The diverting synonym - Require less from memory - The reading toolkit

Scientific writing 3.0: A reader and writer's guide - Jean-Luc Lebrun, Justin Lebrun 2021

The diverting synonym
Require less from memory
The reading toolkit

We all remember (not always fondly) our English teacher from primary school; let’s say her name was Mrs Smith. She would read our writing exercises out loud in class, and scold us each time we dared repeat the same noun in successive sentences.

“The fat cat ate a mouse. The cat had not eaten a mouse for weeks.”

She would pounce on us and mortify us for having committed the dreaded eighth capital sin: repetition.

“But little Johnny, you should not repeat ’cat’ or ’mouse’. You should use synonyms. For example, you could say ’The feline creature had not eaten a rodent for weeks’”. And poor little Johnny, who did not even know what felines or rodents were, marveled at the deep knowledge of his English teacher. The message he carried into his life as a researcher was the very message that Mrs. Smith had drilled into him: do not repeat words but use synonyms to demonstrate your great culture through your vast vocabulary.

In scientific papers, however, synonyms confuse readers, particularly those not familiar with the specialized terms used in your field.

ImageAvoid synonyms. Make your writing clear by consistently using the same keywords, even if it means repeating them from one sentence to the next. As an added benefit, you will lessen the demand on the memory of your readers: fewer synonyms are fewer words to remember and understand.

Image

Search for synonyms. They are usually found in successive sentences. Synonyms of title keywords are often found in abstracts, in headings and subheadings, and in figure captions. Select your set of keywords (particularly those used in the title) and reuse these keywords everywhere: title, abstract, introduction, headings and subheadings, legends, and captions.