Twelve steps to clearer scientific writing

Providing information

1) Have you provided all the information that the reader needs to understand your
explanation or account?

2) Does the reader really need to have all the information you have given in order
to understand your explanation or argument? Are some things just a distraction?

3) Have you repeated information more than once? Do you have a good reason to
repeat? Do you think this could confuse the reader?

Organising information and ideas

4) Do some sentences contain two or more points or ideas? Do these things belong
together in the same sentence? Would it be better to use each new sentence to
introduce a distinct point or idea?

5) Are you sure about the exact meaning and function of the linking words you’ve
used? Do you really need to use a linking word in a particular place, or is the
connection already clear?

6) Could you help the reader by relating the new things you say to things you’ve
already said (maybe using “this” or “these” at/near the beginning of your
sentence)? Could you give focus to new or important information by putting it
towards the end of the sentence?

7) At the start of a new paragraph or section, have you reminded the reader how
the new sub-topic relates to the main topic of the report?

Choosing and using words and phrases

8) Have you used the precise scientific terms used by all scholars and repeated
them when necessary throughout the text? Have you been accurate and consistent
in your spelling and use of capital letters?

9) Have you used any words/phrases which are unusual? Is there a more typical
word/phrase you could use instead, one commonly used in lectures, and in the
books and articles you have read?

10) Are there any words/phrases that could be replaced with more simple ones, so
that the reader can focus on the complex scientific information and ideas?

11) Are there any words that don’t provide any extra information, or repeat what is
stated elsewhere? Could you cut words to make reading simpler (but without
affecting the meaning)?

12) Have you have used different words for the same thing? Are you sure the
reader will know they are the same thing? Do you need to repeat instead?

© Jane Bottomley, 2018