Short guide on academic writing style.

Transcription

1 Short guide on academic writing style. Audience. Not a teacher! Your reader has a background which is similar to yours before you started to work on this project. Title. Good title is usually short, straightforward and arouses interest! Use terms that your reader will easily recognize and do not use terms that are very specialized. Abbreviations apart from common ones (DNA, RNA, etc.) are not permitted. Comments on style: The following suggestions might help you during writing. 90% (or more!) of writing process is thinking! You manuscript should have a logical structure. Each sentence should follow from the previous one. Create a flow from the beginning to the end. Your language must be clear and grammatically correct. Consider using passive voice. Several genes were shown to be involved in the disease development. Do not start sentence with numerals/digits. Numbers are written as numerals when greater than ten or when they are associated with measurements (10 mm, but two possible explanations).

2 Divide you manuscript in paragraphs. Be sure that it is done in correct and logic way. Avoid using the first person, i.e. I, in writing. In academic writing the use of I is almost avoided since it interferes with the impression of objectivity and impersonality the academic stile pretend to follow. Original: I think that this paper provides strong arguments towards applicability of this method for Consider: This paper provides strong arguments towards applicability of this method for Be consistent in the use of tense. Preferably use past tense since you are describing what already happened. Make sure that pronouns such as "it" and "this" refer to something specific. Original: In the paper it suggests that mutations Consider: The paper suggests that mutations Avoid repetitions! Make your mind where particular statements should be placed and do not repeat them. The only way to write a good manuscript is to rewrite and edit your work. Scientific writing requires self-criticism. There are many ways to express the message you want to deliver. In almost all cases the shortest alternative is the best.

3 Referencing and bibliography style. Use Vancouver style (There are many descriptions of this style on the net; for example The hallmark of the scientific writing is that it refers to the previous work, statements and ideas of others. Within the text cite references by number: Smith et al. (et alii = and others, Latin) has shown that these genes are involved in the development of the disease (6) OR Smith and coworkers have shown that these genes are involved in the development of the disease (6) Previously it was shown that these genes are involved in the development of the disease (5, 6) Several groups have found that these genes are involved in the development of the disease (5-8). Remember that reference is valid only for one sentence! Usually you cannot end the paragraph with a reference and claim that this reference is valid for the whole section. If you want to use one and the same reference(s) for the whole paragraph you should add (reviewed in (Ref #) at the end of the paragraph. Breast cancer affects one in eight women during their lives and kills more women in the US than any other cancer (risk of dying it is about 4%). It is about 100 times more common in women than in men. Breast cancer originates from breast

4 tissue. Most breast cancers are epithelial tumors that develop from cells lining ducts or lobules; less common are nonepithelial cancers. Some breast cancers require the hormones estrogene and progesterone to grow. After surgery those cancers are treated with anti-hormone drugs (like tamoxifen), and with drugs that shut off the production of estrogen in the ovaries or elsewhere. Risks factors include i) age (the chance of getting breast cancer rises as a woman gets older); ii) family history and genetic factors (reviewed in (Ref#)). Be consistent, i. e. use the same format for all references! Plagiarism You must acknowledge and provide all sources of information used in the work. Any information above the common sense (fact, term, method, etc.) must be complemented by a reference to a source of information. You can use in some exceptional cases direct quotation from the text, but it must be explicitly marked and the source should be acknowledged. As authors stated themselves this provides a rationale and experimental basis for using the combination of metformin and chemotherapeutic drugs to improve treatment of patients with breast (and possibly other) cancers (Ref#). Tables and Figures. Tables and figures are very important components of a scientific paper and are used when they are the more efficient way to transmit information than verbal description. Thus do not repeat information presented in the figure/table in the text, but rather refer to them with some sort of final statement, if appropriate.

5 As indicated in Figure 1 Figure 1 shows that Of these genetic factors, only the HLA genes (See Table 1) were repeatedly confirmed to be associated with multiple sclerosis You should decide where your tables/figures should be placed. Table/Figure should be inserted as soon as possible in the text following the reference, preferably after the paragraph in which it was first mentioned. Do not put them at the end of the text! Please note, that Table title is always above the table and Figure legend is either below the figure or could be placed to the right in two- or three column arranged text. The sources of tables and figures must be provided. If you table/figure is taken directly from another source or is modified from another source, this fact should be acknowledged. Figure 1. Large sample sizes are required to detect genetic associations of small effects. Reproduced from (Ref#). OR Figure 1. Large sample sizes are required to detect genetic associations of small effects. Adapted from (Ref#).