Carolyn Brimley Norris, Ph.D.
Language Services
University of Helsinki
2012
Academic Writing in English
1
This book began to emerge in 1985, based on the wisdom of my original guru in Finland,
Jean Margaret Perttunen (1916—). Peggy’s book, The Words Between, during decades in which
she offered me specific advice, taught me about Finnish scientists’ problems in writing in English.
A more recent guru is Björn Gustavii, MD, PhD, of Lund, Sweden. His first book, How to Write
and Illustrate a Scientific Paper, plus our frequent emails and his manuscripts for a forthcoming
guide to compilation theses have been so valuable that I cite him here very often.
My colleague Stephen Stalter keeps a sharp eye on my course books and understands my
cranky computer. Mari Storpellinen aided me with index-building and visuals. I welcome all
suggestions from University Language Services teachers and author-editors and from
my students and clients.
The European Association of Science Editors (EASE) since 1997 has let me sit at the feet of
major international journal editors in order to import their advice to Finland. EASE publishes in
European Science Editing short pieces based on our classroom “action research.” Course
participants in the University of Helsinki medical faculty thus benefit from EASE and repay with
their views and innovations.
To all, I offer many years’ worth of gratitude.
Carol Norris, 2012
2
Table of Contents
Advice for modern academic writing..............................................................................................3
General advice for non-native writers……………………………………………………. 3
Basic Methodology I: Process writing ............................................................................................4
Basic Methodology II: Passive vs. active voice ............................................................................10
Basic Methodology III: The end-focus technique...........................................................................12
Article sections: overview, content, order of creation.....................................................................16
The article abstract...........................................................................................................................18
Titles & authors ...............................................................................................................................21
Tables and figures and their titles & legends ..................................................................................23
Recipe for an introduction...............................................................................................................26
Methods ..........................................................................................................................................27
Results..............................................................................................................................................29
Recipe for a discussion....................................................................................................................30
Reference list ...................................................................................................................................31
PhD thesis/dissertations...................................................................................................................32
Acknowledgements .........................................................................................................................35
Case reports .....................................................................................................................................39
Tense-choice ...................................................................................................................................40
Citations and layout.........................................................................................................................41
Verbs for academic scientific writing..............................................................................................43
Formality levels...............................................................................................................................45
Words confused and misused..........................................................................................................46
A sample of preposition problems...................................................................................................49
Participle problems..........................................................................................................................50
A sample of article-use guidelines...................................................................................................51
Chief uses of the comma .................................................................................................................52
Punctuation terms............................................................................................................................53
Exercise in punctuation ...................................................................................................................54
Punctuation: the only logical system in English..............................................................................55
Handling numerals, numbers, and other small items ......................................................................59
Take-home messages.......................................................................................................................63
Sample professional cover letter......................................................................................................64
Second-submission cover letter.......................................................................................................66
Layout and lines for formal letters...................................................................................................66
Email suggestions............................................................................................................................68
Handling reviewers/referees and editors .........................................................................................69
Plagiarism........................................................................................................................................72
Impact factors ..................................................................................................................................74
Valuable resources............................................................................................................... 75
Appendices:
I. Find 70 problems .................................................................................................76
II. Introduction exercise..........................................................................................77
III. Editing exercise...................................................................................................78
IV. Methods editing…………………………………………………..…….... ......79
V. Proofreading exercise..........................................................................................80
V. Table exercise......................................................................................................81
Index .................................................................................................................................. 82
3
Advice for Modern Academic Writing
In some fields, young scholars may imitate the often out-dated style of their professors or of journal
articles published many years ago. Nowadays, style is evolving, because of widening democracy
and internationalization, and also increased printing costs.
The KISS Rule is “Keep it Short and Simple,” and less politely: “Keep it Simple, Stupid!”
At a conference of the Association of European Science Editors (EASE), the editor of the British
Medical Journal demanded:
He also wanted articles to be as short as possible. Rather than “Count every word,” we should
“make every word count.” Remove every useless or extra word.
Teacher-editor-author Ed Hull wants “reader-friendly” scientific writing. To achieve this, he says,
authors must realize that they are no longer in school; teachers demand performances greatly
different from texts meant to inform busy readers wanting “nuggets” of precious information.
Similarly, in the EASE Bulletin European Science Editing (1998, 24, 1; 7-9), Frances Luttikhuizen
had criticized “exaggerated use of the passive voice and Latin-based words … [that] belongs to the
formal style of the 17th century. It weakens scientific writing. The active voice is much more
forceful than the passive . . . . For linguistic as well as cultural reasons, scientists who have English
as a second language . . . tend to feel more comfortable writing in a more formal style.” Her ageless
advice continues, “Readers of scientific papers do not read them to assess them, they read
them to learn from them . . . . What is needed is more simplicity, not more sophistication!”
Aim “to inform, not to impress.” (Emphasis added.)
General Advice for Non-Native Writers
Never translate. Of course you can use your own language to take notes and write outlines. But
word-for-word translation into English means that anyone’s mother tongue causes interference.
This will damage the grammar of your English and your vocabulary, punctuation, and everything
else. Some Finns can rapidly write letters and stories in correct, charming English, but when they
write a text first in Finnish and then translate it, the result will be awkward, unclear, and full of
errors.
Accept total responsibility for being clear. If an intelligent reader has to re-read any sentence to
understand it, the Anglo-American attitude is not to blame the reader, but to blame the writer. This
may contrast with the direction of blame in your own culture, but think: Who has the time to reread
sentences? Bad idea!
The worst sin is ambiguity. Being ambiguous means accidentally expressing more than one
meaning at one time, as in: “Women like chocolate more than men.” Does this mean that, given
the choice between a nice Fazer chocolate bar and a man, a woman will prefer the chocolate? Or do
you mean that “Women like chocolate more than men do”? Let’s hope, for the survival of
humanity, that it’s the latter!
clarity
readability
non-ambiguity
4
Careful editing will shorten your texts, making them more publishable. One writer wisely said,
“If I had had more time, I would have written you a shorter letter.”
Trust your ear. English grammar rules are many, with multiple exceptions. At your language
level, in this country, depend instead on what you have heard in English, idioms especially.
Your ear will tell you when an odd-looking phrase sounds right. My long experience shows that
Finns’ TV- and travel-trained ears are trustworthy. Read all your written texts aloud to yourself.
English is not logical. The most logical choice of words is often not what a native speaker
would say. (Which is logical: “hang up,” “ring off,” or “close the phone?” How about “For the
20 last years” versus “for the last 20 years”?) In English, the most nearly logical system is
punctuation, but even punctuation differs considerably from Finnish punctuation.
Finno-ugric versus Anglo-American Style
Finns, from a homogeneous, well-educated society, may tend to view their readers as informed
colleagues who will work hard to understand a text. Good Anglo-American writers may seem to
be “packaging” or even “marketing” their texts; they are actually trying to write so clearly that a
busy, tired, easily bored reader can absorb their full meaning in only one rapid reading.
The Anglo-American writer leads the reader by the hand, but the Finnish writer often expects
readers to find their own way. In Finland, be Finnish. But Finns wishing to publish in English in
journals with Anglo-American editors and reviewers must use a reader-helpful style.
For instance, make the strategy of your text clear, not implicit. Present important points first,
rather than gradually “sneaking up on them.” Let your readers know immediately what is going on.
Note: This book benefits from a collection of essays gathered by Professor George M. Hall
entitled How to Write a Paper, 2nd
edition, 1998 (British Medical Journal publishing
group). Hall and his other expert contributors will be cited as appearing in “Hall 1998.”
Basic Methodology I: Process Writing
Write the first draft
Never translate whole sentences from your mother tongue.
Avoid trying yet to organize your items. Rather, get your ideas out in front of you first.
Pour out your thoughts in English, in the language of speech.
Write in many short, simple sentences.
Refer immediately to the main items involved; use signposts.
Write “long”: Produce a 1,000-word text that will end as 600 words.
Allow yourself to use the passive voice (see section on passives) whenever comfortable.
Let yourself use the spoken forms “there is / are / was / were.”
Use simple verbs such as “to be / have / get / see / find out.”
5
Refer immediately and clearly to all the main items involved, ones that are your key words.
When referring to previously mentioned items with “this / these / such,” offer more than just the
pronoun:
Ambiguous Specific
becomes
You can often save words by adding data: “This extremely effective model / program.”
Make the text talk about the text itself.
English loves signposts, or connectives, because they tell readers how to receive new information.
Use not only “First … second … third . . . ,” but other types of signposts:
“On the other hand . . . .” “Considering this from another angle . . . .”
“Similar to the last point is . . . .”
Edit to avoid series of short—and thus choppy—sentences:
Link some and embed others within their neighbors.
Elegant (linked and embedded)
Short and choppy
Use the shortest sentences for the strongest statements. (“Every mouse died.”)
Cut out every extra word that performs no task.
becomes
Avoid repeating facts. Although planned repetition of words helps linkage, you should avoid
synonym-use. Make yourself clear by choosing one term . Do not indulge in overuse of a
synonym dictionary (thesaurus). For instance, “Method / methodology / procedure /
system” must never mean the same thing. We will assume that they mean four different things.
X costs a lot. You can’t get
it there often.
X is expensive and is seldom available there.
or do you mean: Because X is expensive,
it is seldom available there.
Situation Result = end-focus
X, being expensive there, is seldom available.
or:
There is / are X.
X exists.
X occurs.
X appears.
X arises.
X emerges.
Note: All
are Active
Voice
This …
These …
It …
This model …
These patterns …
Such a program …
6
One paper described many identical infants with these six labels: “neonates / newborns / infants /
babies / patients / subjects.” Instead, choose two terms such as “neonates” or “infants,” and then
use “They / These” and other pointing words to refer to the infants.
Convert most verbs from passive to active voice.
Avoid ending sentences with passive verbs. For good writing, this is the kiss of death.
Replace them with active voice. In Methods, passives can go in the middle of the sentence:
Change some passive verbs into adjectives:
Passive verb Adjective
Change the verb itself:
Omit useless passive constructions:
The citation shows who (Aho) found X. Journals tire of these useless “found” phrases.
Avoid for your own findings even the active-voice “We found that X produced Y.”
Simply write “X produced Y.” That past tense shows that this is your finding. Present
tense is for others’ generalizations: “X produces Y” (16). (See the tense section.)
To X, Y was added. Y was added to X.
X could be seen.
X was always used.
All two-year-old children were
studied .
X was evident/apparent/visible.
X always proved useful.
All children studied were age
two. (Note end-focus in each)
Patients were operated on.
Sixty were used as controls.
Each participant was given X.
method was used on rat 13.
Patients underwent surgery.
Sixty served as controls.
Each participant received X.
It has been found that X
causes Y (Aho 2001).
We found that Y was
produced by X.
Aho (2001) found that X causes Y.
X causes Y (Aho 2001).
Y results from X. X leads to Y.
X produced Y. Y was a product of X.
7
Use MAGIC—the inanimate agent, a non-human / non-living thing performing an action.
Upgrade most rough-draft common verbs to become more precise verbs (see verb pages):
becomes
For elegance and formality, specify meanings of “get” (“receive?” “become?” “understand?”).
Change colloquial (puhekieli) expressions to more formal ones (see verb pages):
Colloquial Formal
becomes
Never omit “such” with “as.” (“Treatment as such as chemotherapy . . . .”)
Beware of vague “so.” “So (thus?) X occurred?” “It was so fast.” (How rapid?)
Avoid “too,” especially at the end of a sentence.
becomes
And how hot is “too hot?”
Table 3 shows . . . .
Figure 5 illustrates . . . .
Our results indicate . . . .
Our hypothesis predicts X.
Opinions among us vary.
Note:
All in
Active
be
see
have
get
exist
observe
assess
measure
determine
possess
assess
confirm
characterize
Note how much
precision comes
with such verbs!
if
like
a lot of, lots of, plenty
big
whether (or not)
such as
many, several
large, great
He died,
too.
He, too, died.
He died, as well.
He also died.
8
Strengthen Negatives
“Not” is so common in speech that it frequently loses a letter, becoming a contraction
such as “can’t / don’t / wouldn’t.” It is doubly contracted in “dunno” for “I don’t know.”
In writing, “not” is always a weak word. Murder the word “not” in three ways:
Substitute negatives OR
Substitute negative prefixes OR
Change to negative verbs or use negative adjectives
Strong negatives Weak Stronger
(Note: Beginning a sentence with a negative is powerful.)
Strong prefixes Weak Stronger
Verbs / adjectives Weak Stronger
If X is “missing,” call the police!
no
none
never
There was not any X.
Not one patient survived.
They had not seen X
before.
No X existed / appeared.
None of the patients survived.
Never had they seen X before.
un-
in-
im-
non-
disThe
cause is not known.
The text was not coherent.
The task was not possible.
Results were not
significant.
This drug isn’t made
anymore.
The cause is / remains
unknown.
The text was incoherent.
The task was impossible.
Results were non-significant.
This drug has been
discontinued.
fail
lack
absent
insufficient
incomplete
The plan did not work.
The solution didn’t have X.
X was not in the samples.
Controls didn’t have enough X.
The test was not finished.
The plan failed (to succeed).
The solution lacked X.
In the samples, X was absent.
Controls had insufficient X.
The test was incomplete.
9
Your final step in revising is to check to whether each verb agrees with its subject in number.
Read this too-complex and difficult practice-sentence with its five substantives in bold.
Which one is the subject of the verb?
“The actual reason for these changes in policy that seem to alter the newest
reorganization plans for these hospitals is / are surprising.”
1. Locate every verb (Good sentences have only one or two.)
2. Scan to the left to find its subject (often located far away).
10
Basic Methodology II: Passive vs. Active Voice
Active and passive—like major (duuri) and minor (molli) keys in music—are the two types of
voice. Tenses are unrelated to voice; tense indicates time.
Note the difference between tenses—present, past, and perfect—and voice. The English passive
always includes two to four verbs and allows the addition of “by” someone / something.
And even a future passive is possible—though horrible: “The test will have been given”!
As recently as 1997, Paul Leedy insisted, in his book Practical Research, Planning and Design,
that “the researcher … should be anonymous. The use of the first-person pronoun or reference to
the researcher in any other way is particularly taboo. … All of the action within the drama of
research revolves around the data; they, and they only, speak.” (Emphasis mine)
My response: Then why not let the data speak? Here, Leedy himself elegantly states that
the action . . . revolves—in active voice. He has “data” speaking in the active voice, as
well. These are fine inanimate agents—non-living causes of actions. If such agents serve as
subjects, we avoid any need for personal pronouns to call the researcher(s) “I” or “We.”
Leedy continues, “The passive voice … is used to indicate [Why not “the passive voice
indicates”?] that no identifiable subject is performing the act. It is a kind of ghostly form of the
verb that causes events to happen without any visible cause being present.” Then, “Note the
passive voice construction in this sentence: ‘A survey was made of the owners of the Rollaway
automobiles’ or ‘The researcher made a survey of the owners of Rollaway automobiles.’ …
Here we have [an] . . . intrusion of the researcher. … The best research reporting does not use it.”
