The document discusses effective scientific writing techniques, emphasizing the importance of clarity, structure, and grammar in research papers. It provides practical guidelines for writing various sections of a paper, including the introduction, methods, results, and discussion, while highlighting the significance of reader-centricity and active voice. Additionally, it includes tips for selecting appropriate journals and crafting impactful titles.

1. Writing Scientific Papers:
Style, Grammar and Elegance
Prof. Bhaswat Chakraborty
Presented at the “Workshop on Scientific Writing Clinic,” Institute
of Pharmacy, Nirma University, Ahmedabad, December 21, 2018

2. Writing Well
True ease in writing comes
from art, not chance
As those who move easiest
have learnt to dance
Alexander Pope

3. Writing to Publish? What is Your Reason to
Publish?
• It is unethical to conduct a study and not report the findings
• You have some results that are worth reporting
• You want to progress scientific thought or improve health
outcomes
• You want your work to reach a broad audience
• Your track record will improve
• You will add credibility to your and your team’s reputation
• You will improve your chance of promotion
• You are more likely to obtain research grants

4. Scientific Writing: Reader-Centricity
“Often people run out of gas before they write the Summary
& Conclusions. This part of the paper, or talk, is what will
remain uppermost in the reader’s/ listener’s mind. I want to
know where this work leaves us (i.e. the summary) and
where does it lead us (i.e. what are the questions raised by
this work, i.e. the conclusions.)”
– Prof. Emeritus Gil Leppelmeier, Finnish Meteorological Institute

5. Basic Technique of Scientific Writing
• Thought
• Having some worthwhile results and ideas to publish. You need
some new results to publish and you need to be able to interpret
them correctly
• Structure
• Getting the right contents & expressions in the right place
• Style
• Choosing the fewest and most appropriate words and using the
rules of good grammar

6. The Practical Recipe
• Construct an introduction that puts your work in context for your
readers
• Tell them why it is important
• Tell them why it is relevant
• Materials and methods
• Leave readers in no doubt (about) what you did
• Write it such that they can reproduce your work if they want to
• Present your results so that
• Easily Understood
• Graphs & figures tell most of results
• Discuss your findings
• Enabling readers appreciate the implications of the work

7. That’s All Fine …… but how do I…
• Get started
• Plan your paper
• Choose an appropriate journal
• Prepare your paper in the correct format
• Make decisions about authorship
• Decide who is a contributor and who should be acknowledged

8. Organizing
a
Paper

9. A Draft

10. Deciding a Journal
• Use experience
• Match your paper with the personality and scope of the journal
• Match your subject with the journal’s target audience
• Consider the impact factor and citation index of the journal
• Weigh up the journal prestige, the likelihood of acceptance and the likely
time until publication
• Have realistic expectations
• Scan the journals for one that matches your content and study design
• Be robust and, if rejected, select another journal

11. Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts

12. Writing Styles
• There are many styles of writing
• Plain, poetic, scientific, and more
• What is the style of writing?
• It is the manner of expression
• It is not simply writing correct grammar
• It is about how well the text relays to the readers
• Science writing
• Must be prosaic, not poetic – clear, readable and organized
• Just because its science it does not have to be dull
• Clear and good use of English is essential
• A lively style of writing suggests interesting ideas
• Sloppy, disorganised writing is distracting and the readers are biased against it

14. Writing Grammatically Correct
• Constructing your sentences grammatically is a logical good start of
every good writing style
• Express one idea per sentence
• Use your current topic — that is, what you are writing about — as
the grammatical subject of your sentence
• Know when to use active and passive voice
• Whie writing a complex sentence (a sentence that includes several clauses),
place the main idea in the main clause rather than a subordinate clause
• Focus on the phenomenon at hand, not on the fact that you observed it
• Work on conciseness
• Replace long phrases with shorter ones or eliminate words without loss of
clarity or accuracy

