Week 1- GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF SCIENTIFIC WRITING 2024.pdf

CBAS210 - Scientific Writing II May-24 1  GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF SCIENTIFIC WRITING Week 1 May-24 2  OUTLINE Introduction Organization of Time Organization of Information and Id...

CBAS210 - Scientific Writing II May-24 1  GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF SCIENTIFIC WRITING Week 1 May-24 2  OUTLINE Introduction Organization of Time Organization of Information and Ideas Writing – Developing technique – Getting started Revision of text May-24 3  Introduction o What makes good writing? o What does it take to be a good writer? May-24 4  Introduction What makes a good writer? o Inborn talent? o Years of English and humanities classes? o An artistic nature? o Divine inspiration? May-24 5  Introduction What makes a good writer? o Having something to say o Logical and clear thinking o A few simple, learnable rules of style Clear, effective writing can be learned! May-24 6  Introduction Before you start writing, ask: “What am I trying to say?” When you finish writing, ask: “Have I said it?” May-24 7  Introduction How can you improve your writing? o Read, pay attention, and imitate o Talk about your research before trying to write about it o Search for the right word rather than settling for any old word o Respect your audience - try not to bore them! o Stop waiting for “inspiration” o Accept that writing is hard for everyone o Revise. Nobody gets it perfect on the first try o Learn how to cut ruthlessly. Never become too attached to your words o Find a good editor! May-24 Reading list – Nature, Science, Parasites and vectors, 8  Introduction Written communication is an essential part of all sciences Involves description of ideas and results on a topic – Accurately – Succinctly - in a brief and clearly expressed manner – In appropriate style and – Format May-24 9  Organizing time Break down task into four (4) stages – Reading – Planning – Writing – Revising Decide proportion of time per stage – Set realistic time for completion of each stage Make a serious effort to abide by deadlines May-24 10 Organization of information and ideas Gather relevant material Determine: – What needs to be included – The order of appearance Headings of potential relevance to topic (Brainstorming) Create outline of text May-24 11 Organization of information and ideas What is the essence of an outline? o Forces one to think about and plan structure o Provides a checklist so nothing is left out o Ensures material is balanced in content and length o Helps to organize figures and tables showing where they will be used May-24 12  Membrane structure and function Introduction Membrane components phospholipids proteins sterols glycoconjugates History of ideas and models Gorter & Grendel 1925 Davson & Danielli 1935 Robertson 1959 Brunton 1960s May-24 Singer & Nicholson 1972 13  Membrane structure and function Supporting evidence-fluid mosaic model o Liposomes o transmission e. m. o freeze-fracture e. m. o cell fusion studies o photo-bleaching recovery May-24 14  Membrane structure and function Transport o selectivity o passive diffusion o osmosis-water o facilitated diffusion o active transport o endocytosis and exocytosis Examples o red blood cell o bacterium o mitochondrion May-24 15  WRITING-Adopting a Scientific Style Aim is to get message across directly and unambiguously Style is subjective and a matter of taste May-24 16  Writing o Developing technique Plan work carefully Learn from excellent texts available on scientific writing May-24 17  Writing o Getting started Work in a comfortable environment – Free from distractions and interruptions Clarify thoughts on subject – Do preliminary reading Develop an outline First sentence should be a – Short statement of fact or – Definition May-24 18  Writing Adapt a style “Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his/her sentences short, or that he/she avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.” The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr. May-24 19  Writing Adapt a style Avoid o Every word that serves no function o Every long word that could be a short word o Every adverb that carries the same meaning that’s already in the verb o Every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what - these weaken the strength of a sentence May-24 20  Principles of Effective Writing May-24 21 Words Reduce dead weight words and phrases Get rid of jargon and repetition Do not be Verbose  Example 1 “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.” May-24 23  Example 1 translated “These findings imply that, at low irradiation, ascorbate radicals are produced and recycled at the same rate, but at high irradiation, ascorbate radicals are produced faster than they can be recycled back to ascorbate.” May-24 24  Writing Example: “I would like to assert that the author should be considered to be a genius.” Translate “The author is a genius”  Writing Example: “The expected prevalence of mental retardation, based on the assumption of a normal distribution of intelligence in the population, is stated to be theoretically about 2.5%.”  