Instead of the passive verb or “the researcher made,” why not “A survey of the
owners . . . showed that …”? All surveys producing results have already been “made.”
In the active, this is both shorter and stronger.
He adds that passive voice verbs can even “suggest events … in the future without any indication
of who will do them by using the future passive form of the verb … ‘The test will have been given
before the students are permitted to read the novel.’” These two passives consume eight words.
Because all tests, once finished, “have been given,” why not: “After the test / after taking the
test, the students will / can then read / will be able to read the novel”? Active voice and short.
Present tense, active voice: “he finds.” Passive: “it is found” (by X)
Past tense, active: “he found.” Passive: “it was found” (by X)
Present perfect active: “she has found.” Passive: “it has been found” (by X)
Past perfect active: “she had found.” Passive: “it had been found” (by X)
11
Do you worry about journals’ accepting papers written entirely in the active voice?
Although active voice is rarely possible to maintain throughout Methods, in Nature Medicine,
authors freely use “We, we, we”! That means lines like
“We processed the samples. Then we rinsed the residue in a solution of . . . .”
Here are more empirical data (Note: The word “data” is plural.)
Back in 2001, biologist Rupert Sheldrake queried 55 journals in the biological and physical
sciences. Only two still required use of the passive voice. “Most scientific journals accept papers
in the active voice,” he said, “and some . . . positively encourage it.” (New Scientist, 21 July 2001)
The British Medical Journal's “House Style” on the internet has for many years made the following
demand:
“Write in the active and use the first person where necessary.”
Even in active voice, however, “I/We” first-person pronouns are usually unnecessary.
(Interestingly, “our” seems popular, even when the writer avoids “we.”)
The valuable inanimate agent allows you to avoid these pronouns and use active voice.
Save passive verbs for when they do, however, prove useful:
“Some of us will greatly miss Professor Aho” implies that some will be quite happy he is gone.
Avoid sending this sentence to his or her widow or widower!
Instead, “(The late) Professor Aho will be missed.” (“Late” is a polite adjective for deceased.)
To be gentle: “You’re fired / sacked” is “Your candidacy / position is revoked /eliminated.”
Similarly gentle, “Your breast must be removed.” “Your results will arrive after tests are run.”
To maintain anonymity: “The suggestion was made today that nurses should go on strike.”
To be cute: “When my great-grandmother status is achieved, greater respect will be required.”
The mice each received / ingested 20 mg daily.
The reason for X remains unclear.
Results indicate that our hypothesis is correct.
The evidence suggests an alternative cause.
All data came from X. (We know they did not walk on their own feet.)
Our laboratory provided urine samples.
12
Basic Methodology III: The End-focus Technique
Only one word in this first-draft sentence is important—providing new information.
Every sentence should, however, present basic background information first, which will be the
who, where, when (how, why). These data orient (British “orientate”) the reader.
The beginning of a sentence—regardless of what some teach—is only the second most
important location. Most important is the end. Here we find the “what,” or the new
information.
Rewrite the boxed sentence twice. First, put its new information—the what, last.
In the third draft, change to active voice: Use an inanimate agent.
In each of your sentences place the most vital word, the “what”—a key adjective or
substantive or a numerical value you discovered—at the end of each clause / sentence.
Be sure that each sentence ends with words that lead, even drag, you into what comes
next. This creates intra-sentence linkage, allowing readers to predict what the next
sentence will say. Now do
this harder exercise
.
A. Finland has the world’s highest incidence of type 1 diabetes. This disabling disease
and its treatment constitute a drain on national medical resources. (continue ….)
B. The world’s highest incidence of type 1 diabetes occurs in Finland. Finnish diabetes
researchers uncover some of the field’s most interesting new data. (continue . . . .)
C. Regarding type 1 diabetes, Finland’s annual incidence is the world’s highest.
Its figure for 2008 was 60/100,000. (continue . . . .)
D. Finland has the highest incidence of type 1 diabetes in the world. At least one
nation’s mean incidence in 2008 was under 1/100 000, whereas Finland’s figure,
60 times as high, raises the question why Finland’s rate is so high. (continue . . . .)
ABOVE, SENTENCES 1 AND 2 LINK UP. CHOICES FOR THE BEST SENTENCE 3:
1. One important area of investigation is diabetes-associated nephritis.
2. Is sugar consumption unusually high, or is this rate most related to genetics?
3. The state finances medical care, and it generously supports those unable to work.
4. Such a rate requires funding of studies by the country’s top researchers.
End-focus improves logic, clarity (selvyys), flow (sujuvuus), and cohesion (tiivistys).
FOCUS
and LINK
The result may be catastrophic, as shown by our study.
13
Note, however, that writing first drafts with end-focus as well as sentence-to-sentence linkage is
almost impossible. First, the words must be on paper. Then move words and phrases around.
Start all of your writing with a fast, disorganized rough draft.
Such “bad” texts are the easiest ones to improve by end-focus and linkage.
Find the most vital, novel word in the sentence, the one revealing the newest information.
Put a period (full-stop) after this word.
Move all the words following this end-focus word back to the left.
Often the best place to insert words is after a “that” or “which”
She does fine work that may win her a Nobel Prize in a few years.
She does fine work that in a few years may earn her a Nobel Prize.
Underline the 12 most informative words in this awkward (but active voice!) 31-word sentence.
Rewrite the sentence several times, altering grammar as needed. Shorten it!
Make each draft end with one among those 12 most informative words.
Notice how word order and end-focus alter emphasis.
To practice sentence flow, draft a follow-on sentence for each version.
The second sentence will link to the end-focus word you chose.
A Crohn’s disease patient’s condition may be worsened as the
outcome of the use of an excessively strict dietary regimen and
also as the result of not enough empathetic nursing care.
14
Here is my struggle with rough-draft sentences totaling 28 words, with four passive-voice verbs (in
italics) and no end-focus. I assumed that we had already heard about drug X, so X is now boring.
I first edited this by removing useless, wasted words and changing to active voice, end-focused.
Active voice required three inanimate agents: “effect”
“evidence”
“X”
For clarity, these sentences needed “however” or “whereas,” but not in the vital first position.
(Note: The BMJ and I both avoid starting a sentence with “however” or “therefore.”)
A clever student then noticed that these sentences lacked linkage; the first sentence failed to flow
into the second. I therefore sacrificed the best end-focus in the first sentence (“unknown”) and
instead focused with my second choice (“children”). Note good linkage with only 17 words.
Another student noticed that I was violating one of my main rules—to observe strict chronology.
Always describe events in chronological order—the order in which they occur over time—or the
order in which we learn about them. Now all of these data fit into one 14-word sentence!
Note that “however” and “therefore” always become stronger as they move right.
Notice the power of “however” when it serves as the end-focus word.
The effect of drug X is unknown in children. In adults, however, X frequently leads
to diarrhea (3).
The effect of drug X in children is unknown. In adults, however, evidence
indicates that X frequently leads to diarrhea. (20 words)
X frequently leads to diarrhea in adults (3), whereas in children, its effect remains
unknown.
X frequently leads to diarrhea in adults (3); in children, its effect remains
unknown, however.
Nothing is known about what happens to children who are given drug X. It was
found that adults often have diarrhea if they are given / administered drug X. (3).
15
Revision of a paragraph.
This text is intentionally silly, so concentrate only on its language.
It has ten verbs italicized, all of them in passive voice. It mainly needs savage shrinkage!
First, locate and repair its four errors, ones very frequent among Finnish writers.
Then reduce its length from 114 words, aiming at a third of its present length.
Choose active-voice verbs.
Try to create some end-focus and linkage.
Freely omit, alter, or rearrange words. Each of you will edit this differently.
Finally, COUNT every word and figure in your version.
The effectiveness against narcolepsy of caffeine was tested on humans by our
group. It was effective, as was previously shown by Smith (Smith 2006) when mice,
that were found to be narcoleptic were given caffeine when they demonstrated
signs of narcolepsy. Therefore, an experiment was carried out by our group. We
had 100 male narcoleptics. The initial test dose of caffeine that was chosen was 300
mg two times every day. In these subjects a history of narcolepsy had been
confirmed. When they were administrated a dose of 600 mg two times every day,
the lowering of their symptoms of narcolepsy to a level that is considered in
literature to be normal was accomplished.
16
Article Sections: An Overview
Because some journals cannot afford to hire copy editors to correct manuscripts line by line, do
examine articles in the target journal, but avoid blindly trusting them as models of style.
What seems wiser is to trust the target journal’s own writing style.
This style is demonstrated in “Instructions to Authors” and in journal editorials.
Every journal has its own style, so study all instructions in the target journal.
Seek these also on the internet; instructions frequently change.
Follow each instruction exactly, checking and rechecking.
If you receive a rejection and submit elsewhere, follow the next target journal’s
instructions equally carefully. (See Handling Reviewers section.)
Vital: Notice the style required for your references: either Harvard or Vancouver.
Unlike authors in a Harvard reference list— numbered alphabetically—Vancouver style requires
the list to follow the order in which citations appear in the text.
In Harvard style, date precedes article or book title; in Vancouver style, the date follows it.
The Hall book provides a clear pattern for the contents of a scientific article.
The Introduction tells what question you will be asking,
Methods tell how it was studied,
Results tells what you found,
and
Discussion explains what the findings mean.
In “Suggestions to Authors” in the journal Neurology (1966; 46:298-300), Daroff and colleagues
describe these IMRAD sections as answering the following questions:
“What did you decide to do and why? Introduction (This ends with what you seek.)
How did you do it? Methods
What did you find? Results
How does it relate to current knowledge? Discussion” (This begins with your findings.)
This produces the
acronym IMRAD or
IMRaD
Harvard style (from 1881) uses authors’ names: “(Aho 2000)” and an alphabetical reference list.
Vancouver uses numbered references, with each journal demanding different formats.
The usual formats are “… sentence end (3).” Or “… end [3].” Or “… end.3
” Or “… end3
.”
USA UK
(Vancouver Uniform Requirements are available at http://www.icmje.org/index.html.)
17
A wise order in which to write these sections
I cannot advise this too strongly: Make tables and figures before you write Results.
Note: Gustavii reminds us that editors of journals and your readers have the right to ask to
examine your raw data—even 5 or 10 years after publication of results!
Therefore, never discard your raw data.
1. Rough version of the abstract 5. Results
2. Rough tables and figures 6. Discussion
3. End (your aim) of Introduction 7. Rest of the Introduction
4. Methods 8. The final abstract
18
The Article Abstract
The abstract (now generally considered the same as a summary) is the first thing seen. It may
be the only part of the article that is read.
The abstract “floats free,” appearing in various databases and on the internet. For easier
electronic retrieval. front-focus both your title and line one of your abstract.
According to Professor Lilleyman (Hall, 1998) an abstract should reveal:
“why what was done was done
what was done
what was found
what was concluded”
And . . . the abstract must be “the most highly polished part of the paper.”
His rules: Include no lines that will appear again in the Introduction.
Avoid minor aspects of Methods.
Never end an abstract with the vague, useless line: “the findings are discussed.”
Do include confidence intervals (CI) and P-values.
I add, from other sources: Short sentences
No repetition of data in the article title
No references or study limitations.
Abstracts must stand alone and be clearly understandable without the text.
Always obey length-restrictions; 250 words? Write 600 words and shrink it through
Process Writing. If the journal instead provides a box to fill, prefer short words!
Abbreviations in abstracts
These must be few, and each full term plus abbreviation goes into the abstract. Write it
out again when it first appears in the Introduction or later.
Never abbreviate a short, single word. Never use “ETX” for “endotoxin” or “AR” for
“arousal,” says
the American Thoracic Society (ATS), but the ATS accepts “LAM for
lymphangioleiomyomatosis.”
Surely no one will ever need an explanation for pH, DNA, AIDS, or UN.
Check journal instructions; some abbreviations are so common in your specialty that they
too need no explanation; one example is “coronary heart disease (CHD)” for a circulatory
journal. One way to avoid abbreviating is to refer to only part of the long term.
One example: For “IRL,” meaning “inspiratory resistive load,” the ATS says, that after
giving the entire term once, then “simply write ‘load’.”
An abbreviations list is useful, following the abstract, if you use many abbreviations.
Such a list is, however, no substitute for the in-text explanations.
19
Structured Abstracts
Many target journals require structured abstracts with subheadings for each section. These
help the author structure the abstract so it maintains the most logical order and omits
nothing. I thus suggest that you write every abstract with subheadings. If not required, remove
them. Complete the incomplete sentences that most structured abstracts allow in order to save
space. Popular subheadings include
Background “Incidence of X is rapidly rising in Nordic countries—”
or Hypothesis tested “This study tested whether X correlateS
with latitude.”
or Objective / Aim “Our aim was to compare X incidence above and below
60 degrees north latitude.”
Be sure you know which one the journal wants.
Study design and setting
Samples or Subjects
Methods or Interventions
Measurements, Statistics
Results
Conclusions (notice, no Discussion)
Implications (answering “So what ?”)
Informative abstracts cover all of these categories, with sufficiently detailed results.
Indicative abstracts introduce your work and describe what you did. These are useful for
conferences, if requested, because you can later present results orally that may be lacking
before the abstract-submission deadline.
Review-article abstracts include
Purpose
Data-identification and -extraction methods
Findings
Data synthesis
Conclusions.
20
Repeating abstract lines in the rest of the article. One writer created an excellent abstract and
then copied it piecemeal throughout his article: Two lines from his abstract began the
Introduction, more lines from his abstract began Methods, some lines appeared in Results. The
Discussion ended with exactly the same lines as in the Abstract. I call this not plagiarism, just
laziness. Some members of the European Association of Science Editors (EASE) disagree.
You write a good line, said one, so why not use it again? But the abstract is unique, comes
first, and who enjoys reading repetition? We learn nothing more on the second reading.
Key words go here, below the abstract. Remember each journal’s own limit on their
number.
Some journals want you to avoid choosing as key words any words already in the title.
Key words in Vancouver style must be alphabetical and should come from any index of
subject headings in your field that the journal recommends.
No one can say often enough:
Objective: To determine the influence of body weight throughout the life
course on the development of clinical hand osteoarthritis (OA).
(Again, journals want either Background or Aim / Objective, not both.)
Methods: A British national survey was used to perform a prospective
cohort study of 1,467 men and 1,519 women born in 1946. Weight was
measured at birth and at subsequent follow-up visits through childhood and
adulthood. The main outcome measure was the odds ratio for the presence
of hand OA at the age of 53.
Results: OA was present in at least one hand joint in 280 men (19%) and in
458 women (30%). Hand OA was significantly associated with increased
weight at ages 26, 43, and 53 years and with decreased weight at birth in
men. Birth weight and adult weight showed independent effects, such that
men at highest risk for OA represented those who had been heaviest at age
53 and lightest at birth. These findings were not explained by grip strength.
