Scientific writing style

Most research papers that describe and conduct specific experiments, interpret experimental data, and evaluate the objective results of others, are often scientific in the nature and the tone of their writing style. In other words, these papers focus more on the accumulation of objective evidence, the various means by which data was tested and interpreted, and finally, the analysis of these results. Usually, these papers, by the specific nature of their subject matter and disciplines, are more focused in their scope. They are also more likely to be dictated in topic matter by a particular professor, professional discipline, or company. Some very broad ideas for possible topics in this area might include ... 

Everyone has his or her own writing style, some better than others. It is imperative that you continually try to improve your writing skills. When your instructor reviews your write-up, he or she should include helpful writing tips in the grading. Read the works listed in the references at the end of this chapter for further instructions in scientific writing. 

Parallelism. Because much of the data in an NDA involves comparisons of one group to another, parallel structure is important in presenting the data. Style books for scientific writing will supply good examples of this concept. 

Every writer has a personal style, but all good writing tends to observe guidelines and conventions that communicate meaning clearly and exactly to readers. Scientific writing, in particular, must be precise and unambiguous to be effective. 

This chapter presents guidelines for correct sentence structure and word usage. Other chapters of this book present topics also related to good writing style. Chapter 2 discusses the parts of a scientific paper Chapter 3 presents an overview of the editorial process. Chapters in Part 2 address more specialized rules for usage see, especially, Chapter 9 on grammar, punctuation, and spelling and Chapter 10 on editorial style. 

J. S. Dodd (ed.). The ACS Style Guide, 2ded., American Chemical Society, Washington, DC (1997). [A general reference book on scientific writing with emphasis on manuscripts intended for one of the jomnals published by the American Chemical Society ] J. T. Scott, AIP Style Manual, 4th ed., American Institute of Physics. New York (1990). [Provides guidance in the preparation of papers for AIP journals ]... 

Written communication is an essential component of aU sciences. Most courses include writing exercises in which you will learn to describe ideas and results accurately, succinctly and in an appropriate style and format. The following are features common to aU forms of scientific writing. 

To avoid one of the main pitfalls of multiauthor works, we have intentionally adopted similar writing styles, and the final version of the monograph was then edited by us for consistency of grammar and style, for scientific accuracy and for similar formatting of illustrations and tables. The work has been extensively cross-referenced and indexed. 

By all means, write in your own personal style, but keep in mind that scientific writing is not literary writing. Scientific writing serves a purpose... 

In order to make this volume accessible to a broad audience that spans scientific and applied fields, we asked the authors to include a personal statement briefly describing why they entered their respective research fields. Such statements are not generally accepted in scientific writing. But we are most grateful that many of our authors adopted a more informal style and expressed their enthusiasm for their particular study species or research questions. We hope that our authors enthusiasm is sufficiently infectious and that the scientific questions they raise in their contributions will stimulate future research. If only a few young scholars are infected by this excitement for crustacean chemical communication, this book has achieved its goal. 

This book covers a wide spectrum of corrosion topics with rich illustrations, an easy to understand writing style, and the presentation of review articles, providing state-of-the-art corrosion-mitigation techniques useful for practicing engineers, technologists, and field technicians. It also provides a basic understanding of corrosion mechanisms, which will be equally beneficial to people who are not directly involved in the corrosion field to assist them in their related tasks. Based on its content and presentation of scientific and technical issues, this... 

Within this comprehensive scheme the reader may note that the treatments vary widely with respect to taste, style, and point of view. It is the Editor s policy to encourage individual expression in these presentations because it is stifling to originality and justifiably annoying to many authors to submerge themselves in a standard mold. Scientific writing need not be as dull and uniform as it too often is. In certain technical details, a consistent pattern is followed for the sake of convenience, as in the form used for reference citations and indexing. 

Writing here in a popular and well illustrated style, leading young scientists describe their research and give their visions offuture developments. The book conveys the excitement and enthusiasm ofthe young authors. It offers definitive reviews for people with a general interest in the future directions of science, ranging from researchers to scientifically minded school children. 

Most people find that writing 300000000 ms-1 is a bit long winded. Some people do not like writing simple factors such as G for giga, and prefer so-called scientific notation. In this style, we write a number followed by a factor expressed as ten raised to an appropriate power. The number above would be 3.0 x 108 ms-1. 

With the aid of William Strunk and E.B. White in The Elements of Style and that of William Zinsser in On Writing Well, Rudolph Flesch in The ABC of Style, and D.L. Carson, whose comments appear in this book, I have tried to follow some principles of technical communication lately ignored in scientific texts use the first person, put yourself in the reader s place, and, the best for last, use the active voice and a personal subject. 

The Fiesers proved to be an extraordinarily effective writing team, producing some of the most important scientific books of the century. Other Fieser and Fieser books include Style Guide for Chemists (1960), Topics in Organic Chemistry (1963), Current Topics in Organic Chemistry (1964), and Reagents for... 

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