Effective Scientific Communication The Other Half of Science

About this book

Writing composition and the sciences are intricately linked. Without writing, science would not exist – and could not be funded, communicated, replicated, enhanced, or applied. Further, writing helps scientists (and students) understand the science, explain the results of research in a greater context, and develop new ideas. Working from this philosophy, Effective Scientific Communication primarily addresses undergraduate STEM majors and minors who want or need to improve their scientific writing skills.

Grounded in the basics of rhetorical research and scientific writing practices and guided by the authors' experiences in the classroom, Effective Scientific Communication makes the case that writing is an essential component of science regardless of the stage of the scientific process, and that it is in fact a component of thinking about science itself. Featuring student-centered stories that place each topic in context and suggestions for practice, Hanganu-Bresch and Flaherty arm STEM students with the skills to enhance critical thinking and cultivate good writing habits.

Contents

Introduction: The Story of Scientific Writing

Part I: The Tao of Communicating Science
Chapter 1. Cultivating Good Writing Habits
Chapter 2. Target Audience
Chapter 3. Ethics in Scientific Communication
Chapter 4. Critical Thinking
Chapter 5. Communicating Basic Statistics
Chapter 6. Visual Communication
Chapter 7. Research and Documentation

Part II: Genres of Scientific Communication
Chapter 8. Writing Original Research Papers
Chapter 9. Review Papers
Chapter 10. Abstracts and summaries
Chapter 11. Writing Proposals
Chapter 12. Presentations
Chapter 13. Writing in the Sciences: Minor Genres
Chapter 14. Scientific Writing for Multimedia and the Web

APPENDIX: The Writing Toolbox
Crafting Effective Sentences, Paragraphs, and Papers

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Biography

Cristina Hanganu-Bresch is Associate Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at the University of the Sciences, where she has been teaching writing and scientific writing since 2008. She holds graduate degrees in rhetoric and scientific and technical communication from James Madison University and the University of Minnesota. She is passionate about rhetoric of science, medical rhetoric, and writing education.

Kelleen Flaherty is adjunct Assistant Professor of Biomedical Writing at the University of the Sciences. She has worked as a bench scientist, a college professor (for scientific and writing classes), and for the professional medical educational industry as a regulatory writer, a promotional writer, a publications writer, and a continuing medical education writer. She regularly presents at the national level on topics germane to professional medical writers and serves on both local and national committees and commissions dedicated to training medical writers.