Index of topics: Introduction (with free downloadable resources on English proficiency); Plain Language: the best strategy for science and technology writing, other fields of technical writing, and written communications meant for the public; Some Plain Language writing guidelines, Miscellaneous resources on science writing and technical writing (such as The Guardian’s “Secrets of good science writing” series); Sources and examples of excellent Sci-Tech articles (such as Live Science, BBC Science Focus, and New Scientist)
Introduction
A. From “On Technical Writing” by Isagani R. Cruz (Starweek, Sunday magazine of The Philippine Star, July 30, 1995):
“As far as writing strategies are concerned, there is no difference between technical writing and creative writing, or for that matter, between technical writing and any other kind of writing, such as journalism.”
“In other words, to learn technical writing is very simple nowadays. All you have to do is to learn how to write, period.”
“Communication is the one and only reason for writing. One writes for an audience, and the better a writer is, the more specific that audience. (That is a curious paradox, because the more specific the audience, the bigger that audience.)”
This article may be 28 years old, but its core advice of writing for a specific audience remains relevant.
B. George Orwell’s six rules for better writing from “Politics of the English Language” (1946)
From Wikipedia:
“Politics and the English Language” is an essay by George Orwell that criticised the “ugly and inaccurate” written English of his time and examined the connection between political orthodoxies and the debasement of language.
The essay focused on political language, which, according to Orwell, “is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” Orwell believed that the language used was necessarily vague or meaningless because it was intended to hide the truth rather than express it. This unclear prose was a “contagion” which had spread to those who did not intend to hide the truth, and it concealed a writer’s thoughts from himself and others. Orwell encourages concreteness and clarity instead of vagueness, and individuality over political conformity.
In his essay, Orwell provided six rules or guidelines for better writing:
1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. [Originality]
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do. [Simplicity]
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. [Brevity]
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active. [Active voice]
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent. [Clarity]
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous. [Flexibility]
Orwell wrote “Politics and the English Language” some 75-plus years ago, but his six rules for better writing have withstood the test of time. You will frequently come across these six rules as you read through the resources listed in this blog post about “Science and Technology Writing.”
C. Because cinematography is both an art and a science, I am qualified to discuss Sci-Tech writing.
(You can read about my journey as a writer in “278,000-plus visits and 1.68 million plus page views: Thanks for browsing this blog.”)
C-1. Please read the following articles on cinematography being both an art and a science:
“The Science of Filmmaking” (School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, RV University)
“Science of Cinematography” archives by Neil Oseman
‘Cameraman’ and the art, science and work of cinematography (Washington Post)
“Visible invisibility: The science of cinematography” (The Tribune)
“What is Cinematography? Defining the Art and Craft” (Studio Binder)
C-2. This blog is primarily about photography and photojournalism, but since 2014, I’ve been writing spoiler-free synopses by episode or
set of episodes of Korean dramas. Parts of these synopses are historical and cultural backgrounders, with lessons in photography. When the pandemic began in 2020, I started adding to my synopses in-depth analyses of the visuals, cinematography, and editing of the Korean dramas I watched.
After posting these in-depth analyses on this blog, I post slightly different versions of these analyses on the KDRAMA subreddit. I’ve posted 40-plus of these analyses, the most recent examples of which are “Alchemy of Souls,” “Revenant,” “The Glory,” “My Dearest,” and “Moving.”
D. For a limited period of time, I’m offering to you the following free resources:
(a) 900-plus interactive exercises on English grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, verbal analogy, etc; the exercises have an average of 10 items per exercise, with time limit and automatic scoring;
(b) “Spoken English Learned Quickly” (learn to speak fluent conversational English in nine months, with MP3 lessons available in American accent or light British accent);
(c) 120-plus resources such as JPGs, PDFs, MP4s, etc on photography and photojournalism
For the download links and instructions in using these resources, please surf to my “Better English exercises and resources” blog.
Plain Language: the best strategy for science and technology writing, other fields of technical writing, and written communications meant for the public
A. ISO Plain Language Standard (for writing in English, Filipino, and other languages)
B. Controlled languages such as the ASD-STE 100 (Simplified Technical English)
C. Plain Language or Clear Writing guidelines for languages other than English; Plain English for writing in English
D. Some Plain Language writing guidelines (use short and clear sentences; avoid nominalizations, dummy subjects or expletive constructions, unnecessary preambles, and interruptive phrases; use the active voice, minimize the passive; parallelism; intra-paragraph organization)
Notes:
1. From Professor Robert Eagleson, Australia:
“Plain English [Plain Language] is clear, straightforward expression, using only as many words as are necessary. It is language that avoids obscurity, inflated vocabulary and convoluted sentence construction. It is not baby talk, nor is it a simplified version of the English language. Writers of plain English let their audience concentrate on the message instead of being distracted by complicated language. They make sure that their audience understands the message easily.”
The term “Plain English” is used in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. In other countries such as the USA, the term used is either “Plain Language” or “Plain Writing” because it includes languages other than English. In the European Commission (executive arm of the European Union), the term used is “Clear Writing.”
Whether Plain English, Plain Language, Plain Writing, or Clear Writing, the goal is clarity in written communications.
2. In the current 19th Congress, there are two Senate bills and three House bills that seek to require the use of Plain Language in English, Filipino, and other dialects for all government communicatons to the public.
3. Simplified Technical English is considered as an extreme form of Plain Language.
A. ISO Plain Language Standard (for writing in English, Filipino, and other languages
1. From “The ISO plain language standard: For most languages and cultures, and for all sectors” by Gael Spivak:
The standard is based on an internationally agreed-upon definition of plain language. The definition that appears in the plain language standard is as follows: communication in which wording, structure and design are so clear that intended readers can easily
- find what they need,
- understand what they find, and
- use that information.
