981-270-144-2 (pbk)
ISBN-10 981-270-144-3 (pbk)
Typeset by Stallion Press
Email: [email protected]
Printed in Singapore.
Wanda - Scientific Writing.pmd 1 5/17/2007, 7:05 PM
January19,2007 wspc/spi-b452/FM ScientificWriting:AReaderandWriter’sGuide FA
Preface
You know how to write grammatically correct English. Congratula-
tions.You have read Strunk andWhite’s little book,The Elements of
Style.a Perfect. To pursue true writing excellence, you now need to
takeintoconsiderationthepeoplekeytoyoursuccess:thereaders.
What readers fear the most while reading a scientific paper is
to get stuck or left behind. They are stuck when the experienced
writer zigzags around the familiar obstacles in the knowledge field,
whilst readers crash into them; and they are left behind when the
knowledgeable writer runs where they can only walk. The knowl-
edge gap that separates you from your readers cannot be ignored,
yet adequate background knowledge does not guarantee that moti-
vatedreaderswillfindreadingyourpapereasyandrewarding.Much
moreisrequiredof them.Ascientificpaperrequiresmorememory,
attention, and time than a typical novel of the same length. Good
writing should therefore take into account the reader’s ignorance,
fatigue, short-term memory, and impatience in order to minimise
theirimpact.
Uniquewritingtechniquesrarelypresentedinbooksontechnical
writingwillbringthewriterclosertothesixqualitiesthatarethehall-
mark of great scientific writing:fluid,organised,clear,concise,con-
vincing, and interesting (FOCI). Consider sentence structure. Does
aStrunkWJrandWhiteEB,TheElementsofStyle,PenguinPress,NewYork,2005.
v
January19,2007 wspc/spi-b452/FM ScientificWriting:AReaderandWriter’sGuide FA
vi ScientificWriting: AReaderandWriter’sGuide
placing a conjunction such as “because,“but,” or “although” at the
headofasentenceprovidemorereadingpullthanplacingitmidway?
Consider sentence progression. Does keeping the topic of the first
sentence constant throughout a paragraph help the reader progress
smoothlythroughawrittenargument?Considerthereader’sexpec-
tations. Can a single word in a sentence trigger large expectations?
“Because it was raining that day,” creates the expectation that the
writerwillexplainwhathappenedbecauseof therain.Thesentence
finisheswith“thepaintdidnotdryontime.”Thereaderreachesthe
endofthesentenceknowingwhythepaintdidnotdry-thefirstexpec-
tation raised is fulfilled, but another expectation arises: the paint
did not dry on time for what? Expectations drive reading forward
in science as they do in literature. By creating and controlling pull,
progression,andexpectations,thewritercanguidethereader.
Readers have different expectations for each part of a scientific
article,from its title to its conclusion. Since ignoring these expecta-
tions frustrates readers,the writer should avoid the short introduc-
tion that sheds little light on the“what”and“why”of the paper,the
abstractthatisindistinguishablefromtheconclusion,themisleading
title,thebaggystructure,andtheimmatureandunprocessedvisuals.
This book will help writers learn how to put together a coherent set
of partsthatsatisfiesreaders.
Thisbookcomeswithametaphoricalboxofchocolates:48stories
designedtolivenupreadingandreinforcethelearningprocess.Italso
comeswithacoreof100examplesinspiredorquotedfromscientific
articles. No attempt has been made to “sweeten” them. Do not let
themintimidateyou.Whatisofimportanceineachoftheseexamples
isnottheirimpactontheworldof science:itistheplacementof the
wordsinthesentenceandtheexpectationstheycreate.
This book was written at the request of many scientists who
have participated in the scientific writing skills seminars I conduct
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Preface vii
in various parts of the globe. In their assessment of the course, the
participants highlighted benefits; some expected,some unexpected.
As expected, those who had already published papers felt that their
writinghadimprovedbykeepingthereaderinmind.Juniorscientists
withoutanypublishingexperiencewererelievedthattheynolonger
hadtoblindlyimitatetheworkofothers,notknowingwhetherwhat
theywereimitatingwasgoodorbad.Unexpectedly,evenseniorsci-
entistswithgreatpublishingexperiencefoundthattheseminarhad
improvedtheiranalyticalreadingskillsandhadequippedthemwith
amethodtoconductbetterpeerreviews.
Beforeturningthepage,wordsofappreciationaredue.Morethan
1000scientistsfrommanyresearchcentreshelpedmetounderstand
andlovethescientificreader.Thisbookisdedicatedtothem.Three
authors, through their books, influenced the contents of this book:
MichaelAlleybonscientificwriting,GeorgeGopenconreaderenergy
and expectations, and Don Normand on user interfaces. They have
mydeepestrespect.TheyarethegiantsonwhoseshouldersIclimbed
todiscoveranewworldtheyhadexploredwellbeforeIdid.If,thanks
tothem,Idiscoverednewtechniquesthatwillbeofhelptothereader
of thisbook,maytheysharethecredit.
bAlleyM,TheCraftofScientificWriting,Springer,NewYork,1997.
cGopenGD,Expectations:TeachingWritingfromtheReader’sPerspective,PearsonLongman,2004.
dNormanD,TheDesignofEverydayThings,BasicBooks,NewYork,2002.
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TThhiiss ppaaggee iinntteennttiioonnaallllyy lleefftt bbllaannkk
January19,2007 wspc/spi-b452/FM ScientificWriting:AReaderandWriter’sGuide FA
Contents
Preface v
Part I TheReadingToolkit 1
Chapter1 RequireLessfromMemory 3
• TheForgottenAcronym 3
• TheDetachedPronoun 5
• TheDivertingSynonym 10
• TheDistantBackground 11
• TheBrokenCouple 14
• TheWordOverflow 16
Chapter2 SustainAttentiontoEnsureContinuousReading 18
• MoveIdeasForward 19
• MakeImportantThingsStandOut 21
• IllustratetoClarify 24
• QuestiontoEngage 24
• RecreateSuspense 26
Chapter3 ReduceReadingTime 29
• VisualInformationBurgers 29
• SeparatingSpace 30
• TrimmedandDiscardedText 31
ix