Grammar, Punctuation, Abbreviation & Jargons And Other

Common Mistakes in Scientific Writing

NAME- ANIRBAN SAHAM.PHARM (PHARMACEUTICS)ROLL NO.- A10647014005AMITY INSTITUTE OF PHARMACYAMITY UNIVERSITY, NOIDA , UTTAR PRADESH

What is Medical Writing?

“Medical writing is the activity of writing scientific documentation by someone who is a specialized writer (a medical writer) and is generally not one of the scientists or doctors whose research it was.”

Source: www.wikipedia.org 2

Types Things we write

Papers Grants Review articles Meeting abstracts Posters Seminar slides Lecture slides Manuscript and grant reviews Letters (requests, recommendations, complaints) Committee reports, meeting minutes Emails

Same "grammar" applies to all There are "rules" We are "academics" and "scholars"-- WE should FOR SURE get it right!

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Aspects of good scientific writing Science: data, quality, controls, rationale, thoroughness Significance: why should we care, was it worth doing Sexiness: exciting, attention-getting, memorable, broad interest Style: organization, consistency, clarity

what belongs where--Methods, Results, Figures, Discussion effective figures, graphs, tables proper referencing and bibliography styles

Good grammar hyphens, commas, plurals, abbreviations verb forms, tense, voice, person proper words used correctly, clearly, concisely

Applies to EVERY SECTION of a manuscript and all other scientific writing

Good writing can make a bad paper seem good More often, bad grammar can get in the way of an otherwise good paper4

Grammar Matters! Grammar issues

hyphens, commas, plurals, abbreviations verb forms, tense, voice, person proper words used correctly, clearly, concisely

Applies to EVERY SECTION of a manuscript and all other scientific writing

Good writing can make a bad paper seem good Bad grammar can get in the way of an otherwise good paper

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List of Common Complaints and Corrections

1. Spaces and hyphens between numbers and units2. Hyphens in compound words3. Proper plurals4. Too many significant figures5. Correct commas6. Inappropriate use of "time" words7. Which/that8. Person, voice and tense9. Abbreviations10. Setting up sentences11. Misused words and professional wording12. A number of other small things13. Good old rules

Examples aremostly from phys/pharm

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#1a. Space between numbers and units!!

A space must be used between numbers and their units! Simple and obvious Now shows up in almost everything I review

Only in the last few years Text-messaging and email generation "shortcut"? Regardless of the reason……

Use that space bar!! Do it right!!

^-

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Space between numbers and units Temperatures need spaces

between value and degree sign: 37 °C, not 37° C or 37°C but the degree sign for angles goes with the number: 90º angle

Centrifugal forces need spaces on both sides of the "x" 10,000 x g, not 10,000g or 10,000xg

Other "places for spaces" around equals sign: n = 3, not n=3

also around >, <, ~, etc around plus/minus: 29 ± 7, not 29±7

Percentages may be the only exception 5% serum, 0.01% bromophenol blue This is because % is not really a unit, just an indication that the

value is presented as the "ratio to 100"

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Hyphenate if the number-plus-units is used as an adjective Space if the number is an adjective and the unit is a noun

35 mm or 35-mm?? Cells were grown in 35-mm dishes."35-mm" is a compound adjective modifying the noun "dishes" The diameter of the dish was 35 mm.Here "35" is the adjective and "mm" is the noun

a 2-ml reaction volume; 2 ml were added to each tube The average 60-kg man weighs about 60 kg.

The one exception is concentrations, which are not hyphenated a 50 mM buffer The 10 μM concentration inhibited but the 1 μM samples were

unchanged. But a space is required: 10 mM or 6 M, never 10mM or 6M !!

#1b. Hyphens between numbers and units

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Most other "quantity-related" words are also hyphenated semi-transparent plastic tubes bi-directional reaction multi-component signaling complex "Her half-finished manuscript lay beside her pillow".

