Preface |
An Introduction to Writing in the Life Sciences |
Intended Audiences |
The Culture of Science and Scientific Communication |
Our Approaches to Successful Scientific Writing |
A Critical Thinking Approach |
A Process-based Approach |
A Problem Solving Approach |
A Goal-directed Approach |
An Audience-centered Approach |
A Discipline-specific and Content-rich Approach |
Defining Your Writing Project / Chapter 1: |
Chapter Introduction |
About the Process |
Analyzing Your Writing Task |
Attending to Instructions, Guidelines, and Evaluation Criteria |
Seeking Clarification of Problematic Assignments and Directions |
Selecting a Topic and Refining a Research Issue |
Brainstorm topics that inspire your interest and enthusiasm |
Ask knowledgeable experts for advice on hot research issues |
Learn about hot research issues from the scientific literature |
Learn about hot research issues on the Internet |
Use your task analysis to refine your research issue |
Add a novel twist to your selected research issue Check ahead for the availability of scientific literature on selected research issues |
Make sure that you have sufficient time and resources to learn the science on your research issue |
Learning about Scientific Discourse Conventions |
Research Papers |
Review Papers |
Research Proposals |
Analyzing Your Audiences |
Key Questions for Audience Analysis |
Taking Notes on Your Audience Analysis |
Searching for Scientific Literature |
Evaluating the Credibility of Published Scientific Literature |
Searching for Peer-reviewed Journal Articles: Research Papers and Review Papers |
Searching for Scientific Books |
Searching for Scientific Literature on Web Sites |
Reading to Learn Science |
Solving Comprehension Problems |
Reading and Taking Notes on Published Research Papers |
Summing Up and Stepping Ahead |
Developing a Goal-based Plan / Chapter 2: |
Setting the Framework for Your Goal-based Plan |
Distinguishing between Just-Okay Goals and Powerful Rhetorical Goals |
Devising Strategies for Accomplishing Rhetorical Goals |
The Structure of a Goal-based Plan |
Taking Goal-based Planning to Heart |
Relying Your Experience in Scientific Writing |
Adopting and Adapting Conventional Guidelines |
Using Model Papers |
Applying Your Task and Audience Analyses |
Using the Helicopter Thinking Method |
Starting to Draft |
Revising Your Goal-based Plan |
Check for whether your rhetorical goals are appropriate for the major sections in which you have placed them |
Check your rhetorical goals for their content-generating potential |
Check your rhetorical goals for their audience-affecting potential |
Check your strategies for their detail and depth |
Check your strategies for whether they are logically related to their rhetorical goals Summing Up and Stepping Ahead |
Generating Content / Chapter 3: |
Solo and Collaborative Brainstorming |
Solo Brainstorming |
Collaborative Brainstorming |
Reading for Relevance |
Interpreting Study Data |
Interpreting the Statistical Significance of Study Data |
Interpreting the Practical Significance of Study Data |
Synthesizing Study Outcomes |
Focusing on Rhetorical Goals that Require Synthesis |
Creating a Summary Chart to Guide Synthesis |
Synthesizing Studies with Similar Conclusions |
Synthesizing Studies with Contrasting Conclusions |
Constructing Convincing Scientific Arguments |
Setting up the Structure of a Scientific Argument |
Evaluating Published Scientific Arguments |
Evaluating Research Methods |
Summing up and Stepping Ahead |
Organizing Content and Writing a Draft / Chapter 4: |
About the Process: Organizing Content |
Choosing a Design for Your Organizing Plan |
Taking a Principled Approach to Organizing Content |
Organizing Your Paper's Major Sections |
Organizing Your Paper's Subsections |
Deciding Which Parts of Your Plan to Emphasize |
About the Process: Writing a Draft: |
Drafting Titles |
Drafting Abstracts |
Drafting Section Headings |
Drafting Paragraphs |
Drafting Sentences |
Drafting Graphics |
Citing References |
Avoiding Plagiarism |
Revising Document Design, Global Structure, and Content / Chapter 5: |
About the Process: Revising for Matters of Document Design |
About the Process: Revising for Matters of Global Structure |
Disordered Sections |
Weak Global Unity |
Mismatched Organizing Themes |
Redundancy of Content across Sections |
About the Process: Revising for Matters of Content |
Missing Content |
Ambiguous Content |
Inaccurate Content |
Content that Misses the Target on Key Rhetorical Goals |
Content that Fails to Adequately Address Concerns of Audience |
Saying Too Little or Too Much |
Logical Fallacies in Scientific Arguments |
Revising Graphics |
Excelling at Collegial Peer Review |
Apply key methods of independent revision to guide your peer review |
Take a goal-directed approach to generating feedback |
Make it constructive criticism |
Take on the role of writing teacher |
Encourage dialogue |
