Scientific Writing (PP211) Ahram Canadian University PDF

Ahram Canadian University Department of Pharmacy Practice Scientific Writing (PP211) Dr.Mohamed Adel Assistant.Prof. of Clinical Pharmacy  2 What you will learn from this course ✘ key princ...

Ahram Canadian University Department of Pharmacy Practice Scientific Writing (PP211) Dr.Mohamed Adel Assistant.Prof. of Clinical Pharmacy  2 What you will learn from this course ✘ key principles of effective writing. ✘ practice cutting clutter from writing. ✘ writing with strong, active verbs. ✘ write in the active voice; avoid turning verbs into nouns; choose strong verbs; and get to the main verb of a sentence quickly. ✘ how to vary sentence structure as well as writing well-organized and concise paragraphs. ✘ reviews the sections of a scientific manuscript. You will learn how to format tables and figures, and how to write results, methods, introduction, and discussion sections. ✘ how to avoid plagiarism. 1. Principles of effective writing  4 Introduction Research papers are often required of students in higher education. Many students share a common idea about the task of writing a research paper:  Choose a topic  Do research on the topic  Write an essay based on your research  5 Introduction Yet the comments from the professor may be disappointing ✘ “No research question” “Too general” or “Not sufficiently narrow” ✘ “Improper use of sources” “Much of this material appears to be plagiarized” ✘ “Inadequate bibliography” “No journal articles”  6 Introduction Writing is a very important part of science; it is used to document and communicate ideas, activities and findings to others. Scientific writing can take many forms from a lab notebook to a project report, or from a paper in an academic journal to an article in a scientific magazine.  7 Principles of effective writing What makes good writing? 1. Good writing communicates an idea clearly and effectively Takes having something to say and clear thinking 2. Good writing is elegant and stylish Takes time, revision and good editor  8 Principles of effective writing Two important issues ✘ Complex ideas don’t require complex language ✘ Scientific writing should be easy and even enjoyable to read  9 Examples of what not to do Example 1: This was the first sentence of an article in the journal of “Clinical Oncology” “Adoptive cell transfer (ACT) immunotherapy is based on the ex vivo selection of tumor-reactive lymphocytes, and their activation and numerical expression before reinfusion to the autologous tumor-bearing host” Ask your self: Is this sentence easy to understand? Is this sentence enjoyable and interesting to read?  10 Examples of what not to do A classic hallmark of academic writing: spunky verbs become poring nouns It makes reading hard because verbs drive sentences whereas nouns slow them down “Adoptive cell transfer (ACT) immunotherapy is based on the ex vivo selection of tumor-reactive lymphocytes, and their activation and numerical expression before reinfusion to the autologous tumor-bearing host”  11 Examples of what not to do Example 2: “These findings imply that the rates of ascorbate radical production and its recycling via dehydroascorbate reductase to replenish the ascorbate pool are equivalent at the lower irradiance, but not equivalent at higher irradiance with the rate of ascorbate radical production exceeding its recycling back to ascorbate”  12 Examples of what not to do Example 2: “These findings imply that the rates of ascorbate radical production and its recycling via dehydroascorbate reductase to replenish the ascorbate pool are equivalent at the lower irradiance, but not equivalent at higher irradiance with the rate of ascorbate radical production exceeding its recycling back to ascorbate” ✘ “These findings imply that, at low irradiation, ascorbate radicals are produced and recycled at the same rate, but at higher irradiation, they are produced faster than they can be recycled back to ascorbate”  13 Examples of what not to do Example 3: “Dysregulation of physiologic microRNA (miR) activity has been shown to play an important role in tumor initiation and progression, including gliomagenesis. Therefore, molecular species that can regulate miR activity on their target RNAs without affecting the expression of relevant mature miRs may play equally relevant roles in cancer” What makes this sentence difficult to read?  14 Examples of what not to do Example 3: “Dysregulation of physiologic microRNA (miR) activity has been shown to play an important role in tumor initiation and progression, including gliomagenesis. Therefore, molecular species that can regulate miR activity on their target RNAs without affecting the expression of relevant mature miRs may play equally relevant roles in cancer” 1. Use of nouns instead of verbs 2. Use of vague words (Don’t add any thing to the meaning) 3. Use of unnecessary jargon and acronyms 4. Using passive voice (hard to read) 5. The distance between the subject and the main verb of this sentence  15 Examples of what not to do Example 3: “Dysregulation of physiologic microRNA (miR) activity has been shown to play an important role in tumor initiation and progression, including gliomagenesis. Therefore, molecular species that can regulate miR activity on their target RNAs without affecting the expression of relevant mature miRs may play equally relevant roles in cancer” 1. Use of nouns instead of verbs 2. Use of vague words (Don’t add any thing to the meaning) 3. Use of unnecessary jargon and acronyms 4. Using passive voice (hard to read) 5. The distance between the subject and the main verb of this sentence  16 Examples of what not to do Example 3: “Dysregulation of physiologic microRNA (miR) activity has been shown to play an important role in tumor initiation and progression, including gliomagenesis. Therefore, molecular species that can regulate miR activity on their target RNAs without affecting the expression of relevant mature miRs may play equally relevant roles in cancer” ✘ Changes in microRNA expression play a role in cancer, including glioma. Therefore, events that disrupt microRNAs from binding to their target RNAs may also promote cancer. (Shorter and easier)  17 Overview of principles of effective writing ✘ Cut unnecessary words and phrases (cutting the clutter) ✘ Use the active voice (subject + verb + object) ✘ Write with verbs: use strong verbs, avoid turning verbs into nouns, and don’t burry the main verb. 2. Cut the clutter  19 Cut the clutter The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. The following could weak a sentence: ✘ Every word that serves no function ✘ Every long word that could be 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 