How to Improve Your Scientific Writing: A Short Guide

• Dec 12, 2022
• 5 min read

• Tags: Academic Writing, Editing

The key characteristic of scientific writing is clarity.  Just as a signal of any kind is useless unless it is received, a published scientific paper (signal) is useless unless it is received as well as understood by its intended audience. So, scientific writing is a creative process. 

Scientific writing is designed to convey scientific information clearly and concisely to other scientists and students through case reports, technical notes, journal articles or scientific reviews, and it’s one tough process to master.

Scientific writing often is a difficult and arduous task for new students. And rightly so, as it entails following various rules, different format and deviates in terms of structure from how we are initially taught to write for other subjects.

Freshers commit many mistakes in these papers, because they focus almost exclusively on the scientific process, disregarding the writing process. Here is a succinct guide that lays out strategies for effective scientific writing to help you increase the focus on conveying your findings more effectively while writing in the college classroom and which will help you later for publishing scientific journals.

Take the Scientific Storytelling Approach

Robert Boyle, a pioneer of the modern scientific experimental method, emphasized the importance of not boring the reader with a dull, flat style.

Science is about facts and objectivity, not hyperbole to sell a story. However, objectivity is not at odds with adding a creative element to your writing or making it clearer and more interesting to read.

Everyone has great stories about their research. Discreetly slip these into your work. Humans are programmed to love a story and will remember facts embedded in stories longer than factoids alone.

Tense & Style

Some style guides discourage the use of the passive voice, others encourage it. While some journals prefer using “we” rather than “I” as the personal pronoun. Note that “we” sometimes includes the reader.

Be careful to keep the verb tense consistent within sections of your paper. The Results section of a paper is usually in the past tense because the experiments have already been done.
General principles disclosed by experimentation can be described in the present tense, since the conclusion is based on eternal facts.

One idea per paragraph

Make it easy for readers by presenting a single idea in each paragraph. While editing, try to improve your prose by breaking a lengthy complicated 9-sentence paragraph into two or more shorter paragraphs with a single idea presented in each. Varying sentence lengths are recommended for all kinds of writing; it applies to scientific writing as well.

Citations: Explain Strong Claims in Detail

A big problem with much of science writing and in many student essays is that the writing presents strong claims with nothing more than a citation to support it.

Let’s take a look at an example:
“When newbie scientists deal with too much data during an experiment, information overload can lead them to draw erroneous conclusions (Jones & Nash, 2012).”

Now, that’s a strong claim. It’s a big deal, if true. But readers often start wondering, “How exactly do they know this?” “What’s their data?” “What study did they run?”

It would be better to expound this claim by explaining how Jones and Nash know this. The writing could say:

“Jones and Nash supervised 500 budding scientists in the Pennsylvania University Chemistry Lab and found that the least experienced scientists involved in complex experiments were more likely to draw erroneous conclusions.”

Which one do you think gives more insight into the study?  

Most scientific writing follows one of three citation styles:
• AMA (American Medical Association)
• APA (American Psychological Association)
• CSE (Council of Science Editors)

Editing and Proofreading

Once you’ve finished writing, come back to your paper and validate your presentation of facts and claims. Are there any gaps in your paper’s structure? Have things been explained clearly? Does a point seem hard to understand because of awkward writing?  

Re-read the paper with a finer lens, well-structured sentences and appropriate word choice make a huge difference. Grammar and spelling are just as important as your scientific story; a poorly written paper makes a limited impact irrespective of the presented ideas.

It’s a fact that 90% of the scientific journals are published only in English. PaperTrue has a dedicated team of editors who specialize in editing papers on scientific topics. We’ve refined tons of papers to the absolute satisfaction of our clients.  Now, students and scientists can solely focus on just the research and writing, and leave finishing the paper to PaperTrue. With our high-grade editing and proofreading, we ensure you get published in the top journals.   

Books and Resources

These are some tools available online that will aid you in writing diligently:

CAS abbreviation and acronyms
A dictionary of Units of Measurement
SWAN

The following books are available in PDF; you can download and save them for a deeper understanding of the scientific writing process:

Christine B. Feak/ John M. Swales: Telling a Research Story. Writing a  Literature Review. The University of Michigan Press 2009.

Robert A. Day/ Barbara Gastel: How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper.

Keep in mind that there is no single correct way to write a scientific paper. Even professional scientists feel that they can always write more effectively. Keep experimenting and seek support if you like, and as you gain experience, you will begin to find your own voice. Good luck and happy writing!

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Tanvi

With a foundation in Life Sciences, Tanvi enjoys curating technical writing tips tailored for ESL students. When she's not translating complex concepts into bite-sized nuggets, she can be found playing with dogs or painting landscapes.