Writing clearly and concisely

Continuity

Punctuation marks contribute to continuity by showing relationships between ideas. They cue the reader to pauses, inflections, subordination, and pacing normally heard in speech. Overuse may annoy the reader; underuse may confuse. Transitional words: time links, cause-effect links, addition links, and contrast links.

Options for avoiding creative writing

Reading by a colleague Later reading Using verb tenses consistantly

Editorial we

Restrict your use of we to refer only to yourself and your coauthors. Broader uses of we may leave your readers wondering to whom you are referring. Some alternatives to we to consider are people, humans,researchers, psychologists, nurses, and so on.

Economy of expression

Say only what needs to be said. You can tighten long papers by eliminating redundancy, wordiness, jargon, evasiveness, overuse of the passive voice, circumlocution, and clumsy prose. Short words and sentences are easier to comprehend than long ones.

Noun strings

Several nouns used one after another to modify a final noun, create another form of abruptness.

Organizing a manuscript with headings

Sound organizational structure is the key to clear, precise, and logical communication. Helps the reader anticipate key points and track the development of your argument. Levels help establish the hierarchy of sections via format or appearance. All topics of equal importance have the same level throughout the manuscript. Use at least 2 subsections within any given section, or use none.

Past tense

To describe the results.

Present tense

To discuss implications of the results and to present the conclusions.

Third person

Use a personal pronoun rather than the third person when describing steps taken in your experiment.

Within a sentence using commas and semicolons

Use commas to separate three or more elements that do not have internal commas. Use semicolons to separate three or more elements that have internal commas

Redundancy

Use no more words than are necessary to convey your meaning.

Strategies to improve writing style

A) writing from an outline B) putting aside the first draft, then rereading it later C) asking a colleague to review and critique the draft for you

Tone

Aim for an interesting and compelling style that reflects your involvement with the problem. Image a specific reader you are intending to reach and to write in a way that will educate and persuade that individual.

Comparisons

Ambiguous or illogical comparisons result from omission of key verbs or from nonparallel structure. Occurs when parallelism is overlooked for the sake of brevity, as in "her salary was lower than a convenience store clerk."

Colloquial expressions

Approximations weaken statements, especially those describing empirical observations.

Bullets

Capitalize and punctuate the list as if it were a complete sentence. At the end of each, follow with a semicolon.

Prime objective of scientific reporting

Clear communication. You can achieve this by presenting ideas in an orderly manner and by expressing yourself smoothly and precisely.

Pronouns

Confuse readers unless the referent for each is obvious; readers should not have to search previous text to determine the meaning of the term.

Number lists

Connote an unwanted or unwarranted ordinal position among the items. Items in the series should be identified by bullets. Symbols such as small squares, circles, and so forth, may be used in creating a billeted list.

Jargon

Continuous use of a technical vocabulary, even in places where that vocabulary is not relevant. Grates on the reader, encumber a the communication of information, and wastes space.

Smoothness of expression

Devices that are often found in creative writing can confuse or disturb readers of scientific prose. Try to avoid these devices and aim for clear and logical communication.

Linguistic devices

Devices that attract attention to words, sounds, or other embellishments instead of to ideas are inappropriate in scientific writing. Avoid heavy alliteration, rhyming, poetic expressions, and clichés.

Unit length

Direct, declarative sentences with simple,common words are usually best. Single -sentence paragraphs are abrupt. Paragraphs that are too long are likely to lose the reader's attention. Look for a logical place to break a long paragraph, or recognize the material.

Anthropomorphism

Do not attribute human characteristics to animals or to inanimate sources.

Headings

Do not label with numbers or letters. Number of levels depend on its length and complexity. If only one level of heading is needed, use level 1.

Introduction to a manuscript

Does not carry a heading that labels it as the introduction.

Levels of heading

Each section starts with the highest level, even if one section may have fewer levels of subheadings than another section. Table on page 62

Seriation

Helps the reader understand the organization of key points within sections, paragraphs, and sentences. Separate paragraphs in a series, such as itemized conclusions or steps in a procedure, are identified by an Arabic numeral followed by a period but not enclosed in or followed by parentheses. Separate sentences in a series are also identified by an Arabic numeral followed by a period; the first word is capitalized, and the sentence ends with a period or correct punctuation.

Wordiness

Impede the ready grasp of ideas.

Attribution

Inappropriately or illogically attributing action in an effort to be objective can be misleading.

Elements in a series in a sentence

Lower case letter in parentheses.

Word choice

Make certain that every word means exactly what you intend it to mean.

Untangling noun strings

Move the last word to the beginning of the string and fill in with verbs and prepositions.

Length

Number of pages needed to effectively communicate the primary ideas of the study, review, or theoretical analysis. " less is more". If a paper is too long, shorten it by stating points clearly and directly, confining data displays, eliminating repetition across sections, and writing in the active voice. It is generally wise to be consistent with the usual practices of the journal to which you are submitting your paper.

Organization

Ordering your thoughts logically, both at the paragraph and at the sntence levels, will strengthen the impact of your writing. Consider the best length and structure for the findings you wish to share.