Meenakshi Prabhune has a golden rule for effective science writing—keep it simple.
The life of a researcher is incomplete without undergoing the trauma of writing scientific documents: papers, grants, protocols, theses, and so on and on. Most researchers find this stressful, time-consuming, and difficult; and, despite the enormous time and effort invested in writing, I for one often come across close-to-incomprehensible papers while digging through the literature. Why is that the case, and how do we fix it?
In my opinion, clarity breeds precision, and vice versa. It’s impossible to summarise a finding precisely if you haven’t understood it. A vague sentence that rambles on into the woods without a solid point will only confuse your readers, and indicate a lack of understanding on your part. Research your references and data thoroughly to avoid this. Preparation is an essential ingredient when writing clear and precise sentences.
Let’s consider the actual writing process—you write a sentence, realize you need a reference, search around for it, re-read the sentence, decide it’s not perfect, edit it, and wonder if you’ll ever finish at this speed.
Sounds familiar? Here’s something I wish I’d known sooner: writing and editing are separate processes. It’s perfectly fine to envision the end product and work in that direction, but don’t expect the first draft to be flawless. An effective writing method is to actively think about the content, write an entire paragraph or two—or three, or four—and then edit for perfection. This approach ensures a logical flow of sentences, as you’re following your own train of thought at a decent pace.
In terms of style, a healthy mix of short and long sentences is the key to a good manuscript. Short sentences read well. Long sentences with multiple conjunctions, punctuations, parts, pieces, bits, bobs, tenses, disclaimers, derivatives and definitions, although grammatically sound, are exhausting, and they also require extra attention on the reader’s part—that is, if the reader hasn’t given up already. Point proven?
Lastly, I think an important issue is that researchers—especially young researchers—often focus far too much on ‘sounding smart’. Your boss, peers, and the rest of the world are going to read something written by you for the first time, and there is often a real fear of coming across as stupid. Researchers should remember that the science in their paper is the only thing they need to validate their intellect.
Your aim while writing should be to spread your scientific findings to a large audience. So, confusing your readers—or potential reviewers—with complicated sentences and thesaurus entries will only discourage them from reading further. Write to express, not impress.
Meenakshi Prabhune is a researcher-turned-science-writer living and working in the Bay area, California. You can read her blog, that covers science and travel, here.
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“Write to express not to impress”
It is something that we often forget about, science is already impressive!
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Absolutely true Marianna! Good science only needs effective broadcasting.
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It’s been said, perhaps not often enough: “If you can’t write clearly, it’s likely you can’t think clearly.”
Thanks for the post.
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You are welcome Peter. Glad you like the post.
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I really appreciate the article, but also feels that problems come when one is not expert of the language s/he is expressing in, i have come across many good students from India’s rural area doing excellent science, but once writing, fail to express in the global language English.
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That is a good point, Anurag. Language barrier certainly adds to the difficulties in science communication. Unfortunately, general tips can only help in structuring and polishing an article. Perhaps, including language lessons in the scientific syllabus might help address the issue that you mentioned.
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“The first draft is never the last” is my motto when teaching students. Editing is also a skill which has to be learned as editing one’s own work is never easy. I suggest that students practise by editing each other’s work first. It is easier to edit something to which you are not so personally attached!
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I absolutely agree, Tim. Its indeed difficult to edit your own work; I really like the idea of teaching students by editing each other’s work!
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Sometimes people use thesaurus and select really weird words — which totally changes the meaning of entire sentence — and they don’t even realize.
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Very true. I think its part of the pressure of ‘sounding smart’. Young researchers especially need to know that science communication cannot be achieved by creating confusion.
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I have read your article published in Naturejobs. This is indeed an excellent piece of writing. Congrats…. R.P. Raman
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Thank you for your compliments!