15. Using Right Verbs
• The strength of a clause comes from its verb, therefore:
• to express your ideas accurately, choose the right tense, choose carefully between active and
passive voice, and avoid dangling verb forms
• Verbs are for describing actions, states, or occurrences
• do not bury the action, state, or occurrence in a noun (typically combined with a weak verb),
as in
• "The catalyst produced a significant increase in conversion rate." Instead write, "The
catalyst increased the conversion rate significantly.“ (moved from a noun back to a verb)
instead of Write
Make an examination of . . . examine
Present a comparison of . . . compare
Be in agreement . . . agree
Perform an analysis of . . . analyze
Produce an improvement in . . . improve

16. Using the Right Tense
• Past tense
• Work done
• We collected blood samples from . . .
• Groves et al. determined the growth rate of . . .
• Work reported
• Jankowsky reported a similar growth rate . . .
• Observations
• The mice in Group A developed, on average, twice as much
. . .
• Present tense
• General truths
• Microbes in the human gut have a profound influence on . .
• Smoking increases the risk of coronary heart disease . . .
• Atemporal facts
• This paper presents the results of . . .
• Section 3.1 explains the difference between . . .
• Behbood's 1969 paper provides a framework for . . .
• Future tense
• Perspectives
• In a follow-up experiment, we will study the role of . . .
• The influence of temperature will be the object of future
research . . .

17. Using the Right Tense
• Note the difference in scope between a statement in the past tense and
the same statement in the present tense:
• "The temperature increased linearly over time" refers to a specific experiment,
whereas
• "The temperature increases linearly over time" generalizes the experimental
observation, suggesting that the temperature always increases linearly over time
in such circumstances.
• In complex sentences, you may have to combine two different tenses —
for example
• "In 1905, Albert Einstein postulated that the speed of light is constant . . . . “
• In this sentence, postulated refers to something that happened in the past (in
1905) and is therefore in the past tense, whereas is expresses a general truth and
is in the present tense.

18. Choosing Between Active and Passive Voice
• The active voice focuses on the agent:
• "John measured the temperature." (Here, the agent — John — is the
grammatical subject of the sentence.)
• The passive voice focuses on the object that is acted upon:
• "The temperature was measured by John." (Here, the temperature, not John, is
the grammatical subject of the sentence.)
• To choose between active and passive voice, consider above all what you are
discussing (your topic) and place it in the subject position
• "The preprocessor sorts the two arrays" or "The two arrays are sorted by the preprocessor"?
• If you are discussing the preprocessor, the first sentence is the better option. In contrast,
• if you are discussing the arrays, the second sentence is better.
• If you are unsure what you are discussing, consider the surrounding sentences: Are they about
the preprocessor or the two arrays?

19. Choosing Between Active and Passive Voice..
• The desire to be objective in scientific writing has led to an overuse of the passive
voice, often accompanied by the exclusion of agents:
• "The temperature was measured" (with the verb at the end of the sentence). Admittedly, the
agent is often irrelevant: No matter who measured the temperature, we would expect its
value to be the same. However, a systematic preference for the passive voice is by no means
optimal, for at least two reasons.
• Sentences written in the passive voice are often less interesting or more difficult
to read than those written in the active voice
• A verb in the active voice does not require a person as the agent; an inanimate
object is often appropriate
• E.g., “The temperature was measured . . . " may be replaced by the more interesting "The
measured temperature of 253°C suggests a secondary reaction in . . . ."

20. Avoid Dangling Verbs
• A verb form needs a subject, either expressed or implied. When the verb is in a
non-finite form, carefully avoid nonsense. Consider the following:
• To dissect its brain, the affected fly was mounted on a . . .
• After aging for 72 hours at 50°C, we observed a shift in . . .
• Here, the first sentence implies that the affected fly dissected its own brain, and the
second implies that the authors of the paper needed to age for 72 hours at 50°C in
order to observe the shift. Correct sentences would be:
• To dissect its brain, we mounted the affected fly on a . . .
• After aging for 72 hours at 50°C, the samples exhibited a shift in . . . OR
• Change or remove the infinitive or participle to restore the
• To have its brain dissected, the affected fly was mounted on a . . .
• After the samples aged for 72 hours at 50°C, we observed a shift in .

