How can researchers effectively tailor their writing style and language to different audiences, such as peers, policymakers, or the general public?
The principles of clear writing are well established. My specific tips for research writing include
- Avoid acronyms unless they are well known (WHO, GP, AI).
- Use words that people can understand. So if you are measuring depression using the PSQ scale, name the scale in your methods section but subsequently refer to "depression scores" not "PSQ scores".
- Use simple sentence constructions.
- Put the main sentence first: Prior to enrolment, patients were interviewed by the first author. Should be Before they were enrolled, the first author interviewed the patients.
- Remember that your readers may not be familiar with the jargon of your speciality.
- Never use a big word when there is a small word. A wonderful technical editor once replaced "therefore" with "so" throughout a paper I had written. I had to agree that it was simpler and neater. (We then had a stimulating exchange of letters on style and punctuation.)
Above all, be curious when you read papers. Try to identify writing that is hard to follow and see if you can rephrase it better. And likewise, when you are reading a paper that is really making sense, see if you can identify features of the writing that are helping.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Biological Science
- Molecular Biology
- Molecular Methods
- Cloning