Scientific Words, Sentences, and Paragraphs

Abstract

In science, your goal is to write a paper that is easy to understand. The art of scientific writing is not in the subtle underlying message conveyed by your prose. Instead, scientific prose is judged by how well it defines the details of the observations that you have made. In a short story, the reader might marvel at the “sensual writing, with hints of the mysteries of space and time.” In a scientific paper, however, your prose style should disappear, and the reader should marvel at the realistic, explicit, and cleanly etched picture that you have painted.Scientific papers have a stereotyped format so that there are no distractions from their contents. Likewise, scientific prose should be formulaic and plain. Here, the medium is not the message, the message is the message. Therefore, when you write a research paper, make your message precise and keep the medium unobtrusive.