Some of these can be written as one word--no clear "rules" bidirectional, monophasic

Hyphens between numbers and units

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More on hyphens with numbers

Compound numbers are hyphenated if written as words

Fifty-four patients were enrolled in the study. One-hundred percent of the knock-out animals survived the injury. Average cost per run was over three-thousand dollars.

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#2. Hyphens in compound words- terms with verbs used as adjectives

2a. A noun-verb combination used as an adjective is always hyphenated!!—Myron's most frequent serious complaint!!

"The drug induced side effects" Is this a sentence by itself?

"The drug induced side effects. These included headache, nausea, gas, …"

Here drug is the subject, induced is the verb (predicate), side effects is the object of the verb

Or is this only the subject of a sentence? "The drug-induced side effects of aspirin include GI distress."Here drug-induced is a compound adjective modifying side

effects which is the subject It's the HYPHEN that lets me know without having to read the whole

sentence first! 12

Using "noun-verb as adjective" terms in biomedical science writing

Common examples receptor-mediated

Beta receptor-mediated responses are blocked by propranolol. The beta receptor mediated the response, because the response was

blocked by propranolol. concentration-dependent effects; ligand-independent transactivation drug-metabolizing enzyme; rate-limiting step ligand-binding domain

but not in "receptors were measured by ligand binding" RNA-dependent DNA synthesis, exercise-induced asthma site-directed mutagenesis, FDA-approved drug

Note this includes most forms of the verb: ed, ing, ent But only when used as an adjective

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Other compound adjectives Adjective-verb combinations are hyphenated when used as compound adjectives

fast-thinking graduate student; long-winded professor high-minded journal editors; heavy-handed administrators

The part of speech for the words determines the hyphen "blue-labeled" tubes

if the labels on the tubes are blue but "blue labeled tubes"

if the tubes are blue and also labeled (but labeled in red?) the red-labeled blue tubes = the blue tubes with red labels

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Preposition-verb combinations used as adjectives are usually hyphenated over-utilized phrases under-developed sexual organs in Turner's syndrome

often written as one word--overlooked, upturned, inbred

Prepositions often come after the verb form clearly spelled-out expectations

but "expectations were spelled out clearly from the start" laced-up shoes, tightened-down fasteners, wrap-around insulation

Other compound adjectives

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Other compound adjectives Adverb-verb combinations used as adjectives are NOT hyphenated

Adverbs always modify verbs or adjectives, so they don't need special treatment when used that way

Words ending in "-ly" are adverbs and not hyphenated a newly established pathway a highly regarded expert in the field

Also "too", "very", and "much" combos are usually not hyphenated a very limited interaction a much appreciated faculty member

It may not be wrong to hyphenate these, but it is not required

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Other compound adjectives Adjective-noun combinations used as adjectives are seldom

hyphenated centrifuge tube rack graduate student meeting side effect profile

But they can be hyphenated and often are open-door policy, closed-door meeting fixed-rate insurance long-term effects

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Other compound adjectives Don't hyphenate if both words modify the same word

a weak organic acid: a weak acid, an organic acid weekly planning meeting: a weekly meeting, a planning meeting strategy-planning meeting

strategy modifies planning here, doesn't modify meeting

an insulated Styrofoam container the container is insulated and it is made of Styrofoam the Styrofoam is not insulated, the container is

a Styrofoam-insulated container the container is insulated, and the insulation is by Styrofoam

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Other compound adjectives

Hyphenate BOTH terms if they modify the same word

Two modifiers before the verb form the Ca2+- and phospholipid-dependent enzyme PKCThe epinephrine- and isoproterenol-induced responses were….

Two modifiers after the verb formThe drug-sensitive and -insensitive cells were compared for…

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Hyphenation summary

Always hyphenate All noun-verb combinations if used as adjective All number-verb, number-noun, number-adverb combinations

used as adjectives

Sometimes hyphenate Some adverb-verb combinations if used as adjectives A few adjective-noun combinations if used as adjectives

Don't hyphenate Adverbs, including –ly words and others Two adjectives that modify the same noun

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#3. Proper plurals

Singularcell

hypothesis

Pluralcellshypotheses

The hypothesis (singular) that PKC is involved was only one of several equally likely hypotheses (plural) that we could have proposed.

