Writing Scientific English

Box 1.5 presents some guidelines for their use. The three sentences below illustrate the use of the guidelines.

“During his voyages, Darwin noticed variation in animals. He became interested in a variation in the beaks of finches. Only a scientist with Darwin's background could have noticed the variation in these birds.”

The word “variation” appears once in each sentence. In its first appearance, it is not preceded by “a” or “the” because it is a universal concept (guideline 3). In the second sentence, “variation” is preceded by “a” because the variation in the beaks is just one of many that Darwin observed (guideline 1). In the third sentence, “variation” is preceded by “the” because the variation is the specific one referred to in the second sentence (guideline 2).

Box 1.6 provides a further opportunity to practise using the guidelines for “the” and “a”.

Box 1.5Guidelines for using “the” and “a”

1. If you use a word to refer to something that is common (to be strictly accurate, something that occurs more than once in the universe), you will need to put “a” in front of that word. If the word begins with a vowel, you will need “an”. “A” and “an” are never used before words in the plural. Examine the use of “a” and “an” in the sentences below.

“There is a big mess on my desk.”

“We did an experiment to verify this.”

There are many messes on many desks in the universe. Many experiments are done every day.

2. You always need “the” if the thing you are referring to is specific, even though there are many of them. The following sentences follow on from those above.

“The big mess on my desk is growing.”

“The experiment verified our hypothesis.”

The mess and the experiment were specified in the sentences above. This excludes all other messes and experiments, wherever they are and whenever they occurred.

3. You do not need “a” or “the” at all if the word you are using covers a universal concept or has a general meaning.

“Messes are often interesting.”

“Experiments form the basis of science.”

4. Some words that are universal concepts can also be used specifically and therefore require “the” The word “hygiene” is a good example.

“Hygiene is important in hospitals.”

“The hygiene in the old hospital is poor.”

5. You do not need “a” or “the” if a word indicating possession (e. g. “my, its, their”) precedes the thing you are describing.

Box 1.6Practising the use of the articles “the” and “a” in English

The text below is based on an abstract written by a student whose first language does not use this type of article. The original has been modified to make it more accessible, whilst keeping the errors in the use of “the” and “a.” The idea of “patient-specific design of medicines” is fictitious but it fits well with the original text. Read the text, concentrating on the position and presence or absence of the articles “the” and “a”. Some are used correctly, some used incorrectly. Occasionally, an article is missing completely. Each sentence needs at least one correction. Use the guidelines to decide how to improve the text. My suggestions are to be found in section 1.6.2.

Patient-specific design of medicines (PSDM) is novel method which was first described by Smith and Jones. PSDM method is based on the conventional designs modified by using alternative gene-based protocol. Main feature of the PSDM approach is its high specificity of treatment. The principle of the PSDM approach is depicted in the Figure 1.

Using PSDM method, we observe the shift in the specificity of the treatment. During the normal design of medicines, specificity is obtained from experience of the scientists. In the PSDM method, the specificity is obtained from the genes of the patient. Specificity of the PSDM method can be augmented by adding information from the family members. The PSDM method is estimated to increase specificity by factor of five.

1.3Words for writing scientific English

Words don't come easy.

F.R. DAVID

The English language has, as mentioned in section 1.1, a rich vocabulary. Nevertheless, box 1.7 presents a suggestion for a basic scientific lexicon that contains only about 200 of the thousands of words available. Learn the meaning of these words and use them actively in your writing. If you can exploit the words from this lexicon, your scientific writing will rapidly become stronger and more mature.

The majority of the words from the basic scientific lexicon were used in writing this book. Up to five illustrative examples of their use in this book are marked in italics. section 8.2 provides the pages on which the marked words can be found. If the use of a word in this book does not make its meaning clear, refer to a dictionary or a thesaurus.

