Random science writing tips
Here are a few tips which I'll feel better about after I exorcise them here. Some of these are 'official' and some are 'dave-isms'. Can you spot which are which? Enjoy:
1.
spectra : plural
spectrum : singular
spectrums : NOT A WORD
Use in a sentence: "My last spectrum fit well with the other spectra I acquired today."
2.
Tick marks in figures should never lie inside the figure body, since they aren't data.
3.
data:plural
Use in a sentence: "None of these data support the model that..."
Trick: replace 'data' with 'facts' to determine if you have written your sentence properly
4.
OK, this is not specific to science, but never begin a sentence with 'Because'.
5.
Similarly, never begin a sentence with 'This'
6.
Omit figure titles. If you *must* have one, then don't regurgitate the axis labels.
7. Incredibly, contractions are making it into publications (don't, can't, etc.) showing that some editors don't (pardon: do not) seem to care about proofing for these any more. Catch these yourself or else.
Comments
Scientific grammar advice = hott!
Posted by: Jenn | June 23, 2010 01:48 PM
And there's a lot more where that came from babe!
Posted by: David | June 24, 2010 03:56 PM
I think that 2. is a dave-ism. I cannot imagine a graph with the tick marks on the outside...
Posted by: Debbie | June 24, 2010 05:08 PM
You put all tick marks on the inside? Hmmmm, how interesting? But they're not data!!! :D
Posted by: David | August 11, 2010 08:51 AM