Separate hypotheses are proposed for each specific aim.

A separate hypothesis is proposed for each specific aim.

Know which is singular and which is plural….…and then use the correctly matched verb form!! 21

Proper plurals

Singulardrug

datum

Pluraldrugsdata

The use of "data is/was…" vs. "data are/were…." is no doubt the most frequently mis-used example

The word "data " is absolutely and always plural !!! No matter how many smart people use it improperly !!!There is no doubt that "datum" is the singular and "data" is the plural, and I can think of no other example where "is/was" is used with a clearly plural noun. Always use the plural form of the verb (are/were) with this plural noun.

Some argue that data is a "collective" noun like "family" or "class" or "group" or "committee" and that singular can be used. But collective nouns are singular forms used to describe a group and therefore use a plural form of the verb, NOT plural forms of the noun used as if they were singular. 22

Proper plurals

Singulardrug

datum

Pluraldrugsdata

Correct:"All data were obtained by my technician, because I don't even remember how to hold a Pipetman anymore." "Data presented are the averages of at least three experiments".

Incorrect:"The data is clinically important because it shows a difference between the drug responses of the two groups of patients.""The data was best fit by a single-site model."

Correct:"The datum at 5 min, but only that specific data point, that one single value, was obtained with help from the last author." 23

Proper plurals

Singularcell

medium

Pluralcellsmedia

Dulbecco's is one growth medium (singular), even though it has many components

RPMI and Weymouth's are two different media (plural), each of which has multiple different components

"Just because one type of growth medium works well for your cells does not mean that any of several other media might not work equally well.

"Growth media were obtained from Gibco" only if more than one kind of medium was used!

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Singular Pluralcriterion criteriaphenomenon phenomenamitochondrion mitochondriaequilibrium equilibriamedium mediabacterium bacteriaoptimum optimaminimum, maximum minima, maximasymposium symposiadatum datahypothesis hypothesesthesis thesesaxis axesfungus funginucleus nucleifocus. locus foci, locialumnus alumni

The "-is" vs. "-es" forms are the only exceptions

"Most graphs have two axes—one x-axis and one y-axis."

"There are three loci for drug intervention: the most common locus is the cell surface receptor, a second important locus is the intracellular signaling pathway, and the newest locus is targeting the nucleus with gene therapy."

Singular forms all end in consonants; plural forms (almost) all end in vowels

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#4. Too many significant figures All of your "significant figures" should be "believable" Looking at your error bars is a good way to decide Instruments and spreadsheets give you lots of numbers that are

meaningless; don't use them unless you believe them!!

94 ± 14

3060 ± 310 700 ± 130

4470 ± 500

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Proper use of numbers

And remember spaces too!!!

94 ± 14

3060 ± 310 700 ± 130

4470 ± 500

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#5a. Correct commasin parenthetical statements

"Parenthetical" loosely means that it could also be put in parentheses, or that it is an "aside" or an "addition"; the sentence would be complete without it.

Commas always come in pairs when in the middle of a sentence! The inhibitor genistein, which is supposed to be selective for

tyrosine kinases, inhibited this serine kinase-mediated response. Propranolol, the prototypical beta antagonist, has many dangerous

side effects. One comma is OK only if the parenthetical statement ends the

sentence. The reaction was inhibited by C3 toxin, a selective blocker of Rho. The reaction was inhibited by C3 toxin, a selective blocker of Rho,

and also by the Rho kinase inhibitor Y25632.

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Commas in parenthetical statements One-word and simple multi-word parenthetical statements do not NEED

commas, and I strongly prefer that they NOT be used.