No significant relationship appeared between weight and hand OA for
women.
Conclusion: Our results show that increased adult weight is associated
with, and may precede, development of hand OA, but only in men. This
relationship between hand OA and lower birth weight is a new finding
concerning adult joint structure and function that may reflect the persisting
influence of prenatal environmental factors.
(This is a more concise, end-focused version of a 2003 abstract in Arthritis &
Rheumatism. Its citation is in Appendix II, along with a version of its Introduction.)
Always study each journal’s
instructions extremely carefully.
Obey all of the instructions.
21
Titles & Authors
Titles Not too general:
nor too detailed:
Professor Lilleyman (Hall, 1998) remind us that even before reading the abstract, we read the
title. A poor title may result in immediate prejudice against the author. He prefers that the title
be descriptive and tell only what the article is about—neither why you wrote it, what you
found, nor the conclusions that you reached. He might prefer the very first title on this page.
Björn Gustavii would disagree; rather than a descriptive title he prefers to give a
suggestion of the outcome with a declarative title.
(In example two, “rise from 17 to 37%” is more than a suggestion! It is too specific for a title.)
Descriptive: Influence of aspirin on human megakaryocyte prostaglandin synthesis
Compare this to the declarative title of the classic article by Nobelist John Vane (Nature, 1971):
Inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis as a mechanism of action of aspirin-like
drugs
Notice that this title needs no verb, because of that powerful “as.”
Verb or no verb? I dislike a full-sentence title with a temporal (tense-showing) verb. Check
your
own reference list for this article or thesis. Do you find many whole-sentence titles:
“X causes Y” versus “X as a cause for Y”? Although lacking front-focus, the version
below is preferable to the full-sentence title with “rise.”
Comparative demographic population-based study of trends toward
living alone among those over 65 in southern Finland, 1950-2000
Avoid articles in titles, except a “the” preceding unique items (“only,” “usual,” “best,”
“elderly”).
Increased solitary living among the elderly of southern Finland, 1950-2000:
A population-based study
This is professional, and that colon (:) is popular. We have dropped from 24 to 14 words
and moved the focus forward. To be very concise, we could write
Living alone among Finland’s elderly: Trends toward an increase, 1950 to 2000 or
The elderly in Finland: solitary living, 1950-2000
Trends in living alone among elderly Finns
Figures for living alone among 3 000 men and women aged over
65 in southern Finland from 1950 to 2000 rise from 17 to 37%
22
To avoid sentence-titles, change their temporal verbs into participles, or even into
infinitives.
Temporal verb Participle Infinitive
becomes or
Big Error! Using past tense in a title in English.
Unlike Finnish newspaper practice, all verbs that do appear in titles must be in present
tense.
“Surgery saved saves leg.” “X treatment succeeded succeeds in Y disease.”
No abbreviations in titles. Unless it is pH, DNA, or AIDS, write out each full term in the
title.
When it again occurs, probably in the abstract, write it out and give the abbreviation.
Do this again, once, in the body of the text.
“Our use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) began in . . . .”
Authors
Editors often now require a declaration of participation stating each author’s contribution. You
must thus be able to justify the actual contribution of every author listed: Original idea?
Planning? Data collection? Statistics? The journal may even print, in the article itself, a list of
each of their roles. This serves to discourage an authors list numbering 50, even 100!
Often each author must sign a statement agreeing to be an author and accepting responsibility
for all that the article contains. This also helps discourage the vice of listing many authors, some
of whom may never have read the text and may accept no responsibility, especially not for fraud.
Fraud is increasing.
“Contributors” at the end of the article—if the journal prints this—can include those who
provided aid, but insufficient aid to be called authors. Thank other individuals in
Acknowledgements.
Closely follow journal style for authors and for degrees, if included:
In English, degrees never precede names:
Note the commas around each degree.
How does the journal link authors’ names with their institutions? With superscripts (a, b, c, 1, 2,
3, or symbols such as *)? These guide the reader to footnotes giving their institutions.
X leads to
…
X, leading to … X, found to lead to …
Aho, A.
A. Aho
Aho, Antti
Antti Aho, MD, PhDMD A. Aho
A. Aho, MD
23
Tables & Figures and their Titles & Legends
Use a telegraphic title style
without verbs or articles:
(These are descriptive titles)
Avoid repeating the table title or figure legend in the text.
Example: In a text, this sentence: “Table 6 shows the condition of molars assessed by
the Wibble Method” should never appear immediately before the table itself, entitled
“Table 6. Condition of molars assessed by the Wibble Method.”
Instead, describe some Wibble results and add the table / figure number in parentheses:
Journals avoid printing a wide table across two pages; rows often fail to line up exactly.
Number all tables / figures in the order of their appearance in the text. Mention each
one, preferably only in parentheses: (Table / table 6), (Figure 3 / fig. 3), (Figs. 3-4).
Avoid tables containing fewer than six or eight figures. In the text itself you can write:
“Of the ten patients, one lived for 6 years, one for 8, three lived for 10, five for
11.” These few data (eight figures) need no table. Note alternating word-vs.-number
style.
Similarly, avoid telling us in the text more than three or four findings from a table. Just
generalize as to what is most important, is the highest or lowest or is significant.
(My absolute rule: Always create tables and figures before writing Results!)
Most readers study tables and figures first, so save them from any need to search
through the text to understand any term or any abbreviation.
To do this, explain each term or abbreviation in a footnote. Alternatively, give the
abbreviation in parentheses in the title / legend (“Figure 1. Three Populations of obese
(OA) and lean adults (LA) in Finland, 2005)” or provide the abbreviation in a column
heading.
Omit from the table title, however, any words appearing (so nearby), word-for-word,
as headings for that table’s columns. Remember, every word costs the publisher
money.
Levels of enzyme X in melanoma
Influence of European Union rules on Finnish medical services
This particular method predicted 78% of third-molar caries (Table 6).
OR These data suggest a trend toward a 2% annual rise (Figure 3).
One table per 1000 words is appropriate, laid out tall & narrow--not wide & flat.
.
24
Avoid heavy repetition in tables of any words, phrases, abbreviations, or numbers.
If your table includes columns of many (more than five) identical words or figures, rethink
its layout.
No column should contain a stack of identical words or numbers.
Omit repetitious items entirely.
Omit identical words where possible.
Indent subordinate items with a tab and single-space them.
Gustavii says that the only single-spaced
lines in an article manuscript should be these
indented subheadings.
In a table, each column must be justifiable. Replace some data by footnotes or by words in
the title? As for layout, Gustavii feels that numbers being compared are easier to read if they
follow down the columns, not across. (Columns are vertical, rows horizontal.)
State the number of items or subjects in every title / legend or in a column heading.
Replace any column of identical figures with— perhaps in the title—“(n = 20).” Use a
small “n” for a portion of the total, and call only the grand total “N.”
A column containing mostly identical P-values is unnecessary. Place footnote symbols
in other columns for any significant P-values, and below the table give P-values and
mention the statistical tests providing those values. Example: * All P < 0.001 (MannWhitney
U-test)
Two horizontal lines at the top of each table to separate levels of specificity are usual,
with one line across the foot of the table. Separate items by spacing, not by lines.
Never use vertical lines in a table or as a figure background. Journals dislike grids.
Into each blank space in a table add a space-filler (—) to guide our eyes across columns.
Ensure that multiple-part figures or tables have clear numbers or letters nearby (1,
2, 3; A, B, C), with letters consistent in case, upper (A, B, C) or lower case (a, b, c).
In figure legends, show your actual symbols or print them on the figure itself.
Write “The men ( ) numbered 16” in the legend or put “Men – ” on the figure itself.
The latter is now preferable. Otherwise, is this symbol a “filled,” “black,” or “solid
square”? Is “o” “unfilled,” “white,” or “open”? Editors despair of multiple symbol-
synonyms.
If you give names instead of examples for lines on a graph, write “broken” or
“dashed” (- - -), “unbroken” or “solid” ( ), or “dotted” ( . . . ) lines.
Never vary both lines & points except in the rare cases of their close overlapping. For
overlapping curves, you might lengthen the intervals on an axis.
Gray areas are “shaded.” Dotted areas are “stippled” . . . .
Write “hatched” for /////// or “cross-hatched” for XXXXX. Or just show these.
Obesity
in children
in adults
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
25
As footnote superscripts
Vancouver style is *, †, ‡, §, II, ¶.
When you need more, you start doubling them, as in: **, ††.
Avoid odd symbols such as dollar ($) or pound (£) signs! Check target-journal style!
Many now prefer as superscripts “a, b, c, d.” P-values usually have * and ** and ***.
If the journal uses superscript Vancouver citation form, never confuse us by your choosing
superscripts for anything else—like footnotes, numbers (“1, 2, 3, 4 . . . .”)
Statisticians examining figures state that whiskers—in a figure perhaps thus:
mean nothing unless the figure legend states what they represent. Maximum and
minimum? SD? CI?
Histograms show frequency distribution.
Do not use many vertical (sometimes horizontal) bars. Label them clearly below the axis, above
their tops, or on them, or add a key with small boxes showing what each pattern / color on a box
means.
The bars should be two-dimensional: Be clear, not decorative; no “city skyscrapers.”
Which corner of one of these cubes would show its value on either axis?
Bad
Limit such 3-dimensional bars to figures demonstrating three variables:
vertical, plus horizontal, plus front-to-back values.
Restrict number of bars in groupings to a maximum of five or six.
cats rats Choose clearly contrasting colors or shading, hatching, or stippling.
Pie-charts show percentage distribution. They also require colors or patterns with strong
contrast.
Gustavii’s book (see Resources) covers tables and graphs well, with a decent pie chart as:
“(1) the largest segment begins at 12 o’clock;
(2) it continues with proportionally smaller portions in the clockwise direction;
(3) the number of segments does not exceed five; [in my models, six!] and
(4) labels are placed outside the circle.
For emphasis one sector can be separated slightly.”
I myself find it easier to read a pie in 3 dimensions, set at a slight tilt.
26
Recipe for an Introduction
A good Introduction, according to John Swales, usually contains four “moves” (or strategies):
MOVE I Establish the field: Assert briefly how significant, relevant, and
important is your chosen topic. This usually requires no citation,
because
those smart enough to read this publication would not demand evidence.
MOVE II Summarize your predecessors’ more general research:
MOVE III Focus in on your own research project. In this “however” move,
indicate a gap in knowledge to be filled, the question to answer.
MOVE IV Introduce your own research by stating the question you wish to
answer, what you hope to discover, what hypothesis you will test.
Novel methods can earn a brief mention, but rarely will an
Introduction include any results. Check your target journal on this.
The answer to this question, your discovery, or confirmation--yes/no--begins the
Discussion, where the citations closely related to your own work (arguments pro and con)
also belong. I dislike meeting low-numbered citations AGAIN in the Discussion.
An Introduction mentions (in Move II) general works relevant to yours, showing that you
know what has been done in this area. You need not “start with the Romans.” Omit facts
known to every scientist. Never knock us down with a parade of facts. Introductions are
shrinking.
Richard Smith (BMJ) in Hall, concludes thus: “Know your audience, keep it short, tell readers
why you have done the study and explain why it’s important, convince them that it is better
than what has gone before, and try as hard as you can to hook them in the first line.”
(Emphasis added.)
The world’s highest incidence of type-1 diabetes occurs in Finland.
On this question, Soto’s 1993 report was the earliest.
Seldom has this issue arisen. Data on this are few.
This study tests the hypothesis that X is Y.
To discover whether X correlates with Y, we examined . . . .
[perhaps adding] . . . by use of a new method for . . . .
27
Methods
Referees seem to focus half their criticism here. Although they demand sufficient data to
allow others to replicate your work for confirmation of its findings, this section must be brief.
Some journals use reduced font size for Methods. Some place methods in lengthy table titles
and figure legends. Some put your most specific details in methods only on the Net.
Observe strict chronology:
Report each step / event in a clear time-order, in the order that each occurred.
Never “We gave X after Y” or “Before we did X, we did Y,” but “Y was added, then
X.”
Stay in the past tense. Write long, and then cut, cut, cut out all useless, wasted words.
Methods will be list-like. If you refuse to write “we,” Methods will require some passivevoice
verbs. Avoid placing these at sentence-end, where they sound empty (“For X, the
value of Y was used” vs. “Y was used as the value for X.” Active: “Y served as the
value for X.”)
From focus position, as above, move passive verbs back and hide them in the middle of
the sentence, or substitute adjectives or nouns. (See Process Writing.) Revise thus:
Attempt end-focus, but linkage in this list-like section is often impossible.
Present all that the reader needs to know: Study target-journal Methods sections.
Say who did what to whom. When, and precisely how? Define all terms:
For “high X,” “delayed X,” or “prolonged X” say how high, long, or prolonged.
Avoid numbers or letters for groups. “Groups A and B” gain informative labels:
“Milk,” and “No-Milk”; “Term” and “Pre-term”
In abbreviating authors’ names in the text, use dots for people’s names.
The reason? Dr. Miia Raili Ilves is no technique, and Carol H. Doe is no disease.
“An experienced radiologist (M.R.I.) and cardiologist (C.H.D.) performed cardiac MRI.”
Observe standard (see journal instructions) rules concerning animal treatment and on approval
by an “ethics committee.” That means a committee ON ethics—trust me: I lived through
Watergate! Though some journals may still print it, “ethical” would mean that all your
committee members are angelic. Other uses, as in “Ethical standards / principles / review” are,
however, correct.
With adjectives: “X was used for Y.” “X was useful for Y / the best choice for Y.”
With nouns: “X was the choice for Y.” “For Y, the selection of X was wise.”
28
f subjects gave their signed informed consent, was this before or after enrollment?
Explain in detail all randomization procedures. Sealed envelopes? Computer program?
How many were screened and how many excluded?
How many dropped out and why? How many were lost to follow-up and why?
Define any blinding (of whom and how?).
Describe controls or control samples as thoroughly as you have described your study—
or test—population.
This is essential to justify your claims to randomization. How did you find / select / match
controls? Incredibly, the only information provided may be
“Controls were from the general population.” Who? Strangers walking past your laboratory?
Gustavii stresses the need to “calculate sample size needed to demonstrate a difference, if it
exists.” He wants this calculation reported in the paper and warns that the number needed is
never the number of those originally enrolled, but the number completing the trial. (So
subtract the drop-outs.)
If you have complex populations or results with complicated numbers, try to illustrate them
with a flow-chart or Venn diagram. Like genealogical charts, these are clear at a glance with
their boxes or circles. Be creative. Reviewers often ask for flow-charts for data that are hard to
comprehend in a text, and for large quantities of data. Study flow charts in prestigious journals.
End Methods with statistics. In the statistics description, state what you consider to be your
(statistically) significant P-value. “Significance was set at 0.05” or “at > 0.05” is brief but
seems sufficient. Then avoid “X was statistically significant” unless clinical significance is
relevant.
