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1、1,Scientific Writing,2,“A naturalists life would be a happy one if he had only to observe and never to write.” Charles Darwin,3,Outline,Session 1: Elements of Scientific Writing Session 2: How to Write a Manuscript Session 3: Publication Practices & Ethics Session 4: Common Problem Areas Session 5:
2、How to Publish (Western Journal) Sessions 6 & 7: Critiques of your writing Session 8: Questions & Review,4,Session 1: Topics,What is scientific writing? How does it differ from writing in general? Grammar & other writing essentials Plain language Reference Books,5,What is scientific writing?,How doe
3、s it differ from other writing?,6,Not poetic or flowery More direct and to the point Passive voice (NO) Wordy (doesnt need to be) More precise,7,Our goal is to make scientific writing readable and easy to understand,8,Grammar & Other Writing Essentials,9,Sentence,Consists of subject, verb, and objec
4、t Keep subject and verb close together! Serologic studies have shown that primary infection usually occurs during childhood. Each sentence should make a single point 20-22 words per sentence,10,What the reader expects in a sentence,Main action of the sentence is expressed in the main verb Subject is
5、 the agent of the action (if the agent is important) Sentence tells a story In this report, we describe a systematic study of the role of immunodeficiency in BKV and JCV viruria.,11,Subject is at the beginning of the sentence, unless there is a dependent clause. In which case, subject will immediate
6、ly follow the clause Aside from the kinase domain and phosphorylation sites, virtually nothing is known about structure-function relationships in the enzyme. Verb immediately follows the subject,12,Positions in the Sentence,Topic position is at the beginning of the sentence. Contains old information
7、 Links us backward Stress position should be at end of the sentence. Point of closure Receives special emphasis New information,13,In other words:,The beginning of the sentence (topic position) will either look forward to the rest (i.e., offer context) or will look backward (i.e., provide linkage).
8、The end of the sentence (stress position) will contain the new, important information.,14,Digestion of archetype virus should give a radiolabeled SacI fragment of 129 bp and a radiolabeled SphI fragment of 175 bp.,15,Which are topic and stress positions?,Digestion of archetype virus should give a ra
9、diolabeled SacI fragment of 129 bp and a radiolabeled SphI fragment of 175 bp.,16,Voice: active vs passive,Active voice: when subject performs the action of the verb Passive voice: when subject undergoes the action of the verb Usually consists of part of verb “to be” and past participle of verb,17,P
10、assive voice,Makes sentences more wordy & complicated Used to be recommended for scientific writing NOT ANY MORE! Use when agent is not important Cells were cultured in DME Does not matter who cultured them!,18,Active voice,Adds action to the sentence Adds interest Makes sentences shorter We analyze
11、d,19,Convert passive to active,Look for buried verbs hidden in words that end in -ion A careful inspection of the esophageal mucosa is performed as the endoscope is withdrawn. The physician inspects the esophageal mucosa as the endoscope is withdrawn.,20,Two of the most common errors made in scienti
12、fic writing.,Subject-verb disagreement Dangling participles,21,Subject-Verb Disagreement,Problem: easy to forget what the subject is (singular or plural) when we use long strings of phrases to modify it Solution: read the sentence, omitting the modifying phrases, so that subject and verb are togethe
13、r Singular subject uses singular verb. Plural subject uses plural verb.,22,The incidence of basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma of skin (is/are) estimated to exceed one million per year. Subject is incidence, singular, therefore use is BUT,23,Basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carci
14、noma of skin are estimated to occur in over one million per year.,Subject is plural: two carcinomas, therefore use are,24,Dangling Participles,Participle: form of verb that acts as an adjective e.g., hanging, trapped Dangling when the implied subject of the participle is not the same as the subject
15、of the sentence,25,Wrapped around the spinal cord, the surgeon found a large tumor. Was the surgeon wrapped around the spinal cord? Or the tumor? Sentence says the surgeon was. Change to: The surgeon found a large tumor wrapped around the spinal cord.,26,Dangling participles often occur in passive v
16、oice Solution: use active voice,27,Strings of pearls,Too many modifiers in a row Stick to only 2 or 3 Use hyphens for clarification Patient B was a 57-year-old, right-handed, Caucasian man who was admitted.,28,Diagramming Sentences http:/www.lausd.k12.ca.us/lausd/offices/di/Burleson/Lessons/TS/diagr
17、am.htm http:/mnet.edu/grammar/diagrams/diagrams.htm,29,Use of Tenses in Scientific Writing,Different parts of a scientific paper use different tenses When a fact has been published or is established: use Present The principal mechanism of double-strand break repair in humans is nonhomologous end joi
18、ning. If a fact is not generalized or from a specific experiment: use Past We characterized the effects of mutations at serine 260 and,30,When observations have been repeated or go from past to present: use Present Perfect We have shown that. When referring to figures or tables: use Present Figure 2
19、 is a mass spectrometry analysis of,31,Methods: In a paper: use Past GST proteins were purified as described. In a grant: use Future The full-length coding region will be excised from the Eco RI site.,32,Person,It is perfectly good to use the first person in scientific writing: We performed HPLC We
20、and others have shown Or the third person: Jones and colleagues reported that,33,Redundancy,Remove redundancy, verbosity, and all things that are repeated,34,Original sentence from a Chinese colleague,Our preliminary data showed that GILZ inhibits both PPAR2 and C/EBP transcription, but unlike the i
21、nhibition of PPAR2 which involves the direct binding of GILZ to PPAR2 promoter (see appended paper). GILZ does not bind to C/EBP promoter.,35,Changed to:,Our preliminary data shows that GILZ inhibits both PPAR2 and C/EBP transcription. However, while GILZ inhibits PPAR2 by directly binding to the PP
22、AR2 promoter (see appended paper), GILZ does not bind to the C/EBP promoter.,36,Plain Language in Science,37,Outdated attitude:,The importance of the work is inversely proportional to the number of people who can understand it Science Editor (2001) 24:194.,38,The trend toward plain language is gathe
23、ring force in government, academe, and scientific journals. http:/www.plainlanguage.gov If simple words can be used to convey the message, dont use fancy words.,39,But.be careful.,Do not use informal speech in scientific writing Not: We got the following results Use: We obtained the following result
24、s Other words not to use: Not: We got to Use: We will have to Not: We cant conclude Use: We cannot conclude,40,References,A Grammar Book for You and I-Oops, Me C. Edward Good,Capital Books, Inc. ISBN1-892123-23-1 Also published as: Whos-Oops, Whose- Grammar Book Is This Anyway? MJF Books, ISBN 1-56731-576-3 Available from ,41,Scientific Style and Format Council of Science Editors, ISBN 0-521-47154-0 Handbook of Technical Writing C.T. Brusaw, G.J. Alred, and W.E. Oliu; St. Martins Press, ISBN 0-312-16690-7,42,Thank you to.,