Writing in the Sciences
- Sara Faour
Instructor: Dr. Kristin Sainani
Link: Writing in the Sciences
Said provided very extensive notes on the class:
Example of lesson notes: https://crystalfree.atlassian.net/l/cp/QrUkSuvr
Below is my summary of Instructor’s transcript.
Module 1
Introduction; principles of effective writing
what makes good writing?
Good writing communicate an idea clearly and effectively.
Good writing is beautiful, elegant and stylish (less important than the above point)
Clear writing just takes having something to say and clear thinking.
As scientists, all of us have something to say. We also have clear thinking, so this part really shouldn't be intimidating. What's more intimidating is this elegant and stylish part.
But in fact, this elegant and stylish part doesn't happen on a first draft. Elegant and stylish writing happens in revision, even for professional writers.
So I don't want you to even worry about elegant and stylish when you're writing your first draft, just worry about getting that idea across in a clear and logical and efficient way.
what makes a good writer?
What people think:
Inborn talent?
Years of English and humanities classes?
An artistic nature?
Divine inspiration?
To be a good writer is that:
Having something to say: You need to have something that you're passionate about that you want to communicate.
Logical and clear thinking.
A few simple learnable rules of style: And these are the tools that I can teach you in this class, they're easy to learn and once you've learned them it'll be a lot easier for you to write in a clear, effective, and efficient way.
Take-home message for this course: Good writing can be learned! (as a skill)
Besides taking this course, there's a few other things you can do to improve your writing:
Read, pay attention and imitate.
Reading is a really good way to learn to be a better writer.
Read sources of professional good writing, not necessarily the scientific literature.
Write in a journal.
Let go of some academic writing habits (deprogramming step!)
Talk about your research before trying to write about it.
when we talk about our research, we do it in a more conversational tone, we talk in more simple terms.
Write to engage your readers--try not to bore them!
Stop waiting for “inspiration”.
Accept that writing is hard for everyone (even for professional writers).
Revise. Nobody gets it perfect on the first try.
Learn how to cut ruthlessly. Never become too attached to your own words.
Find a good editor!
Take risks and find your own voice as a writer! Go ahead and put something in your writing that's a little bit funny, put something that's provocative
Examples of what not to do
So ask yourself the questions:
Is this sentence easy to understand?
Is the sentence enjoyable and interesting to read?
Is this sentence readable?
Is it written to inform or to obscure?
Turning verbs to nouns makes the writing hard to read. Verbs move sentences along, whereas nouns slow the reader down.
Themes of this course
Complex ideas don’t require complex language.
Scientific writing should be easy and even enjoyable to read.
I want you to think very carefully about making sure that, your reader understands your writing, and that your reader cares about your writing.
If you do that, they're more likely to pick up on your ideas, they're more likely to cite your work, and it's more likely to move science forward.
Overview, principles of effective writing
(The instructor presented an example) Some specific features that make this example difficult to read:
the use of nouns rather than verbs
the use of vague words
the use of unnecessary jargon and acronyms → avoid the use of acronyms, other than those that are completely standard that most people will know.
the use of the passive voice: The passive voice is hard to read because it's not the way we talk.
putting too much distance between the subject of the sentence and the main verb is a problem: Until you give the reader the verb, the reader doesn't know where you're going with the sentence
Principles of effective writing
Cut your words, cut unnecessary words and phrases, get rid of the clutter. (this week)
Use the active voice rather than the passive voice: subject+verb+object. (next week)
Write with verbs: use strong verbs, avoid turning verbs into nouns, and don't bury the main verb!
Cut the clutter
Quoted from William Zinsser's classic writing book "On Writing Well":
The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning that's already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what. These are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence. And they usually occur in proportion to the education and rank.
Today, we're going to practice stripping sentences of all this kind of clutter.
Example with a lot of extra, unnecessary words:
This paper provides a review of the basic tenets of cancer biology study design, using as examples studies that illustrate the methodologic challenges or that demonstrates successful solutions to the difficulties inherent in biological research
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
Another example
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