For time, we expect readers to recognize—in English—figures that are years or
months. We thus write “in 1999” or even “in 1066,” and “in June.”
Such correct phrases as Finns’ “In the year 2006 / until the month of May” sound to us
like lawyer language, drama. (Note required use of “the ” if you use the unit.)
“The” goes, however, before any superlative or unique word: “The third of May / the last
day” (See also Articles section.) For further relevant tips, see Handling numerals . . . .
Avoid repeating quantities. For adult subjects, omit “years”—it is the default unit.
“Respondents were (age / aged) 40 to 60.” Omit “years old” or “years of age.”
“Ages were 40 to 60.” “Adults 40 to 60 took part.” “Men over 50 / under 50 died sooner.”
But note: “Children enrolled were from 14 months to 5 years old / of age.”
“Follow-up times ranged from 6 months to 10 years.”
29
Results
If you have table(s), figure(s), or both, avoid Double Documentation—Never repeat in the text
much that appears in tables and figures, because most readers examine those first of all.
According to Professor John Norman (Hall 1998), with emphasis added:
He adds that in the Results you show the statistical significance of your findings, and in the
Discussion, their practical significance. He warns that if your findings do not support your
original hypothesis—even if they refute it—you must report all findings.
What is the answer to the question you asked? Or did you disprove the null hypothesis with
a P-value less than 0.05? What is the power of the study? How likely is a false negative?
It is always wise to seek aid from a statistician.
The Results state—in the past tense—selected data, the most interesting results, the highest,
lowest, or “not shown.” (Why are they “not shown,” in fact?) Avoid passive voice; let
inanimate agents (“study / work / results”) do the showing and producing. Or use “we,” or at
least “our.”
Do not evaluate here. No “remarkably” (a strong emotional term; use “greatly / considerably /
markedly”) or “This method's efficiency was greater than expected.” No “Surprisingly so.”
End Results without a summary, because in Anglo-American journals, the discussion now
almost always begins with a statement of your main findings. Some journals now force authors
to do this by dividing their Discussion section into two sub-sections labeled “Findings” and
“Comment.” A structured Discussion is even emerging. See the next section.
Perhaps the journal publishing your work even combines Results with Discussion; lucky you!
Sample lines to distinguish Results style from Discussion (referral) style:
Results Discussion
Of the 366 staff responding, those
approving the plan numbered 89 (24%).
The Whammo Method performed well for
our patients less than one-third of the time.
Absenteeism among the nursing staff of
small hospitals from 2000 to 2005
compared to 1990 was four-fold. Older
nurses, over age 50, were absent for fewer
days annually (10 days) than were younger
nurses (18 days).
That only a quarter of the staff approved
the plan seems surprising.
The Whammo Method’s ineffectiveness
may stem from its untested premises.
Such a large increase in absenteeism
involving so many younger nurses in small
hospitals supports the suggestion of Piik
(2005) that hospitals of this size may
benefit more from our innovations than
would larger hospitals.
“What you must avoid is what any reader, editor, or assessor
dreads: ‘The results are presented in Tables I to V and in the
figures.’ This does not guide the readers into discovering what you
want them to find but actively encourages them to find things you
do not think important.
“You must lead your readers into following your thoughts.”
30
Recipe for a Discussion
These suggestions come from How to Write and Illustrate a Scientific Paper, from Cambridge
U. Press, by Professor Björn Gustavii (See Resources), editor of Acta Obstetricia et
Gynecologica Scandinavica from 1986 to 1994 and teaching scientific writing since 1980 at
Lund University, Sweden. His book on our compilation theses is expected in 2012.
After the Swales recipe for an introduction we have waited a long time for a similarly convincing
scientific discussion recipe. Quotations indicated are from Gustavii, with emphasis added.
1. “Main message.” This, says Gustavii, “answers the question posed in the Introduction
[in Swales’s Move IV] and includes the main supporting evidence.”
Example: These findings show that / support the hypothesis that X contributes to
Y; its mode of action may be Z.
Next, critique your own study. (Some suggest you critique your study later in
Discussion.)
2. “Critical assessment” will discuss “any shortcomings in study design, limitations in
methods, flaws in analysis, or validity of assumptions.”
My own term for this is the “Unfortunately” part.
Now readers will want to know whether others agree.
3. “Comparison with other studies” may be organized as:
Your main finding
Other studies’ findings in agreement with it, differing from it, contradicting it.
Your secondary findings (if your project is complex)
Other studies’ results agreeing or differing with or contradicting these, and so on.
Next comes my own “So what?” stage. “Conclusions” means that here you state the results’
implications and suggest further research. You need no summary of findings here. They
are in the abstract, implied in Results, and start the Discussion.
Here you reveal the value or consequences of your findings.
Avoid priority claims such as “This is the first report of X” or “We are the first to do
this,” because others may publish similar findings before your findings appear, 6 to 12
months after their first submission. Your editor will then receive the blame!
Gustavii wisely comments that “most studies could be designated ‘the first,’ because
most of them have a design of their own.” In my own personal view, to modify a claim
thus: “To (the best of) our knowledge, this may be / seems to be the first report
of Y” seems safe. The two modifiers make this sound rather modest.
Be careful with present / past tense throughout any Discussion. See Tense section.
31
One opponent at a thesis defense asked why a researcher would want to claim priority. Could it
even be the case that no one else was stupid enough to carry out such research? Let the findings
speak for themselves, he said, or merely say that they “represent interesting and unusual
findings.”
Avoid promising to publish more; you may go under a tram before you discover the
findings!
In close agreement with Gustavii’s Discussion pattern, the Scandinavian Journal of Primary
Health Care offers “Instructions for Authors,” providing a structure for a Discussion section
with subheads:
“1. Statement of principal findings;
2. Strengths and weaknesses of the study;
3. Strength and weakness in relation to other studies, discussing particularly any
differences in results;
4. Meaning of the study: possible mechanisms and implications for clinicians or
policymakers;
5. Unanswered questions and future research.”
Reference List
Prefer reviews and the earliest and best articles.
Check and recheck all references
Errors in references (incorrect or inconsistent order of items, punctuation, upper- versus
lower-case letters, abbreviations) are signs of carelessness. Errors in citing are also
common; in any article or thesis they may occur in half the citations and references. Nor
is the Net reliable; it even makes mistakes in spelling, dates, or pages. Such errors
disillusion not only editors and reviewers. Errors in your thesis may confuse—and
publicly irritate—an opponent!
Be sure you own a copy of every reference cited (for your articles and for your thesis).
Study the style of your target journal or style recommended for university theses.
Language revisers’ tasks rarely include editing references, so you are on your own!
(See page 15 for an overview of Harvard and Vancouver style.)
Each reference mentioned must appear in the list, and you should have read them all.
Opponents—and reviewers/referees (often unfairly) may expect to see cited their work.
One wise opponent at a defense praised a Finnish candidate’s honesty when she cited no
research of his; none of his publications was, in fact, closely relevant to her thesis.
32
For “personal communication” data, obtain the permission of the “communicator.”
Provide in the text full details concerning the source, stating whether it was “oral” or
“written.” No personal communications go into your reference list. List anyone’s
submitted and accepted work as “in press.”
In citing material from the web, give in parentheses the date when you accessed it.
Gustavii reminds us that data appearing on each site evolve and change. His example:
“Cited Dec.4, 2002; available from: www.nlm.hih.gov/pubs/formats/internet.pdf.”
Submit manuscripts with references double-spaced, to allow editorial revision.
Obey limits on maximum number of references (30?)
PhD Theses / Dissertations
All nations and universities differ, so here are only a few tips on the summary /overview /
yhteenveto for a compilation Ph.D. thesis. (Caution: In the UK, “dissertation” means MA / MSc
thesis, so a safer term for both is “thesis.”)
Title page: See title section. For your big day, write “12 noon,” not “12 o’clock noon.”
Table of Contents: As in titles, avoid full sentences and most articles. Avoid five-place
numbering (“3.1.2.5.1”); even three places seems odd to us non-Finns. Finally, you or your
program must make all subtitles in your table of contents and in the text itself agree exactly.
Your original publications: You must request and receive permission from the publisher to
reprint these at the end of your yhteenveto. I call them “Study I” or “Study IV,”
capitalized, because “study” is such a common word. Then use only “(I)” or “(IV).”
In a general context, “study” should not be capitalized:
“For the first study, we . . .” “All five studies showed invasion, Study II showing the least.”
Reproducing parts of anyone’s work—or even of your publications—in your yhteenveto /
summary / overview itself, for instance, tables or figures, whether in full or as “adapted” or
“modified,” requires permission. If you relinquished copyright, you no longer own your
own words; the publisher does. (See plagiarism section.) A permission line contributed by
the copyright holder must appear, word for word, on each table / figure.
Rules on this become stricter every year, believe me. The topic of two of the last three EASE
conferences was ethics; almost half their presentations and workshops involved plagiarism.
Publishers are not journals; publishers are Elsevier, Springer, Wiley—all reachable on the net.
“Reproduced by permission of the Lancet” includes article title, authors, everything through the
page numbers. A required permission line may thus be longer than the table title or figure legend
itself. If you retain copyright, however, you need no permission line, but you might politely
inform readers thus: “. . . appearing originally in [journal name, issue, page, and date].”
33
Referring readers to your original articles with “(See Study III, Table 6, p. 888)” saves
effort, pages, and cost, but e-theses omit the original articles. Unless they are easily accessible,
tables and figures should thus probably be reproduced in the yhteenveto itself with permission!
To repeat: If you gave up copyright, you need copyright-holder’s permission to reprint
your or others’ material in your thesis summary, meaning even your own lines, without
quotation marks around them, or your own table or figure without permission and a
permission line—you are plagiarizing. Complex methods may, however, be carried over from
your attached articles. (See your faculty’s current rules and see, here, the plagiarism section.)
Rules for permissions change rapidly. One student in 2010 wrote for me this adventure story:
“1.) One article had a link to the “Rightslink” service where you click permissions/copyright on
the webpage. You need to register for the rightslink service, but you can do that from the
same link. Apparently some things they charge for, but I got permission to use my articles in
my thesis using this link, just by filling out the information (that I am an author and that the
manuscript would be reprinted in my thesis).
“I looked up the article that I used a figure from by using the same link, signed in, and clicked on
the relevant boxes. (One figure, thesis, and so on). They charged me nothing, and gave
immediate consent. I just have to acknowledge in the manuscript using a specific sentence
(“Adapted from –”).
“2.) One journal automatically (when you go to the article and click on permissions/request)
grants you permission to use their manuscripts freely for non-commercial use. I just printed
this document.
“3.) One of the journals was discontinued, but luckily (thank you, google!) I found the volume of
this journal (in which the article that I used a figure from appears) on google scholarly. On
the first pages of this volume (not in the article itself), they stated that all material is public
and can be used freely (for non-commercial use). I wasn’t able to print this directly, but I
copied the screens of these first pages of this volume into paint and then printed them.
“Yugh. This won’t prevent me from getting a Ph.D., but I sure wish I’d done this ages ago.”
One journal refused permission to attach an article, so its author attached only a photocopy of the first
page of a reprint, which showed the journal name, dates, and his article’s abstract.
Literature section:
This may be the most difficult part to write. Never plagiarize lines from others’ or your own
published articles (see Plagiarism). Close book / journal and create fresh wording (paraphrase)
or put irreplaceably elegant lines between quotation marks. Notice how carefully I quote and
paraphrase to avoid plagiarizing in “Recipe for a Discussion.” No cutting & pasting.
As to font, italics are expensive and difficult to use consistently; make your own yes / no
decision.
Aims: Avoid repetition: End the introductory line (“The aims of this project / study / work are
the following:”) with enough words so that each aim in the list contains only new information.
An aim is not to investigate a topic but to discover truth. Avoid synonyms like “to investigate /
to explore / to determine,” or you sound like a thesaurus. Synonyms are a curse in all
manuscripts.
34
Use blank spaces, numbers, or black balls "bullets,” an old printers’ term) beside each aim,
or number them. No French lines (—). We do not recognize what they are; do the French?!.
Make all AIMS grammatically parallel, for instance, all infinitives, all participles, or all nouns.
Model Aims: The main aim was to discover the effects of drug X on Y disease.
Specific aims were to discover the
effect of long-term X treatment of Y-affected patients on their cell-mediated immunity (I)
long-term efficacy and safety of X in Y-affected patients (II, V)
pharmacokinetics and long-term safety of X for infants under age 2 (III, IV).
Methods and Results:
In Methods, try to avoid much cutting and pasting of Methods from your original articles.
Paraphrasing biochemical methods is, however, so difficult that some techniques can usually be
carried over from your articles with little alteration. See page 61, 25, for suppliers’ addresses.
In Results, definitely avoid plagiarizing passages. Any identical phrasing should appear between
quotation marks. State the facts in your own fresh words. Years have probably passed since you
wrote your articles. You have matured, and your thinking and language matured, as well. Restate
what you found. Paraphrase yourself as you paraphrased others’ lines.
Now, in the medical faculty, “cut and paste” is illegal. Do not imitate theses from a year or
more ago which lack permissions and do plagiarize. Constantly picture your thesis as an ethesis,
flying by net around the world. Its most eager readers will be those from whom you are tempted
to plagiarize. Beware. Sanctions and academic blacklisting are becoming more frequent.
Try to create new tables and figures synthesizing or consolidating study data from several or
all of your studies. Opponents seem delighted with such syntheses. Opponents, reviewers, and
editors also seem to appreciate flow charts and Venn diagrams. A picture is worth thousands of
words.
One opponent happily praised a thesis because, after reading the original articles, he did not meet
the same lines again, cut and pasted into the yhteenveto! Its language, he said, was “fresh.”
A student’s tip: Conclude sections or subsections with lines providing a “take-home message.”
Discussion:
In a thesis summary or monograph, you may start the discussion with background. You need
not state your findings first, as in an article.
Beware, however, of repeating the Literature. The Literature section will be more general or
historical. Try to avoid citing many or even any of the same works in your Discussion that have
appeared in your Literature section.
As in an article, discuss your results / findings, rather than repeating each in much detail.
Remember that yours and others’ theorizing is in present tense. (See the tenses section.)
35
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements, essential in theses and also appearing at the end of some articles, may be
left until too late and thus receive zero editing. Everyone, however, reads thesis pages
attentively, particularly while in the auditorium awaiting the start of your defense. This reality
means . . .
Be exquisitely polite. Failing in politeness can be risky; some errors can even be hilarious.
A native English-speaker can most accurately judge the between-line connotations of words
or phases. Unedited text may include startling phrases that you innocently considered proper.
Beware: “I acknowledge the aid of NN.” This is merely a cool nod of the head.
Similarly, the adjective “competent” describes minimal ability; it is almost negative.