21. What Exactly is to be Included?
• While reporting an RCT (NEXT 19 SLIDES)

22. Writing the Paper
• Order your material
• Construct a neat abstract
• Write an effective introduction
• Describe your methods so that other
researchers could repeat your study
• Report your results precisely
• Make your discussion relevant and
interesting

23. Introduction
Paragraph 1:
What we know
Paragraph 3:
Why we did this study

24. Know the Scope of Your Reporting
Randomized Controlled Trials
• Compares the effect of a new treatment with an existing or placebo
treatment
• Participants are allocated to study groups using a formal
randomization process
• Randomization minimizes the effects of bias and confounding on the
results

25. Materials & Methods
• Ethics approval
• Described
• Study design
• Design, randomization (blinding …), sample size,
optimization, justification
• Participants
• Population sampled from, inclusion/exclusion,
sampling scheme
• Interventions
• Clinical assessment
• Primary & Secondary
• Efficacy as well as safety
• Statistical analysis
• Baseline treatment, data censoring, model selection,
tests, levels of significance
Central principle
Every
measurement
reported in the
results section
must have a
description of
the method
used to obtain it

26. Materials & Methods
• Enable reader
(user) to duplicate
the study
OR
• Enable reader to
validate the study

27. Results
• Paragraph 1:
• Describe study sample
• Who did you study?
• Paragraph 2:
• Univariate analysis
• How many participants had what?
• Paragraph 3 to n-1:
• Bivariate analyses
• What is the relation between the outcome and explanatory variables?
• Last paragraph/s:
• Multivariate analyses
• What is the result when the confounders and effect modifiers have been taken into
account?

28. Results:
An Example

29. Figures & Tables
• No more than six tables or figures
• Use Table 1 for sample characteristics (no p values)
• Put most important findings in a figure

30. Graphs & Figures
• Central Principle
• Show your most important findings as graphs and figures
• Let your graphs & figures not take up much more space than reporting the data
would
• Symbols, abbreviations, hatching, line types, and bars
• Very clear and explained in detail without cluttering the picture
• Legend should be comprehensive so that the figure can be fully understood without
recourse to reading explanatory text
• What is useful in oral presentations, may not be useful in published journal
articles
• e.g., pie charts

32. Tables
• Tables are best instruments for presenting numerical data
• Should not be too large
• If data require many rows or columns
• Consider dividing the table into two
• Keep tables as simple and uncluttered as possible
• Row and column headings should be brief but sufficiently explanatory
• Standard abbreviations of units of measurements should be added in
parentheses

34. Discussion
• Paragraph 1:
• What did this study show?
• Address the aims stated in the Introduction
• Paragraph 2:
• Strengths and weaknesses of methods
• Paragraph 3 to n-1:
• Discuss how the results support the current literature
• or refute current knowledge
• Last paragraph/s:
• Future directions
• “So what?” and “where next?”
• Impact on current thinking or practice

35. Discussion
• “Say what your findings mean, not what you would like them to mean or think
they ought to mean”
• Reiterate your main findings but in the context of furthering knowledge or
impacting on patient care, public health policy, or future research
• Be honest about any limitations of your study, to explain how your findings fit in
with established knowledge, and to explain any inconsistencies
• If you are very knowledgeable in the topic, you may have a lot to discuss. That’s
OK – just write succinctly and stay in focus

36. Finishing up Your Paper
• Write a short, snappy title
• Select and quote references correctly
• Maximize the value of the peer review process
• Package your paper appropriately
• Send your paper to a journal
• Store your data and your documentation

37. Ways to Write a Title
• Titles that give independent variable, dependent variable, and population:
• Effect of asthma on linear growth in children
• Asthma and linear growth in children
• Final height attainment of asthmatic children
• Titles that pose a question:
• Does asthma reduce linear growth?
• Are asthmatic children shorter than non-asthmatic children?
• Titles that give the answer to the question:
• Asthma is negatively associated with growth in height during adolescence
• Linear growth deficit in asthmatic children