The author further states:
The experts who wrote the standard come from 25 countries. Between them, those experts speak 19 languages and work in a wide range of roles and organizations. The experts worked hard to make sure every sentence in the standard works in their language.
Because of this, the standard can be adopted in most, if not all, languages and cultures, and all sectors. It’s versatile and easy to use.
Instead, these four principles in the standard give details on what methods can be used to write a plain language document:
Readers get what they need (relevant) Readers can easily find what they need (findable) Readers can easily understand what they find (understandable) Readers can easily use the information (usable)
2. From “The ISO Plain Language Standard” (IPL Federation):
Language neutral: the international plain language standard is not just for English
The standard is not just for English, nor is it just for ISO’s other two official languages, French and Russian. In fact, the standard is language neutral. So it works in most languages and across all sectors.
The guidance in the standard includes many plain language practices that are not word related. Such practices include focusing on what readers need to know, using a logical sequence, and using techniques to organize and design a document.
The guidance that relates to words is high level, so it is not specific to any one language. For example, the standard talks about using culturally relevant language, using words that your readers know, and using clear sentences.
What areas of expertise does the standard benefit?
Education
Finance and insurance
Government
Health/medical
Human resources
Information technology
Legal writing
National standard-setting bodies
Science
Communications, including:
Editing
Information design
Literacy
Localizing
Marketing
Media
Strategic communications
Technical writing
Translating
3. From “What Is the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)?”:
The ISO (International Standards Organization) is an “international nongovernmental organization made up of national standards bodies; it develops and publishes a wide range of proprietary, industrial, and commercial standards and is comprised of representatives from various national standards organizations.”
The International Organization for Standardization was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The organization began in the 1920s as the International Federation of the National Standardizing Associations (ISA). After being suspended during World War II, the United Nations Standards Coordinating Committee (UNSCC) proposed a new global standards body, and the International Organization for Standardization was formed.
In July 2023, the ISO published the “ISO 24495-1:2023 Plain language — Part 1: Governing principles and guidelines.”
4. From “ISO 24495-1:2023(en) Plain language — Part 1: Governing principles and guidelines”:
Plain language is communication that puts readers first. It considers:
— what readers want and need to know;
— readers’ level of interest, expertise and literacy skills;
— the context in which readers will use the document.
Plain language ensures readers can find what they need, understand it and use it. Thus, plain language focuses on how successfully readers can use the document rather than on mechanical measures such as readability formulas.
Extensive studies have shown that writing in plain language saves time or money (or both) for readers and organizations. Plain language is more effective and produces better outcomes. In addition, readers prefer plain language. For organizations, plain language is an important way to build trust with the readers. Finally, the process of translating is more efficient for plain language documents than for documents that are difficult to understand.
This document will help authors develop documents that communicate effectively with their intended readers. It applies to most written languages and reflects the most recent research on plain language and the experience of plain language experts.
Plain language is not to be confused with easy language. Plain language can be used for a general audience, while easy language is used for people who have difficulties with reading comprehension.
This document establishes governing principles and guidelines for developing plain language documents. The guidelines detail how the principles are interpreted and applied.
This document is for anybody who creates or helps create documents. The widest use of plain language is for documents that are intended for the general public. However, it is also applicable, for example, to technical writing, legislative drafting or using controlled languages.
The standard has four guiding principles:
Relevant – documents have information that readers need.
Findable – information is easy for readers to find.
Understandable – information is easy for readers to understand.
Usable – documents can be used by readers to achieve their purpose.
5. Overview of some guidelines for the “ISO Plain Language” core principles:
Guidelines for Principle 1: Readers get what they need (relevant)
Identify the readers
Identify the readers’ purpose
Identify the context in which readers will read the document
Select the document type or types
Select content that readers need
Guidelines for Principle 2: Readers can easily find what they need (findable)
Structure the document for reader.
Use information design techniques that enable readers to find information.
Use headings to help readers predict what comes next.
Guidelines for Principle 3: Readers can easily understand what they find (understandable)
Choose familiar words.
Write clear sentences.
Write concise sentences.
Write clear and concise paragraph.
Consider including images and multimedia.
Project a respectful tone.
Ensure that the document is cohesive.
B. Controlled languages such as the ASD-STE 100 (Simplified Technical English)
1. From “What is Controlled English?”:
The principle of Occam’s razor states that if you simplify explanations, you improve performance, learning and knowledge discovery. Simple is better.
Procedures written in a Controlled English vocabulary create mission-critical information that is accurate, clear and concise. The simplification removes ambiguity, jargon, idioms, vague meaning and enforces a standardized language.
An average Controlled English dictionary contains approximately 1,200 basic words. To this base, users add their special product terminology for a total of 5,500 to 8,500 terms. The SMART team can build a custom dictionary in 30 days for any product or service. Because Controlled English uses 1% percent of the English language, technical documentation is easier to read in 150 countries.
2. From ASD Simplified Technical English (ASD-STE100):
ASD-STE100 (Simplified Technical English or STE, for short) is a controlled language for the preparation of technical documentation.
English is the international language of science, technology and human relations. It is also the language of the aerospace and defense industry. However, it is not often the native language of the readers of technical documentation. Many readers have a limited knowledge of English. Complex sentence structure and the large number of meanings and synonyms that many English words have can cause confusion.
STE was created in the late 1970s by the Association of European Airlines and the European Association of Aerospace Industries, in cooperation with the Aerospace Industries Association of America. The goal was to make aircraft maintenance documentation more readable for those with limited knowledge of English. The resulting AECMA Simplified English Guide was released in 1986 and later became the ASD Simplified Technical English Specification, ASD-STE100.