Never call yourself kind, as in “I kindly thank her.” Very bad! Others kindly aid YOU.
Suppose that A did far more for you than did B, but B is of higher rank. Or you must
praise
G, whom you dislike. One solution is to praise that person’s skills—“NN has great
expertise in X and Y”—avoiding adding that NN used none of these skills to benefit
you!
Actual examples that required immediate rescue:
“NN serviced / satisfied all my needs” sounds like master to servant—or worse!
“Thanks for all those educational experiences during nights in the lab.” What fun! (Omit “-s.”)
“I appreciate all their excellent implications.” Whatever did they imply (hint at)?
“I thank Professor Blit for her relentless aid that made the topic truly pellucid.”
Relentlessness is harsh and merciless; “pellucid” is rare, a fancy term for translucent.
“My little sun brightened my days.” Presumably “son”? Say “our son,” unless divorced?
“I want to/wish to thank N,” is an expression some dislike, because it seems to mean
“But I cannot, because . . . N ran off with my wife / husband!” Write only “I thank N.”
Avoid the task of creating a dozen splendid phrases like:
“Heartfelt thanks go to / My deepest appreciation / deeply indebted to /
I warmly thank / my sincere gratitude goes to / X deserves thanks /
X earns my thanks / my gratitude overflows—”
Instead, collect helpful individuals into cohesive groups.
Use one gratitude phrase at the beginning of each group’s paragraph.
One phrase or line per person then shows why you are grateful to each:
“My warmest appreciation goes to A for his constant wise guidance, to C for her
humor and cheery encouragement, to D for his aid with statistics, to E, G, and K for
their faithful support, and to L and M for their excellent laboratory assistance.”
36
Avoid giving both title and degree(s): “Professor Timo Koponen, Ph.D” Omit either one,
unless forced (as on page one of the thesis) to use both. My preference is for thanking “Professor
Koponen” and “Docent Vehkalahti,” with no degrees, because everyone at these ranks has a
PhD.
In English, degrees never precede names. Never write “MD Antti Aho” or “PhD Carol Norris.”
I prefer omitting all degrees like “MS / MSc,” “MD” (lääk. lic.), or “PhD” (tohtori, doctorate).
Professor Björn Gustavii is of the same opinion, saying bluntly that no degrees belong
in article acknowledgements. I would extend his advice to theses, as well.
For those without either professorships or docentships, reorganize the names so you can say
“My deep gratitude goes to the young doctors in our group: Antti, Tero, Esko, and Lisa.”
Perhaps “To my co-authors not elsewhere mentioned, I offer my sincere thanks.”
For technicians, “We all depended on the expert staff of the lab, especially Timo Ui and Vivi
Poo.” Adding “Mr.” and “Ms” or “Mrs.” seems rather insulting. You seem to be trying to conceal the
fact that some people hold no degrees.
Notice, however, that no one ever provides the academic degrees of parents, siblings, or
spouses.
That definitely does not imply that these people have earned no academic degrees.
Usually acceptable to all—degree-holders or not—with or without their family names, is
“I could not have succeeded without my invaluable / precious / irreplaceable neighbors Asi,
Celia, Jyrki, Tomi, and Walter; nor without Sari, Harri, and Mari of the running gang.”
The usual order of persons honored is department head, director(s), special mentors, coauthors,
reviewers, reviser / author’s-editor, colleagues, technicians, close friends, less-close
friends.
Then build up again to less-close relatives, closer ones, your child(ren), and any spouse /
partner.
No one regrets giving generous thanks, but you might regret being too stingy.
Should you include your siblings? Of course. Avoid, however, thanking someone for “nursing”
your baby (means with breast milk). Write “cared for my [poor neglected] baby”!)
Thank in-laws? (Yes.) Young children? Yes! Children grow up to examine their parents’ theses.
Try to treat all of your offspring equally.
Please vary the oh-so-frequent “Little Suvi reminds me of what is truly real / important in life.”
Somewhere, how about thanking your dog or cat? Think what they, as well, sacrifice for you!
Why fear emotion? Why avoid humor or even personal, private allusions? This event occurs
once in your lifetime, and even men have been known to write four pages of Acknowledgements
full of grateful affection and humor.
37
Thank all funding agencies and remember “the” in front of almost all of them. Read these
aloud to check by ear. “The Finnish Medical Society, the Generosity Foundation,” but “Kuopio
University.”
Thesis dedications on the first free page are nice. These have ranged during my decades here
from “Dedicated to my saviour Jesus Christ” to “In memory of my beloved cocker spaniel who
led me into veterinary medicine.”
Gustavii warns against choose mottos or wise quotations in the front that have become
clichés
or ones that could apply to any thesis. Choose, if you must, some words very relevant
or said by a noted scholar in your field . . . or by your beloved mom, dad, or child.
Acknowledgements in articles Remember to ask permission to acknowledge Anyone
disagreeing with your findings may prefer that his / her name
be omitted; otherwise you are indicating endorsement of
your
study and its findings.
Example: “We thank Ilpo Aho of Oulu University for the X samples, Sara Kohn for
statistical analyses, and the Tivoli Company of Copenhagen for the
reagents.” (Note to Finns: Neither “the reagents used” nor “the used reagents”!)
No degrees included, but “Professor Blim of Oxford University” is okay if she donated
essential specimens or advice.
Because of the new journal rules to specify the contribution of each co-author and the huge
proliferation of authors (up into the hundreds for some papers!), those aiding you, but not
sufficiently to earn co-authorship, can receive acknowledgements at the end
Some journals refuse to publish any personal acknowledgements, especially for aid
in the laboratory or statistical assistance or language revision.
38
Model Acknowledgements
This is a disguised actual complete acknowledgements in one University of Helsinki medical
thesis, adapted and slightly shortened for this book with the author’s permission.
Start with something like “My warmest gratitude goes” continuing:
. . . to Professor NN for her positive and encouraging approach regarding this research and also
otherwise.
to my supervisors Professor NN and Docent NN. Professor NN suggested the topic of this study
and had trust in my capability to complete the work even at times when I myself had none. As
head of the Department of X, he has been my supervisor in clinical work as well. Docent N’s
supportive attitude and quick responses to any questions concerning this study have been
invaluable [note that this deceptive adjective means too valuable to describe].
to the official reviewers Professors NN and NN for their constructive critiques.
to Professors NN and NN, my clinical supervisors, for their collaboration. Professor NN has
always provided me with prompt information when needed. NN’s help especially in the very
start of the study, but also later, has been irreplaceable. NN is also my coworker at the X
Department and an admirable person and expert to work and have discussions with.
to NN for reviewing the language of my thesis and NN for her author-editing and her useful
English courses.
to all the participants in this study.
to all of my colleagues and present and former fellow workers at the Department of N. Twelve
years ago I knew nothing about X, specific or otherwise, but from the very beginning I felt
appreciated and accepted as I was and received so much support and friendliness that it still
carries me along. You have all taught me so much. In contact with each person, adult or child,
new things evolve, and we along with it.
to my wonderful parents-in-law, N and N. We have had many great times together and will
hopefully have many more.
to my loving parents N and N, my adorable big brothers and my dear little sister and best friend
N and their spouses and children. We live in close contact, especially during summer, in the
lands of our ancestors in our leisure time paradise in X, which has been the root of my being and
well-being since childhood. I am very fortunate; I realize that.
to my N [husband] and our lovely children N, N, N, and N, I am ultimately grateful for our love
and companionship. Both being medical doctors has turned out positive in our relationship, and
N’s hard work has enabled me to work part-time, be available to the children, and do some
research somewhere in between. Our best creations ever are our children, who have loyally put
up with my recurrent absentmindedness and bursts of bad temper, and helped me place things in
the right order of importance by their mere existence. I will also have to mention our little dog N
who has numerous times during this process healed my wounded pride and self-worth with her
ever-ending affection and approval.
This work has been financially supported by N, N, N . . . to whom I am sincerely grateful.
39
Case-Reports (With thanks again to Björn Gustavii)
A case report may formulate a testable hypothesis.
(Present that single, deliciously unusual case . . . at a departmental seminar,
says Professor Gustavii.)
A case report may also prove useful—and thus deserve publication—if it
reports a new diagnostic tool or a new treatment.
A case report usually occupies no more than two pages (double spaced) of running text and
contains about five references. Since it is too brief to constitute a literature review,
do not label it as one.
A case report seldom requires more than two authors, as surely only one would perform the
observation of the patient. One editor’s query caused a surgical case-report’s author-list to
shrink from seven authors to only two!
40
Tense Choice
Present tense
Past tense
Perfect forms are fine for data most similar to yours in topic or findings: “We found that mice
died at -20 degrees, and in Smith’s work (2006), mice have died at a similar temperature.”
The present perfect tense is useful: “X has never survived where Y is a common virus (6).”
The perfect brings events up to the present, “No one has shown [and still haven’t] X to be
true.”
If I cannot decide between past and present tense, I choose non-temporal forms (indicating no
time)—such as participles and infinitives (See section on Titles for examples).
Established knowledge: “Finland has the world's highest rate of X infection.”
Others' general findings: “Aho found that no evidence for X exists.”
This verb can be in the present tense as well, if it sounds logical (“found” “finds,”)
but usually for a living author: “Aho suggests / states that X is Y.”
Your own goal in the introduction or abstract: “This study attempts /
will attempt / attempted to discover whether X falls when Y rises.”
Yours or anyone’s theorizing: “We hypothesize that X is —” “Results may
depend on population size.” “It seems that mice very seldom die from over-eating.”
5. Contents of tables or figures: “Table 2 includes further details.”
1. Specific details in yours or others’ published work (be alert to mention of quantities)
“We / Aho found that the two years with the highest rates were 2002 and 2004.”
“Only six of the mice survived (Aho 1999).” (past tense) But generalize to:
“showing that, under these conditions, very few survive.” (present tense)
2. Others’ general findings if logic demands, often in a list of findings: “At this temperature,
most mice died (8), but after immediate air-cooling, those that died were few (9), and
when immersed briefly in cold water, all survived (10).” (Note end-focus x 3!)
3. All your own current work: “Subjects stated their ages.” “X formed a Y.”
“None of them arrived,” except for things truly permanent: “The city is in Savo; its trees
were mainly birches.” (Cities do not move, but trees die.)
4. What others have said: Aho (1999) predicted that this test is to become the gold standard.
Present tense “predicts” is also acceptable here; see under present tense, #2.
When I see present tense for your own methods or results, I assume that you cannot be
discussing your own work. I thus seek a citation., but no citation, of course, appears.
41
Citations and Layout
Avoid repeating the same citation several times with no intervening citations, even if it is given
only as “3” or “(3)” or a superscript.3
Do this by using pronouns to link findings back to their source article:
“Brown et al (1998) found X. They continued with Z. In their study, A was B; their findings
also showed that Y was Z, although Smith et al (2000) have disagreed with all of their
conclusions.”
Never repeat parenthetically citation data you have already given:
“Aho found that X is Y (Aho 1991).”
Choices: “Brown (2000) suggests that X is Y” or “X is Y (Brown 2000 / Brown,
2000).”
Sentence-final citations in parentheses save words and do not affect end-focus. Devoting
the second most vital position in a sentence to a name is wasteful; instead, what belongs there
is an important word. You could, for instance, begin the sentence with a powerful “Never” or
“Only.”
If, however, you agree closely with Brown, if you know Brown personally, or if Brown is your
professor, reviewer, or opponent, then using her name as the subject of the sentence might be
wise!
For names outside of parentheses, journal editors now seem to favor, rather than “et al.,”
writing
“. . . Smith and co-workers (1991) succeeded.” “Brown and colleagues (2000) found X.”
If you choose one of these, use it throughout. Synonyms always confuse or irritate readers.
“Collaborators”? Maybe okay, but it sounds criminal!
Avoid the too-common Nordic use of “e.g.” in citations: “(e.g., Aho 1980).”
Because you cannot write: “It ended.eg 6
,” or “ended [e.g. 6],” or “ended (e.g. 6),” bravely
select the best work to cite. We know that other sources exist. Only occasionally will you need
something like:
“(As best shown by Aho 1999)” or “(Reviewed in / by Aho, 2000).”
Saving words:
“This is true of measles (Pop 1991), smallpox (Pip 1994), and typhoid (Pup 1999).”
(In present tense, because these three papers are published, and this seems to be a generalization.)
Or “ . . . of diphtheria (5), smallpox (7), and influenza (8).” Or “Oho [3] and Ton [7], like Iho
[9], found these diseases to be widespread.” (Note infinitive).
42
Font issue, italics or not
Obey your target-journal style when deciding whether to use italics. Use them for Latin (not only
in vivo but also e.g., i.e., AND for every et al.)? Then you must use italics for every foreign term,
like laissez faire, or any Finnish or Swedish word.. I find italics to be decreasing in popularity.
I suspect that they are expensive.
You do need italics to distinguish genes from other abbreviations. Here is an authoritative quote
from a student as to italics for genes and proteins:
"Non-human oncogenes are usually written as uncapitalized three-letter words in italics (e.g. myc
- italics) while their protein products are written in roman font with an initial capital (e.g. Myc). .
. . . . To make matters more confusing, human genes follow a different nomenclature, so that the
human myc [italics] gene is denoted as MYC [italics] and its protein product is written as MYC."
Cited from the book "The biology of cancer" by Robert A. Weinberg, 2007. Note that this book
does not italicize “e.g.”
Layout
Do not copy your target-journal’s layout. Gustavii recommends using for submitted articles:
a. Times New Roman font 12
b. Headings with three levels:
1. bold UPPERCASE
2. bold lower case
3. italics
c. No split words. Computer programs split the same word at different points.
Opinion differs as to where syllable-breaks occur, even among scholars who are all
native English-speakers. Dictionaries also differ regarding syllable-breaks.
As I recall, “democratization” can be divided into syllables in about ten different ways, a
few beginning: de / mo, dem / o, and cra / tic, crat / ic. So do not try this (at home)!
To avoid splitting words, never justify the right margin. Justify left, only.
Leave the right side ragged, as in this book.
Full, both-side justification necessitates splitting words, which slows down
our reading pace and also produces illogical horizontal spacing and gaps in
lines.
43
Verbs for Academic Scientific Writing
Your own research field supplies enough substantives. You need a greater stock of verbs.
First drafts need boringly common verbs (“to be / have / get / find out”) that you then make specific.