Avoid giving feedback based on personal preferences and pet peeves |
Revising Paragraphs / Chapter 6: |
Revising for Unity |
Fractured Unity |
Faded Unity |
Frazzled Unity |
Revising Topic Sentences |
Missing Topic Sentences (when they're needed) |
Misplaced Topic Sentences |
Topic Sentences as Broken Promises |
Vague Topic Sentences |
Topic Sentences that are Too Specific |
Revising for Coherence |
Disordered Ideas |
Missing Knowledge Links (when they're needed) |
Oversights of Readers' Expectations |
Lack of Parallel Structure (when it's needed) |
Revising for Cohesion |
Missing Cohesion Cues |
Misplaced Cohesion Cues |
Unnecessary Cohesion Cues |
Revising for Sentence Variety |
Lack of Variety in Sentence Length |
Lack of Variety in Sentence Beginnings |
Lack of Variety in Grammatical Structure |
Lack of Variety in Tone |
Revising for Paragraph Design |
Revising Sentences / Chapter 7: |
Revising for Logic and Clarity |
Illogical Expressions and Comparisons |
Anthropomorphism |
Dangling Modifiers |
Vagueness |
Unclear Pronoun Reference |
Illogical Tense Shifts |
Problematic Shifts in Point of View |
Misplaced and Awkward Phrasing |
Inappropriate Emphasis |
Revising for Style and Structure |
Weak Subjects and Verbs |
Misuses of Active Voice and Passive Voice |
Wordiness |
Unnecessary Jargon |
Excessive Separation of Subjects and Verbs |
Long Noun Trains |
Lack of Parallel Structure |
Revising Basic Grammar Errors |
Sentence Fragments |
Subject-Verb Disagreement |
Noun-Pronoun Disagreement |
Revising for Word Choice |
Affect, Effect |
As, Because, Since |
Amount, Number |
Compose, Comprise |
Gender, Sex |
Less, Few, Fewer, |
Study, Experiment |
That, Which |
Than, Then |
Who, Whom |
Revising Punctuation and Mechanics |
Problems Involving Commas |
Problems Involving Semicolons |
Problems Involving Apostrophes |
Problems Involving Colons |
Problems Involving Hyphens |
Problems Involving Quotation Marks |
Problems Involving Capitalization |
Revising for Biased and Inadvertently Offensive Language |
Sexist Language |
Age-Biased Language |
Biased Language Involving Ethnic and Racial Groups |
Rhetorical Goals for Scientific Papers / Chapter 8: |
Rhetorical Goals for Introduction Sections |
Present your research issue and explain its unresolved status. / Rhetorical Goal 1: |
Convince readers that your research issue is truly important and therefore worth resolving. / Rhetorical Goal 2: |
State your hypotheses and explain their rationale. / Rhetorical Goal 3: |
Introduce the novel and unique features of your research and writing project. / Rhetorical Goal 4: |
Present the specific purposes of your research and writing project. / Rhetorical Goal 5: |
Present your claims. / Rhetorical Goal 6: |
Describe the methods that you used, or plan to use, in carrying out your study. / Rhetorical Goal 7: |
Justify your use of selected methods. Rhetorical Goals for Results Sections / Rhetorical Goal 8: |
Present the results that are essential for reaching and supporting your conclusions. / Rhetorical Goal 9: |
Rhetorical Goals for Discussion Sections |
Briefly reintroduce the defining features of your study. / Rhetorical Goal 10: |
State your conclusions and support them with your study's results. / Rhetorical Goal 11: |
Relate your study's outcomes to those from previous studies on your research issue. / Rhetorical Goal 12: |
Discuss the mechanisms that underlie your study's main results, and argue for the most plausible underlying mechanisms (when such an argument is warranted). / Rhetorical Goal 13: |
Acknowledge significant methodological shortcomings to your study, and explain how they may have influenced its outcomes. / Rhetorical Goal 14: |
Discuss the practical implications and applications of your study's results. / Rhetorical Goal 15: |
Propose future studies on your research issue. / Rhetorical Goal 16: |
Rhetorical Goals for the Body of Review Papers |
Provide essential background knowledge about the studies, critical evaluations, and arguments that are central to your review paper. / Rhetorical Goal 17: |
Summarize the published studies on your topic or research issue. / Rhetorical Goal 18: |
Synthesize the published studies on your topic or research issue. / Rhetorical Goal 19: |
Explain and argue for the mechanisms underlying the results of the published studies you are reviewing. / Rhetorical Goal 20: |
Convince readers to accept your original arguments. / Rhetorical Goal 21: |
Rhetorical Goals for the Conclusion Section of Review Papers |
Briefly reiterate the key information, ideas, and arguments that were central to the body of your review paper. / Rhetorical Goal 22: |
Suggest future directions and new studies on your paper's topic or research issue. / Rhetorical Goal 23: |
Guidelines for Preparing and Delivering Oral Presentations and Poster Presentations / Appendix A: |
Glossary of Sentence Grammar Terms / Appendix B: |
References |
Index |
Preface |
An Introduction to Writing in the Life Sciences |
Intended Audiences |