Today, the success of STE is such that other industries use it beyond its original intended purpose of aerospace maintenance documentation. Interest in STE has also increased dramatically in the areas of language services, professional translation and interpreting, as well as in the academic world [Engineering and Language].
Some STE writing rules:
Rule 3.4: Do not use helping verbs to make complex verb structures.
Rule 3.6: Use only the active voice in procedural writing. Use the active voice as much as possible in descriptive writing.
Rule 3.7: Use an approved verb to describe an action (not a noun or other parts of speech.)
Rule 4.3: Use a vertical list for complex text.
Rule 5.1: Write short sentences. Use a maximum of 20 words in each sentence.
Rule 6.3: Write short sentences. Use a maximum of 25 words in each sentence
Rule 6.5: Make sure that each paragraph has only one topic.
Rule 6.6: Make sure that no paragraph has more than six sentences.
3. “Standard Technical English (STE) Rules According to Star Wars”
4. “To make text as clear as possible, use Simplified Technical English” by Mike Unwalla (TechScribe)
5. From “What Are Controlled Natural Languages?”:
Controlled natural languages (CNLs) are one of the most common branches of natural language and are well-known to professionals due to their widespread use in technical writing. As a linguistic concept, CNLs are not limited by actual language type, and have gradually developed highly representative technical classifications through their utilization in different industrial environments. Examples include Simplified Technical English (STE), Caterpillar Technical English (CTE), and IBM EasyEnglish. Eliminating the randomness, instability, and imprecise nature of natural languages, CNLs have seen wide use in the technology industry, but just what kind of languages are they?
Over time, CNLs have been adopted across a variety of different fields, and their application scenarios have grown more and more diverse. In 2002, German language processing expert Uwe Muegge proposed ten CNL rules specifically aimed at optimizing machine translation outputs.
Write sentences that are shorter than 25 words.
Write sentences that express only one idea.
Write the same sentence if you want to express the same content.
Write sentences that are grammatically complete.
Write sentences that have a simple grammatical structure.
Write sentences in the active form.
Write sentences that repeat the noun instead of using a pronoun.
Write sentences that use articles to identify nouns.
Write sentences that use words from a general dictionary.
Write sentences that use only words with correct spelling.
5. Comparison between Standard English and Simplified Technical English:
C. Plain Language or Clear Writing guidelines for languages other than English; Plain English for writing in English
“Plain Language Is for Everyone, Even Experts” (Nielsen Norman Group)
Except:
Some writers use an academic tone out of habit or try to impress readers with complex sentences and showy vocabulary. The misconceived notion that long sentences and big words make you sound smarter (or more professional) results in great sacrifices to readability and credibility.
All writers, including producers of technical and academic content, owe it to readers to communicate information simply, and clearly. Remember that the primary goal of communication is to convey information.
“Technical Writing Need Not Be Abstruse—Use Plain Language for Maximum Impact”
Excerpt:
Technical writers are great—some of my favorite colleagues are technical writers. But technical writers often need help communicating their important thoughts in plain language.
“Technical Writing in Plain English”
Excerpt:
Many people have the idea that writing has to appear ’technical’ and academic-looking. They sprinkle long words into long sentences, thinking that this is good writing. Many professionals, including lawyers, teachers and university dons do this, and as a result write poorly.
“Why simple language isn’t so simple: the struggle to create plain language in documentation”
“Basics of Plain Language in Technical Documentation”
“The value of a plain-language abstract” (The Plainspoken Scientist, AGU blog)
Plain-language abstracts (or summaries) are becoming an increasingly popular option in scientific publishing. The idea is that in addition to your normal abstract, another abstract, free of technical jargon and accessible to a broader audience, is also provided.
“Video abstracts and plain language summaries are more effective than graphical abstracts and published abstracts”
“Abstract Plain Language Summaries” (Pfizer)
“Communicating using Plain Language” (Aurora College Research Institute)
D. Some Plain Language writing guidelines
Index: Use short and clear sentences; Avoid nominalizations, dummy subjects or expletive constructions, unnecessary preambles, and interruptive phrases; Use the active voice, minimize the passive; Parallelism; Intra-paragraph organization; principles of readability
1. Use short and clear sentences
Rachel McAlpine in her book “Global English for Global Business” (page 38) says:
“Short sentences are a supreme advantage when communicating with people from a non-English speaking background. If you want your English to be understood worldwide—write short sentences. If you want to avoid embarrassing grammar mistakes and excruciating international misunderstandings—use short sentences. If you want your international clients to read your documents easily, confidently and accurately—use short sentences.”
Ann Wylie in her article “How to Make Your Copy More Readable: Make Sentences Shorter” explains:
The longer your sentences, the less your readers will understand, according to research by the American Press Institute. The study shows that:
- When the average sentence length in a piece was fewer than eight words long, readers understood 100 percent of the story.
- Even at 14 words, they could comprehend more than 90 percent of the information.
- But move up to 43-word sentences, and comprehension dropped below 10 percent.
Bottom line: To improve understanding, break sentences up or condense them.
The modern English sentence is short, averaging below 20 words per sentence.
(a) From “The Principles of readability” by William DuBay:
In 1880, a professor of English Literature at the University of Nebraska, Lucius Adelno Sherman, began to teach literature from a historical and statistical point of view.
He compared the older prose writers with more popular modern writers such as Macaulay (The History of England) and Ralph Waldo Emerson. He noticed a progressive shortening of sentences over time.
He decided to look at this statistically and began by counting average sentence length per 100 periods. In his book (1893), Analytics of Literature, A Manual for the Objective Study of English Prose and Poetry, he showed how sentence length averages shortened over time:
Pre-Elizabethan times: 50 words per sentence
Elizabethan times: 45 words per sentence
Victorian times: 29 words per sentence
Sherman’s time: 23 words per sentence.
In our time, the average is down to 20 words per sentence.
