Scientific writing

Working Party on Research Scientific writing Felicity Goodyear-Smith Karen Flegg Mehmet Akman

Tips on scientific writing

Following the scientific structure

Generic principles Same structure / guiding principles apply whether: Research proposal Ethics application Report Journal paper Poster presentation

What & Why & When I keep six honest serving men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who. The Elephant’s Child, Just So Stories, Rudyard Kipling 1902

IMRaD Introduction– Why did I do this study? Methods - What did I do? Results - What did I find? Discussion– So what? (Proposal & Ethics – Introduction & Methods only)

Introduction Why do this study? Background What do we already know? Rationale Why does it matter? Aim What gap in our knowledge does this fill? Research question What do I want to find out?

Methods What do I do? Study design What sort of study am I doing? Population Who are in the study? Who are excluded? Setting Where & when does the study take place? Measurements What do I measure? Analysis How do I make sense of these data?

Results What did I find? Describe the sample Who were they? Response rate How many did I lose? Outputs What were the results of my analyses?

Results / Findings Usually Resultsfor quantitative Findingsfor qualitative Text OR Tables & Figures (do not duplicate) Results do not have to be positive – still important to report (publication bias)

Discussion So what? Principal findings How does what I found fit into what we already know? Strengths & weaknesses What are the strengths & limitations of my study? Implications For practice? For policy? For further research? Conclusion

Guide to writing organisation & style

Make the time Either Set aside block of time (‘pressure cooker’) Or Work on it slowly over time (‘casserole’)

Assemble the components Have everything you need available / accessible: Grant proposal, ethics application, reports Dataset Bibliography (use software such as Endnote or RefWorks)

Be consistent in your writing Spellingeg UK, US Tenses Proposal use future; report or paper present or past Past tense: pick the correct one. Eg ‘We surveyed our patients’ not ‘We have been surveying our patients’ Person First person (I or we) OR third person (the researcher (s), he, she or they) Singular or plural I OR we; he/she OR they

Simple, direct writing Clear & concise Fancy language is not better Avoid unnecessary words One word may be able to replace many

Keep to the structure Logical flow from one part to the next Check to make sure text in the correct place eg no introduction in methods; no discussion in results Logical & easy to read

Write clearly Avoid metaphors, similes, & clichés Use a short word in preference to a long word If it is possible to cut out a word, do Use everyday English, avoid foreign phrases, scientific words, & jargon Avoid colloquialisms eg‘Did not’ NOT ‘Didn’t’

Acronyms Use only when necessary Always explain in full the first time For example, European General Practice Research Network (EGPRN)

Use the active voice Active voice: Clearer & more concise than passive ‘The dog ate the meat’ NOT ‘The meat was eaten by the dog’ eg ‘An increase in sugar consumption was observed both in female and male children 1-2 hours after drug A was taken. However, there was no significant sugar consumption increase 3 hours after taking drug A.’ ‘Girls and boys consumed more sugar one to two hours after taking drug A, but stopped increasing their sugar intake by three hours.’

Sentences One idea per sentence Several short, simple sentences are usually much clearer than one long sentence with sub-clauses Construct as subject – verb – objectEg ‘The organisationmadethe changes’ NOT ‘The changes were made by the organisation’

Do not use 5 words if you can use 1 ‘The attempt made by the female bovine adult to discontinuously traverse the Earth’s lunar body was not unsuccessful’ What does this mean?

The attempt made by the female bovine adult to discontinuously traverse the Earth’s lunar body was not unsuccessful The cow

The attempt made by the female bovine adult to discontinuously traverse the Earth’s lunar body was not unsuccessful The cowthe moon.

The attempt made by the female bovine adult to discontinuously traverse the Earth’s lunar body was not unsuccessful The cow jumped over the moon

Avoid nominalisations Words formed from other parts of speech eg adjectives or verbs, with a suffix added (eg -ism, -ity, -tion) Where there is a choice use the shorter word: eg Use rather than Utilise Turn nominalised nouns into verbs: eg To take into consideration becomes To consider We undertook an investigation becomes We investigated There was a group agreement becomes The group agreed

Example The proliferation of nominalisations in a discursive formation may be an indication of a tendency toward pomposity and abstraction. Writers who overload their sentences with nominalisations tend to sound pompous and abstract.

Paragraphs These help to order thoughts One topic per paragraph First sentence introduces topic Transitions relate one idea to next Keep short, 2-6 sentences

Use of numbers Use words for numbers at the beginning of sentences Eg Twenty-six per cent of the participants… NOT 26% of the participants… Use words for the numbers under 10 eg Two children NOT 2 children

Use of apostrophes 1 Use to show possession, that it belongs to the subject eg the cow’s tail; the GP’s car Never use to indicate plural eg Three GPs work together NOT Three GP’s work together

Use of apostrophes 2 Use to show the word is contracted, that there is a missing letter or letters eg It’s (it is) cold today It doesn’t (does not) matter But NOTin its when it denotes possession eg The dog ate its bone NOT The dog ate it’s bone

Formatting Be consistent Avoid unnecessary capitals Consistent font Headings & sub-headings may be different font to text Alignment Left OR Justified

Formatting spacing Single space between words and between sentences. Switch on paragraph mark to check Use ‘Enter’ (line break) to separate paragraphs - do not use space bar to reach a new line Use page break to start a new page, not multiple line breaks Consistent line spacing – single, 1.5 lines, double

Instructions • For this workshop: • Identify the writing style deficiencies • (do not re-write abstract –this can be homework) • Find as many errors as you can • Eg spelling, syntax, formatting • consistency, organisation of material (ie under the correct headings) • One person is scribe to report back

Scientific writing