38. References
• All citations must be accurate
• Include only the most important, most rigorous, and most recent
literature
• Quote only published journal articles or books
• Never quote “second hand
• Cite only 20–35 references

39. Exercise: A Few Simple Rules for Effective Writing
•Rule 1 Use concrete rather than vague language.
• Vague The weather was of an extreme nature
on the West coast.
• Concrete California had very cold weather last week.
•Rule 2 Use active voice whenever possible. Active voice means the
subject is performing the verb.
• Active Barry hit the ball.
• Passive The ball was hit.
• Notice that the responsible party may not even appear when using
passive voice.

40. Rules (Contd..)
• Rule 3 Avoid overusing there is, there are, it is, it was, etc.
• Example There is a case of meningitis that was reported in the
newspaper.
• Correction A case of meningitis was reported in the
newspaper.
• Better The newspaper reported a case of meningitis.
(Active voice).
• Rule 4 To avoid confusion, don't use two negatives to make a positive.
• Correct He is willing to help.
• Incorrect He is not unwilling to help.

41. Rules (Contd..)
• Rule 5 Use similar grammatical form when offering several
ideas. This is called parallel construction.
• Correct: You should check your spelling, grammar, and
punctuation.
• Incorrect You should check your spelling, grammar, and
punctuating.
• Rule 6 If you start a sentence with an action, place the actor
immediately after or you will have created the infamous dangling
modifier.
• Correct While walking across the street, she was hit by a bus.
OR
She was hit by a bus while walking across the street.
• Incorrect While walking across the street, the bus hit her.

42. Rules (Contd..)
• Rule 7 Place modifiers near the words they modify.
• Correct In my lunch bag, I have some pound cake that Esha baked.
• Incorrect I have some pound cake Esha baked in my lunch bag.
• Rule 8 A sentence fragment occurs when you have only a phrase or
weak clause but are missing a strong clause.
• Example of Sentence Fragment After the show ended.
• Example of Sentence After the show ended, we got a
cup of coffee.

43. Application to a complex sentence(s): Errors
• Complex and Incorrect Dysregulation of physiologic microRNA, miR, activity has been shown to play
an important role in tumor initiation and progression, including gliomagenesis. Therefore, molecular
species that can regulate miR activity on their target miRs may play equally relevant roles in cancer.
• Errors
• 1. There's the use of nouns rather than verbs. The authors use dysregulation, initiation, progression, and
expression. Those are all nouns that could've been verbs – Dysregulate, initiate, progress, and express.
• 2. The authors also use some vague words.For example, the word physiologic here, physiology is
something that's really broad, not exactly sure what the authors mean by physiologic. It doesn't add
anything for me, also molecular species. Molecular species could be a lot of things. The term
gliomagenesis, which is a fancy way to say the formation of glioma. There's an easier and more direct
way to say that.
• 3. We also get an interesting acronym or initialism in this example.
• 4. The authors abbreviated the term microRNA as miR. It's amusing because RNA is already itself an
acronym, so the authors have made an acronym of an acronym. You're only saving a few letters here by
using miR rather than microRNA,
• 5. Another thing, in this first sentence the authors use the passive voice. The passive voice is hard to
read because it's not the way we talk. Now the second sentence is actually in the active voice but it has a
different problem with the verb. The subject of that sentence is molecular species. We have molecular
species and then this long descriptive clause, and then we finally get to the main verb at may play.

44. Application to a complex sentence(s): Correction
• Simple and Correct
Changes in microRNA expression play a role in cancer,
including glioma. Therefore, events that disrupt
microRNAs from binding to their target RNAs may also
promote cancer.

45. The Thrill of getting Accepted
Seeing your name in print is such an amazing concept:
you get so much attention without having to actually
show up somewhere… There are many obvious
advantages to this. You don’t have to dress up, for
instance, and you can’t hear them boo you straight away.
Anne Lamott

46. Much of the presented materials are based on
the writing tips given in British Medical Journal
and Nature