Successful Scientific Writing: A Step-By-step Guide for the Biological and Medical Sciences [Paperback]

Janice R. Matthews (Author), John M. Bowen (Author), Robert W. Matthews (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2005 | ISBN-10: 0521789621 | ISBN-13: 978-0521789622 | Edition: 2

Successful Scientific Writing is a user-friendly book of detailed practical guidance which will enable students and researchers in the biological and medical sciences to communicate their work effectively through the published literature. This new edition of the acclaimed step-by-step guide encompasses all aspects of typescript preparation from first to final draft, including efficient use of word processing, electronic database literature services, the Internet and email. The authors provide sensible guidance on inclusive word choices and communication when writers and readers have different first languages. Abundant examples, practical advice and self-help exercises draw on extensive experience with actual typescripts. A detailed index and numerous references make information easy to find. Applicable to a variety of scientific writing contexts in the sciences, Successful Scientific Writing is a powerful tool for improving individual skills, as well as an eminently suitable text for classroom courses or seminars on scientific writing.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Successful Scientific Writing is an excellent book and is a necessity for every research department and scientific/medical library. It is a book that has something to offer everyone from undergraduates and graduates to scientists and teachers of scientific writing."
Maggie Meitzler, Entomological Society of America

Book Description

'This book is beyond reproach and should be regarded as compulsory reading for all biomedical science undergraduate and postgraduate students and all others likely to have to write or edit scientific reports.' Stuart B. Coghill, The Times Higher Education Supplement

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Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 2 edition (2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521789621
• ISBN-13: 978-0521789622
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #439,507 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Watch what you eat!, March 5, 2000

By 

Donald F. Smith (Aarhus, Denmark) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Successful Scientific Writing Full Canadian binding: A Step-by-Step Guide for the Biological and Medical Sciences (Paperback)

Words can hardly express the beauty and cleverness of "Successful Scientific Writing" by Matthews, Bowen and Matthews as a step-by-step guide on how to write scientific reports for publication in English. I am using this book for a course that I teach on scientific writing at the Postgraduate School of Health Sciences at Aarhus University in Denmark, and I find it to be perfect! Before this book was published, there was none that dealt so well and so entertainingly with so many aspects of what it actually takes to prepare a manuscript for publication in a scientific journal. Many young (and old) scientists are good thinkers, but they are often poor writers! Thus, although they may have been able to design and carry out an experiment, they often lack the ability to express what they have done clearly and concisely. This book is for them! The first few chapters provide mainly words of encouragement for getting the writing process underway. There are also remarkable bits of advice, such as the notion of avoiding certan snacks that could derail ones momentum. In my view, the crux of the book appears in chapters 5, 6 and 7 in which extraordinarily lucid and practical instructions and exercises are presented for improving one's ability to write scientifically. There are also tips on how to optimize word-processing so that the manuscript submitted to the editor of a journal is most likely to be accepted for publication. Perhaps some old-timers in Science can do without this book, but they should nevertheless have a copy of it on hand for their students.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Get For All Scientists!, December 9, 1998

By 

Steve M. Potter (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Successful Scientific Writing Full Canadian binding: A Step-by-Step Guide for the Biological and Medical Sciences (Paperback)

This is a funny, well-written, thorough, and authoritative book that goes through every step in the process of creating a journal article, including some topics unique to this process, like how to deal with multi-author editing, peer review, and lit searches. Lots of great advice about how to overcome writer's block. Although the book is written with biomedical science in mind, the advice on grammar, style, structure, and process management is useful to all technical writers. No scientist should be without it.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but could be better, July 7, 2003

By 

"lhiver" (Seoul, Korea (South)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Successful Scientific Writing: A Step-By-step Guide for the Biological and Medical Sciences (Paperback)

Our lab used this book for a study group on effective scientific writing. We are located in Korea, so with the exception of the instructor and I, all participants were not native speakers of English. As a result, this review is from the viewpoint of foreign students. It is based on chapter reviews written by the members of our lab after finishing the book.

The book is just what it claims to be, a step-by-step approach to writing a scientific manuscript intended for publication. The first chapter helpfully furnishes a checklist (Table 1.3) for preparing a research paper. The chapter is actually a summary of the rest of the book so a reader already in the process of writing can easily find which chapter they wish to skip to via Table 1.3.

In the subsequent chapters, the authors provide good advice accompanied by helpful tables, examples and exercises, although the figure chapter could have used more tips on actually preparing the figures. Examples of poorly prepared and corrected figures would be a useful study aid. One student suggested that the second chapter on computer use was not particularly informative for graduate-level students. Regarding the chapter on grammar (chapter 6), another student pointed out that in some scientific articles, ungrammatical sentences are not corrected in order to effectively deliver the point.

The overall use of informal expressions and phrases seemed intended to make the text livelier for English-speaking students, but was confusing for several participants with English as a second language. We would like to suggest that the authors take their own advice and refrain from using slang and jargon. Several of us liked Appendix 2 and thought it was a good read for those unfamiliar with the practice of journal editors.

Apparently the authors had intended to attract those who had not already submitted a manuscript to read their book, but Successful Scientific Writing contains many helpful pointers for published scientists and journal editors, as well.