The Scientist’s Guide to Writing—How to Write More Easily and Effectively throughout Your Scientific Career

by: Stephen B Heard ISBN: 9780691170220 (paperback)/9780691170213 (hardcover) Published by Princeton University Press, 2016 Price: Paperback—$21.95/£17.95 Hardcover—$59.95/£49.95

This useful book is both a guide and a companion, with a key message—that the scientist has to write with ‘absolute clarity’. The author tells you how to do this, and he should know as he is a successful scientist and Editor, and sees papers and publications from both sides of the fence!

The book is arranged logically into seven sections. First up are some philosophical thoughts on the history of scientific writing from medieval scholar loaners to enlightenment scientific sharing, for example, Bacon’s Salomon’s House and why Newton bothered to publish at all!

The second section is on behaviour and the psychology of (scientific) writing. Most people have to work hard to become successful writers and it is a craft the scientist will have to learn. To bring his message home Heard quotes from the horror writer Stephen King, ‘What is writing? The answer is telepathy.’ You want your reader to understand your writing as easily as you do. A great emphasis in this book is to always think of the reader, and that you yourself can learn to be a better writer by your own critical reading of others. For the writing process itself there is much good advice on avoidance (for example, of getting started), distractions, feeling stuck (and how to conquer writers block), the peril of perfectionism, and what to do if you fear criticism and are reluctant to get others to review your work. Finally, there are wise words about ‘early writing’, and writing as you go through a project.

Section three is called 'Content and Structure', and concerns the mechanics of writing. Crucial is to ‘find your story’ (What’s it all about?). As in a novel Heard suggests you set up an interesting and dramatic situation (by the Title and in the Introduction), tell the story (state your results), and then ensure that there is a resolution to the problem (the happy ending) in the Discussion. Heard talks of ways to ensure your story is clear and understandable, by use of wordstacks, concept maps and outlines. There follows sections on all parts of a paper (I particularly recommend his thoughts on Introduction). The advice is wonderful on the use of numbers (volume of numerical data), as is that on graphs, tables and figures—and how graphics should relate to text. Finally there is guidance on writing a Discussion, which Heard characterises and champions as ‘turning data into knowledge’. Section three really should be compulsory reading for all scientific writers!

Section four details the nuts and bolts of writing scientifically, for example, the paragraph, which is ‘a unit of logical organisation which is unified, coherent and distinct’. Thence follows chapters on essential matters, such as sentences, the passive or active voice, words themselves, and the wonderful Chapter 20 on Brevity, of which the first paragraph is ‘Be brief’.

Revision of the manuscript is the subject of section five. There is much sage advice about the process of revision and reviews of a paper. This is divided into chapters on self-revision (a very necessary skill), friendly revision (‘too often overlooked’), formal external review, and dealing with reviewers comments and editorial staff. Heard suggests that there are three types of reviewer comment: (1) where there is a problems—and a straightforward resolution; (2) where there seems to be a problem, but what it is and how to resolve it are unclear—you have not written clearly and your message has not been understood so, a significant rewrite is required; and (3) where you will likely be angry as the reviewer seems either not to have understood you or not to have read the paper properly—again a serious rewrite is needed, but be polite so that you don't add to the problem.

This book contains nearly everything you should know about scientific writing. Final sections deal with matters not covered elsewhere in the book, such as managing co-authorship and writing different types of articles. It ends with a chapter asking if scientific writing can be enjoyed, and can it include whimsy, humour and beauty? Read this book for the answers.