An alternative approach to finding the meaning of a word from box 1.7 is to look for words in scientific databases. Examples of these databases include PubMed (www.pubmed.gov) or Google Scholar (scholar.google. com); others are listed in section 7.1. Searching these databases for an unknown word will provide you with many articles that have your word of interest in the title or in the abstract. From these, you should be able to obtain hints on the meaning of the word and see how it is used in scientific writing. As an exercise, try to determine the meaning of the important scientific words “purport”, “pinpoint”, “feasible”, “plausible” and “flaw” by typing them into PubMed. Actively investigating the meaning of words in this way will help you to use them more regularly in your own writing.

Box 1.7A basic lexicon for scientific writing

Verbs

accumulate

adapt

affect

ask

assay

attempt

cause

cite

compare

conclude

confirm

confuse

consider

correlate

decline

decrease

deduce

demonstrate

describe

destroy

detect

deteriorate

disprove

disturb

document

evidence

explain

falsify

find

follow

illustrate

increase

indicate

induce

infer

interest

invent

investigate

judge

maintain

observe

oppose

pinpoint

point to

propose

prove

purport

quantify

quote

record

remain

repeat

reproduce

require

screen

search

shed light on

show

solve

strengthen

suggest

support

survive

test

treat

try

underline

vary

verify

work

Nouns

absence

activation

analysis

answer

appearance

application

attempt

background

blank

cause

chance

change

citation

clue

component

condition

conflict

consequence

constant

control

curve

data

decrease

difference

discovery

discrepancy

distribution

dose-response

effect

enigma

equilibrium

event

evidence

exclusion

experiment

figure

flaw

function

graph

hint

hypothesis

idea

illustration

image

inclusion

increase

incubation

ingredient

input

interaction

level

mechanism

mock

model

mystery

observation

output

panel

paradox

parameter

participant

pathway

performance

period

possibility

prerequisite

presence

process

product

question

ratio

reason

relevance

report

research

result

role

signal

situation

solution

specificity

structure

synthesis

table

target

theory

variable

variation

variety

version

volunteer

work

Adjectives and adverbs

able

active

actually

affected

artificial

associated

aware

capable

certain

closely

consistent

contradictory

correct

dependent

detrimental

essential

exactly

exclusively

external

feasible

frequent

incorrect

internal

inversely

likely

limited

linear

multiple

necessary

noteworthy

particular

pertinent

plausible

poorly

previous

prior

proportional

putative

random

relevant

resistant

robust

severe

significant

similarly

simultaneous

unable

variable

1.4Take-home messages from Chapter 1

❚ Use a spellchecker

❚ Use formal English

❚ Use linking words

❚ Use words from a basic scientific lexicon

1.5References

Books

Bryson, B. (1990) Mother Tongue: The English Language.

Websites

http://scholar.google.com

www.krysstal.com/borrow.html

www.pubmed.gov

1.6Improvements to exercices

1.6.1Solutions to box 1.2 “Fooling a spellchecker”

1. You must prove that two plus two equals four!

2. A proof that two plus two equals four is given on the first page.

3. Vaccines save lives.

4. Spellcheckers change the way we read our texts.

5. The theory of global warming remains to be proven.

6. Spellcheckers affect our ability to spell.

7. How do tortoises remain alive when hibernating?

8. Only a few scientists have received two Nobel Prizes.

9. The effect of technology on the environment is substantial.

10. We lose the loose screw.

11. We judge how we live our lives from our own perspective.

12. The ability to write concisely and accurately is not hereditary.

13. The price of the prize was a surprise.

1.6.2Improvements to box 1.6 “Practising the use of the articles “the” and “a” in English”.

The patient-specific design of medicines (PSDM) is a novel method which was first described by Smith and Jones. The PSDM method is based on conventional designs modified by using an alternative gene-based protocol. The main feature of the PSDM approach is its high specificity of treatment. The principle of the PSDM approach is depicted in Figure 1.

Using the PSDM method, we observe a shift in the specificity of the treatment. During the normal design of medicines, specificity is obtained from the experience of the scientists. In the PSDM method, specificity is obtained from the genes of the patient. The specificity of the PSDM method can be augmented by adding information from family members. The PSDM method is estimated to increase specificity by a factor of five.

Chapter 2Writing clear scientific English

Put it before them briefly so that they will read it.

