As scientists we are professional writers. If we improve our writing skills, we become better scientists. In the first part of the talk, I will explain why I think trying to write well is so important. In the second part I'll summarise some of the lessons I have learned from the references at the end of this abstract. My favourites are "The adverb is not your friend" (King -- yes, Stephen King, the horror writer), "Omit needless words" and "Make the paragraph the unit of composition" (both Strunk and White). In the final part of the talk I will go through some examples of editing.
Seminar room
Zoom stream: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85494370885?pwd=fvQSUGl6cWoZBajfKfXvM5ZaqwZffM.1
1. Avoid alliteration. Always.
2. Be more or less specific.
3. Avoid cliches like the plague.
4. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
5. Don’t be redundant; don’t use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.
6. The passive voice is to be avoided.
Seven. Be consistent!
8. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
9. Remarks in parentheses are annoying (no matter how relevant they are).
References:
Joshua Schimel, Writing Science
Robert Barras, Scientists must write
Stephen King, On Writing
W. Strunk, E. B. White, Elements of Style
Jari Saramäki, How to write a scientific paper