(b) Ellegard Norm: The modern English sentence has an average of 17.6 words per sentence. (From 1978 study by Swedish researcher Alvar Ellegard of 1 million words corpus of 20th century American English writing called the Brown Corpus collected by Brown University in 1964)
(c) “What is Happening to Written English?”
Essentially, the sentence has become shorter – quite dramatically. In a study by Brock Haussamen (1994) using text from a variety of sources, the average sentence length was shown to have reduced from 40-70 in the period 1600-1700 to the low 20s in the 1990s.
Year 1600 - 1700: Sentence length 40 - 70 words
Year 1800 - 1900: Sentence length 30 - 40 words
Year 1990s: Sentence length 20s
(d) Comparison of average sentence length of several writers
Jane Austen: 42
John Steinbeck: 18.4
D. H. Lawrence: 13.5
(e) “Editing Tip: Sentence Length”
" ... the average sentence length for Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who can be considered representative of a modern English writer with a general audience, is 12 words ..."
(f) “The long sentence: A disservice to science in the Internet age”
If we want the fullness of science in necessarily long papers to be appreciated, it must increasingly be written in short sentences.
(g) From “Elements of Style” by Strunk and White: “Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.”(h) “Techniques in creating clear, concise, and direct sentences” (The Writing Center, University Wisconsin – Madison):
- Unless you have a reason not to, use the active voice. Put the action of the sentence in the verb.
- Reduce wordy verbs.
- Use expletive constructions (“It is,” “There is,” “There are”) sparingly.
- Try to avoid using vague, all-purpose nouns, which often lead to wordiness.
- Unless your readers are familiar with your terminology, avoid writing strings of nouns.
- Eliminate unnecessary prepositional phrases.
- Avoid unnecessarily inflated words
- Put wordy phrases on a diet.
(i) “Writing Concise Sentences” (from The Guide to Grammar and Writing, sponsored by the Capital Community College Foundation in Hartford, Connecticut)
- Pruning the Redundant
- Abbreviated Redundancies
- Reducing Clauses to Phrases, Phrases to Single Words
- Intensifiers that Don't Intensify
- Avoiding Expletive Constructions
- Phrases You Can Omit
- Eliminating Clichés and Euphemisms
- Writing Concise Sentences (exercises)
- Eliminating Wordiness (exercises)
- Rewriting Bloated Sentences (exercises)
(j) “Identifying and addressing wordiness in sentences” (from The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
- Eliminate redundant pairs
- Delete unnecessary qualifiers
- Identify and reduce prepositional phrases
- Locate and delete unnecessary modifiers
- Replace a phrase with a word
- Identify negatives and change them to affirmatives
2. Use the active voice, minimize the passive.
(a) Passive voice is one of the biggest problems with government documents. From US National Archives and Records Administration Style Guide:
Active voice is the best way to identify who is responsible for what action.
In an active sentence, the person or organization that’s acting is the subject of the sentence. In a passive sentence, the person or item that is acted upon is the subject of the sentence. Passive voice obscures who is responsible for what and is one of the biggest problems with government documents.
(b) A sentence is in the active voice if the subject performs the action expressed in the verb. For example:
The dog bit the boy. (Active voice)
The boy was bitten by the dog. (Passive voice)
3. Avoid nominalizations (hidden verbs)
(a) A hidden verb is a verb converted into a noun. It often needs an extra verb to make sense. So we write, “Please make an application for a personal loan” rather than “Please apply for a personal loan.” (US SEC “A Plain English Handbook” 1998)
(b) Two signals of nominalization
| A. Distinct endings | B. Weak helping verbs |
| - ance - ence - ant - ity - ant - ment - ness - sion - tion | be conduct do effect get give have hold make perform provide put |
(c) What Is Nominalization in English Grammar?
In English grammar, nominalization is a type of word formation in which a verb or an adjective (or another part of speech) is used as (or transformed into) a noun. The verb form is nominalize. It is also called nouning.
In transformational grammar, nominalization refers to the derivation of a noun phrase from an underlying clause. In this sense, an “example of nominalization is the destruction of the city, where the noun destruction corresponds to the main verb of a clause and the city to its object.” (Geoffrey Leech, A Glossary of English Grammar, 2006).
(d) The Dark Side of Verbs-as-Nouns (New York Times)
It’s not just that nominalization can sap the vitality of one’s speech or prose; it can also eliminate context and mask any sense of agency. Furthermore, it can make something that is nebulous or fuzzy seem stable, mechanical and precisely defined. . . .
Nominalizations give priority to actions rather than to the people responsible for them. Sometimes this is apt, perhaps because we don’t know who is responsible or because responsibility isn’t relevant. But often they conceal power relationships and reduce our sense of what’s truly involved in a transaction. As such, they are an instrument of manipulation, in politics and in business. They emphasize products and results, rather than the processes by which products and results are achieved.
4. Avoid dummy subjects (expletive constructions) and unnecessary preambles
(a) “It” as a Dummy Subject in Grammar
The word “it” can be a subject (or dummy subject) in sentences about times, dates, and the weather (such as, It's raining) and in certain idioms (It's OK). Also known as ambient “it” or empty “it.”
Unlike the ordinary pronoun it, dummy it refers to nothing at all; it simply serves a grammatical function. In other words, dummy it has a grammatical meaning but no lexical meaning.
Related discussion: “Dummy Words” Have No Meaning
(b) Avoid dummy subjects or expletive constructions such as
- It is ...
- It appears ...
- There is ...
- There are ...
- It will be ...
| Dummy or false subjects | Plain Language revision |
| It is argued in the report that it is essential to simplify the tax code. | The report argues that simplifying the tax code is essential. |
| There was no consideration given to the suggestion by the committee. | The committee failed to consider the suggestion. |
| It is her opinion that there are several issues that need to be resolved. | She believes that several issues need to be resolved. |
(c) Avoid unnecessary preambles or pompous phrases such as
- It is important to add that...
