Improving Your Scientific Writing

ProofeadCanada.com has been around for over 5 years already. We’ve read a lot of excellent work — great science and inspired writing. A lot of our clients have gone on to get their research reviewed by and published in journals around the world. We’re very proud of our contribution to your great work.

We’ve also grown to recognize that writing in English, whether it is your first, second, or third language can be a challenge. English grammar is complex and filled with irregularities. Add to that, writing a scientific paper! Science writing is filled with jargon and odd conventions that can be difficult to follow.  

To commemorate our five years of experience, we’re launching a series of short blog posts to help scientists navigate some of the most common writing issues we’ve encountered. We’ve proofread several hundred scientific papers since 2015, and many patterns have emerged. Follow us here as we discuss these issues and interact with us through the comment section to improve your experience.

The Pros and Cons of Open Journal Access

By 2020, the European Union has mandated free access to research results on publications. This is called “Plan S” , and while it will instantly improve conditions for researchers in universities with small library budgets and researchers who cannot afford journal subscriptions from meager operating budgets.

But some of the more prominent scientific journals, like Science and Nature, are pushing back. About a month ago, an editorial in Nature Magazine explains why. It’s an interesting read.

How Scientific Journal Editors Edit

Editors shouldn’t need a microscope to find the science in your manuscript. Recently, the journal NATURE published a blog pulling back the curtain on scientific editing. It is worth five minutes of your time to read. Editing is all about decision making at the end of the day. And the more that you, as a scientist and writer, can do to help that editor make that decision, the more successful you will be.

Thinking of submitting a manuscript to an international journal?

The editors at the journal Nature have some helpful advice for you, particularly if English is not your native language (hint: seeking feedback from a native speaker is an important step)

Proofreading, Editing and Copyediting

I’ve likely said this before. Editing, proofreading and copyediting for science writers are all different tasks. All are vital steps along the road to writing a great manuscript, but they perform different (and sometimes overlapping) functions for you.

A proofreader will correct what you have written, in the way you have written it. If you write “Pandas is red and green”, a proofreader may simply change this to “Pandas are red and green”. A practiced proofreader will point out that pandas are black and white. But they will not be subject-matter experts, and although they are trained to look up statements of fact like that, they are more focussed on how things are said and may not be able to catch such errors. This is particularly true for science proofreading where the subject being proofread is very technical and the proofreader may not share your technical expertise.

An editor will judge and (hopefully) improve the presentation and meaning of what you have written. This is a much greater commitment than proofreading as it means potentially rearranging entire sections, some rewriting and either fact-checking or querying facts in addition to ensuring proper use of grammar. If a committed colleague or business is editing your document, you can expect some proofreading to be included. However, an academic committee member or journal editor will not be interested in proofreading and likely return your document to you unedited requesting that the grammar and usage be improved before submission. Hence, you may want to get a proofreader to read your work before sending it to an editor.

A copyeditor is focused on formatting but will also keep an eye out for grammar errors and errors of fact.  By and large, the copyeditor will refer to the details of how a publisher wants the paper to appear in print and change the document to comply with those details. The instructions to authors is a copyeditor’s go-to document. While there is no need for you to have your document perfectly copyedited before submission, it certainly makes the editor happy if it is at least close. Certainly, a manuscript submitted that ignores these instructions will be rejected out of hand.

Before you seek help to proofread, edit or copyedit a document, it is good to know what you need. I hope this helps a bit.

John @ ProofreadCanada

Spoken versus Written English

I write as well as edit and proofread documents. When I write, I adjust the tone of the document to reflect the audience for whom I am writing. And, I’m very aware of the difference between written and spoken language. Particularly, when I’m writing articles for publication in a scientific journal I want the tone to be formal, accessible but not at all as spoken. If I were to give a presentation on the same material, I would speak it much differently than I would have written it. What’s the difference?