The protein kinase inhibitor genistein did not alter the response. preferred

The protein kinase inhibitor, genistein, did not alter the response. less appropriate

The Ca2+- and phospholipid-dependent enzyme protein kinase C mediates many of the effects of PI hydrolysis. preferred

The Ca2+- and phospholipid-dependent enzyme, protein kinase C, mediates many of the effects of PI hydrolysis. less appropriate

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Commas in parenthetical statements "and" and "but" go outside the parenthetical statement commas

The control cells, contrary to our hypothesis, showed less internalization.

The control cells showed modest internalization but, contrary to our hypothesis, drug-treated cells showed less internalization.

NOT: The control cells showed modest internalization, but contrary to our hypothesis, drug-treated cells showed less internalization.

"… in males but, in contrast, not in females …" NOT "… in males, but in contrast, not in females …"

"Treated animals survived longer and, as a result, produced more progeny.

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If the compound sentence is so long that it needs a comma, then it needs two independent clauses, each with a "subject" (noun) and a "predicate" (verb)

Or it should be two separate sentences

Both sides of ", and" (with a comma) need to have a subject and a predicate (be independent clauses)

But "and" (without a comma) does NOT need to have a second subject; but it can, if the sentence is not too long

Incorrect The cells were pretreated with pertussis toxin for 24 hr to inactivate Gi,

and lysed by scraping in a hypotonic buffer. How to fix

Take out the comma, or … Add a subject to the second clause to make it independent, or… Make it two separate sentences if "too long" is the problem

#5b. Correct commasin compound sentences

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#6. Inappropriate use of "time words" Don't use "while", "since" or "as" except to indicate the relationship

of events in time I only learned about this when journal style editors changed them in

my papers, so I learned to do them right myself!

We often use "while" when we mean "whereas" or "although" We often use "as" when we mean "because" We often use "since" when we mean "because"

Use the proper word, not the time word, unless it is a time concept!

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Inappropriate use of "time words" "While"

Incorrect: While staurosporine is a PKC inhibitor, it can also inhibit other kinases. (The intent is not to indicate that these two events are taking place at the same point in time.)

Better: Although staurosporine is….Whereas staurosporine is.….

Correct use of "while": "While the cells were being incubated in serum-free medium to induce cell cycle arrest, they were also being exposed to pertussis toxin to inactivate Gi. (Here the point is that the starvation and pertussis toxin treatments were going on simultaneously.)

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Inappropriate use of "time words"

"As" Incorrect: As C3 toxin is a highly selective Rho

inhibitor, our data implicate Rho as a mediator of synergism. (The intent is NOT to indicate that these two events are taking place at the same point in time.)

Better: Because C3 toxin is….

Correct use of "as": "As the cells reached confluence, their shape changed from flattened to cuboidal. (Here the point is that the shape change coincided in time with the attainment of confluence.)

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Inappropriate use of "time words"

"Since"--similar to "as", "because" is often what is meant Incorrect: Since C3 toxin is a highly selective Rho

inhibitor, our data indicate Rho as a mediator of synergism. (The intent is not to indicate that one event is taking place at a later time point than the other.)

Better: Because C3 toxin is….

Correct use of "since": "Since changing the HEPA filter in our hood, we have no further problems with cell contamination. (Here the word "since" is properly used to indicate that one thing has happened following another thing in time.)

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#7. Which vs. That A tough distinction, but with simple differences and rules of thumb!

"That" is used to "restrict" the meaning or to "identify" a specific entity

"Which" does not restrict but rather "elaborates" or "describes"

Examples The estrogen that is present in most birth control pills is ethinyl

estradiol. The estrogen drug ethinyl estradiol, which is present in most birth

control pills, is only slightly different from endogenous estradiol. The estrogen that is present in most birth control pills, which has

been modified for greater oral effectiveness, is ethinyl estradiol. WRONG: The estrogen which is present in most birth control pills is

ethinyl estradiol.

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Which vs. That -- Rules of thumb

Rule of thumb #1: If the phrase can be taken out without losing the meaning of the

overall sentence, use "which" If the phrase is vital to the point of the sentence, use "that"

Rule of thumb #2: "Which" statements are almost always set off with commas "That" statements should NOT be set off with commas

If commas seem needed or natural, use "which" If commas are not needed or seem awkward, use "that"

Correct use of both: The car that hit my bicycle, which is a VW bug, is now in the body shop with a big dent in its hood.