- It may be recalled that...
- In this regard it is of significance that...
- It is interesting to note that...
- I would like to point out ...
- I would argue that ...
- It should be noted that ...
- It has been determined that ...
- It is obvious that ...
From “Parallelism” (University of Lynchburg):
Parallelism refers to using similar words, clauses, phrases, sentence structure, or other grammatical elements to emphasize similar ideas in a sentence. It makes the sentence concise, clear, and easy to read. Parallel structure is important especially in items in a series, paired items, and items in an outline or list.
Parallelism in Sentence Structure
A shorter definition: “Parallelism is a literary device that repeats grammatical elements to emphasize and create memorable phrases.”
From “Parallelism Examples — Writing, Speeches, Shakespeare & More” (Studio Binder):
Parallelism isn’t just a grammar style reserved for literature – it’s a tool we use in everyday conversation as well.
Here are some popular parallel phrases:
- “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”
- “What you see is what you get.”
- “If the shoe fits, wear it.”
- “You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”
- “You can’t judge a book by its cover.”
Parallel phrases often use “it” or “their” to match the syntax to the secondary noun.
6. Intra-paragraph organization; principles of readability
Miscellaneous resources on science writing and technical writing
Notes: The Duke University article “Science Writing vs. Scientific Writing” defines “science writing” as “writing about science for the popular media,” with the audience being “anyone with an interest in science.” On the other hand, it defines “scientific writing” as “technical writing by a scientist, with an audience of peers — other scientists.” In this section, however, I have included links to both “science writing” and “scientific writing.” Reason? The techniques for good writing are the same for both “science writing” and “scientific writing.”
For example, in his article “The Science of Scientific Writing,” George Gopen discusses (1) readers’ expectations, (2) placing the action of a sentence in its verb, (3) placing the grammatical subject close to the verb, (4) topic position, (5) stress position, and (6) old or given information first, new information last. Gopen’s prescriptions for good writing can be used in scientific writing, science writing, and other fields of technical writing; in fact, Gopen was awarded by a prestigious legal writing organization for his concepts of good writing.
The Guardian’s “Secrets of good science writing” series:
“How to avoid common mistakes in science writing”
As the old adage goes: writing is mostly rewriting. First drafts are hard, but your story is not ready until it has undergone many, many edits.
“A voyage of discovery: how the best science writers keep you enthralled”
Scientific papers aren’t known for their catchy titles. Here’s a typical example: "Ancestral capture of syncytin-Car1, a fusogenic endogenous retroviral envelope gene involved in placentation and conserved in Carnivora."
A good science writer could tell you what each of those technical words meant, or translate them into their everyday equivalents. They would also explain the concepts encapsulated by those words, and why they deserve your attention. And a great science writer might start with something like this: "If not for a virus, none of us would ever be born."
“How to write a science feature”
“How to write a science news story based on a research paper”
“The best science writers convey irresistible enthusiasm for their subject”
“Listen out for jokes, anecdotes and secrets – they’re science writing gold”
“What’s the point of this story? Handy tips for science writers”
“Take big, wonderful and startling ideas and make them comprehensible”
“A manifesto for the simple scribe – my 25 commandments for journalists” (Tim Radford)
“Talk to me! Top tips for conducting interviews with scientists”
“The killer itch: science writing that makes you want to scratch”
“The NFL star, the brain scientist and the Guardian journalist”
Mo Costandi on science writing: ’a good story conveys wonderment’
David Dobbs on science writing: ’hunt down jargon and kill it’
Helen Pearson on science writing: ’Surprise me!’
Jacob Aron on science writing: ’Analogies are like forklift trucks’
Penny Bailey on science writing: ’You need to know how to tell a good story’
Roger Highfield on science writing: ’Grab them with your first sentence’
Jo Marchant on science writing: ’You need a burning curiosity’
Tim Radford on science writing: ’Don’t be afraid to ask simple questions’
“Essential reading for science writers: The Big Short by Michael Lewis”
“The essentials of science writing: What is science writing?” by Dr. Marina Hurley
Science writing takes different forms, according to the topic, the purpose of the author and who the document is designed for. Science writing can create a thesis, a research paper, a report, an email, a conference talk, client criteria, project deliverables, a proposal, a funding application, a blogpost, a magazine or news article, a brochure, a fact sheet or a video script. A scientist publishing a research paper will write for their peers, a journalist writing for a popular science magazine will write for people who are fascinated by science and technology while a technician writing a report may write for people who need to know about a new process, methodology or technique.
Science writing is writing about science
The key feature of all types of science writing is that the topic under discussion is a scientific topic: that the information presented has been gathered, analysed and critiqued using accepted scientific methods. This is true whether you are presenting new science (e.g. research papers, theses), reviewing research by others (e.g. literature reviews, desktop reviews), reporting scientific approaches and methods to solve commercial or industry issues (e.g. reports, policy reviews) or writing about the astonishing world of science (e.g. news or magazine article).
Other “Writing Clear Science teaching program” articles by Dr. Marina Hurley:
10 writing tips for the struggling ESL science writer
Should we use active or passive voice?
