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WRITING AND WRITERS: WRITING TECHNIQUES :
WRITING AND WRITERS: TECHNICAL WRITING:
Right your Writing:
How to Sharpen Your Writing and Make Your Manuscripts More Engaging
Right your Writing:
How to Sharpen Your Writing and Make Your Manuscripts More Engaging
The Scientist
Volume 23 | Issue 11 | Page 65
<http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/56104/>
The cardinal rule of writing, says Swan, is to focus on the reader, which
doesnt mean dumbing down manuscripts. The real readers that matter are the
peer reviewers, she notes. Peer reviewers are specialists and for them to
get excited, youre going to be speaking a language that is not necessarily
accessible to the average reader. The trick is to write manuscripts that
answer very specific technical questions while presenting the information
in a palatable and fluid way. This involves creating a delicate balance
between providing too much and not enough contextual information, Swan
says. Its hard to find the right balance, she says, people are working in
a very complex environment with very few guidelines.
Here are ways to improve your writing practices and tips on how to align
your writing to your readers expectations.
Topics Covered by this article:
Writing Rituals
Start at the end
Write daily for 15 to 30 minutes
Log your time
Post your thesis on the wall
Write an after-the-fact outline
Send early drafts to nonexperts
Read out loud
Examples of Sharpened Writing
Introduce concepts gently
Ensure that each sentence is a consequence of the preceding one
Avoid long strings of modifiers between the subject and verb
Avoid lazy verbs
To each idea, its own sentence.
Resources
For more guidance in clearing up common mistakes in your writing see:
G. D. Gopen, J. A. Swan, The Science of Scientific Writing, American
Scientist , 78: 55058, 1990 (from which several of the above writing
examples were taken).
M. Cargill, P. OConnor, Writing Scientific Research Articles: Strategy and
Steps , New York: Wiley, John & Sons, Inc., 2009.
For tips on developing more productive writing habits see:
Tara Gray, Publish & Flourish: Become a Prolific Scholar , CITY: New
Mexico State University Teaching Academy, 2005.
The complete article may be read at the URL above.
Related Article:
Bringing Order to Authorship
How to resolve authorship disputes - and avoid them altogether.
<http://www.the-scientist.com/2007/11/1/91/1/>
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