Common incorrect use: The car which hit my bicycle is now in the body shop. 37

Which vs. That -- more examples

Drug example Tamoxifen, which is a so-called anti-estrogen, is the most

appropriate drug for this patient. "which is a so-called anti-estrogen" can be left out and the

sentence is still complete and true and meaningful this would not read well without the commas

The drug that is most appropriate for this patient is tamoxifen. taking out "that is most appropriate for this patient" leaves a

complete sentence but it has lost its meaning it would seem awkward to use commas here

Most common kind of wrong use The drug which we used to block redox signaling was tempol. The drug that we used in to block redox signaling was tempol.

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Which vs. That -- more examples The drug that had the highest potency was RX-1040A. RX1040A, which had the highest potency of all the drugs tested,

was chosen for further clinical trials.

The receptor that is the subject of my NIH grant is the AT2 angiotensin receptor.

The AT2 angiotensin receptor, which is the subject of my NIH grant, is a Gq-coupled receptor.

The receptor that is the subject of my NIH grant, which is the AT2 angiotensin receptor, is a Gq-coupled receptor. an example of that and which used properly in the same

sentence

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#8. Person, Voice and Tense Person and voice

Historically recommended NOT to use first person in scientific writing And I still very strongly prefer little or no first person!

But this does NOT mean that you need to use cumbersome third person passive voice

Third person can be cumbersome, but it doesn't need to be Third person can make writing seem "impersonal"

Passive voice can be very cumbersome Passive voice removes all sense of "action", things "happening",

"excitement" and "story"

I try to use third person but active voice40

Person and Voice Person and voice examples First person active -- AVOID this

We noted that there were fewer endosomes in the inhibitor-treated cells.

Two VERY BAD ways of avoiding first person The authors noted that there were fewer endosomes in the inhibitor-

treated cells. It was noted that there were fewer endosomes in the inhibitor-

treated cells. Simplest statement; maybe OK; but "boringly passive"

There were fewer endosomes in the inhibitor-treated cells. Some good third person active voice statements

Treating cells with inhibitor reduced the number of endosomes. Treated cells contained fewer endosomes than control cells. The number of endosomes was reduced in inhibitor-treated cells.

These avoid "we", retain "action", are not cumbersome or passive41

Person and Voice More good and bad person and voice examples

"It has been reported that ……. ""Smith et al. reported that ……. " or "Several groups have reported… "

State WHO reported it, which makes it active.

"It is the hypothesis of this study that …… ""It is hypothesized that …… ""The authors of this study hypothesize that ……. "

Very cumbersome ways to avoid first person"The hypothesis of this study is that …… " Active voice and very clear

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Person, Voice and Tense It is almost always easy to avoid first person

We tested the hypothesis that…. The hypothesis guiding these studies was that…. These studies tested the hypothesis that…. It was hypothesized that…. (I do NOT like this wording)

We instilled saline or drug into mouse lungs … Saline or drug was instilled into mouse lungs…

We further propose that ROS alter BBB by… These data suggest that… A likely possibility is that…

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Person and Voice Places I TOLERATE use of first person:

Introduction, only once! "We hypothesize that …. "

Discussion, only once! "We speculate that ….." or "We propose that these drugs,,,,,, "

Your hypothesis and speculation are quite "personal", not "facts" LIMITED USE of first person possessive

"Our previous studies showed that ….. "

Places NEVER to use first person Methods

"We obtained inhibitors from .."; "We grew cells in …." Results

"We found that prestin …"; "We next used confocal to ……. "

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Person and Voice Almost always use "we" and "our" rather than "I" or "my"

Science is almost always a group effort! Even if not, "I" sounds awkward and maybe egotistical

Students describing their own work is my one exception I like to know what you (the student) did or observed

in contrast to what your lab did or observed or knows In oral presentations, in posters, in grant proposals

in these places it is important to emphasize student's own work, plans, ideas

But not in a student's manuscript for publication

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Tense When to say what "happened" or "was observed" (past tense) vs.

what "happens" or "is known" (present tense) General guideline

Use past tense to state what you did in your experiments and what you observed that you are reporting in this paper

These are clearly observations of what happened (past tense) in your experiments but not necessarily what happens (present tense) in general. "C3 toxin prevented synergism between LPA and EGF,

as shown in Fig.3."