Never label yourself a POOR writer
How to write when you don’t feel like it
How to write good research paper titles
How to build and maintain confidence as a writer
Critique all writing advice
“The secret to using tenses in scientific writing” (infographic from Editage)
“The use of tenses in a language as versatile as English can be rather confusing. The situation gets even more muddled when you have to decide which tense to use while writing a scientific research paper. In scientific writing, tense usage depends upon the section of the paper being written. Different sections of the IMRaD format warrant the use of different tenses. These variations within tense usage get even finer and more complex depending upon which aspect of the research process is being discussed. This infographic will help you choose the correct tenses while writing your research paper and take you one step closer to preparing a publication-ready manuscript.”
| View or download the full infographic (1300 by 4850 px) |
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“Writing science in plain English” by Dr. Lynn Dicks, Conservation Science Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge
“Worlds Apart: How Distance Between Science and Journalism Threatens America’s Future” (First Amendment Center)
Excerpts:
This yearlong study, by a veteran science journalist and a physicist who has spent years in NASA’s space-science program, considers something that has been left out of most mainstream news coverage in recent years. Worlds Apart analyzes media coverage and media attitudes as they relate to science and technology.
Science and technology?
Can these topics really compete with celebrities for news space?
There is a cruel irony in the fact that journalists, whose own profession has been so radically altered by the technology of the Information Age, are neglecting to explain the transformation affecting their industry and so many others. There is concern on the part of many reporters that even greater changes will shake their news organizations as millions of Americans move to the new media for their information.
“Bridging the Divide between Science and Journalism” (Journal of Translational Medicine, 2010)
Excepts:
First, because research often has many detailed nuances and the media don’t have the time or the space to cover all of those points. The length of the average evening news story is 70 seconds. Print stories can range anywhere from 100 word briefs to 1000 word articles, with the latter becoming more and more scarce. Therefore, the format of much of today’s news coverage simply doesn’t allow for detailed reporting.
Second, it can be difficult for scientists and journalists to communicate with each other because often they speak in terms the other doesn’t understand. More than ever, journalists must know a little about a lot of things. They typically cover a wide variety of topics on very short deadlines. If a topic is too complex, it will simply be lost in the shuffle of the other hundreds of e-mails, phone calls and information they are inundated with on a daily basis.
These issues, coupled with the general public’s (the media’s readers/viewers/listeners) very limited understanding of basic science, can make it extremely difficult for scientists to get their points across in the media. In fact, a 1997 National Science Foundation study found that half the American public doesn’t know that it takes a year for the Earth to rotate around the sun [2]. If Americans have difficulty recalling that simple fact, why would we expect them to understand the complexities of scientific research and its latest discoveries?
Most journalists fall into this group too. The overwhelming majority of scientists surveyed in a First Amendment Center, Freedom Forum study felt that few in the media understand the nature of science and technology, with 72 percent saying that journalists do “face a hopeless task in explaining the complexities of science.”
“The Science of Scientific Writing” by Gopen and Swan
Science is often hard to read. Most people assume that its difficulties are born out of necessity, out of the extremecomplexity of scientific concepts, data and analysis. We argue here that complexity of thought need not lead to impenetrability of expression; we demonstrate a number of rhetorical principles that can produce clarity in communication without oversimplifying scientific issues. The results are substantive, not merely cosmetic: Improving the quality of writing actually improves the quality of thought.
A Summary of “The Science of Scientific Writing”
“Writing science in plain English” by Anne E. Greene, a biologist who teaches scientific writing in the Wildlife Biology Program at The University of Montana
“Writing Science in Plain English” (Voice of America)
Duke Graduate School Scientific Writing Resource:
“Lesson 1: Subjects and Actions”
“Lesson 2: Cohesion, Coherence, and Emphasis”
“Lesson 3: Concision and Simplicity”
“Graduate School Scientific Writing Resource: Scientific Writing for Scientists: Improving Clarity” (PDF)
“How to write consistently boring scientific literature” by Kaj Sand-Jensen, University of Copenhagen
Except:
Although scientists typically insist that their research is very exciting and adventurous when they talk to laymen and prospective students, the allure of this enthusiasm is too often lost in the predictable, stilted structure and language of their scientific publications. I present here, a top-10 list of recommendations for how to write consistently boring scientific publications. I then discuss why we should and how we could make these contributions more accessible and exciting.
“Better science writing for the web”
“Plain Language in Science: Signs of Intelligible Life in the Scientific Community?” (Science Editor, Nov - Dec 2001, Vol 24 No 6)
“The secrets of science writing” (UK Research and Innovation)
Excerpts:
Craft your words
The general rule for clear writing is: think about what you want to write before you want to write it and write it in the clearest way possible. Be sure to:
- avoid excessive use of jargon: if you must use it, explain its meaning clearly
- be original in your use of language and generally avoid clichés or slang (but remember that great writers do use clichés for particular effects, having thought about them carefully first)
- avoid ugly, clumsy phrases and sentences all of the same length (never use a long word where a short word will do – If you can cut a word out, cut it out)
- read your article through when you’ve finished it, and cut as many words as you can.
“Alan Alda’s Crusade to Make Science Talk a Jargon-Free Zone” (Scientific American)
As the program’s interviewer, he’d seen how they’d frequently transformed the simple into the needlessly complicated, how they often spoke in jargon and how, in the quest to put a “serious” veneer on their work, they could make exciting discoveries seem incomprehensible.
Some years ago, it struck him that the techniques of improvisational theatre, could help scientists with their communication problem.
The result of that insight was the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University where the faculty fuses journalism, theatre, hard science and social science into a program of study.
“Alan Alda wants scientists to cut out the jargon”
“Science, in the Words of Alan Alda” (The Atlantic)
“What College Professors Can Learn From Alan Alda” (Time)
“5 Questions: Alan Alda on communicating science effectively” (Stanford Medicine)
Excerpt:
The things that we do in our daily lives and the decisions that are made that affect our economy and the way we live are all based in science. Yet most of us are divorced from science. We don’t speak the language; we often don’t understand the concepts. Science is so specialized now that sometimes scientists themselves don’t understand other scientists any better than the intelligent lay public does.
