Writing For Scientific, Technical & Business Publications – An Editor’s Perspective

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Ravi Raghavan
Editor
Chemical Weekly
Writing For Scientific, Technical & Business
Publications – An Editor’s Perspective

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Contents
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Why publish
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How are articles selected
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Before you start
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Writing the piece
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Intellectual property issues
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Writing styles
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How to hold reader attention
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Conclusions

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What you may be writing soon
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Theses, Project Reports and dissertations
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Journal articles
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Research grant proposals
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Letters of recommendation
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Employee reviews
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Internal reports
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Patent applications
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Conference papers
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Book chapters
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Award nominations……

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Why publish?
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Provides record of your work
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Connotes favourable assessment by others
Establishes contact with others with similar interests
Conveys knowhow; helps others
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Stimulates constructive discussions
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Makes timely information available to others
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Stimulates scientific/industrial progress
Articles become permanent record of your ideas and experience

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Why publish?
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Builds professional prestige
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Promotes personal satisfaction
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Better understanding of your own field
Provides valuable experience in self-expression and orderly
thinking
Earns money
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Factor in professional appointments, salary reviews, promotions,
tenure, membership of professional societies etc.
Modest honorariums! – but a great sense of accomplishment
Can be fun!

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How are articles selected?
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Reader interest determines article's value
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Solicited or otherwise
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Goal is not what editors, advertisers or authors want, but what
subscribers want.
Editorial calender
Special issues
Edited - for length, style & clarity
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In rare instances, rewritten

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Before you start
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Read journal to get sense of style
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Imitation of good style is great idea
Avoids rejections – subject may already have been adequately
written upon
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Ask for ‘Guidelines to Authors’
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Know your audience
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Research paper: Write for the intelligent graduate student; not a
professor
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Inter-disciplinary work: Don’t take for granted – explain
everything
Technical journals: Average reader; non-specialists

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Before you start
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Decide on length: Series or single long article
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Journals may (or may not) have limitations
One piece always preferred
“Long enough to cover the essentials, but short enough to be
interesting”
Shorter is always better, but not necessarily easier
"I'm sorry this letter is so long, but I didn't have time to write a shorter
one”: Abe Lincoln to a friend
Settle authorship carefully
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Multi-author publications on the rise
Collaborations across institutes, countries and cultures
‘My work’ vs ‘our work’
Ethical issue: costs scientists jobs & reputation
Legal issue: costs (usually publishers) money to resolve

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Before your start
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Conduct thorough literature search
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Helps form cogent, well-thought out paper
Absolute must for review articles to ensure state-of-art
Avoids nasty surprises – your ‘seminal’ work may have already
been reported!
Check submission formats [web site, instruction manuals]
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Electronic – Text, Tables, Figures, Charts
Paper – many are detailed
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E.g. Type Roman 12, double spaced, one side
E.g. Equations, Figures, tables, photographs at end

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Writing the piece
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Prepare an outline
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Prepare rough draft
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Promotes logical presentation and clarity
Sending outline to editor before starting manuscript – option worth exploring
Research papers - Figures, data tables come first and guide text
Seek inputs: colleagues, co-authors, research guide
Wiki’s and other web innovations increasingly used for collaborative work
Review, reflect and revisit
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Editors are human – form harsh judgments on seeing small errors
n Mistyping a number can cast doubt on rest of the results
Edit for language, inaccuracies, inconsistencies
n Use spell checks, grammar checks – but no substitute to old-fashioned ‘proof
reading’ with pen on paper
Allow time for revisions – “typical number is 23”

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Writing the piece: Broad structure
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Introduction
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Main body
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Conclusions

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Writing the piece: Introduction
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Purpose is to prepare the reader to enter the world of your paper
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Some ways to do this
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Places the ensuing discussion in the context that the reader can understand
Connection between the familiar world of the reader and the less familiar
world of the writer's subject
Statement of a thesis [e.g. Computers are a mixed blessing]
Question [Are gender roles learned or inherited?]
In any case
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State the problem to be solved.
Tell the reader how the paper is organized.
Many productively bypass the introduction and return only after completing
the main body of work