Use present tense to describe what is generally accepted or what is "known" to occur from previous studies "C3 toxin is (present tense) an inhibitor of Rho." "Forskolin activates (present tense) adenylyl cyclase."46

Tense Introduction

Mix of present and past tenses—what is known already, what was reported in previous studies,

"Prestin is an important protein for hearing (a fact), and Hallworth et al. showed it to be located in auditory hair cells (what they saw)."

Methods Almost exclusively past tense—what was done in your studies

Results Almost exclusively past tense—what was observed, what happened

Discussion Again a mix of present and past tenses "Rho mediates this response (present tense conclusion), because it

was inhibited by C3 toxin (what happened in a specific experiment)."47

#9. Abbreviations Don't abbreviate unless necessary Avoid abbreviating single words, with the exception of chemicals Abbreviations should be used at least three times, in general

otherwise write out the entire word both times Avoid making up your own non-standard abbreviations Define each abbreviation the first time you use it

in the text or in a footnote, per journal style Use the abbreviation every time after you define it Check your journal's style sheet for standard abbreviations

DNA, RNA, EKG Double-check abbreviation usage before submitting

search for full word and for abbreviation from start to finish

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Capitalization for abbreviations My convention on when to capitalize in abbreviations

not a "rule", but my way (a good way) of being consistent

Capitalize only the first letter of abbreviations that are shortened words Iso for isoproterenol (not ISO) Veh for vehicle (not VEH) Ctl for control

Capitalize all letters that stand for words or at least syllables (initialisms) EGF for epidermal growth factor PCR for polymerase chain reaction CTL for cytotoxic T lymphocyte

More contrasting examples Ser for serine, but SER for stimulus-evoked response Ala for alanine, but ALA for antigen-like activity

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Abbreviations - using "a" or "an" Decide based on the sound of the spoken term, NOT based on the

first written letter of the abbreviation "a UTP analog"

not an, even though UTP begins with a vowel the sound (YouTeePee) begins with a consonant (Y)

"an MCP-mediated effect on IL8 release" not a, even though MCP begins with a consonant the sound (EmSeePee) begins with a vowel many consonant sounds begin with a vowel!!

• "an SDS gel", "an LTP-inducing agent"

"U" is the only vowel that sometimes begins with a consonant sound The same "U" policy applies to whole words

"a ubiquitination inhibitor"; "a unilateral triangle" "an unpaired T-test"; "an upward deflection in the curve"

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Abbreviations: "et al., etc." "et" is Latin for "and"; it is a word, not an abbreviation; so no period "al" is short for "alii", meaning "others"; an abbreviation, so a period No comma in front of "et al." in author lists (Jones et al.)

"et cetera" means "and the like"; "cetera" is abbreviated, so a period; but always written as one word, etc.

Never use "and" in front of etc., since the "et" itself means "and" Never use "etc." in scientific writing

use "and many additional examples" or "among others" or "as examples" instead

"i.e." is an abbreviation of "id est", meaning "that is"; two periods "e.g." is an abbreviation of "exemplia gratii", meaning "for

example"; two periods And don't get these two terms mixed up! 51

#10. Setting up sentences Sentences should NOT begin with a lower-case letter or a numeral

This is a pretty strict rule.

But it can lead to very cumbersome writing and reading. "... treated with 10 mM NaOH. Twenty millimolar HCl was added.." "..treated to elevate cAMP levels. Cyclic AMP was then extracted by.."

