Scientific Writing in English

Geraldine KershawMedical Communication and Study Skills UnitFMHS – UAEU

Scientific writing in English What are the features of Scientific

English? What is Scientific English for? Is it

effective? Where did the scientific style come

from? Advantages of plain English

Features of scientific English Passive voice – impersonal Long, complex sentences Specialist jargon High level of reading difficulty:

US vs UK journals

What is scientific English for? To communicate the results of new

research to the scientific community To transmit scientific knowledge to

those who need to learn it To influence decision makers and

paymasters

Is scientific English effective?

…The thought of having to read, let alone understand research papers could be summed up with a long heartfelt sigh. In my ever-growing list of things to read, digest, memorise and regurgitate on demand, papers were right near the bottom (at the bottom was learning the Krebs cycle).

 Giselle Jones, Editor StudentBMJ May 2003

Is scientific English effective?

Reading most articles is like trying to tramp through a forest of briers and beasts

 Medical discoveries, results of clinical trials fall by the wayside if readers cannot cut through the underbrush of words to find meaning.

 Nancy Yates-Hoffman, BMJ 2003

Where did the scientific style come from? “…reject all the amplifications, digressions

and swellings of style; to return back to the primitive purity and shortness when men delivered so many things, almost in as many words.”

 Address to the Royal Society of London for

the Improving of Natural Knowledge Bishop Thomas Sprat 1667

What do scientists copy?

Is a foetus capable of experiencing pain?

Can a foetus feel pain?

The results support the need for health education and instructional strategies designed to increase health knowledge.

Further examples…

That the sense of smell was used by these cattle was established because of the marked audible variation in inhalation intensity as the animals grazed.

Advantages of plain English The most important aspect of a scientific

paper is its scientific value, but no matter how important it is no-one will read it if it is unreadable.

  With no guidance, scientists copy what

they see. 

Gregory, 1992

Advantages of plain English

Readers do not read traditional long full articles and the need for such articles to be so long has been questioned.

The decision maker is more likely to listen if the message is relevant, clear and timely.

Examples of plain English We examined 1,356 Pap smears. We do not know why the observed

effects of folic acid-iron were absent with added zinc, though competition between bivalent iron and zinc for mucosal uptake, described previously, may be a possibility.

Summary History of criticism of “scientific”

English If you want to communicate your

research, write simply.