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Instructor: Dr. Kristin Sainani Link: https://www.coursera.org/learn/sciwrite 
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Module 1
Introduction; principles of effective writing
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If you catch yourself reaching for the thesaurus, to avoid repeating a word, always ask yourself, Do I even need the second instance of that word at all? Oftentimes, you simply don't need the second instance of the word.
Another example
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Increased athletic activity is associated with lower cardiovascular risk Lower blood pressure and improved fitness. → Increased athletic activity lowers cardiovascular risk and blood pressure and improves fitness. |
Another example
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The experimental demonstration is the first of its kind and is a proof of principle for the concept of laser driven particle acceleration in a structure loaded vacuum. |
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The experiment provides the first proof of principle of laser-driven particle acceleration in a structure-loaded vacuum. |
Cut unnecessary words
Be vigilent and ruthless
After investing much effort to put words on a page, we often find it hard to part with them.
Try taking out all the extra words. Read the sentence and see how it's better. See how it conveys the same idea with more power.
Common sources of clutter:
Dead weight words and phrases → Just provide citations to show that it's well known.
As it is well known,
as it is has been shown,
it can be regarded that,
it should be emphasized that
Empty words and phrases → these kinds of words don't add anything because they're so vague and empty.
basic tenets of
methodologic
important
Long words or phrases that could be short
A majority of → most.
A number of → many.
Are of the same opinion → agree.
Less frequently occurring → rare.
All three of the → just say “the three”, you don't need the all.
Give rise → caused.
Due to the fact that' → because,
have an effect on → affect; you the idea.
Unnecessary jargon and acronyms: We want to avoid acronyms unless they're completely standard and well known throughout science.
Repetitive words or phrases
Illustrate and demonstrate.
Challenges and difficulties.
Successful solutions.
Adverbs
very, really, quite, basically, generally