(Noura Mohamed, pharmacy education committee member).
Sometimes we see some comments like "It's a well written article" or "this article follows scientific writing strategies" so what are the steps to have a well written research or article.
To achieve that you need to know what is scientific writing?
Scientific writing is not just to write about science, it is the technical writing that scientists do to deliver their research to the others.
It can be defined as technique rather than creative art [1].
Language is the starting and the ending point of science as Antoine Laurent Lavoisier wrote:
"it's impossible to dissociate language from science as every natural science always involves three things; sequence of phenomena on which science is based, abstract concepts which call these phenomena to mind and words on which the concepts are expressed and to portray a phenomenon, a concept is needed. All three mirror one and the same reality" [2].
Writing style is the way by which concepts and phenomena are turned into language, so for effective scientific writing, there are three bases to focus on; thought, structure and style.
Thought is the idea that you gained and the search results that you need to publish.
Structure is to have the right thoughts and ideas in their right positions.
Style can be defined as selecting the most suitable words considering rules of grammar as Jonathan Swift wrote: " Proper words in proper places, make the true definition of a style." [1,2].
Basic tips for scientific writing:
Sentences should be in a logical order to help the reader follow your argument and reach your conclusion.
Whether you are writing a literature review, report or an essay you should present a logical order of facts and arguments to the reader.
Writing becomes readable however long it is, when the author use subheadings.
Write simply without grammatical errors.
Each paragraph should be able to stand on its own and be cohesive to all paragraphs [3].
References:
1- http://www.foldtan.ro/files/Scientific_writing.pdf
2- http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/v3p004y1977-78.pdf
3- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323750052_Scientific_Writing
