Provides immediate help for anyone preparing a biomedical paper by givin specific advice on organizing the components of the paper, effective writing techniques, writing an effective results sections, documentation issues, sentence structure and much more. The new edition includes new examples from the current literature including many involving molecular biology, expanded exercises at the end of the book, revised explanations on linking key terms, transition clauses, uses of subheads, and emphases. If you plan to do any medical writing, read this book first and get an immediate advantage.
This guide explains how to write effective sentences and strong paragraphs as well as how to avoid common errors and write a spec. Includes exercises and answers.
Essentials of Scientific Writing: How to Write Effective Titles and Abstracts for Research Papers and Proposals is a belated entrant into a vast and crucially important area with scarce reference materials. This scarcity manifested itself as I searched what I had expected would be useful source materials for the present book. I skimmed through many textbooks on scientific writing and editing, articles on the Internet, and notes from courses on scientific writing. They all turned out to be manifestly wanting in both depth and scope. None extended beyond two pages, and most were hardly a page long, so they were largely useless for my purposes. To the authors knowledge, few published books treat the subjects of Titles and Abstracts in the kind of detail presented in this book. Accordingly, in developing the book, the author hoped to fill a void in the crucial area of facilitating sharing of knowledge and information from research work. It is my hope that everyone writing scientific work will endeavor to find space for the book on their shelves and will place it within arms length whenever they are writing or editing the title or abstract.
The third edition of this book aims to equip both young and experienced researchers with all the tools and strategy they will need for their papers to not just be accepted, but stand out in the crowded field of academic publishing. It seeks to question and deconstruct the legacy of existing science writing, replacing or supporting historically existing practices with principle- and evidence-driven styles of effective writing. It encourages a reader-centric approach to writing, satisfying reader-scientists at large, but also the paper's most powerful readers, the reviewer and editor. Going beyond the baseline of well-structured scientific writing, this book leverages an understanding of human physiological limitations (memory, attention, time) to help the author craft a document that is optimized for readability. Through real and fictional examples, hands-on exercises, and entertaining stories, this book breaks down the critical parts of a typical scientific paper (Title, Abstract, Introduction, Visuals, Structure, and Conclusions). It shows at great depth how to achieve the essential qualities required in scientific writing, namely being clear, concise, convincing, fluid, interesting, and organized. To enable the writer to assess whether these parts are well written from a reader's perspective, the book also offers practical metrics in the form of six checklists, and even an original Java application to assist in the evaluation.
This book takes an integrated approach, using the principles of story structure to discuss every aspect of successful science writing, from the overall structure of a paper or proposal to individual sections, paragraphs, sentences, and words. It begins by building core arguments, analyzing why some stories are engaging and memorable while others are quickly forgotten, and proceeds to the elements of story structure, showing how the structures scientists and researchers use in papers and proposals fit into classical models. The book targets the internal structure of a paper, explaining how to write clear and professional sections, paragraphs, and sentences in a way that is clear and compelling.
The Craft of Scientific Presentations, 2nd edition aims to strengthen you as a presenter of science and engineering. The book does so by identifying what makes excellent presenters such as Brian Cox, Jane Goodall, Richard Feynman, and Jill Bolte Taylor so strong. In addition, the book explains what causes so many scientific presentations to flounder. One of the most valuable contributions of this text is that it teaches the assertion-evidence approach to scientific presentations. Instead of building presentations, as most engineers and scientists do, on the weak foundation of topic phrases and bulleted lists, this assertion-evidence approach calls for building presentations on succinct message assertions supported by visual evidence. Unlike the commonly followed topic-subtopic approach that PowerPoint leads presenters to use, the assertion-evidence approach is solidly grounded in research. By showing the differences between strong and weak presentations, by identifying the errors that scientific presenters typically make, and by teaching a much more powerful approach for scientific presentations than what is commonly practiced, this book places you in a position to elevate your presentations to a high level. In essence, this book aims to have you not just succeed in your scientific presentations, but excel. About the Author Michael Alley has taught workshops on presentations to engineers and scientists on five continents, and has recently been invited to speak at the European Space Organization, Harvard Medical School, MIT, Sandia National Labs, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Simula Research Laboratory, and United Technologies. An Associate Professor of engineering communication at Pennsylvania State University, Alley is a leading researcher on the effectiveness of different designs for presentation slides.
From the latest breakthroughs in medical research and information technologies to new discoveries about the diversity of life on earth, science is becoming both more specialized and more relevant. Consequently, the need for writers who can clarify these breakthroughs and discoveries for the general public has become acute. In Ideas into Words, Elise Hancock, a professional writer and editor with thirty years of experience, provides both novice and seasoned science writers with the practical advice and canny insights they need to take their craft to the next level. Rich with real-life examples and anecdotes, this book covers the essentials of science writing: finding story ideas, learning the science, opening and shaping a piece, polishing drafts, overcoming blocks, and conducting interviews with scientists and other experts who may not be accustomed to making their ideas understandable to lay readers. Hancock's wisdom will prove useful to anyone pursuing nonfiction writing as a career. She devotes an entire chapter to habits and attitudes that writers should cultivate, another to structure, and a third to the art of revision. Some of her advice is surprising (she cautions against s
Practical and easy to use, Writing in the Biological Sciences: A Comprehensive Resource for Scientific Communication, Fourth Edition, presents students with all of the techniques and information they need to communicate their scientific ideas, insights, and discoveries. Angelika H. Hofmannintroduces students to the underlying principles and guidelines of professional scientific writing and then teaches them how to apply these methods when composing essential forms of scientific writing and communication. Ideal as a free-standing textbook for courses on writing in the biologicalsciences or as reference guide in laboratories, this indispensable handbook gives students the tools they need to succeed in their undergraduate science careers and beyond.
Most international students need to write essays and reports for exams and coursework, but writing good academic English is one of the most demanding tasks students face. The Essentials of Academic Writing for International Students has been developed to help these students succeed in their assignments—quickly! This course has a clear, easy-to-follow structure. In the first part, Process and Skills, each stage of the writing process is demonstrated and practised, from selecting suitable sources, reading, note-making and planning through to re-writing and proof-reading. Each unit contains examples, explanations and exercises, for use in the classroom or for self-study. The units are clearly organised to allow teachers and students find the help they need with writing tasks. The second part of the book, Elements of Writing, deals with key areas for improving accuracy, such as academic vocabulary, using numbers and punctuation. This section can be linked with the first part or used for reference or self-study. All international students wanting to maximise their academic potential will find this practical and easy-to-use book an invaluable guide to writing in English for their degree courses. All elements of writing are clearly explained Full range of practice exercises, with answer key included Use of authentic academic texts and examples Fully up-to-date, with sections on finding electronic sources and evaluating internet material
