Styles in Scientific Writing

8/7/2019 Styles in Scientific Writing

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STYLES INSTYLES IN

SCIENTIFICSCIENTIFIC

WRITINGWRITINGNicanor Legarte Guinto

Faculty, Dept. of Languages,

Literature and Humanities

College of Arts and Sciences

Southern Luzon State University


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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.


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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.


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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


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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


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Language

Instead of saying: say: implement do sufficient enough commence begin visualize foresee veritable true initial first


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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 . . .


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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.


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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


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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.


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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.


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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.


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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.


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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)


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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.


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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?


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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


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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

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Styles in Scientific Writing