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An updated edition of the essential guide for all scientists – from undergraduates to senior scholars – who want to produce prose that anyone can understand.
Scientific writing is often dry, wordy, and difficult to understand. But, as biologist and experienced teacher of scientific writing 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 roughly a dozen such principles based on what readers need to understand complex information, including concrete subjects, strong verbs, consistent terms, organized paragraphs, and correct sentence structure. Greene illustrates each principle with real-life examples of both good and bad writing and shows how bad writing might be improved. She ends each chapter with revision exercises (and provides suggested answers in a separate key) so that readers can come away with new writing skills after just one sitting. To help readers understand the grammatical terms used in the book, an appendix offers a refresher course on basic grammar.
For this second edition, Greene has incorporated the latest research on what makes writing effective and engaging and has revised or replaced exercises and exercise keys where needed. She has also added new features that make it easier to navigate the book. A new resource for instructors who use Writing Science in Plain English in their classes is a free, online teacher's guide. Drawn from Greene's long experience teaching students how to write science clearly, the teacher's guide provides additional lectures, assignments, and activities that will inform and enliven any class.
Preface to the Second Edition
Chapter 1: Why Write Science in Plain English?
Chapter 2: Before You Write
Audience
Register
Tone
Chapter 3: Tell a Story
Make Characters Subjects and Their Actions Verbs
Use Strong Verbs
Place Subjects and Verbs Close Together
Chapter 4: Favor the Active Voice
Benefits of Active Voice
When to Use Passive Voice
Chapter 5: Choose Your Words with Care
Use Short Words Instead of Long Ones
Keep Terms the Same
Break Up Noun Strings
Rethink Technical Terms
Chapter 6: Omit Needless Words
Redundancy
Metadiscourse and Transition Words
Affirmatives and Negatives
Chapter 7: Old Information and New Information
Put Old Information at the Beginnings of Sentences
Put New Information at the Ends of Sentences
Chapter 8: Make Lists Parallel
Chapter 9: Vary the Length of Your Sentences
Chapter 10: Design Your Paragraphs
Issue
Development
Conclusion
Point
Chapter 11: Arrange Your Paragraphs
Chronological Order
General to Specific
Least Important to Most Important
Problem to Solution
Compare and Contrast
Transition Words Revisited
Acknowledgments
Appendix 1: Basic Writing Concepts
Appendix 2: Exercise Key
Index
Anne E. Greene is a biologist who is interested in how scientists communicate their research to a broad audience. She taught scientific writing to undergraduates in wildlife biology, geology, and neuroscience at the University of Montana for fifteen years. She also taught workshops on scientific writing to university graduate students and faculty and to scientists in nongovernmental organizations, private research institutions, and federal agencies across the country.
Reviews of the first edition:
"In these [...] brisk pages, Greene manages to deliver a series of practical, hands-on lessons to make scientific prose more lucid, more direct, more immediately comprehensible, and, yes, more concise."
– Science Editor
"A great resource for anyone preparing to embark on scientific writing – whether a paper for class or a research article submitted for publication."
– Choice
"Greene's feet are placed firmly on the ground. Her recommendations are widely applicable, and the solid ideas presented in this book should influence good use of English in any situation. Scientists should treat Writing Science as a user manual to keep their writing on track."
– Journal of Scholarly Publishing
"I feel like I have found a reference to keep on my shelf for the rest of my career [...] In fact, after reading Writing Science in Plain English, I want to go back and edit every journal article I have ever written."
– ESA.org's SciComm Lit Review
"Writing in science has reached an all-time nadir and has become practically unintelligible to all but specialists in narrow fields. Professional articles on science are burdened by cumbersome expression, poor grammar, and a concomitant lack of precision and clarity. Accordingly, there is a great need for a primer of scientific writing. The brief book Writing Science in Plain English addresses that need."
– Integrative and Comparative Biology
"As one might expect from the title, Writing Science in Plain English is clear, concise, and very easy to understand. In fact, it's one of the best books on writing I've come across. If you only read one book on science writing, make it this one."
– Edge for Scholars
"Written in a breezy, engaging style in plain English; the author practices what she preaches. Copious in-text examples are provided to explain the key points of each chapter. Readers can also test themselves with the practice exercises at the end of each chapter, and answers are helpfully provided with commentary in an appendix [...] Who will benefit from this book? Anyone involved in science communication, including writers and translators."
– Japan Association of Translators
"Why must the scientific literature be as confusing and dull as an insurance contract or a manufacturer's warranty? It doesn't have to be like that! Writing Science in Plain English can teach any scientist how to write more compelling and lucid papers. Greene deserves a round of applause from scientific editors, peer reviewers, and readers everywhere."
– David S. Wilcove, Princeton University
"This is the best book of this sort I have read. Greene practices what she preaches, writing clearly for a general scientific audience. She comes across as both highly knowledgeable and accessible. Greene makes achieving clarity look simple, and I found myself marveling at her wizardry. Readers will find the text empowering."
– Gina Maranto, University of Miami
"Writing Science in Plain English should be required reading for both established scientists and undergraduates who might become scientists. Greene uses plain English and instructive examples from the scientific literature to show student writers how to say what they need to say more concisely, more accessibly, and more effectively. Would that all writers followed her advice."
– John Alcock, Arizona State University
"This guide echoes the advice I have given to students in scientific writing classes over my career. It rebuts the notion that science writing is different in kind and exempt from the rules that apply to other non-fiction writing: it requires strong narrative direction, active voice, strong verbs, short words where possible, and so on. This lucid, step-by-step book should be required reading for entering graduate students in the life sciences, and will be a welcome addition to the instructor's reference shelf."
– Steven W. Buskirk, University of Wisconsin-Madison