“Plain-Language Abstracts: A Benefit to Your Research”
Except:
A plain-language abstract summarizes a study at a high school reading level for general and scientific audiences. It should simply explain why the research was done, how it was done, and the key findings. While some scientists argue that a plain-language abstract is trivial, it takes more than just publishing a study in a journal to make a research paper stand out. Abstracts are effective tools that make research more accessible. That could mean the general public or a colleague that isn’t necessarily in your scientific field. Plain-language abstracts summarize study outcomes and create accessibility in research. This contributes toward a more transparent scientific community.
Science in Ten Hundred Words: The “Up-Goer Five” challenge (Scientific American)
Excerpt:
A central question of communicating science to a wider audience often boils down to this: can you take a complex scientific topic and explain it in a way that someone unfamiliar with the field can understand? The commonly-cited techniques for meeting this challenge, such as cutting out jargon and using relatable analogies, sound easy in principle but are often quite tough in practice.
“5 Steps to simplifying language in research communication”
“English Communication for Scientists” (Scitable, A Collaborative Learning Space for Science)
Resources from American Geophysical Union:
“Sharing Planetary Science in Plain Language”
Plain language summaries are a valuable way to make the value and outcomes of scientific papers clear to a broader audience.
“Science Communicators: On Avoiding Jargon”
For scientists, jargon is any word or phrase that loses or changes meaning when you use it with people who aren’t in your field (or the sciences).
Remember, there is almost always a less-technical way to say things. Your audience isn’t your classroom or a group of your colleagues. They’re there to learn, yes, but shouldn’t have to first learn a litany of phrases that will then allow them to understand your science. Typically, audiences don’t respond well to jargon and will likely be less engaged.
“Watch Your Words! Science vocabulary with dual meanings”
“Science Writing: Guidelines and Guidance” by Carl Zimmer (popular science writer, blogger, columnist, and journalist; a fellow at Yale University’s Morse College and adjunct professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University)
Excepts:
The All-Important Introduction
Within a few paragraphs, a reader will decide whether to finish reading your story or to move on to something else. In this brief preliminary time, you should give readers a clear idea of where the story is heading, an idea compelling enough to keep them with you.
Journalists call the sentence or two where you sum up the gist of your story the nut graf. Your nut graf should be intriguing, perhaps even surprising. If it states something most readers already know, they won’t feel the need to keep reading. If it is too obscure, readers won’t know why they should care enough to invest more time with your story.
Active voice, not passive
The scientific community favors writing in the passive voice. They shouldn’t, nor should you. The passive voice dissolves the power of narrative. It destroys the impact of action. It sows confusion about who did what. Sometimes the passive voice cannot be avoided. (See what I did there.) But for the most part you can find an active-voice alternative. This is not a meaningless grammatical game. By making an effort to create active prose, you will end up discovering more about the actions — and the people behind those actions — that give power to your story.
“Scientific Writing with Karen L. McKee” (YouTube series):
Avoid These 5 Beginner Mistakes in Scientific Writing
Avoid Pretentious Scientific Writing
How to Write a Compelling Introduction to Your Scientific Paper
Should You Write a Catchy Title for Your Scientific Paper?
De-Jargonize Your Scientific Writing
Common Writing Mistakes in Scientific Papers
Useful Sentences in Scientific Writing
Cliches to Avoid in Scientific Writing
The Mindset of the Elite Scientific Writer
The Secret to Becoming a Better Scientific Writer
10 Scientific Writing Mistakes that Reveal You Are a Novice (or Careless)
Writing Is Thinking
What I Wish I’d Known When Writing My First Scientific Paper
Message in a Bottle: How to Write a Scientific Paper That’s Memorable
Put Yourself into Your Readers’ Shoes
How to Write Clearly: Cohesion & Coherence
University of British Columbia Science writing channel:
Journalistic Science Writing
Succinct Writing
Active and Passive Voice, Elementary school version [No cuss words]; Original video
Clarity: Terminology (Elementary school version) [No cuss words]; Original video
Parallelism
Numbers and Units
Communicating Uncertainty
Creating and Using Outlines
Hyphenation
Comparisons
Miscellaneous YouTube videos on science writing:
How to Write a Scientific Article: Find the Story (American Chemical Society)
What is Scientific Writing + Tips for good Scientific Writing (Grad School Insiders)
Scientific Writing (Fresno State University)
“Philip Tory’s Technical Writing Course Improving Your Technical Writing Skills” (University of London)
“Improving Your Technical Writing Skills” (University of London)
“Technical Writing for Non-Technical Readers”
Excerpt:
The more complex your content or the concepts you’re writing about, the simpler your writing needs to be.
“At the Intersection of Plain Language and Technical Communications” (STC)
“Understanding Plain Language and Simplified Technical English”
“How to fix the 7 most common glitches in technical writing”
1. Messy structure
2. Too much jargon
3. Poor punctuation
4. Inconsistency
5. Too much abstraction
6. Unclear antecedents
7. Dense presentation
Sources and examples of excellent Sci-Tech articles
A. From The Guardian (UK newspaper):
Human tears contain substance that eases aggression, says study
The NFL star and the brain injuries that destroyed him
I lost my sense of smell after Covid. Here’s what I’ve learned about life without it
Many prehistoric handprints show a finger missing. What if this was not accidental?
Reindeer can multitask and chew while they sleep, study shows
Psychologists pinpoint average age children become Santa sceptics
Physicist Bob Coecke: ‘It’s easier to convince kids than adults about quantum mechanics’
Favourite science writing: Sleeping with Neanderthals
B. From UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), MRC Max Perutz Science Writing Award winners and shortlisted entries (PDF):
2022; 2021; 2020; 2019; 2018; 2017; 2016; 2015; 2014; 2013; 2012
C. From Live Science (“one of the biggest and most trusted popular science websites operating today, reporting on the latest discoveries, groundbreaking research and fascinating breakthroughs that impact you and the wider world”).
