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Scientific Writing Skills
Lesson 1: Subjects and Actions
Sentences usually communicate 2 main pieces of information: 1) who is the sentence about, and 2) what did they do? You can help readers find this
information using cues in your sentence structure. Choose sentence structures that minimize the amount of energy your readers require to understand
your writing.
1.
Put actions in verbs
 Verbs are action words: they describe motion, like
to explore, to examine, or to observe.
 Verbs can be turned into nouns (nominalizations),
which changes the word from an action to a thing.
Here are some examples of scientific verbs and
their nominalizations:
2.
Action
Nominalization
to regulate
to analyze
to occur
to understand
to investigate
to delineate
to perform
regulation
analysis
occurance
understanding
investigation
deliniation
performance
For paragraphs that discuss a single topic,
maintain a common subject throughout
 Often, writers intend to discuss one topic within a
paragraph, but change the grammatical subject of
each sentence.
 Writing is easier to follow when the string of
subjects in a paragraph consistently reflects the
topic.
3. For explanatory paragraphs that discuss a
series of related topics, the subjects can shift
as the topics shift.
 Sometimes it is necessary to write explanatory
paragraphs that discuss a series of related topics
that build on one another.
 Maintain a logical flow of grammatical subjects in
the paragraph, according to the story you are
telling.
Revision Technique
 Improve your writing by restructuring your sentences to capture actions in verbs.
This type of sentence structure is also called active voice.
 Find the character (the entity performing the action), and make this your subject
instead of the nominalization, followed by the action verb.
Sentence
Action
·The movement in the liquid medium of the bacteria
was accomplished by microflagella.
nominalization
·The bacteria move themselves in the liquid medium
with microflagella.
verb
Revision Technique
 Improve your writing by highlighting the subject of each sentence. Do your subjects
jump from one thing to another?
 Restructure your sentences so the subject is consistent and familiar throughout
the paragraph.
Paragraph
Subject string
·To understand human evolution, genomes from
related primates are necessary. For
example, identification of features common among
primates or unique to humans will require several
primate genomes. Fortunately,scientists can now do
such genome-wide exploration; in the past 5
years, the community has released several
nonhuman primate genome sequences.
Genomes
Identification of features
Scientists
Community
Subject shifts,
disconnecting the subjects
from the topic of the
paragraph.
·To understand human evolution, genomes from
related primates are necessary. For example,
several primate genomes are needed to identify
features common to primates or unique to humans.
Fortunately, such genome-wide exploration is now a
reality; in the past 5 years,genome sequences of
several nonhuman primates have been released.
Genomes
Primate genomes
Genome exploration
Genome sequences
Subjects are consistent
with the topic.
Revision Techique
 Shift subjects, but with an intended, logical flow that builds up to the final point;
the gist of the paragraph is understood just by reading the string of subjects.
 Each subject connects to the previous subject; writing is more cohesive (i.e. sentences
“glue”) when old information (from the previous sentence) is placed first, and new
information is placed last.
 Note: the first and last sentences of the paragraph “match”, making the paragraph
coherent.
Paragraph
·Technology often drives science. Among the most
impressive recent technological advances is DNA
sequencing. More efficient sequencing has reduced
the cost of generating sequence data
significantly. Cheaper data in turn enables more
researchers to do data-intensive experiments, which
results in a huge amount of data being released into
the public domain. Dealing with data in such large
quantity will require a new generation of scientists.
Subject string
Technology
DNA sequencing
Efficient sequencing
Cheaper data
Huge amount of data
Dealing with data
Lesson 2: Concision and Simplicity
The best scientists can communicate complicated results to intelligent readers outside their field. Long, complex writing doesn't imply good science. It
takes a deeper understanding to explain a complex topic simply and succinctly. This lesson will give you some techniques for keeping your writing
brief.
1. Omit needless words
 Needless words are wordy phrases or
adjectives/adverbs that are ineffectual or do not add
meaning
Examples
 Ineffectual phrases
Note that
It should be noted that
Respectively
It is important to realize
So-called
 Wordy phrases
Instead of
Consider
the question as to
whether
whether
there is no doubt but doubtless
that
used for fuel
used for fuel
purposes
in a careful manner
carefully
this is a subject that this subject
a large majority of
most
has the capacity to
can
nearly unique
unique
both cultures were
the cultures
equally affected
were equally
affected
 Unnecessary adjectives/adverbs
Instead of
completely alone
an interesting and intriguing finding
an improved and modified protocol
a new and novel drug
a new invention
very, extremely, ground-breaking
clearly, obviously, undoubtedly
2. Prefer simple words
 There are many complex words that convey simple
ideas. There is nothing inherently wrong with these
words, but they are often overused and make
writing longer than it has to be.
 Sometimes, complex words are needed to
communicate a precise meaning; however, as a
general rule, save the more complex words for
when they’re absolutely necessary.
3. Use simple subjects
 Often, science writers want to accomplish too much
in a single sentence: define a complex subject and
then describe something that it does.
 It is more clear to split these tasks into multiple
sentences, some to define the subject and others to
describe what it does.
 Maintain a logical flow of grammatical subjects in
the paragraph, according to the story you are
telling.
Instead of
are in agreement
Consider
agree
prior to
before
subsequent to
after
at this point in time
due to the fact that
in the event that
a new initiative
plays a key role in
a large number of
now
because
if
an initiative
is essential to
many
Consider
alone
use interesting or intriguing; or
neither, let the reader decide
use improved or modified
use new or novel
an invention (“invention” implies it is
“new”)
unnecessary hyperbole; remove
possibly demeaning to audience;
possibly confusing to audience if, in
fact, your point is not clear!
Examples
Instead of
utilize
methodology
elucidate
implement
commence
erroneous
regarding
subsequently
Can you add to this list?
Consider
use
method
show
carry out, use
start
wrong
about
after, later
Revision Techique
 Find the subject and verb in each sentence. If they are too far apart, the subject
may be too complex.
 Try simplifying the subject or possibly dividing the sentence in two or
eliminating unnecessary modifying clauses.
Sentence
Subject-Verb
Separation
·The sequences that had passed our filtering,
trimming, and alignment with ClustalX, were scanned 10 words
for conserved elements across mammals.
·The sequences were trimmed, filtered, and aligned
Verb placed immediately
with ClustalX. The resulting alignments were
after subject.
scanned for conserved elements across mammals.
Adapted from: Sheffield, N. (2011). Duke Graduate School Scientific Writing Resource. Retrieved from https://cgi.duke.edu/web/sciwriting/index.php