How to write and publish a scientific paper - Barbara Gastel, Robert A. Day 2022

Consistency in wording
Writing clearly across cultures and media
Scientific style

For clarity in scientific writing, keep using the same word for the same thing. Do not feel compelled to vary your vocabulary, as you might in a literary piece, to make your writing more interesting. Readers should be able to focus on the content. They should not need to wonder whether “the mice,” “the animals,” and “the rodents” are the same creatures, or whether “the conference,” “the convention,” and “the meeting” are the same event. Using consistent wording can help make your writing clear and cohesive.

Some words, however—those that are so vivid or unusual that they tend to be remembered—should not be used repeatedly in close succession. In this regard, one can think of “blue jeans words” and “purple plaid trousers words,” in keeping with this analogy presented to American graduate students:

If you wore blue jeans to the laboratory every day, probably no one would notice that fact. Similarly, if you repeatedly used words such as “experiment,” “molecule,” “increase,” and “journal,” probably no one would notice. However, if you wore purple plaid trousers to the laboratory today, people probably would notice if you also did so next week. Similarly, if you used the word “astonishing,” “armamentarium,” “compendium,” or “conundrum” in one paragraph, people probably would notice if you also did so in the next.

Stay mainly with blue jeans words, and feel free to use them repeatedly. Use purple plaid trousers words rarely, if at all.