A Short Guide to Writing About Biology, Fifth Edition [Paperback]

Jan A. Pechenik (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 31, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0321159810 | ISBN-13: 978-0321159816 | Edition: 5th

This best–selling writing guide teaches readers to think as biologists and to express that thinking clearly and concisely through their writing. Emphasizing writing as a means to examining, evaluating, sharing and refining ideas, this text teaches individuals to communicate information accurately, logically, concisely and unambiguously. Comprehensive coverage of how to read and evaluate articles, interpret and describe the results of statistical tests, maintain laboratory and field notebooks, and communicate information concisely and convincingly to professional and general audiences, this book is a “must have” for any biology student. Individuals who want to pursue a career in the biological sciences.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

This best–selling writing guide teaches readers to think as biologists and to express that thinking clearly and concisely through their writing. Emphasizing writing as a means to examining, evaluating, sharing and refining ideas, this text teaches individuals to communicate information accurately, logically, concisely and unambiguously. Comprehensive coverage of how to read and evaluate articles, interpret and describe the results of statistical tests, maintain laboratory and field notebooks, and communicate information concisely and convincingly to professional and general audiences, this book is a “must have” for any biology student. Individuals who want to pursue a career in the biological sciences.

About the Author

Jan A. Pechenik is Professor of Biology at Tufts University, where he has been teaching and doing research since 1978. He obtained his B.A. in Zoology from Duke University and his Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island. To date he has published more than a hundred papers on the development and metamorphosis of marine invertebrate animals, including snails, blue mussels, crabs, barnacles, polychaetes, bryozoans, and parasitic flatworms. Professor Pechenik has also published a successful textbook on invertebrate biology, currently in its 3rd edition, and chairs the Division of Invertebrate Zoology within the Society for Comparative and Integrative Biology (formerly the American Society of Zoologists). Committed to teaching as well as research, his highly praised book on this subject, AShort Guide to Writing About Biology, will publish in its eighth edition in January 2012.

Product Details

• Paperback: 302 pages
• Publisher: Longman; 5th edition (July 31, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321159810
• ISBN-13: 978-0321159816
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #910,996 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential for all students., February 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Short Guide to Writing About Biology (The Short Guide Series) (Paperback)

As a university professor teaching budding biologists, I've found this book to be excellent. As the other reviewer said, I wished I had this book when I was a student. I, too, had to learn things the long and hard way. Pechinik has done a great service to science students. Let's hope we see more good writing out of this next generation of young scientists.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must-Have for science lab reports, September 1, 2008

By 

snactres - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Short Guide to Writing About Biology (Short Guides Series) (Paperback)

I never buy anything unnecessary for my classes, it just creates unneeded clutter and stress for me. This book, however, takes the stress out of writing lab reports. It's on the pricey side, but it pays for itself. Even when I get stuck on writing a part of a report, I go back to this book and I find what I was doing wrong and/or how to go on. You can go through the different sections in the book to find something or you can refer to its very handy index at the back.

Jan Pechenik even gives examples for every part of your report (e.g., she lets you see what an introduction looks like, what a bibliography looks like, etc.). This book is for the neophytes, giving them the basics and also for the professional scientist, telling them how to format their papers for peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Ever since I've had this (I have the 5th edition, but I lost it, so I'm going to order this 6th edition...can't live without it!), it's really hard to get a bad grade on a lab report. I used to have problems with writing captions for my tables and figures, but now they actually are articulate without having my rambling tone embedded in there.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book for writing lab reports in college., March 5, 2007

By 

J. Greene (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Short Guide to Writing About Biology (Short Guides Series) (Paperback)

Every time I have to do a lab report, I use this book. No exceptions. Although I cannot comment on the other aspects of the book in (check out the "Look Inside!" Table of Contents), its guidance for writing lab reports is helpful to the utmost. Before this book, I made in the high 80s on my lab reports; now it is rare that I go below a 95. The book is full of what to do and, more importantly, what not to do. For example, never give purpose to evolution (I am paraphrasing, of course). Birds did not evolve flight to escape predators or to travel long distance; they evolved flight because a series of random DNA mutations turned forelimbs into wings, and that increased their survival rate. That is just one of numerous examples, and, best of all, all of the examples given are extremely relevant to college students because the material comes from college-level lab reports. Still, all of my biology professors have this book, in one edition or anther, on their shelves. This review refers to the 5th edition.