Verbs are muscular; they move ideas along. Always, however, check connotations in an English-toEnglish
dictionary, especially if you delight in rare words. In these groups of verbs, UPPER case
indicates the stressed syllable; “+” means that this verb, spelled thus, can also serve as a substantive.
to look at to be finding out to balance to show
obSERVE learn eVALuate INdicate
view + / reVIEW + see conSIDer sugGEST
perCEIVE search + SPECulate DEMonstrate
reGARD + surVEY, (SURvey +) deCIDE point out
appROACH + inSPECT conCLUDE exHIBit +
be aWARE of inQUIRE acKNOWledge reVEAL
STUDy + QUEry + ADvocate + disCLOSE
ascerTAIN (= check) deFEND disPLAY +
to compare exPLORE conCEDE ILLustrate
conTRAST + inVEStigate exEMplify
match + iDENtify to test make EVident
CHARacterize aGREE disCERN conTRAST +
probe + check + inFORM apPROXimate
reLATE deTECT conFIRM COMment on
CORrelate + unCOVer FALsify afFIRM
asSOciate + deTERmine enSURE asSERT
differENtiate asSESS esTABlish TEStify (to)
disTINguish ANalyze (vs. anALysis!) subSTANtiate inTERpret
CALculate VERify deFINE
to cause, from outside, to cause, from outside,
something to decrease something to increase
reDUCE raise + inTENsify
curTAIL adVANCE + lift +
cut + AGgravate MAGnify
deGRADE AMplify proMOTE
dePRESS aROUSE proVOKE
diMINish ELevate STRENGTHen
drop + enHANCE
imPAIR enLARGE
LESsen enRICH I consider the verb deTERiorate to be always
LImit + exCITE intransitive, so that nothing can “deteriorate X.”
MINimize FOster X can, however, itself “deteriorate” or decrease.
MODerate HEIGHTen
reSTRICT imPROVE Note that it cannot reduce itself, nor can anything
WEAKen inFLATE “increase / decrease” anything else transitively.
(See the Words Confused and Misused section.)
44
Groups of useful or problematical verbs
“ConSIST” is for ingredients (cake) and “conTAIN” for contents (of a pill).
“InCLUDE” implies less than 100%. “It comPRISED 80 men” means 100%.
“It was comPRISED of 80 men” is correct but uselessly wordy.
“ImPLY” and
“impliCAtion” are
common & safe,
but “IMplicate”
always shows
blame or guilt.
Beware!
To “prove” anything is
for naive amateurs;
it means proven forever, everywhere,
thanks to you!
Failure to prove is okay,
as is DISprove, meaning FALsify.
“X clearly shows / undoubtedly is”
“This proved / has proven effective.”
This “prove” means shown with some
evidence,
To end-focus
on a digit, use
“number” as a verb or
“figure” as a noun:
“Girls NUMbered 71;
the FIGure for boys
was 11.”
Handy words
if all else fails:
reGARD / inVOLVE / conCERN.
“Regarding this item . . . .”
“She regarded it as complete.”
“In regard(s) to this issue . . .”
“Involving her was wise.”
“It involved effort.”
“Concerning this danger ...”
“The problem concerns
funding.”
“Answer” “reply / resPOND” (respondents);
“give” “proVIDE / supPLY / FURnish.”
Upgrade spoken-English
“There is / was / were X”
to “X exISTS / ocCURS /
apPEARED / aROSE / eMERGED.”
These verbs do differ.
Things EXIST permanently,
OCCUR regularly,
APPEAR suddenly,
ARISE theoretically,
EMERGE from something.
These can also help you
in replacing passives.
45
Formality Levels
Colloquial spoken, first-draft words with some synonyms, in order of increasing formality
Avoid these Choose among these
a bit a little, slightly, somewhat
a couple two, a pair, a duo (for people, “couple” implies man and woman)
a lot, a lot of, lots of several, many, multiple (see “plenty of”)
anyhow in any case, in any event, nevertheless, nonetheless
anyway although, thus, however
besides; too also, in addition, likewise; furthermore, moreover
enough sufficient (insufficient is also useful)
fix (verb) arrange, manage, handle OR repair, renovate, recondition
give (verb) supply, furnish, offer, provide, yield
gone; none lacking, absent; missing (think cops)
hard difficult, demanding, laborious, time-consuming, taxing
let (v) allow, permit, give permission for
little (= few) few, insufficient, lacking, rare, scarce, sparse
look for (v) try to find, seek (sought), search for
make produce, construct, form, compose, build, create, originate, constitute
plenty of abundant, ample (vs. sparse), numerous, frequent (occurring over time)
pretty; quite somewhat, almost, moderately, not uncommon, not infrequent
quite X very (a weak word), rather, considerably, noticeably, notably, markedly,
greatly (Avoid “remarkably” as too emotional.)
so therefore, thus, hence
start (v) begin, initiate, undertake
take (v) adopt (100%), adapt (with changes), transfer, possess
think X is consider X to be, judge X to be, deem X to be
though even though, although, notwithstanding
too also, in addition, as well as, likewise
try (to) attempt to / endeavor to
turn out (v) prove/proven to be X (show by evidence; “He proved to be a good
husband”)
way means, approach, method, procedure, manner
work out (v) solve, resolve, determine, devise, OR clarify, elucidate
(Sources include The Words Between, JM Perttunen, 2000, and many author-editors.)
46
Words Confused and Misused
amount and number: “Number” goes with countables, as does “fewer”: Fewer cells.
Less sugar (uncountable). “Each” and “any” often prove useful to maintain the
singular: “Of the 10, each patient received 3 g of the drug.”
any: This is handy to allow you to use the singular and to include zero. Any = 0
“We sought correlations between age and enzyme X levels. (They surely existed.)
We sought any correlation between age and enzyme X level.” (Maybe
nonexistent.)
chance vs. change: “Their first chance to change X will be in 2009.” Careful; they sound alike.
chapter: Finns use this for almost everything! Wrong choices are extremely confusing.
1. paragraph = an often-indented unit usually covering one major point.
2. section = such as Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion.
3. chapter = a long portion of a book, comprising many pages. (Moby Dick!)
contrary to: Overused. “On the contrary” (French influence, au contraire?) is argumentative!
Instead, write “Contrary to X is Y.” “In contrast, X seems preferable.”
“Conversely, our mice survived X.” “We chose the opposite.” “The reverse is true.”
control: (säätää ohjata) Use monitor / check / follow(-up) (valvoa, tarkistaa, seurata).
“ConTROL” (stress 2nd
syllable) goes with hand-cuffs, ropes, dog-leashes, tempers.
Doctors monitor patients, follow them in a follow-up study, check them.
different: Avoid over-use; all things differ. Why “Six different men shared a ward”?
Perhaps to stress wide differences, “Six widely differing viral species thrived.”
“Differ” is a good, strong verb: “These patient populations differed in ethnicity.”
economical: “Economic” has to do with the economy. “Economical” is rare and suggests a
saving of money (säästäväinen). An ecoNOMical person eCONomizes.
effect and affect: “Effect” is almost always a noun and “affect,” a verb.
Learn: “We affect its effects.”
The rare noun “Affect” (capitalized) refers to emotions. “He is lacking in Affect.”
The rare verb “effect” means to establish. “We hope to effect changes here!”
gold standard: Never “golden standard,” as this is monetary—££, $$. A metaphor
contrasting a nation’s gold reserves with silver reserves.)
More usual in medicine is “X of choice” “Treatment of choice”?
health vs. healthy: She is healthy (adjective). She is in good health (noun).
47
increase, decrease: These apply only during a specified time-period. They may occur “from
inside,” on their own, as in a lesion healing, versus—from outside—being cured.
Occurring within: “His pain increased.” “Values increased / rose / soared.”
“Levels decreased / fell / dropped / deteriorated.” (See Verbs section.)
By outside forces: “Aspirin reduced /raised / elevated / enhanced / promoted / X”
or it “reduced / lowered / diminished / X.” Or “Y caused a decrease in X.”
Or is X merely “higher / lower” or “larger / smaller” than is Y?
“As the length of the neonates decreases, their relative heart weight grows.” (Babies shrink?)
Accurate: “The shorter the baby at birth, the greater (is) its relative heart weight.”
Never write “When mountains increase in size, their number of species rises.”
Write “The larger the mountain, the greater (is) its number of species.”
incidence vs. prevalence: Gustavii calls these “the total number of cases of a disease or
condition existing at a specific time” vs. “the number of new cases
that develop over a specific time,”
Prevalence = how many now have X disease. “Prevalence is 213 / 100 000.”
Incidence = how many develop it annually. “16.3 / 100 000 develop it annually.”
in print, in press: “In print” means being sold; “out of print” means sold out, unavailable.
In press—more useful to authors—means now being printed, soon to appear,
Or (mainly non-academically) “forthcoming.” No phrase “out of press” exists.
keep vs. give: “I will keep a talk.” No, you do the opposite: “I will give a talk.”
But we do “hold a meeting / a conference”; we “give a party.”
lend vs. borrow: Lend goes out, from you; borrow comes to you. Finns generously lainavat.
next: Near a day, we say, “See you this coming Monday,” “Next Monday” is in ten days!
other: “On the one hand, and on the other hand,” doubles contrast strength and is okay,
but
never use 2 x other to refer to two related items. This is dangerously confusing.
Never “On the other hand, X . . . but on the other hand, Y . . . .” or, without hands,
“The other patient lost weight, and the other gained weight.” NO. Finnish error.
Write “One patient lost weight, and the other gained (weight).”
She was blind in the other eye” = totally blind! “Other” always means second of two.
own: Always preceded by a genitive: “her / his / Jane's / their own X.”
48
parameter: This is overused and mispronounced! Say “paRAmeter” (not “pair of meters”) and
reserve it for mathematically derived values like means, CIs, SDs, or constants.
Instead, use “characteristics / variables / “measurements.”
Similarly, avoid “paradigm,” sounding like “pair of dimes.” Model? Pattern?
Ideal?
range: From smallest to largest figure, use “range / ranging.” “His temperature ranged
from 36 to 40 C. Prevalence, ranging from 20 to 30/100 000, is sure to rise.” (See
“vary.”)
risk: Most academics seem to prefer “at risk for X” (X is something not certain to
come) rather than “risk of,” which is lay-person’s language. We can then write “The
risk of over-eating for obesity.” But always “risk of death,” as death always
occurs.
significant: Use only for a statistical difference (P-value), not for achievements or for human
relationships, unless you have no P-values in your manuscript. Many drop
“statistically” after using it once, unless “clinically significant” is relevant.
Avoid “almost / highly significant.” Instead, give the P-value. (See Handling
Numerals—)
similar, same, identical: These words are not interchangeable. “Same” and “identical” are
more similar than is “similar.” Brothers and sisters are similar, but only identical
twins, being monozygotic, are genetically exactly the same.
since, as, while: Beware! Each of these can also have a time-sense.
“Since / As he came to live here, he has been studying Finnish.” (Because, or in 2001?)
“Since / As / While I am busy in surgery, you look after the family.” (Huh?)
We therefore often substitute “because” for “since” and for “as.”
“X accumulated in the nucleus, while tabulin was cytoplasmic” means whereas or when?
For any “while” not meaning “at the same time as” substitute “but” or “whereas.”
vary: Less often appropriate than “range,” discussed above. “Vary” means to go up and down.
“The patient’s temperature varied hour by hour.” Often it includes no figures.
weigh vs. weight: We weighed (verb) the neonate. Because his weight (noun) was only
1000 g, his mother felt weighted (participle) down with fear. The Mafia weighted
(verb) the corpse with rocks before throwing it overboard.
worth x; worthy of x: Finns may write: “That is worth of x.” The correct alternatives are:
“That is worth studying,” or, more formally, “That is worthy of study.”
Confusing plurals: The longer form is singular: criterion / criteria; phenomenon /
phenomena. Two words, species, series, serve either as singular or plural: “Aho’s two series
are larger than is our first series.” “One species occurs in Africa, and five species occur in
Asia.”
Words never plural: equipmentS , adviceS , informationS. I dislike researches.
49
A Sample of Preposition Problems
absent from
added to, not into
apply for (money), but apply ointment; apply to the university for money
approve / disapprove of
agree / disagree with
ask him, never from him
associate with (and correlate / consistent with, but relate to, characteristic of)
at this level (Use AT for precise stopping-points: point, age, temperature, stage, level,
dose, dosage.) I prefer AT risk for.
Finns have problems with “at” and with “by” (authorship).
on average (“On average, earthquakes there occur every 12 years.”)
call (phone) her, never call to her
compare with = seek likenesses and differences; often in the USA, compare to.
Use “compared to / with” early in the sentence, with no comparative degree:
“Compared to rats, mice thrived.” “Finland, compared to the USA, is safer.”
But with comparative degree, with an -er modifier; use “than”: “X is
longER than Y, less than Z.” So avoid: “longer compared with / to Z.”
in connection with not to
introduce to the audience a speaker. Wrong: “I introduce you Dr. Ilo.” (We say that to Ilo.)
different from (always!) The US error is “different than”; the UK error is “different
to.”
dissolved in, but extracted from
the effect / influence of statins on cholesterol / of nurses on doctors
essential to
exclusive of
fill in (USA also fill out) a form; complete a form
foreign to
grateful to her for the gift
an increase in (not of) X (size?) a reduction in cost
independent of, dependent on
isolate from
at a mean height / weight / level
participate in (always “in,” except when final: “Glad you could participate.”)
prefer X to Y
prior to
(in) pursuit of
in the range of
similar to
substitution of x for y (where y is what leaves)
representative of (. . . this syndrome, this class of drugs)
varies with (. . .weight, age)
Academics: We work at the university, in the department of X. Patients in a hospital have
physicians who work on their floor, or in a clinic of / at that hospital.
Students accepted by a university then study at that school.
Beware of any incorrect “to,”
influenced by Finnish –lle forms
PLEASE ACCEPT MY APOLOGIES
FOR THE TOTAL ILLOGICALITY OF
ENGLISH!
50
Participle Problems
“Using” often dangles: “Using lasers, the patients' eyes were studied.” (Eyes use lasers?)
“The disease was identified using the latest technology.” (A clever disease!)
“The children were studied using MRI.” (Such technically advanced children!)
Change “using” to “with” or “by”: “With” an instrument, or a substance; however, as the
instrument gets more complex and more automatic, one can use “by”: by a method or technique,
or a complex instrument (even “by means of” or “by use of” something).
“The patients were warmed with blankets.” “By this method, we succeeded.”
“Results were calculated not by computer, but with a slide rule.”
“Using” is okay with an agent: “Aho, using X, did Y,” even thus: “These cells, using sodium as
a—”
It can also serve as a substantive, which is called a gerund:
“Using soap is wise” (is like “Walking is healthful.”)
“Used” is one of my enemy words, like “not,” “so,” “get”— all of which are vague and
weak, especially “used” as a passive verb at sentence-end. (See Process Writing
section.)
Be careful with all participles ending in “-ing.”
These may become “dangling modifiers.” Native English-speakers make jokes with them:
“Lying across the colon, the surgeon saw the piece of suture.”
“Hanging from the ceiling, the elderly nurse suddenly noticed an electrical cable.”
Repair both by flipping them so that the modifying phrase comes last, next to what it modifies.
“The surgeon saw the suture lying . . . .” and “The nurse noticed a cable hanging . . . .”
Thus, another good rule:
Even if the –ing participle is grammatically safe, choose your vocabulary carefully.