It is usually easy to reword the sentence to avoid this. "Next, 20 mM HCl was added…." or "HCl (20 mM) was added…" "Extraction of cAMP was performed by ……."

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Setting up sentences In scientific writing, it is accepted to use commas between all

items in a list, including the last item before "and" "The inhibitors tested were LY290082, calphostin C, and Y27632."

Final comma is not required for scientific writing, but it is allowed, and I personally prefer it.

It is still NOT allowed in non-scientific writing "We have a car, a truck and a motorcycle."

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Setting up sentences Avoid using unnecessarily wordy wording, especially to begin

sentences--be concise wherever possible!

"Because of the fact that….." (Avoid this!) "Due to the fact that…" (Avoid this!) "Because ……." (Has identical meaning, 4 fewer words!)

"In spite of the fact that…" "Although…."

"In order to test our hypothesis……" (Avoid this!) "To test our hypothesis ….." (Same meaning, shorter)

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Setting up sentences Avoid double negatives

These results are not unlike those from previous studies. (BAD) These results are similar to those from previous studies. (GOOD)

The outcome was not different from what we hypothesized. (BAD) The outcome was consistent with our hypothesis. (GOOD)

Avoid multiple "alternate possibility qualifiers" Instead, an alterative is that it might be possible that …. (BAD) An alternative is that ….. (GOOD)

Perhaps these nanoparticles could affect ….(BAD) These nanoparticles could also affect… (GOOD) Perhaps these nanoparticles affect….. (GOOD)

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#11a. Word Choice:Misused Words

Principle vs. Principal

Principle means key or idea or a tenet or theme or general rule or find your favorite "e" word to go with "principle" "The key principle is that water likes to go where ion concentration

is high." "principle" is always a noun, never an adjective!

Principal means main or basic "The principal thing to remember is that good writing makes good

science look even better; this is an important principle" "We expect the principal investigator on an NIH grant to follow the

principles of ethical science." "principal" as used in science is almost always an adjective the "principal of a school" is an example of the rare use of principal

as a noun 56

Misused Words Effect vs. Affect

Effect is usually a noun; Affect is usually a verb "Exercise training had no effect on the number of AT2 receptors." "Exercise training did not affect the number of AT2 receptors." "Drinking a beer with lunch can affect your afternoon productivity." "The effect on productivity of drinking a beer with lunch is usually negative."

Both together "Dissolving the drug in ethanol did not affect the cellular effect of the drug."

Effect can be a verb, meaning "to bring about", usually with "change" "Complaining about a problem is one way to effect a change in the way

things are done." "Aspirin can affect how you feel by effecting relief of headache pain."

Affect can be a noun, in psychiatry, meaning "facial expression" "Patients with depression or schizophrenia may have a flattened affect; for

example, they may not smile at a friend or laugh at a joke." 57

Misused Words:Making your data "quantitative"

Quantitative is a word Quantitate and quantitation are NOT words!!

go ahead, check your dictionary; I did!

Quantify is the verb form, NOT quantitate Quantification is the noun form, NOT quantitation Quantitative is the adjective form

Maybe not a big deal but if you don't do it right, good editors will change it and this will annoy you

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Misused Words

Who vs. That Use "who/whom" with people; "that" with things

She is the person whom you should contact. NOT: She is the person that you should contact. BUT: A car with low fuel consumption is the one that you should buy.

Among vs. Between Use "between" when comparing two things Use "among" for three or more things

We found no difference between male and female patients. There were clear differences in glucose levels among the four

treatment groups.

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Misused Words: Be sure to "write the right word"!!

here/hear there/their/they're your/you're/yore its/it's whose/who's to/too/two

"I want you to no that I here what your saying, and I agree that its there own fault which is just to bad"—WRONG!! These don't show up much in scientific writing but do in emails This is not a failure to "edit" emails, but an indication that you never

really learned this and have to "waste" time figuring out the right word Which makes you look less than bright

Ewe knead two bee shore too chews thee write ward!! 60

Use "technical" or "professional" wording rather than "common" or "conversational" wording or "lab jargon"

"To see if" PKC was involved….. (Avoid this!) "To test whether" ……." (Same meaning, more "professional")

"To make sure that we had put the same amount of protein in each well on the gel…" (Conversational)

"To confirm equal loading" (standard professional wording)

"Samples were put in the freezer…" (BAD) "Samples were stored at -80C…" ……." (Professional)

"The samples were counted in a scintillation counter." "Radioactivity in each sample was quantified by scintillation

spectrometry."