Writing Example: “The expected prevalence of mental retardation, based on the assumption of a normal distribution of intelligence in the population, is stated to be theoretically about 2.5%.”  Writing Example: “The expected prevalence of mental retardation, based on the assumption of a normal distribution of intelligence in the population, is stated to be theoretically about 2.5%. àtranslated “The expected prevalence of mental retardation, if intelligence is normally distributed, is 2.5%.”  Writing Example: “To control infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb), a robust cell-mediated immune response is necessary, and deficiency in this response predisposes an individual towards active TB.” Translated à “Deficiency in T-cell-mediated immune response predisposes an individual to active TB.”  Writing Example: “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.” Translated “This paper reviews cancer biology study design, using examples that illustrate specific challenges and solutions.”  Writing Very, really, quite, basically, generally These words seldom add anything useful. Try the sentence without them and see if it improves.  Writing Watch out for the verb “to be” Often “there are” is extra weight. There are many students who like writing. – Many students like writing.  Writing Avoid phrases like: in the event that in the nature of it has been estimated that it seems that the point I am trying to make what I mean to say is it may be argued that  Writing Avoid phrases like: for the most part for the purpose of in a manner of speaking in a very real sense in my opinion in the case of in the final analysis  Writing Clunky phrase Equivalent A majority of most A number of many Are of the same opinion agree At the present moment now By means of by Less frequently occurring rare  Writing Clunky phrase Equivalent All three of the the three Fewer in number fewer Give rise to cause In all cases always In a position to can May-24 36  Writing Clunky phrase Equivalent All three of the the three Fewer in number fewer Give rise to cause In all cases always In a position to can In close proximity to near In order to to  Writing Beware of Use instead Assistance help Utilize use Numerous many Facilitate ease Individual man or woman Remainder rest Initial first Implement do Sufficient enough  Writing Beware of Use instead Investigate study Optimum best Indicate show Initiate start Currently now Facilitate help Endeavor try Ascertain find out  Writing Wordy To the point 3 am in the morning 3 am absolutely spectacular spectacular a person who is honest an honest person a total of 14 birds 14 birds biography of her life biography circle around circle close proximity proximity completely unanimous unanimous consensus of opinion consensus cooperate together cooperate each and every each end result result he is a man who he  Writing Wordy Pointed in spite of the fact that although in the event that if new innovations innovations one and the same the same period of four days four days personally, I think/feel I think/feel personal opinion opinion refer back refer repeat again repeat revert back revert shorter/longer in length shorter/longer had been previously found had been found  Writing Wordy Pointed small/large in size small/large square/round/rectangular in shape square/round/rectangular surrounded on all sides surrounded surrounding circumstances circumstances the future to come the future there is no doubt but that no doubt usual/habitual custom custom unexpected surprise surprise  Writing Constantly be on the lookout for extraneous words that crop up like weeds…. Ask yourself, is this word or phrase necessary? What happens if I take it out? Most of the time, you’ll find you don’t need it!  Writing Cut, cut, cut; learn to part with your words  WRITING-Revising Text Wholesale review of first draft as follows: – Examine content Check for inclusion of all that is needed Ensure all material is relevant – Check grammar and spelling – Focus on clarity Text must be clear and unambiguous – Must be succinct Reducing the text by say 18% – Improve style: consider Sentence and paragraph structure May-24 Way text develops to conclusion 45  Writing Beware of Use instead Attempt try Referred to as called With the possible exception of except Due to the fact that because He totally lacked the ability to he couldn’t Until such time as until for For the purpose of