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Writing the piece: Main body
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Include enough detail so reader can understand what you did
and how you did it [e.g. equipment, chemicals]
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Replicability is the essence of modern science ….
…. But more and more are failing on this count [50% in some
biological sciences]
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Include a brief section covering notation, background
information & key assumptions
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Include sections on theoretical and experimental methods, as
required
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Plan the results section to achieve the most effective mix of
text, figures and tables

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Writing the piece: Concluding
paragraphs
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Introduction in reverse
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Simplest conclusion is an “expanded summary”
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Explain how the theoretical and experimental results relate to
the original problem.
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State why these results are important.
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If required, discuss implications for future study and ways in
which subject can be further explored
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One way to conclude is to discuss the larger significance of
what you have written

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Intellectual property issues
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Respect copyright
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Put all text citations in ‘Literature cited’ at end
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Obtain permissions when quoting
Quoting vs. copying – the difference is a legal notice to the
publisher!
Accuracy in quoting – resist temptation to put words into someone
else’s mouth
Mandatory for research papers; review articles
Basic courtesy for technical articles
Clear submission with organisation – University, company
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Conflict with patenting policy [patent or publish]

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Writing style
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‘Bad English’ has become lingua franca of modern science
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Seek help with grammar and language
Consult unabridged dictionaries for punctuation tips and
guidelines
Stick to short works and mostly short sentences; punctuation
nearly always will fall into place
Write to express, not to impress
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Use straight forward, plain English
Don't try create a literary gem; reader isn't interested in your
vocabulary size

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Writing style
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Use common, everyday terms, instead of highly technical ones
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Strip manuscript of wordiness & padding
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If a sentence reads well without a word – drop it!
Long heavy text bores
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Tables, figures, bullets enliven
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Talk to those with experience in writing
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Avoid religious, ethnic, or political references; personal attacks;
excessive claims about the value of your work; and criticism of
the work of other people
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Use the active voice

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Writing style: Active & passive
voice
Active
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I procured a triangular glass
prism, to try therewith the
celebrated phenomena of
colors. And for that purpose,
having darkened my laboratory,
and made a small hole in my
window shade, to let in a
convenient quantity of the sun's
light, I placed my prism at the
entrance, that the light might be
thereby refracted to the
opposite wall. It was at first a
very pleasing diversion to view
the vivid and intense colors
produced thereby.
Passive
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For the purpose of investigating the
celebrated phenomena of chromatic
refrangibility, a triangular glass prism
was procured. After darkening the
laboratory and making a small aperture
in an otherwise opaque window
covering in order to ensure that the
optimum quantity of visible
electromagnetic radiation (VER) would
be admitted from solar sources, the
prism was placed in front of the
aperture for the purpose of reflecting
the VER to the wall on the opposite side
of the room. It was found initially that
due to the vivid and intense colors
which were produced by this
experimental apparatus, the overall
effect was aesthetically satisfactory
when viewed by the eye.

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How to hold reader attention
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Readers can be rid of you by flipping a page
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Unlike audiences at meetings who are pinned to their seats by
good manners.
Think of articles as an upside-down pyramid
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The most significant information is on top
Less relevant information trails off until article ends
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Close with a quick, crisp summary of major points
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How to hold reader attention
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Suggest suitable title to editor
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Open with a ‘lead’ that will grab attention
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Answer: Who ? What ? When ? Why? Where? How?
Summarize benefits and key points
Stress value to reader
n Examples: Reduced costs, better design, solving a problem,
safer, more profitable etc.

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Must read: The Economist Style Guide
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Published by the Economist, renowned for clarity, style & precision of its
writing
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Based on in-house style manual
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Gives general advice on writing, points out common errors and clichés,
offers guidance on punctuation, abbreviations, capital letters, with
exhaustive reference material.
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Part 1: Style book, which acts as a position paper of sorts in favor of clear,
concise, correct usage.
Part 2: Describes many spelling, grammar & usage differences between British
and American English.
Part 3 :Offers a handy reference to information as common business
abbreviations, accountancy ratios, currencies, laws, measures, and stockmarket indices.
Over 400,000 sold to date internationally

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Conclusions
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Writing is not just for English majors
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Written communication accounts for much of everybody’s
job, not just researchers
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Strong writing [communicating] skills are essential for
professional progress
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If you can’t communicate your work, it does no good to
anyone!
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Good writing is hard work, but the good news is that it can be
learnt!