#11b. Word Choice--Professional wording

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Use "technical" or "professional" wording rather than "common" or "conversational" wording or "lab jargon"

"Samples were run on gels……" (Jargony) "Samples were electrophoresed……" (A little better) "Samples were subjected to SDS PAGE ….." ("Technical")

"We tissue-mizered the cells and then spun them down to get a pellet." (Lab jargon)

"Tissue was homogenized and membranes were isolated by centrifugation." (Professional)

"Next we took the cells and put them in the incubator and let them sit for 5 min (BAD)

"Cells were incubated for 5 min" ……." (Professional)

Professional wording

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Professional wording Avoid personal feelings words, along with first person

"Next we wondered if ….. " did you just "wonder", or did you go ahead and test it?

"We sought to determine if….." you sought to, but did you succeed?

"The next group of experiments tested whether…."

"We felt that X might cause Y…" and just how DID that feel?

"At first we were confused by these data…" and then you finally put on your thinking caps?

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#12. A number of additional things

The expression "a number of" is technically meaningless, since one and zero are numbers also!! "A number of lines of evidence support our hypothesis."

This is true even if there is only one piece of evidence, or even if there is no evidence, for your hypothesis, because one and zero are numbers.

"The experiment was repeated a number of times with similar results ."

This can be true even if you have done the experiment only once, or even if you have never done the experiment at all!!

"A number of additional drugs gave similar results." Maybe all other drugs gave quite different results, since zero could be

the number that gave similar results.

There are "a number" of better terms to use!!64

"A number" of possibilities exist.• a very limited number• only a few Related non-numerical words• very few - diverse / different• a few - various / variety• some• multiple• several• many• numerous• a large number• an astronomically large number• countless, endless• an infinite number

A gradient of "number" words

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Collective nouns--singular terms for groups of things singular or plural verb form??

The class is taking an exam. (The class is doing this [as a group].) The class are taking an exam. (The class [members] are doing this.)

Our course faculty (is/are) working on a textbook on Scientific Writing.

The staff at the bookstore (is/are) reading a book on salesmanship.

Guideline: Choose the singular verb form UNLESS "the group members" (plural) is clearly what is meant. Our faculty [list] IS very large. Our faculty [members] ARE good at both research and teaching.

A group of collective thoughts

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"Of" prepositional phrases further confuse the decision for many singular or plural verb form??

A list of relevant proteins is/are shown in Table 1. A stream of electrons pass/passes through the detection chamber. A box of cookies is/are on my desk. The Table of Contents is/are usually at the beginning of a book.

The subject of the sentence, NOT the object of the preposition, determines the verb form. even though the object of the preposition is immediately before the

verb Pay attention for these, think carefully, make rational decisions The singular verb form is always grammatically correct.

But the plural form may not be "wrong" in specific cases.

A group of collective thoughts

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Using a preposition to end a sentence with (!) Some now think this is too hard to deal with and is "OK"

"AT2-R is only one of the receptors that AngII binds to." "AT2-R is only one of the receptors to which AngII binds."

I still follow this rule in writing, not so much in normal speech.

Split infinitives This is supposed to be an absolute no-no!

"To more definitively demonstrate this mechanism…." "To demonstrate this mechanism more definitively…"

This one has never bothered me. But it's clearly wrong! And it's pretty easy to fix.

#13. Other good old grammar rules

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Tips for Better Writing

Build skills Composition, grammar Read medical literature

Training Medical writing certification Statistics

Networking American Medical Writers Association (AMWA)

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