Writing In The Life Sciences

Practicing scientists know that the quality of their livelihood is strongly connected to the quality of their writing, and critical thinking is the most necessary and valuable tool for effectively generating and communicating scientific information. Writing in the Life Sciences is an innovative, process-based text that gives beginning writers the tools to write about science skillfully by taking a critical thinking approach. Laurence Greene emphasizes "writing as thinking" as he takes beginning writers through the important stages of planning, drafting, and revising their work. Throughout, he uses focused and systematic critical reading and thinking activities to help scientific writers develop the skills to effectively communicate. Each chapter addresses a particular writing task rather than a specific type of document. The book makes clear which tasks are important for all writing projects (i.e., audience analysis, attending to instructions) and which are unique to a specific writing project (rhetorical goals for each type of document). Ideal for Scientific Writing courses and writing-intensive courses in various science departments (e.g., Biology, Environmental Studies, etc.), this innovative, process-based text goes beyond explaining what scientific writing is and gives students the tools to do it skillfully.

Written by a professional biologist who is also an experienced writing teacher, this comprehensive guide for students writing in biology, zoology, and botany provides detailed instruction on researching, drafting, revising, and documenting papers, reviews, poster presentations, and other forms of science writing. The sixth edition features an expanded and revised chapter 1 on research strategies and sources, a greater diversity of examples from different subdisciplines (molecular biology, animal ecology, and genetics), and new technology tips throughout for searching databases and using software designed for charts, graphs, note-taking, and documentation.

Scientific writing is often dry, wordy, and difficult to understand. But, as Anne E. Greene shows in Writing Science in Plain English,writers from all scientific disciplines can learn to produce clear, concise prose by mastering just a few simple principles. This short, focused guide presents a dozen such principles based on what readers need in order to understand complex information, including concrete subjects, strong verbs, consistent terms, and organized paragraphs. The author, a biologist and an experienced teacher of scientific writing, illustrates each principle with real-life examples of both good and bad writing and shows how to revise bad writing to make it clearer and more concise. She ends each chapter with practice exercises so that readers can come away with new writing skills after just one sitting. Writing Science in Plain English can help writers at all levels of their academic and professional careers—undergraduate students working on research reports, established scientists writing articles and grant proposals, or agency employees working to follow the Plain Writing Act. This essential resource is the perfect companion for all who seek to write science effectively.

Selected and introduced by Richard Dawkins, The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing is a celebration of the finest writing by scientists for a wider audience - revealing that many of the best scientists have displayed as much imagination and skill with the pen as they have in the laboratory.This is a rich and vibrant collection that captures the poetry and excitement of communicating scientific understanding and scientific effort from 1900 to the present day. Professor Dawkins has included writing from a diverse range of scientists, some of whom need no introduction, and some of whoseworks have become modern classics, while others may be less familiar - but all convey the passion of great scientists writing about their science.

The Harvard Writing Project's disciplinary writing guides aim to introduce students to some of the basic practices and conventions of writing and conducting research in the various academic disciplines. In many ways, writing in the sciences is no different from writing in other fields. However, writing in the sciences follows certain conventions, styles, and formats. This guide details the major forms of writing you are likely to encounter in the sciences, including short answers and essays typical of science examinations, the laboratory notebook, research papers, research proposals, reviews, and writing for the general public.

Each chapter has three types of learning aides for students: open-ended questions, multiple-choice questions, and quantitative problems. There is an average of about 50 per chapter. There are also a number of worked examples in the chapters, averaging over 5 per chapter, and almost 600 photos and line drawings.

This book takes an integrated approach, using the principles of story structure to discuss every aspect of successful science writing, from the overall structure of a paper or proposal to individual sections, paragraphs, sentences, and words. It begins by building core arguments, analyzing why some stories are engaging and memorable while others are quickly forgotten, and proceeds to the elements of story structure, showing how the structures scientists and researchers use in papers and proposals fit into classical models. The book targets the internal structure of a paper, explaining how to write clear and professional sections, paragraphs, and sentences in a way that is clear and compelling.

The goal of this book is to make it easier for scientists, especially those new to scientific writing, to write about their results and to get their manuscripts accepted in peer-reviewed journals. The book covers each step throughout the submission process, from organizing and outlining the manuscript, presenting statistical data and results, to what happens during the in-house manuscript review process and what to do if an article is initially rejected. In addition to providing practical exercises on these topics, the book focuses on helping writers distil their research into concise take-home messages for readers, in order to convey information as clearly as possible to the target audience.

The detailed, practical, step-by-step advice in this user-friendly guide will help students and researchers to communicate their work more effectively through the written word. Covering all aspects of the writing process, this concise, accessible resource is critically acclaimed, well-structured, comprehensive, and entertaining. Self-help exercises and abundant examples from actual typescripts draw on the authors' extensive experience working both as researchers and with them. Whilst retaining the user-friendly and pragmatic style of earlier editions, this third edition has been updated and broadened to incorporate such timely topics as guidelines for successful international publication, ethical and legal issues including plagiarism and falsified data, electronic publication, and text-based talks and poster presentations. With advice applicable to many writing contexts in the majority of scientific disciplines, this book is a powerful tool for improving individual skills and an eminently suitable text for classroom courses or seminars.

You don’t have to be a genius to write a PhD. Of course, it will always involve a lot of hard work and dedication, but the process of writing is a whole lot easier if you understand the basic ground rules. This book is a guide through the dos and don’ts of writing a PhD. It will be your companion from the point when you decide to do a PhD, providing practical guidance to getting started, all the way through the nuts and bolts of the writing and editing process. It will also help you to get - and stay - in the right mental framework and establish good habits from the beginning, putting you in a commanding position later on. Examples are tailored to the biological sciences, offering a unique reference for PhD students in these disciplines. Embarking on a PhD doesn’t need to be daunting, even if it’s your first experience working within academia. Each short section focuses on writing - considered by many to be the most difficult aspect of a PhD - and delves into a practical detail of one aspect, from the title to the supplementary material. Whether you’re a student just starting your studies, an early career researcher or a supervisor struggling to cope, the book provides the insider information you need to get ahead.