Science_in_plain_English.pptVIP

My favorite science clichés implications for therapy further research needed paradigm shift holy grail plays a role sheds new light cutting-edge science State-of-the-art equipment silver bullet necessary and sufficient Concluding Example “Animals were exsanguinated so as to produce samples in which blood sugar time course could be recorded.” “We repeatedly bled the mice and followed the sugar concentration in their blood samples.” Some Online Resources Strunk: The Elements of Style The Economist style guide The science of scientific writing, Gopen Swan A list of wordy expressions to avoid Writing science in plain English how to deliver your message with clarity and grace Guy Shakhar Writing styles Richards, 2002 The architect The bricklayer The oil painter The water colorist Accommodate your writing to your neuroses: Mildly obsessive-compulsive personality Make every unit of discourseconvey a single message Your paper should tell one story. Your paragraph should explain one idea or experiment. Your sentence should describes one fact or argument. Your word must have a single meaning. How to recognize graceful writing? Graceful Not quite as graceful Common vampire bat Ocelot Bad writing comes in many flavors Vulgar, sloppy, kitschy, trendy, pompous... We want to sound serious,precise, authoritative,professional and objective. We end up pretentious, lengthy, vague, and dull “Everythingshould be madeas simple as possible– but not simpler” The K.I.S.S principle:Keep It Short Simple Short is beautiful If a word or phrase can be removed or shortened without losing meaning, do it Due to the fact that ? because With regard to ? regarding Prior to ? before In accordance with ? accordingly Is capable of ? can Avoid over-cautious language: It is possible that this rapid death might be attributable to a cytokine storm. This rapid death may be attributed to a cytokine storm. It is possible that this rapid death might be attributable to