Categories: Space; Health; Planet Earth; Animals; Archeology; Physics & Math; Human Behavior; Technology; Chemistry; All content archive.
Some recent interesting articles from Live Science:
For 1st time, scientists write words in liquid water
Some cats spontaneously start playing fetch and we have no idea why
Wireless charger that sits under your skin could power medical devices before dissolving into your body
Why is it safe to eat moldy cheese?
Unexpected cosmic clumping could disprove our best understanding of the universe
After 2 years in space, the James Webb telescope has broken cosmology. Can it be fixed?
Science news this week: Supervolcanoes and a wooden satellite
Science news this week: Space tomatoes and sacred baboons
Astronomers discover 25 ’stripped stars’ that may be a missing link in supernova science
D. BBC Science Focus
Categories: Science news; Future Technology; Nature; Space; The Human Body; Everyday Science; The Planet Earth
Some recent interesting articles:
Photosynthesis without plants is now a reality. And it could make life on Mars possible
Human eyes: How they work, and their mind-blowing anatomy
17 absurdly brilliant (and bizarre) gadgets that defined 2023
Why new climate breakthroughs mean you should have (some) hope in 2024
71 random fun facts that will blow your mind
Study reveals why some cats play fetch – and how to get yours to
How to tell if your dog is a genius, according to new study
E. From “Physics World” by Robert P. Crease (science historian; chairman of the Department of Philosophy, Stony Brook University):
Why was so much spent on quantum computers before they even existed?
Nuclear Now by Oliver Stone – putting nuclear energy back on the table
If science is to thrive, we must understand its human foundations
The ethical dilemmas of renaming scientific principles that honour fallen idols
Ever felt your ordinary human experience is being delegitimized? It’s the fault of ‘scientific gaslighters’
Hollywood disaster movies: what they signal about science
Snowflakes, snorkelling and spacewalks: your holiday secrets revealed
So you think the history of science is easy?
How Aristotle helped me overcome my vaccination reluctance
Madness in the method: why your notions of how science works are probably wrong
F. Philippine News Agency (PNA) Science and Technology
DOST agency helps Quezon broom makers produce better products
Scientist urges people to plan mitigation vs. climate change
UP mathematicians working on Baybayin translator, mobile app
AI ‘won’t replace human creativity,’ says digital media artist
What impact could ChatGPT have on journalism?
DOST promotes soilless agriculture in Bulacan coastal schools
G. Rappler’s Science section (news, features, and commentary on issues and topics related to the sciences from across the Philippines and the world)
A Filipina lives the Martian life for 6 days
Pamagduman: Saving the green gold of Sta. Rita from disappearance
Filipina scientist develops early warning system vs red tide
H. Science News & Events (College of Science, UP Diliman)
UP researchers caution against parasites in raw vegetables, seafood
More intense typhoons to come this century, UP study warns
Pinoy inventor investigates abaca spacesuits and other nanotech innovations
UP scientist’s novel tech empowers rural fisherfolk
UP scientists make composite flowers to fight cancer-causing dyes
Bee nests inspire UP scientists to make new ’smart’ materials
I. Philippine Daily Inquirer: Science, Health and Research (latest articles); Science and Health (archives); Inez Ponce de leon, PhD (Ateneo) archives; Dale Arasa archives
Love: study reveals its mystery
Scientists are developing transparent wood
Skin cancer soap earns US teen award
3D printing hair and skin is now possible
Scientists discovered the key to a meaningful life
AI may help us understand what cats say
Edible battery lets you EAT technology
No old men in science country
J. The Philippine Star: Science and Environment; Star Science columns
K. FlipScience (Nature, Technology, Health, Podcast)
L. SciCommPH (Science Communicators Philippines Inc.)
M. New Scientist (the world’s most popular weekly science and technology publication; since the magazine was founded in 1956 for “all those interested in scientific discovery and its social consequences,” it has expanded to include newsletters, videos, podcasts, courses and live events in the UK, US and Australia, including New Scientist Live, the world’s greatest festival of science)
Sections: News; Features; Newsletters; Podcast; Video; Comment; Culture; Crosswords; This week's magazine
Subjects: Health; Space; Physics; Technology; Environment; Mind; Humans; Life; Mathematics; Chemistry; Earth; Society
Some current and interesting articles:
7 spooky science stories that will have you hiding behind the couch
The surprising benefits of having an asymmetrical face, body and brain
A new understanding of how your blood type influences your health
Writing things down may help you remember information more than typing
We are finally starting to understand brain fog and how to treat it
Strange but true? Test yourself in our barely believable science quiz
Disinformation wars: The fight against fake news in the age of AI
N. Business Insider (New York City-based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007)
Business Insider Science (recent articles):
Insider Science (YT)
China opens the world’s deepest and largest underground laboratory 7,800 feet below a mountain to hunt for dark matter
Scientists think they’ve finally solved the millennia-old mystery of why bugs flock to your porch light
Napoleon stranded a bunch of scientists in Egypt and now we have modern archaeology
The story of Neuralink: Elon Musk’s AI brain-chip company that has implanted its first chip into a human patient
Japan’s moon probe landed upside-down but somehow it still works
Lise Meitner helped discover nuclear fission but never won a Nobel Prize for her brilliance despite 49 nominations
Black holes are rampaging through our universe at more than 2.2 million mph and scientists think they now know why
How scrappers cash in on gold from your old computer
Humans are depleting groundwater faster than in the past 40 years, but places like Saudi Arabia and Thailand have figured out how to boost their freshwater reserves
10,000-year-old chewing gum is full of clues about what Stone Age teens were eating
“The value of science communication and translating facts and data into meaningful information” by Inez Ponce de Leon, PhD (Ateneo)
