styles in scientific writing
TRANSCRIPT
-
8/7/2019 Styles in Scientific Writing
1/18
STYLES INSTYLES IN
SCIENTIFICSCIENTIFIC
WRITINGWRITINGNicanor Legarte Guinto
Faculty, Dept. of Languages,
Literature and Humanities
College of Arts and Sciences
Southern Luzon State University
-
8/7/2019 Styles in Scientific Writing
2/18
A Note on ScientificStyle Proper words in proper places, make the
true definition of a style. JonathanSwift
Styles heavily depend on writers choice. Scientific writing has long been accused
of lacking style. Every profession has its growing arsenal
of jargon to tire at the layman and hurlhim back from its walls, - WilliamZinsser.
-
8/7/2019 Styles in Scientific Writing
3/18
A Note on ScientificStyle The best scientific writing is
characterized by brevity, clarity,and precision.
Scientific findings must betranslated into comprehensiblelanguage.
Scientists are sometimes delighted
by the fact that their jargonrenders their fieldincomprehensible to outsiders.
-
8/7/2019 Styles in Scientific Writing
4/18
A Note on ScientificStyle
It is the writers art toarrange words that
they shall suffer theleast possibleretardation from theinevitable friction of the
readers mind. George Henry Lewes
-
8/7/2019 Styles in Scientific Writing
5/18
Language
Stay as close as possible to plainlanguage.
Use simple words to effectively
communicate your message. Instead of saying: say: facilitate ease
numerous many remainder rest
-
8/7/2019 Styles in Scientific Writing
6/18
Language
Instead of saying: say: implement do sufficient enough commence begin visualize foresee veritable true initial first
-
8/7/2019 Styles in Scientific Writing
7/18
Language
Avoid excessive verbiage. Instead of saying: say: in order to to for the purpose of to
for the reason that because, since it is often the case that often it is possible the reason may be the reason may be it will be seen from examination of Figure 6 . . . Figure 6 shows . . .
-
8/7/2019 Styles in Scientific Writing
8/18
Eloquent writers would say:God, in the magnificent fullness of
creative energy, exclaimed: Let there belight! and lo! the agitating fiat immediatelywent forth, and thus in one indivisiblemoment the whole universe was illumined.
When in fact, it can be simply told:God said: Let there be light! and there waslight.
-
8/7/2019 Styles in Scientific Writing
9/18
Tense
Past tense is generally used in scientificwriting.
Other cases requiring the use of past
tense include:Referring to previous studies
Description of procedures
Statement of results
-
8/7/2019 Styles in Scientific Writing
10/18
Tense
Present tense is used when there is aneed to express continuity and/ orgeneral applicability.
It is also used in the following cases:Defining
E.g. Nursing is a profession thatrequires patience and hard work.
Stating a well-defined theory E.g. Hand washing is a must for
healthcare practitioners.
-
8/7/2019 Styles in Scientific Writing
11/18
Tense
Interpreting a table or figure E.g. Table 1 shows
Stating a hypothesis E.g. There is no significant difference
betweenUniversal truths should be expressed in
the present tense.WRONG: He taught us that hand washing
was a must.RIGHT: He taught us that hand washing is
a must.
-
8/7/2019 Styles in Scientific Writing
12/18
Tense
Analyze this example: I climbed out of the car, walkedthrough the door, and prepared to meet the
parents, but instead a large, honey-coloreddog runs to meet me at the door.
Avoid shifting tenses.
-
8/7/2019 Styles in Scientific Writing
13/18
Person and Voice
Technical documents are usuallywritten in the third person.
Second person is never used.
First person is used only when itgenuinely means that the authorand his associates actually acted.
Constant use of the first person is notadvisable, since it may distract thereader from the subject of thepaper.
-
8/7/2019 Styles in Scientific Writing
14/18
Person and Voice
Use of the passive voice has been astrong tradition in scientific writing.
This practice recently has given way to a
more direct writing active voice. Analyze the following examples:
I removed the catheter after the urine wasdrained. (First Person, Active Voice)
The catheter was removed after the urinewas drained. (Third Person, PassiveVoice)
-
8/7/2019 Styles in Scientific Writing
15/18
Gender
Promote gender sensitivity. As much as possible avoid the use of
his/her pronoun couplet.
Analyze the following examples:AWKWARD: Each patient was asked toadminister his/her medication at a specifiedtime.
BETTER: Each patient was asked to
administer the medication at a specifiedtime.
OR: The medication was administered byeach patient at a specified time.
-
8/7/2019 Styles in Scientific Writing
16/18
Checklist for GenderRevisions Have you used "man" or "men" or words
containing one of them to refer topeople who may be female?
If you have mentioned someone's gender,
was it necessary to do so? Do you use any occupational stereotypes? Do you use language that in any way
shows a lack of respect for either sex? Have you used "he," "him," "his," or
"himself" to refer to people who may befemale?
-
8/7/2019 Styles in Scientific Writing
17/18
1. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of
speech which you are used to seeing in print.2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use theactive.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or ajargon word if you can think of an everydayEnglish equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anythingoutright barbarous.
- George Orwell Politics and the English Language
Six Rules in ScientificWriting
-
8/7/2019 Styles in Scientific Writing
18/18
Aaronson, S. (1977). Style in ScientificWriting. In Essays of an informationscientist, 3 (pp.4-13).
Burke, H. R. (2000). Manual of style fornaval air warfare center training
systems division technical publication,[Manual]. USA: NWCTSD.
University of North Carolina. (2007).Gender sensitive language. Date
retrieved: December 1, 2010 fromhttp://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/gender.h
References
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/gender.htmlhttp://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/gender.htmlhttp://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/gender.htmlhttp://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/gender.html