Clearly so they will appreciate it.

Picturesquely so they will remember it.

And, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.

JOSEPH PULITZER

This chapter contains eight guidelines specifically designed to transform school or college English into scientific English. Although the guidelines were selected with non-native speakers in mind, they are also helpful to native speakers. Remember that English as a first language is not a passport to writing clear scientific English. Indeed, non-native speakers who master this chapter may be on the way to writing better scientific English than native speakers.

Any book on how to write good English is certain to contain seven of the guidelines. The one exception, the guideline “Omit needless words!”, is unique to the book “The Elements of Style” by W. Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White. This book, first published in 1918 and still in print, remains the best book available on writing good English. Its 105 pages can now be accessed for free at www.bartleby.com/141.

2.1Eight guidelines for improving your writing technique

The eight guidelines are discussed in detail in the sections 2.1.1 to 2.1.8. The accompanying exercises as well as those in chapter 3 are designed to help you gain experience in applying the guidelines. Chapter 5 provides further opportunities for practice.

2.1.1Make a plan

A plan is essential for any piece of writing. Before writing, divide the work into sections. For each section, make a list of the relevant points to be included and order them according to themes. Each of these themes can then be developed later into a paragraph. For instance, in the introduction to a scientific manuscript, the relevant points might be the overall field in which your interest lies, the specific area that you are working on and the question that you addressed. Each of these points would form the basis of one or more paragraphs in the introduction.

The plan should give an initial overview of how the work will look after writing. Naturally, the plan cannot account for all contingencies and may have to be modified to accommodate insertions and deletions as well as extensive rearrangement of the text.

2.1.2Use a clean and legible layout

A clean and legible layout is vital to the success of written work. A poorly laid out piece of work may discourage the reader and prevent him or her from discovering its contents. The following five simple suggestions for a clean and legible layout of an A4 page are based on the requirements of the majority of scientific journals for the preparation of manuscripts.

❚ Use double-spaced text

This stops the text from appearing crowded and allows the reader to write comments and corrections between the lines.

❚ Use justified format

This makes the text fit to the page margins. Consequently, the reader's eye does not have to permanently adjust to a different line length.

❚ Use 12 point text with Arial or Helvetica as your standard font

In my opinion, Arial and Helvetica are fonts that are easy to read and are available on almost every computer. In contrast, Times Roman is much more tiring to read because the letters have different widths and thicknesses. Calibri, the default font of Word 2010, is also acceptable.

❚ Indent your paragraphs

To indent means to move the first line of a paragraph inwards.

❚ Use sub-headings

Using sub-headings in a long block of text informs the reader that the author is introducing a new topic.

2.1.3Use paragraphs

A paragraph is a collection of sentences on the same theme or topic. A paragraph can consist of just a single sentence, although this is unusual. Using paragraphs to collect ideas is the foundation of all writing. If you cannot use them, your thoughts will be incoherent and you will be unable to communicate them to other scientists.

The previous section recommended marking the start of a paragraph by indenting the first line. In your A4 manuscript, the indent should be at least one centimetre; otherwise, the start of the paragraph may not stand out clearly. An alternative option is to leave a blank line between paragraphs. However, be aware that if a blank line falls between two pages, the start of the paragraph may easily be overlooked.

A curious problem with paragraph structure has arisen with the widespread use of word-processing software. The problem stems from the symbol for a paragraph (¶), introduced with the “enter” or “return” key. This symbol should only be used at the end of a paragraph. A significant minority of students erroneously use this symbol at the end of each sentence.

If you are unsure about constructing paragraphs, the exercises in chapters 3 and 5 are designed to help you use them. Learn to recognise paragraphs by examining their structure in newspapers or journals. In your own writing, you should always ask yourself whether the paragraphs are correctly assembled and clearly mark all paragraphs requiring improvement.

2.1.4Write simple sentences

Sometimes one has difficult things to say, but one ought to say them as simply as one knows how.

