As scientists, we're trained in research, not writing. Here are tips for improving your papers and posters.

1. Common
Problems in
Scientific Writing
Larry Baum

2.  Papers
 Posters
Outline of presentation

3. Common problems of papers

4.  Publishing in journals with few or bad papers
 Publishing in journals that university library
doesn’t carry. If you can’t access the journal,
others in your field also can’t, so your work will
be unread and thus wasted, like Mendel.
Problem 1: Junk journals

5.  Ignoring the journal formatting requirements
 Paper could be rejected.
 Paper could be delayed.
 Copyeditor could introduce errors when formatting the paper.
 Check format requirements when choosing a journal.
 Find them in the journal’s Instructions for Authors. Examples:
 http://eneuro.org/information-for-authors
 http://www.springer.com/medicine/neurology/journal/415?
detailsPage=pltci_1753915
 Length (maximum number of words)
 Figures and tables (maximum number)
 References
 Use journal’s format.
 Use RefWorks or other software to save time to reformat if a
journal rejects your paper and you thus need to submit to
another journal.
Problem 2: Journal format

6.  Unlike a short story, writing a paper from start to
finish may not best help it flow smoothly.
 Why?
 Different types of sections
 Analogy with a painting
 Outline first
 Figures: skeleton to hang the meat of the paper
 Results
 Order
1. Conclusions
2. Introduction
3. Methods
4. Abstract
Problem 3: One direction

7.  Authors may emphasize their favorite
experiments.
 Those that took the most time and effort
 Those that were successful
 But these may not be the most important for the
reader. They don’t care how many hours you
put into it.
 Focus on what the reader needs to see in order
to understand the main point.
Problem 4: Effort bias

8.  The point is to help the reader understand.
 Tell a story.
 Make it clear and simple.
 Use active voice.
 Use few and short words.
 As if you’re explaining to a friend: a general
scientist or even a lay person, not a specialist
 You do need details.
 But details shouldn’t derail the train of the story.
Problem 5: Shoveling details

9. Problem 6: No paragraphs
 Not using paragraphs
 Use paragraphs
 To focus readers on one
point at a time to get
your message across
 Left indent (Enter, Tab)
or Blank line (Enter twice)

10. Problem 7: Hidden paragraphs
 Using Enter key to separate paragraphs
 Show paragraphs correctly
 Left indent (Enter, tab), or
 Blank line (Enter twice)
←¶?

11. Problem 8:
General
language
errors

12. Problem 8:
General
language
errors

13.  Sentences stuck together
 Examples:
 “A significance threshold of 0.05 was applied for all linear
regression analyses, for all voxel based analyses and ANOVA a
threshold of 0.05 corrected for multiple comparisons was applied.”
 “The EOAD and LOAD groups consisted of 24 and 36 patients,
respectively, and did not significantly differ in clinical severity and
APOE ε4 genotype but the MMSE score was significantly lower in
the LOAD group.”
 Make two sentences or a compound sentence
 Examples:
 “A significance threshold of 0.05 was applied for all linear
regression analyses; for all voxel based analyses and ANOVA a
threshold of 0.05 corrected for multiple comparisons was applied.”
 “The EOAD and LOAD groups consisted of 24 and 36 patients,
respectively, and did not significantly differ in clinical severity and
APOE ε4 genotype, but the MMSE score was significantly lower in
the LOAD group.”
Problem 9: Run-on sentences

14.  Many papers have many language errors.
 Ways to reduce language errors:
 Spell-checker
 Helps, but misses correctly-spelled wrong words.
 Example: “The statistical significances of differences in frequencies
of variants between the groups were tested using the personal chi-
square test.”
 Co-authors
 All co-authors should read the paper before agreeing to have their
name on it.
 In reading it, they should proofread it.
 If they’re too busy to even read the paper, they don’t deserve to be
a co-author.
 You need someone other than the author to proofread because the
author is too familiar with the paper and won’t recognize errors.
 Proofreading services
 There are many.
 Fee may be fixed or depend on length or time.
Problem 10: Poor proofreading

15. Problem 11: Too many digits
 How old are you?
 Why didn’t you tell me the exact answer?
 Use a similarly practical expectation in papers.
 Significant digits
 2 for standard deviation
 1 more than might be relevant

16. Problem 12: Nonsense numbers
 Not checking numbers for obvious errors
 Greek letters deleted or converted (µl to ml or l)
 Wrong units
 Examples:
 “The cells were incubated for 8 minutes in 25 ml lysis solution
containing DNase I at room temperature. The incubation
was subsequently quenched with 2.5 μL of stop solutions”
 “neurons were seeded in a 96-well culture plate.... the left
cells were incubated with 100 mL (0.5 mg/mL) of 3-(4,5-
Dimethyl-2-Thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide
(MTT....”
 Proofread. Do numbers and units make sense?

17. Problem 13: Fonts
 Using inconsistent or wrong fonts
 Greek letters deleted or converted (µl to ml or l)
 Chinese font for degrees C (℃).
 Superscript or subscript converted to normal font (H2O, cm2).
 Different size fonts for equivalent text (It can look messy.)
 Check each time you copy and paste from other files.
 Txt
 Good: Can paste into, then copy from, plain text files to erase unwanted formatting
(as when pasting text from a pdf into a Word file)
 Bad: But also erases any wanted formatting (superscript, subscript)
 Pdf: need to delete Enter characters and correct other changes
 Web page: need to change font and correct formatting
 Proofread to find and correct
 If you want to only use one font, you can Select All and choose the font and
size. But check carefully in case you forgot that you wanted a different font
buried somewhere.
 Can magnify when you proofread to see easier.

18.  Should support each claim with at least one reference.
Problem 14: Bad references
“Alzheimer’s disease is epidemic with an incidence that increases with age
such that its onset is nearly assured for those who live long enough. For
example, it is estimated that about 40% of those aged 85 or older have AD.
It is predicted that by 2050, over 100 million people will have AD. Those with
a history of head injury are at increased risk as may be those with obesity,
diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and renal disease. Clearly, interventions that
prevent, stabilize, remediate, or cure AD are desperately needed.”
Check the studies you cite.
 Are they the papers you intended?
 Do they actually prove your claim?
Cite in or near the sentence with the claim.
Use the journal’s citation format consistently.
Original paper vs. review or confirmation
 Prefer original
 But can cite both

19. Common problem of posters

20.  Shoveling details on a poster is an even
bigger problem for posters than papers.
 That’s because people view a poster for
only a few moments.
 Think of billboards:
Problem: Busy poster

22.  How many words on each billboard?
 Do they get their message across?
 You don’t need to flood the viewer with
information to make your point.
 Make posters easy and fast to absorb.
 Aim for a few seconds for the key point and a
few minutes for all points.
 Cut, cut, cut until only essentials remain.
 Graphs & photos can be better than text.
 Introduction, methods, results, conclusion
 Readable from 1 m away
Problem: Busy poster

23. The End