Clinical and scientific researchers are being called to write scientific documents of different sorts from communications (for meetings and conferences) to manuscripts for submission to peer review journals.
As referred to in a previous article (Authorship, medical writing, and ghost writing: who is who?), the writing process is demanding and, sometimes, complex. Furthermore, the competitiveness of the field makes this activity wearing and demotivating.
However, the quality of a scientific document can be improved by simple strategies that can increase positive opinions from peers.
If, at this point, you have not decided to hire a professional medical writer and went for a self-learning training pathway, this article can help you to approach your texts with a more supported critical attitude and to perform structural changes with high impact on the overall quality of the text.
Before starting and considering that most of your documents will be written in English, I recommend that you acquire a good advanced English grammar that will be your main ally while dealing with doubts and will also be a tool for continuous training.
- Define your main message and audience
This strategy is mandatory if you intend to communicate a clear and objective message to a specific target audience, as in scientific documents.
Regarding the message to communicate, you can divide it into a main message and a couple of secondary messages. The main message works as the compass of the document and shall be kept in mind during the whole writing process. A good strategy is to write a clear and objective sentence, which reflects the main message, in a post-it to promote its frequent reading. With this, you will never be too distant from the idea you wish to communicate. Secondary messages can be inserted with less emphasis in specific sections of the text (results, discussion, or conclusions).
If defining your message is important to define which part of the results shall be highlighted, defining your target audience is essential to define the writing style. The whole document shall be structured and written considering the specific characteristics of the readers and all the details shall be adapted to guarantee that main and secondary messages reach them clearly and objectively. Figures, tables, flowcharts, and lists shall be previously defined and adapted to guarantee communication with the target audience. I recommend a previous investigation of the target audience including parameters like professional activity, academic profile, age, and other specific characteristics that can influence the communication style.
- Cut the unnecessary
Considering that scientific communication must be clear and objective, without margin for multiple interpretations, it is mandatory to keep the texts free from deadweight sentences and expressions. Adverbs are a good example of words that are explored to “enrich” and extend sentences without increasing significant information. On the contrary, sometimes this kind of words increases the subjectivity of the sentence. In general, the sentences of a scientific text must be simple and direct avoiding jargon and other linguistic artifacts.
In this simplification process, it is also important to pay attention to the structure of the document. An outline, in which the text is divided into sections, is quite useful and effective. This strategy returns easy-to-read and search texts.
In terms of effective writing, in an initial phase, the process can be free to guarantee that all the information is included. You can use your outline to include in each section all the information that seems important, at this point. In the next phase, you will have to revise the obtained document aiming to warrant that the defined messages are clear, that the sentences are simple and readable, and that all the deadweight expressions/words are removed. Even though this can be a “painful” process, it is one of the most important phases for the creation of accurate, clear, and objective texts.
- Apply the parallelism rule in sentences and lists
One of the most common incongruencies in scientific texts is the lack of parallelism in complex clauses (connected by the conjunctions “and”, “or” or “but”) and in bullet lists.
The parallelism rule says that the grammatical structure of sequential clauses must be similar, meaning that each item must match the tense of the introductory sentence or clause. The following sentence is an example of a lack of parallelism.
“Our objective was to increase efficacy and improving safety.”
In this sentence, the verbs of the two clauses are not in the same tense, breaking the reading flow.
In the case of bullet lists, it is recommended that all the topics follow a similar grammatical structure, as in the following case:
Subjects will be excluded from the study if they:
- Are older than 45 years of age
- Have type 2 diabetes
- Weigh more than 90 Kg
- Show signs of metabolic syndrome.
In this list, all topics start with the verb in the same tense and follow a similar structure, providing conditions for continuous reading and enhanced comprehension of the contents.
By the end of the writing process, it may be profitable to ask a target-audience person to read the text with the intention of validating the effective communication of the main messages. It is also recommended to collect the opinion of a medical writer to detect grammatical and structural flaws. If these possibilities are not viable, the best option is to return to the text a couple of days after finishing the writing. This will increase the possibility of detecting flaws and unlocking difficult sections or sentences.
Scientific text will only benefit from increased simplicity, without neglecting scientific accuracy. As such, keep it simple!
If you find this topic relevant and wish to broaden its discussion, please leave your comments below or contact me.
Take care!
Paula