G. H. HARDY

Simple sentences are the best way to express complex thoughts. If you are just starting out and English is not your first language, you may find it difficult to control the length of your sentences. If your first language is German, you may have a natural tendency to write sentences of obscene length. It is important that you put this tendency away when you write in English.

I offer two pieces of advice to students who have problems constructing simple sentences. First, use only one idea per sentence. Second, write your sentences as direct or straightforward statements. Such sentences (like this one) have the subject at the start. The verb and the object follow straight away. There is no long, explanatory phrase at the beginning of a direct sentence. There is no marginal information somewhere in the middle.

Another way to find out about direct sentences is to listen to how people talk to each other. People talk in short sentences, even in German. One of the secrets of the most able science writers is that they write as if they were speaking to the reader. This automatically leads them to use simple, straightforward sentences. Jacob Bronowski's wonderful book “The Ascent of Man” is a fine example. In the videos that accompany this book, two of the students very effectively empahsise this point by speaking in short, clear sentences (see section 7.4).

Box 2.1 provides you with four sentences that are too long. Can you split them into two? section 2.5.1 has some suggestions.

Writing short, straightforward sentences is a starting point. Of course, it is necessary to add minor points or to qualify the content of a sentence in scientific writing. For instance, a common construction to qualify the content in scientific writing is the escape route or disclaimer. In this construction, a scientist first makes a clear statement. A second part then follows, indicating that the statement is probably not true for every situation. For example, consider the following two sentences which a virologist might hopefully write one day.

“We have developed a vaccine against HIV. However, we have not yet tested it against all known strains of HIV.”

The second sentence qualifies the direct statement in the first. This allows the scientist to escape in case the vaccine is not universally applicable. The meaning is clearly expressed by the two sentences. However, combining the sentences connects the qualification or escape route more closely with the first sentence.

“We have developed a vaccine against HIV, although we have not yet tested it against all known strains of HIV.”

With more practice and experience, you can begin to construct sentences with more than one idea and qualify statements with one sentence as above. Always keep in mind, though, that simpler sentences are generally more manageable.

Box 2.1Shortening sentences by splitting them into two

These four sentences are too long and should be split into shorter ones. What would you suggest? Compare your ideas with mine in section 2.5.1.

1. To be a good scientist, you have to be tolerant and patient when experiments or interpretations do not turn out as you had predicted, you must be able to stand high levels of frustration.

2. 62% of certified drug addicts believe that cannabis has effects on the behaviour of car drivers and machine operators which lengthen their reaction time, 45% of students shared this opinion and only 38% of customers interviewed at discotheques were aware of this negative effect of cannabis.

3. Finally, the correlation has been clearly shown, even though not all parameters have as yet been investigated and further investigations have to be done.

4. This results in texts which are extremely difficult to read as well as revealing to the world that their authors are clueless about paragraph structure.

2.1.5Write positive sentences

What is the difference between positive and negative sentences? Negative sentences contain words such as “no”, “not”, “none”, “nor”, “nothing” and “never”. Positive sentences lack these words. Generally, positive sentences are easier to understand and more simple to construct than negative ones. Compare the following two versions of the same thought.

“Scientists for whom English is not their first language should not be at a disadvantage.”

“Scientists for whom English is a second language should have the same status as native speakers.”

Which was simpler to construct? Which do you think is more comprehensible? Box 2.2 gives you ten further examples to practise turning negative sentences into positive ones.

Here is another example with two negatives taken from the preface (p. xvi) to Fintan O’Toole’s excellent treatise “Heroic Failure” on how Brexit came about.

“Nor does this purport to be a profound analysis of the economic dislocations and insecurities without which English unhappiness could not have had such a dramatic result.”

Even the lady at the publisher who gave me permission to use the sentence agreed that this is quite a sentence. Here is a clearer version without any negatives.

“This (book) also avoids an analysis of the economic dislocations and insecurities that allowed English unhappiness to have such a dramatic result”.

Which version do you think is clearer? I also selected this sentence because it introduces you to the word “purport”, often used in science instead of pretend. “Purport” is often found in the introduction to an unfavourable review of a manuscript as in the following imaginary example.