The tone in written work, particularly in written science works, is best described as direct and complete. Let’s compare some sentences. Let’s say that you did a study on satellite remote sensing of a prairie, trying to find out if you can see the difference between grass and shrubs. If I were to describe that work to a colleague, I would say something like:

“I’m working on using satellite images to tell the difference between grass and shrubs in grasslands”

But I would never write it that way. The use of a contraction, vernacular (“tell the difference”) and inexact reference to the subject makes this inappropriate for a formal written submission. In a manuscript to a journal I would write the same sentence as:

“I studied the use of satellite remote images to distinguish grass from shrub dominated habitats in open, grassland ecosystems.”

Both sentences are clear and accurate, but there is an expectation of more formal, and precise explanation in the written word. But don’t confuse this with jargon or overly complex construction.  An example of this would be:

“I examined the employment of remotely sensed satellite imagery to differentially identify signals for graminoid vegetation and shrub habitats in prairie grassland environments”

This is not wrong, and its not bad, but it does somewhat to overstate the meaning. For sure, there in nuance in writing formally for print, writing clearly and writing that obscures meaning. Like science itself, writing science takes practice and you will only get better the more you write.

John @ ProofreadCanada

A Dash for the Finish-Line

I can guarantee you that this will be the least exciting blog you will ever read. How do I know that. Because it is about the dash. That’s right, that little, horizontal line somewhere on your keyboard often beside the zero on the number row.

That keyboard dash is formally called a hyphen and has a very particular function. It is very often mis-used. It is meant to connect words that are related to one another.

If you want to connect a numerical range, then you should be using the en-dash. This is a longer dash that can be found in the symbols section of your word processor, or in the windows environment, by holding the <alt> key and typing 1050 on the numeric pad. This bad boy looks like –.

The en-dash has a close cousin called the em-dash. This long dash is used to connect discontinuous sections of a sentence or informally attribute a quote. Here’s an example from the CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers[1]:

The opinions expressed in this letter are those of the author and do not represent journal policy — The Editor.

It is not often used, but can be useful. Again, it can be found in your symbols library or, in Windows, by holding <alt> while you type 8212 on your numeric pad.

While I’m on the subject, none of these dashes is the same as a minus sign. The arithmetic minus (or negative) sign is around the same size as the en-dash, but is positioned differently to distinguish it. The minus sign looks like “−“, and can be found by typing <alt> 8722 on your windows numeric pad.

Okay. That’s it.  I promise to find a more exciting blog the next time. 

John @ ProofreadCanada

[1] Council of Science Editors. 2006. Scientific Style and Format: the CSE Mauual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers. Seventh Edition. The Rockefeller University Press, Retson, VA, USA.

English – The Imprecise Language of Science

Like it or not, English has been adopted as the international language of science. While this is great for those of us who grew up speaking and writing English, it is a serious barrier for those for whom English is a second, third or even further-down-the-list language. This is, in part, why I started ProofreadCanada.com.

But there is a certain irony in having English, a very imprecise language, as the voice of science, a very precise field. When we write science, we need to very exactly convey a specific message. There should be no ambiguity, no alternatives and absolutely clarity in what was done. But, for better or for worse, English words often have many alternatives, more than one meaning and different use in different countries. Not exactly perfect for science.

One of the unintended consequences of the challenges with writing in English is plagiarism. Afterall, if English is not your native tongue, how could you possibly describe a research field better than has been already published? Obviously, copying without accreditation is wrong. As well, constant direct quotes can be tedious in a scientific paper and affect how it is perceived by the readers. But if you want to be accurate and precise, paraphrasing seems wrong.

The solution? The best way to write your science in English is to just write. Paraphrase the work you want to cite and ask someone whom you trust to edit your work. Importantly, once you get it edited, have a look at the changes and try to pick up on patterns in your use and theirs. Eventually, you will be able to write in your field without the need for extensive edits. And, remember, even native English speakers have to have their work proofread and edited. English is hard, even for those who speak it as a first language. You are not alone.

