Scientific writing 3.0: A reader and writer's guide - Jean-Luc Lebrun, Justin Lebrun 2021
The right(er) attitude
Writer vs. reader, a matter of attitude
The reading toolkit
You now know to avoid a writer-centered attitude, so let’s address what it means to adopt a reader-centered mindset. Unfortunately, you will rarely have the opportunity to look your readers in the eye and tell them that you care about them and their reading experience. At best, you can communicate your care for them through clear, purposeful writing. What is this purpose you need to achieve? Just sign your name on the line below to find out.
Hi reader, it’s me, __________. I want you to directly benefit from my work, carry it forward, and be successful. I want to inspire you, be the spark that ignites new research ideas, opens new research avenues.
I am aware that reading is accessory and that your time is precious. I wish to save you time by structuring my writing such that you can rapidly find what you need. I will be concise. I will write in a way that allows the sentences to flow into your brain like a wide river flowing into the sea — without turbulence, cataracts, boulders, or deep meanders. I will not waste your time by concocting misleading titles and promises that I cannot deliver. I want to give you enough details for you to reproduce my work. I do not wish to mislead you, and will therefore not cook up numbers, doctor images, or sift p-values.
Likewise, I will do everything I can to make my writing clear, by anticipating the gaps in your knowledge and avoiding obscurity in expression. I will do my utmost to travel alongside you, not lose you, to guide you where I foresee learning difficulties. I want to write with a clarity that not only allows you to think “I understand”, but expressly forbids any misunderstanding or ambiguity. That is the level of clarity I wish to reach, even though I know I will fail here and there.
Dear reader, I am grateful that you chose to read my paper when so many other papers are awaiting your attention. And since I have your attention, I will not waste it by distracting you, by unduly calling it on trivial matters. Rather, I will guide it directly to what really matters and should be of most interest to you.
I know that it is by helping you achieve your research goals that my own research will be justified through your citation. In short, dear reader, I do not exist without you. I will trace a path forward, but it is only when you walk upon it that it has value.
1 Don’t take this paragraph to heart! The science is nonsensical and for illustrative purposes only.
2 Lebrun, Jean-luc. Think Reader — Writing by Design: Reader-based techniques to improve your writing. Scientific Reach, 2019 https://www.amazon.com/THINK-READER-Writing-Reader-based-techniques/dp/173389750X
3 See R. Hoffmann, The Same, Not The Same, Columbia University press, 1995