Put things that go together close together.
51
A Sample of Article-Use Guidelines
A / An / no article
Use with an unspecified, singular, countable noun.
“A man arrived” (not specified; any man).
“Use lemon juice in water to remove rust” (none is a countable).
Note: “AN” precedes a vowel sound (Examples: an uncommon, but a unique or a European).
The
1) When an item has already been specified:
“The study” means one already mentioned. For good linkage: “This study / These studies.”
2) When an item is about to be specified:
“We carried out three experiments; the experiment involving mice . . . .”
3) When an item is otherwise known to the reader:
“The teeth were intact.” (You mentioned skulls, and we all know that skulls have teeth.)
4) When a countable is unique:
“The best / opposite / normal / chief / first / following / present / same,”
or unmodified: “the sun / horizon / sea / water / menopause”
And “The Greek president . . .” but never “The Nature” (but the environment).
English allows you to avoid repetition by using THE:
“We captured mice in Lapland. The animals were healthy.” You can avoid writing
“The animals used were healthy,” or an error such as “the used needles,” old needles from
which you can become HIV-positive! “Used” before a noun means not new; think of a used car.
Special cases: Body organs—the heart, the liver, the brain, the arm, the kidneys, the bones
Institutions and organizations—the Finnish Academy, the FCS, but Oulu University,
and words unmodified: the sick, the old, and the former, the latter; the elderly, the blind
No articles for: both, noon, midnight, winter, childhood, pregnancy, birth, youth, death,
biology, history, malaria, oxygen, Ireland, Monday, June, fifteen, Table 1, Figure 3.
Note verb: commit suicide / murder, always without “the.” Murder is a verb; suicide is not.
None in addresses: Department of Art, University of Texas; Joan Aho, Editor
None in above sea level, below zero, by accident, at once, at present, in case, by chance,
in addition, in brief, in contrast, in detail, in effect, in full, in fact, on time, on purpose,
within reach, beyond reach, without doubt, without warning.
Deciding between “a/an” and “the”: usually “the” means 1 of 1; “a/an” means 1 of >1.
Many singular nouns need no article. Judge them by ear by creating a simple sentence:
“Prevalence may rise.” “Nature can heal a patient.” “Treatment influenced it.”
But “THE environment / study / patient / dose.”
52
Chief Uses of the Comma
TYPE OF COMMA
1. List-commas
PROBLEM
Final comma before “and.”
Often comma before “or.”
EXAMPLE
a, b, c, and d
a, b, c, or d
2. “Fetal parentheses”
(always paired)
A commenting or a
defining unit?
Doctors __who constantly
overwork__ need higher pay.
The timer__which broke__ will
never work.
(Test these two, with and without commas.)
3. Subject + verb
and, or, but
subject + verb
Clarity
Loss of signal correlates with
concentration of contrast agent and
relative blood volume is calculated
by the X method.
(Why must we read this sentence twice?)
4. Introductory word
or phrase
Does an oral pause follow? First, tell me . . . .
Finally, finished reports arrived.
In May, is the test complete?
5. Dependent clause
(always use if initial)
Is the clause dependent? Whereas 251 cooperated, 17
withdrew.
If you wish, the doctor will call.
6. Adjective series A comma goes where
“and”
could appear.
It is a tall, broad, dark oak tree.
The fit, lean Arab patients survived.
7. Apposition (paired) Identical, not defining Paula, our director, arrived.
But: Our director Paula arrived.
53
Punctuation Terms
(US / British form)
comma , pilkku
period / full stop . piste
semicolon ; puolipiste
colon : kaksoispiste
hyphen ("n") - väliviiva
dash ("m") – ajatusviiva
dot (for the Net) www.helsinki.fi
decimal point 2.5
parentheses / brackets ( ) sulut
brackets / square brackets [ ] hakasulkeet
braces / curly brackets { }
exclamation mark !
question mark ?
slash, slant line, diagonal,
stroke, virgule
/ kauttaviiva
backslash \ kenoviiva
apostrophe heittomerkki ’ it’s = it is, a contraction; genitive: its lung
one rat’s heart; six rats’ hearts
quotation marks “US” ; ‘UK’
ellipsis dots . . . But when final, add final mark: “. . . ?/!”
asterisk (not comic Asterix!) *
superscript soon15
subscript H2O
54
Exercise in Punctuation
All punctuation in this passage is gone, except for the ellipsis dots.
Punctuate it. In some places, two, even four options will be suitable.
Abstracts of biomedical manuscripts are set out with the background first
followed by the methods the results and then the conclusion to mirror the
structure of manuscripts which are traditionally written under the headings
introduction methods results and discussion (IMRAD) this tradition started
to emerge in the late 1940s before 1945 articles covered several topics and
were organized under subject headings like a book the IMRAD structure
which facilitates browsing sections of the article for specific information
became the norm when the Vancouver Group adopted it in the first edition of
the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to biomedical journals
published in 1979 it was therefore not authors or readers but editors who
cast the IMRAD structure in stone
. . .
. . . Nobel Prize winner Peter Medawar . . . explained that the IMRAD format
is based on the assumption that discovery is an inductive process arising
from unbiased observations in reality however observation is inevitably
biased and scientific work starts with an expectation in the light of which
choices are made as to the methods used and which results are relevant
accordingly he argued that the discussion should come first followed by the
scientific facts and acts
Adapted from “EASE-Forum Digest: December 2008 to March 2009,” compiled by Elise
Langdon-Neuner. First published in European Science Editing, 2009, 35 (2), 49-50.
55
On Punctuation: the only logical system in English
Commas cause the most difficulty for everyone—native and non-native.
Commas mark speech pauses (“By winter, her symptoms may disappear”), but not always.
Although speakers do generally pause before each verb, no comma belongs in this sentence:
“The population near this river flowing across the continent_are in danger from a rare disease.”
Although you had to breathe before “are,” we are limited by this rule:
Never place one comma—a single comma (,)—between a subject and its own verb.
I categorize commas as either single or paired—calling them wed or unwed commas.
Single—or “unwed”—commas
The final list / serial comma before “and” and sometimes before “or”—always popular in
America—is now a requirement of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) and Lancet, even in this
era of expensive printing when other punctuation symbols (such as my beloved hyphen) are
threatened.
Beware: “The mothers recognized that prevention of dental caries required check-ups
and restriction of sugary snack food, soft drinks and toothbrushing.”
In the picture is a “two-legged clause.” Each such clause can stand alone. Unwed
Commas should always separate independent clauses joined by and, or, or but.
This prevents confusion: A comma warns you that a new subject and verb are
coming, rather than more of the first clause such as an additional object. Study this sentence:
“Joe has three cats and seven dogs of many breeds, large and small, live next door to him.”
Does Joe have three pets or ten? Note the shock of unexpectedly meeting that second verb, live.”
He has three, so help readers by placing a comma after “cats.”
Unwed commas also set off introductory words & phrases. “In time, children learn.”
“Surprisingly, it worked.” “Now, test the reagent.” “First, tilt the flask.”
I call a dependent clause one-legged. It never forms a complete sentence.
A two-legged clause can support, with a comma, a one-legged clause,
and generally does so when the one-legged (dependent) clause comes first.
“If it rains, you'll be wet.” (But “You’ll be wet if it rains” is okay.)
“While the sun shines, rest.” (But “Rest while the sun shines” is okay.)
Any “whereas” clause is dependent, needing a comma: Fish swim, whereas birds fly.”
To distinguish an independent from a dependent clause, say it aloud. If a puzzled listener says,
“So? Go on!” or “Are you crazy?” then it was a dependent (one-legged) clause.
Unwed commas also separate adjectives in series (“New, well-educated, enthusiastic nurses”).
But they go only in a space that could contain an “and” (“A well-educated Filipino nurse”).
Put single commas after all places and dates. “The conference begins on 20 July, 2004,
Note the four comma in Beijing, China, and lasts for one week.”
56
Paired—or married—commas
These go around “comment” clauses and phrases—ones that are nonessential, meaning
just side remarks that do not alter or limit the sentence meaning.
They never go around “definition” clauses / phrases essential to identify what comes before.
This rule causes difficulty for Finns, because a comma is required before “joka”/ “että.”
One safe rule is that no comma ever goes before “that,” but a comma does go before “which.”
Scientists seem, however, to favor “which,” either with or without a comma.
(“That” seems to me, also, to be uncomfortable, to tie words too tightly together.)
My name for commas that surround comments is “fetal parentheses.”
The commas required around “a tough field” could “grow up” to be parentheses or dashes:
“Neuroradiology (a tough field) is her choice.” “Neuroradiology—a tough field—is her choice.”
Scientific papers require many parentheses (for citations, quantities, p-values), so use
parentheses sparingly; limit, also, the number of dramatic pairs of dashes.
How does one recognize a parenthetical comment? Say the sentence aloud, whispering the
words which may be either comment or definition. If the sentence fails to make sense without
the whispered words, you have a definition. If it still makes sense, the words were a comment.
After a comment, a singular verb will not even change: “Juha, in addition to Outi, has come.”
Test yourself: One sentence shows she has one sister, but the other shows more than one.
Which is a comment, and which is a definition?
“Her sister, who is her identical twin, arrived.” “Her sister who is her identical twin arrived.”
Special If a parenthetical comment stands by itself (two-legged) as a complete sentence,
case then instead of putting commas around it, use two dashes or parentheses:
“These cells (see Figure 1) divide rapidly.” “Many topics—HIV-AIDS was one—led to debate.”
No punctuation goes before parentheses unless the parentheses contain a complete sentence.
Paired commas also set off appositives, acting like words following “i.e.” “Ted, my uncle, left.”
But “My Uncle Ted left.” “Mari Storpellinen, a UK college graduate, visited.”
Semicolons (;) are too seldom used by Finns, though they offer an extra choice of pause. They
link closely related but independent clauses, allowing a dramatic pause (“Many treatments
followed; none succeeded.”) They solve the problem of deciding between one long or two
shorter sentences.
They also indicate longer breaks in a series of items that also need commas, such as “(mean, 60
years; range, 42-71).” Below, instead of nine commas, find five commas + three semicolons:
“The dietician provided apples, tasty, soft ones; sweet, ripe naval oranges from Spain;
big, firm bananas; and red, seedless grapes.”
57
Colons (:) mean “viz” or “thus” and introduce a list (“… are the following:”) or announce an
explanation (“The wreck was terrible: injured people, glass all over the road.” “It was terrible:
No one survived.”). I capitalize the first word in a full sentence following a colon, as with “No.”
Avoid use of a colon between a verb and its object. Write “The three best cities in the world were
Zurich, Vancouver, and Helsinki,” or “. . . those top cities: Zurich, Vancouver, and Helsinki—”
Dashes The “em-dash”—like the ones around these seven words—is the width of an “m.”
Dashes create a gasp-like sudden break. In formal writing, I would avoid using more than one
or two pairs of dashes per article. “We prescribed Marevan, Emconcor—low in cost—and two
expensive antibiotics.” A dash can be single: “The drug she takes is inexpensive—warfarin.”
Note: Computers can make a dash from no spaces and two hyphens (--). Type those, and
without adding a space, type any letter and then a space. The two hyphens join to make a dash.
An intermediate-length dash, the “en-dash,” is the width of an “n,” and often connects pairs or
ranges such as “The calcium–sodium combination” or time such as “the period May–July.”
Note the three lengths: m-dash, n-dash, and hyphen: — – Hyphens
(-) link words, when several words stack up as pre-modifiers of a head word.
“Carefully built, long-lasting, color-coordinated ward furniture” has “furniture” as head word,
and shows that “-ly” itself serves as a hyphen. Never add a hyphen after any -ly adverb.
What a hyphen can do: “Beer containing lemonade” vs. “beer-containing lemonade.”
Different?
Head words here are bolded; do you want one or two hyphens?
“Every level of toxin neutralizing IgG antibodies in the X serum samples were high.”
“That disease causing mutation in . . . .”
Note: Pre-modifying paired words need a hyphen only if they precede their “head word.”
“A well-known method is well known” takes one hyphen. “Each was 3 ml.” vs. “3-ml
aliquots.” Notice the two hyphens in “waist-to-hip ratio.”
No hyphen in: “Group x A comprised 111 mice”; a hyphen in “Group-A mice were thinner.”
Guess my hyphenation rule for numbers above one: “Six-yeaR-old boys arrived” vs. “Boys
ten yearS old can act like six-yeaR-olds.”
“A 6-meteR rod” vs. “a rod 6 meterS long,” “3-daY tests” vs. “tests lasting 3 dayS.”
All these hyphens act like crutches for s-less plurals. Note that even with many toxins involved,
We still write “a toxiN-detection test.”
Remember the required anticipatory hyphens in “6- to 8-yeaR-old boys,” and “fire- and waterresistant
fabric.” Notice the reverse position: “drug-independent and -dependent patients.”
58
The BMJ discourages most hyphen-use, but this 2009 quote in the European Medical Writers’
journal The Write Stuff (vol. 18, no. 3, p. 177) originated in a BMJ office: “You are being
invited to take part in a non-invasive and ionizing radiation free arteriovenous fistulae
surveillance study.” Is the sole hyphen here even useful? Don’t we desperately need two or
three more hyphens?
Slashes (/), also called slant lines / diagonals / strokes / virgules), can mean “per,” “and,” or
“or,” as in 10 mg/day, 11 meters/second. Avoid slashes for ratios; write “X to Y” or “X:Y.”
Avoid “Many (231/536; 43%) died.” Write “Of 536, 231 (43%) died.” Or at least “(231 of
536).”
No spaces go around slashes. My breaking this rule in this book is for better visibility!
Apostrophes (’) indicate the English genitive or indicate contractions.
Singular genitive: “Smith's research,” “Jones’s ideas.” “Finland’s health service.”
Plural genitive: “All the doctors’ pay,” but “children’s cups” and “Men’s stress levels.”
With joint ownership, use only one apostrophe: “Stephen and Maria’s children.”
Use no contractions (“don’t, couldn’t, we’re, I’ve, Sam’s arrived”) in medical articles and theses.
Use no apostrophes in plurals (“The Smith’s Smiths are coming”), except for numbers and
symbols. “MRI’s, 5’s,” and “UFO’s” are, however, evolving into “MRIs, 5s,” and “UFOs.”
Decades have grown shorter: “the 1930ies” “the 1930’s” “the 1930s” “the Thirties.”
(Be sure to make clear in what century!)
Parentheses / Brackets (()) always go inside final punctuation marks: “ended (5).”
Never place any punctuation in front of any parenthesis.
Never: “Tests were thorough, (6) and they were also frequent.”
Instead, “Tests were thorough (6), and they were also frequent.” (Note end-focus x 2.)
Quotation marks (“ ” / ‘ ’) go around all borrowed words / phrases, and around words
themselves: “‘Moi’ is also French” in the USA; most Britons write ‘“Moi” is also French.’