John @ ProofreadCanada

Start with Great Science

Publishing science is a critical step in doing science. And, as scientists, we are taught early on what is expected in a science paper. There are five substantive parts:

Abstract, that summarizes what you did and what you found,

Introduction, that describes your hypothesis, question and the background to the field,

Methods, where you describe what you did in enough detail that the study can be repeated,

Results, that reports what you found in words, tables and figures,

Discussion, where the implications of your findings are described,

and then supporting sections like acknowledgements, keywords, literature cited and online appendices.

While it is important to make sure that you are including all of these sections in your manuscript and putting the right information in the right section, there is something that is not here that you absolutely cannot omit. Good science. Your science must be novel, well conducted, well analyzed and reasonably interpreted.

Good science can be enhanced by good writing, and a proofreader can help here. But no proofreader will be able to rescue your manuscript if it is describing science done poorly.

John @ ProofreadCanada

British and American English

One of the details you should be aware of when writing your manuscript for a scientific journal is differences in British or American spelling for common words. This is a particular issue here in Canada, where our home spelling is British, but we are heavily influenced by American use. Journals will (almost) always specify what they want in the Instructions to Authors, but you should start thinking about this early. You won’t get your paper rejected for this oversight, but proper spelling is on every editor’s checklist.

Typical American spelling uses fewer letters in some critical words like color, flavor, labor (colour, flavour, labour is British). Some words ending in -er, like centre, in American spelling, end in -re in British spelling (centre). British spellers end words like defence and licence in -ce, while Americans will write the same words with -se at the end. I could go on, but there are a lot of rules and some exceptions. One trick is to trust your word processor. If it is set to correct for British English, then it will flag all of the words for which there are distinct British spellings, but you’ve used the American form. And vice versa (but that’s latin).  

John at ProofreadCanada

Words, words, words. Latin

My wife, who took Latin in high school, always makes fun of my use of that dead language. I admit, I struggle at times, but I’m working hard at getting better.

As scientists we have no choice to dip our toes into Latin. Species should be identified using their scientific name, which is very often Latin. And there are lots of other Latin terms in common, if abbreviated, use, like et cetera (etc), et alii (et al.), ex genera (e.g.) and id est (i.e.).  Journals usually ask authors to write Latin species names in an italic font and abbreviate after first use. But these smaller abbreviations are not often italicized! Oh, it is so complicated. Always be sure to look at a recent issue of the journal to see what the standards are there.

But the real reason I’m writing this blog is to talk about data. You see, data is plural for datum. This means that when you refer to the data you have collected, you should write it as if you are talking about numbers (not number).  ‘These data’, not ‘this data’. But no need to write ‘data’ with italics. Sure, its Latin, but in common English use. Those data sure are complicated!

As scientists, Latin will always be with us (thank you Karl Linnaeus). Best to learn how to use it, even if you struggle to pronounce it properly.

John @ ProofreadCanada

Style. Passive versus Active Voice

onlinewritingtraining.com.au

I get a lot of papers to proofread that are written in the passive voice. What does this mean? If you write without personal pronouns (I, we, us) then you are likely using the passive voice. Your sentences will look something like “The data were collected in spring each year”. If you are using the active voice then that same sentence will look like “We collected data in the spring of each year”.

Technically, there is nothing wrong with either of these sentences. The passive voice sentence is one word shorter, which counts in scientific papers. And both sentences are clear.  The active voice, however, makes it explicit that the work was done by the authors. This is somewhat less clear. It is possible that another, third party, collected the data. Maybe.

Way back when, the passive voice was considered the standard for scientific papers. It was seen as being more objective, more detached. More scientific. However, in modern use, the active voice is more popular and journal “instructions to authors” will often state that the active voice is preferred.

In reality, you can mix it up. There is no hard-and-fast rule that says that you have to stick to one voice in a paper. I personally prefer the active voice. But I also let active and passive voice mingle in the same paper. It’s a matter of personal preference.

John @ ProofreadCanada