doing what  20 Cut the clutter Example 1: “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 demonstrate successful solutions to the difficulties inherent in biological research” This paper provides a A spunky verb “to review” turned into a poring This paper reviews review of noun “a review” with a poring verb “provides” The basic tenets of Vague and doesn’t add anything to the reader Cut this phrase using as examples Repetition; the word examples means the same using examples studies that illustrate thing as studies that illustrate methodologic Vague, broad, and doesn’t add anything to the Cut this word reader, also “study design” implies “methodology” illustrate the challenges Repetition; “illustrate” and “demonstrate” illustrate specific or that demonstrate The adjective “successful” already implied in the challenges and successful solutions word “solutions” solutions to the difficulties Repetition; “challenges” and “difficulties” Cut this phrase inherent in biological “inherent in biological research” implied in “biology research study design”  21 Cut the clutter Example 1: “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 demonstrate successful solutions to the difficulties inherent in biological research” ✘ This paper reviews cancer biology study design, using examples that illustrate specific challenges and solutions.  22 Cut the clutter Example 2: “As it is well known, increased athletic activity has been related to a profile of lower cardiovascular risk, lower blood pressure levels, and improved muscular and cardio-respiratory performance” As it is well known Introductory phrase that has no value; if you want Cut this phrase to indicate that something is known, just indicate it by putting the citations or references at the end of the sentence. has been related to Best replaced by “is associated with” as writing is associated with style OR could be removed a profile of lower “a profile of” is a vague phrase lower cardiovascular risk cardiovascular risk lower blood pressure The word “levels” is not necessary lower blood levels pressure muscular and cardio- Could be replaced by the word “fitness” fitness respiratory performance  23 Cut the clutter Example 2: “As it is well known, increased athletic activity has been related to a profile of lower cardiovascular risk, lower blood pressure levels, and improved muscular and cardio-respiratory performance” ✘ Increased athletic activity is associated with lower cardiovascular risk, lower blood pressure, and improved fitness. To be more direct (Change nouns into verbs): ✘ Increased athletic activity lowers cardiovascular risk and blood pressure, and improves fitness. (needs stronger level of evidence)  24 Cut the clutter Cut unnecessary words: ✘ Be vigilant and ruthless. ✘ Try the sentence without the extra words and see how it’s better – conveys the same idea with more power. Example: “Brain injury incidence show two peak periods in almost all reports: rates are the highest in young people and the elderly” ✘ “Brain injury incidence peaks in the young and the elderly” More Powerful  25 Common sources of clutter (1) Dead weight words and phrases: ✘ As it is well known ✘ As it has been shown ✘ It can be regarded that ✘ It should be emphasized that >>>Deleted and just provide citation (2) Empty words and phrases: ✘ Basic tenets of ✘ Methodologic ✘ Important >>> Don’t add anything because they are so vague and empty (3) Long words and phrases that could be short: ✘ Remember the example of “muscular and cardio-respiratory performance” that could be replaced by “fitness”  26 Common sources of clutter (4) Unnecessary jargons and acronyms: Remember the following examples ✘ muscular and cardio-respiratory performance ✘ Gliomagenesis ✘ miR (4) Repetitive words or phrases: Remember the following examples ✘ studies/examples ✘ illustrate/demonstrate ✘ Challenges/difficulties ✘ Successful solutions (5) Adverbs: ✘ very, really, quite, basically, generally, etc.  27 Long words and 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 the three Give rise to cause Due to the fact that because Have an effect on affect  28 Long words and phrases that could be short Example: “The expected prevalence of mental retardation, based on the assumption that intelligence is normally distributed, is about 2.5%” “based on the assumption that” could be simply replaced by the word “if” ✘ “The expected prevalence of mental retardation, if intelligence is normally distributed, is about 2.5%”  29 Repetitive words and phrases Example: “A robust cell-mediated immune response is necessary, and deficiency in this response predisposes an individual towards active TB” ✘ “Deficiency in cell-mediated immune response predisposes an individual towards active TB”  30 Extra tricks in cutting the clutter ✘ Eliminate negatives ✘ Eliminate superfluous uses of “there are/there is ✘ Omit needless prepositions  31 Eliminate negatives Examples: “She was not often right” You can say: “She was usually wrong” “She did not want to perform the experiment incorrectly” You can say: “She wanted to perform the experiment correctly” “They did not believe the drug was harmful” You can say: “They believed the drug was safe”  32 Eliminate negatives Turn a negative into a positive (you could usually find a way to do that) Not honest dishonest Not harmful safe Not important unimportant Does not have lacks Did not remember forgot Did not pay attention to ignored Did not succeed failed  33 Eliminate there are/there is Examples: “There are many ways in which we can arrange the pulleys” You can say: “We can arrange the pulleys in many ways” “There was a long line of bacteria on the plate” You can say: “Bacteria lined the plate” “There are many physicists who like to write” You can say: “Many physicists like to write” “The data confirm that there is an association between vegetables and cancer” You can say: “The data confirm an association between vegetables and cancer”  34 Omit needless prepositions For example, “that” and “on” are often superfluous “The meeting happened on Monday” You can say: “The meeting happened Monday” “They agreed that it was true” You can say: “They agreed it was true”  35 Practice cutting clutter “Anti-inflammatory drugs may be protective for the occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease” “Clinical seizures have been estimated to occur in 0.5% to 2.3% of the neonatal population” “Injuries to the brain and spinal cord have long been known to be among the most devastating and expensive of all injuries to treat medically” “As we can see from Figure 2, if the return kinetic energy is less than 3.2 Up, there will be two electron trajectories associated with this kinetic energy”