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

Organization and language in scientific writing
What is scientific writing?
Some preliminaries

Effective organization is key to communicating clearly and efficiently in science. Such organization includes following the standard format for a scientific paper. It also includes organizing ideas logically within that format.

In addition to organization, the second principal ingredient of a scientific paper should be appropriate language. This book keeps emphasizing proper use of English because many scientists have trouble in this area. All scientists must learn to use the English language with precision. A book (Day and Sakaduski 2011) wholly concerned with English for scientists is available.

If scientifically determined knowledge is at least as important as any other knowledge, it must be communicated effectively, clearly, and in words with a certain meaning. The scientist, to succeed in this endeavor, must therefore be literate. David B. Truman, when he was dean of Columbia College, said it well: “In the complexities of contemporary existence the specialist who is trained but uneducated, technically skilled but culturally incompetent, is a menace.”

Given that the ultimate result of scientific research is publication, it is surprising that many scientists neglect the responsibilities involved with this aspect. Scientists will spend months or years of hard work to secure data and then unconcernedly let much of their findings’ value be lost because of their lack of interest in the communication process. The same scientists who will overcome tremendous obstacles to carry out a measurement to the fourth decimal place will be in deep slumber while a typographical error changes micrograms to milligrams.

English need not be difficult. In scientific writing, we say, “The best English is that which gives the sense in the fewest short words” (a dictum printed for some years in the Journal of Bacteriology’s instructions to authors). Literary devices, such as metaphors, divert attention from substance to style. They should be used rarely in scientific writing.