Notice their single quotes outside, double inside. Order of punctuation also varies: For Britons,
all marks go outside if not part of the quotation. (Did he say “Never”? but “They shouted
“Help!”) In the USA, commas and periods always go inside, and location of semicolons, colons,
exclamation marks, and question marks depend—as with the British style—on sentence
meaning.
(See Lynne Truss’s best-selling humorous punctuation guide: Eats, Shoots and Leaves.)
59
Handling Numerals, Numbers, and Other Small Items
1. Numbers: Check your target publication for its preferred style. Generally, write
numbers as words for items with no units (patients, treatments) up to 11. Use
number figures from one / 1 and thereafter for items with standard units (ml, mg, km).
2. For numbers with unit symbols (kg, m, or C or the percentage sign, %), if you write out
a number under 11, usually write out the unit, as well (6 kg, six kilograms).
Note British: “six per cent,” but USA: “six percent.” (But always per day, per week.)
3. Avoid mixing words and numerals for the same item in the same sentence.
“Of the 81 countries, only eight 8 sent athletes”.
“Two boys and 11 girls attended” changed to “Of the 13, 2 boys and 11 girls attended.”
4. Use ordinals up through ten (“first . . . to tenth, then 11th . . . 160th, 161st, 163rd”).
5. Never add a space between number and percentage sign: “6%,” never “6 %.”
Do insert a space before any amount: “3 mg; 10 K.” One okay oddity is “120 mmHg.”
6. Use numerals for figures and tables and never add an article or a period / full stop.
“Figure 3 is attached,” not “ the Figure 3. is attached.”
In the actual caption: “Fig. 3. Costs for Health Care, 2000-2008 in Finland.”
Some journals use Roman numerals (I, II, III) for article figures
7. As dates, “14 May 1998” or “14/5/98” is generally preferable. I meet “14.05.98” only
in Finland. Internationally, this is recommended: 1998-05-14, but rare.
In the USA, nonscientists use “May 2, 1998,” which is confusing when abbreviated in US
style as “5/2/98,” because this could mean either February 5 or May 2.
8. Sentences never begin with numerals (except in Lancet). A short word (“Six / Ten
studies”) is acceptable. Otherwise, rearrange the sentence:
Start with the magic preposition “Of.”
Change “32 of the 76 men attended” “Of the 76 men, 32 attended.”) Or link
related sentences with a semicolon (“A few are gone; 158 are left”). If desperate, write
“A total of 21 men” (I dislike “Altogether”) or “The year 1939 saw the start of war.”
9. The decimal in Anglo-US texts is a point (5.75). This point may be raised in some
British texts (5.75). Other European countries, like Finland, accept the comma (5,75).
10. Zero before decimal point: A zero here is easier to see (0.21), although some journals use
no zero here in text / figures. They may drop zero only for P-values—always less than 1.
11. A decimal rule: Show values under 0.01 to only two decimal places. From 0.01 to 0.001
show values to only three decimal places.
60
12. Large numbers: Group your digits into trios (12 345 000), with spaces and no
periods. Or, in the older style, insert commas (12,345,000) between trios.
We usually insert no space into four figures, unless they appear in a column or are in
comparison with larger figures: “We sent 1511. But “We sent 1 511, not 15 120.”
Can your “1999” be mistaken for a year? Do we know whether “the 1999 cows” were
that many, were in that year’s project, or were born then?
13. P-values: Björn Gustavii says that because P > 0.05 means “unpublishable,” give exact
P-values (P =, not P < ) for values above 0. 001, using “P < ” only for 0. 001 or less.
Check each journal’s preference for the symbol: P / p or P / p.
14. We have no plural percent, no percents; use “percentages,”
Usually “days,” “weeks,” and “months” should be written out as words.
15. Ratios can be written as 10:1, to mean “per” or 10 to 1. We can separate items as “per”
with a slant line or slash, as in “cases/year,” but some advise never placing more than
one slash in a series (not “cases/year/country,” but “cases/year per country”). (See
under “Slash”). In text, though maybe not in tables, “6/18” may confuse; write “6 of 18.”
16. Cite sources according to target-journal style. Check how the journal, in Vancouver
style, spaces citation numbers, either on the line or as superscripts (6, 8-11 or 6,8-11?).
In Harvard style, check for comma (Aho, 1999) or no comma (Aho 1999).
17. Superscript figures go outside the punctuation in US style (“. . . ended.6,8,9
”).
The British (not the BMJ) often use the reverse order—like “. . . this7,11,14,16,21,28
.”
18. For readability, some prefer spaces around = , -, +, ±, < , >, and P. Check journal.
19. Always state (vital for credibility) the total number of items in your data.
Put any % into parentheses:
“The 63 (17%) who died—” To write merely “17% died” means little.
Was that 17% of 10, of 100, or of 1000?
20. Remember: The shorter item goes into parentheses. Never separate a percentage
from its figure: not “45 of the 60 (75%) died.” Change to “Of the 60, 45 (75%) died.”
21. Prepositions before numerical figures require “and” or prepositions between
figures:
“Between two and ten men,” and “from six to eight days.”
In text, I prefer “aged 40 to 50,” but you can omit “to” in tables / figures or in parentheses:
“Men were older (40-50).” Or in a table, “Men, 21-65.”
I can live with “Patients enrolled in 2000-2010 were older,” but only with “in.”
61
22. Gustavii says that for numbers under 25, offer no percentage at all
at 25 to 100, no decimal (7%)
at 100 to 100 000, one decimal place (7.2%).
Above that, two places (7.21%).
Hall (1998) feels that for numbers under 100, no percentages are relevant.
23. For numerals or words and their units of measure, hyphenate: “a 6-ml sample”
or “six-part sessions.” A confusing “4 4-mg doses” is clarified as “four 4-mg doses.”
Use a singular verb for a quantity considered one unit: “3 ml was best.”
24. Avoid French lines ( – ) for items in a list or to indicate speech; non-Finns may be
confused. In lists, use numbers (1, 2, 3), letters (A, B, C), or black balls—“bullets” ( ).
Quoted oral or written words in English take quotation marks: “Help!” or ‘Help!’
25. Suppliers of materials: Use the manufacturer’s name and address at first mention,
then only the name. Include company, city + country, or city + state / province +
country.
Examples: “(Smart System Oy, Turku, Finland),” then only “(Smart System).”
“(Sigma Chemicals, Inc., St. Louis, MO, USA),” then only “(Sigma).”
But omit “USA” in articles for US journals.
26. Now banned as unclear: “Pain and/or fatigue.” Write “Pain or fatigue or both.”
27. Strongly discouraged: “respectively.” Now avoid “Levels in the heart, brain, and liver
were 11, 21, and 28%, respectively” or “ . . . were a respective 11%, 21%, and 28%.”
Instead, write a version two words longer but far easier to read.
Here, the number of required words per item decreases—from five to four to three.
“The level in the heart was 11%, in the brain, 21%, and the liver, 28%.”
But if you must use several sets of the same pattern “A, B, and C were 1, 2, and 3,”
use “respective / respectively” only once—for the first set. Readers grasp the pattern!
28. Remember: italics for book and journal titles; quotation marks are for titles of
shorter works, meaning articles, chapters, sections, stories, plays, poems.
Italics also, always, for all genera and species: Helicobacter pylorus.
29. Italics are, however, expensive and difficult to use consistently. If you use any, you
must use them for all Latin terms and all foreign words: i.e. / e.g. / et al. / in vivo /
laissez-faire (see page 42). Check whether your target-journal uses italics.
62
30. Latin abbreviations: Finns, I notice, use i.e. (id est; that is; Finnish eli) well:
“Our leader, i.e., the director of the study, arrived early.”
Finns greatly overuse e.g. (exempli gratia; for example / for instance; Finnish esim),
It is correct only for an example following the name of the group it belongs to.
“Large countries, e.g., France and Germany—”
Commas normally go before and after e.g. and i.e., just as in “X, for example,
won.”
Never, therefore, begin a sentence with “e.g.” (“E.g., malaria was common”).
Nor begin a citation with “e.g.” (“e.g., Smith 2005”).
Substitute “for example / for instance / such as.” Or
create an OPEN SERIES: “Symptoms of concussion (headache, nausea) may occur,”
The absence of “and” or “or” indicates that these do not represent 100% of the list.
31. Etcetera / etc. (jne.) is too informal for articles or theses. End with “among others”?
32. Avoid sexism. Instead of “Everyone took his dose” (or the ungrammatical “Everyone
took their dose”) or “took his / her dose,” try the plural: “All took their doses.”
Avoid the genitive entirely? “Everyone took the required dose.” “Each took the
dose.”
Rather than “found in Man / man,” write “found in human beings.”
“Female” is acceptable as an adjective. Avoid it as a noun. “Female patients” is fine,
but if over age 17, “females” are “women.” The same goes for males vs, male subjects.
And if more than human genitals or hormone status is relevant, use “gender,” not “sex.”
33. Avoid long noun clusters as pre-modifiers.
The American Thoracic Society Publications says that because “the goal is clarity, not
brevity,” instead of “cultured sheep pulmonary artery endothelial cells,”
write “cultures of endothelial cells from the pulmonary artery of sheep.”
34. Comparisons with “times than / times as”:
Assuming that patients’ recovery-time was 6 days; then notice what you are saying:
A. “Controls took three times longer to recover” = Controls took 24 days.
(Patients’ recovery time is the bottom book. You added 3 times that value.)
B. “Controls took three times as long to recover.” = Controls took 18 days. Use, with
“times,” always “. . . as.”
63
Take-home messages
Every event
comes in
chronological
order.
Avoid
synonyms.
Ask a research
question and
answer it.
Write junk and
edit it gradually.
Every wasted
word goes out.
Never translate
into English.
Avoid long
sentences.
Avoid
identical lines
in one text.
Use mainly
active voice.
Use of “we”
no longer illegal.
Trust this book
more than
computer
grammar-
checkers.
End sentences
with vital words.
Link all sentences
in a paragraph.
Read your lines
aloud.
Trust your
ear,
not rules.
Follow every journal's
instructions EXACTLY.
Ask a friend to
read your texts.
Spell as journals prefer – US or UK style, never mixed.
64
Sample Professional Cover Letter
Be careful. Avoid begging, boasting, or pressuring the editor.
Keep cover letters brief and cool, because journals need manuscripts.
On-line submission may, however, require no cover letter.
“Dear Dr. Shaw,” NOT “Dear Dr. James Shaw.”
(We like our names, but give only family name, sukunimi, here, unless gender
is unclear (Kim, Lee). No “Ms Jane Shaw.”(If unsure of degree, use “Dr.”)
“Thank You for Your kind aid” should be “Thank you for your kind aid.”
Never capitalize “you / your” unless you write to God!
“Please find enclosed a manuscript entitled “X in Y,” reporting my / our / research into
Y, for consideration by your journal. Its findings indicate that A may be a cause of B.”
(Your title goes in quotation marks; a journal title deserves honor = italics.)
The words “publish” or “for publication in” seem to me too intimate and
too obvious. The editor can certainly guess what you are seeking!
“The material presented is based on the original research of the author[s] and is not
being offered for publication elsewhere. This is the third of five articles based on the
same series and methods; I enclose copies of the others, one already published, one
in manuscript.
“Correspondence regarding this article should be directed to NN. [Perhaps adding]
We / I look forward to your reply / We look forward to your / We await your
response.”
(“We are waiting for . . . .” is rude, and Never confuse “wait” with “expect”!)
Always add the journal's own disclaimers, lines in lawyers’ precise language, usually
found in the journal’s “Instructions to Authors.” Copy them exactly. Some may be:
Journals also usually advise that you list all financial sources on the title page.
“All authors contributed substantially to this work.”
“This manuscript is not submitted elsewhere.”
“It duplicates no portions of other texts by the author(s).” (If it does,
be sure to enclose reprints or manuscripts of those texts.)
“No financial support was received from anyone benefiting from these
results.” (Meaning no conflict of interest).
“This project followed accepted humane and ethical practices.”
(Which ones, from which declaration?)
65
Enclose manuscript copies of all unpublished sources that you cite and
permission letters for material you borrow to reprint, such as figures or tables.
News flash:
Some important journals like the BMJ now require the author of a submitted article to reveal
whether this article has already been rejected by another journal. The recipient editor may
demand to read the comments made by the reviewers / referees of the rejecting journal(s), and
also to read the responses of the author(s).
This requirement may discourage many from submitting to these major journals or may make
them submit their work first to the most prestigious journal that would conceivably accept it.
This rule aids the journal by saving its time and funds. But this rule means that you may fail,
upon a second or third submission, to hide the fact that your manuscript has already been
rejected.
Warning: Never risk disobeying this rule!
Therefore, submit initially to the highest-quality journal possible.
One student, when faced with this rule, created an excellent statement to the editor who next
received his manuscript—at the BMJ:
“The work was originally offered to the NEJM. After respectful and positive comments from two
external reviewers, this work was rejected due to editorial policies, however. We have attached
to this submission the letter from that editor and the reviewers’ comments, have revised our
manuscript significantly now, and we sincerely hope that you appreciate the value of this study.”
(If you adapt this, beware of sending it to the BMJ!)
Describe any revision / author-editing by a native
English-speaker, in order to neutralize any prejudice
against your English that can be inspired by your
foreign name and address.
66
Second-Submission Cover Letter after Review
Sample lines useful for the body of this letter (see also the Handling Reviewers section):
Thank you for considering / taking into consideration our paper / article, entitled “X in Y.”
The reviewers’ / referees’ suggestions will much improve our text / article / presentation.
We have made [Add: “to the best of our ability”?] all of the revisions suggested, and these are
explained point by point in / on the following pages / in the accompanying file.
You can also compliment the reviewers / referees by calling them “helpful / wise / thorough,”
But never direct your comments to the reviewers; your response goes to the editor’s desk.
If a reviewer criticizes your English, you must seek native-speaker language aid (again?!).
Repeat what you said in any author-edited first submission, writing something like this:
This version has been revised by a native English speaker . . . .
(Give the name? Add, if true, “. . . trained / experienced in the field of [say what].”)
As well as revision of the re-submitted manuscript, have an expert revise your crucial—and very
respectful—responses to the referees.
End the letter with something like “We hope that you will find this version more acceptable.”
Layout and Lines for Formal Letters on Paper
On stationery with a pre-printed letterhead (logopaperi), as at top center in the design below,
center the date just below the letterhead.
Otherwise, type your own 2- to 3-line address in the upper right corner, then the date below it.
Your address may even sit at the left margin, if every line of the letter begins at the left.
Phone and fax numbers and email address go below your name at the bottom, not at the top.
The recipient’s address is a list at the left margin, with locations stacked as shown here:
Professor Joan White, Editor Dr. Mark Phoey, Director
The Journal of Applied Cleverness Department of Biogenetics
Department of Brains Super Genes Company
University of South Cerebrum 1616 23rd
Street N. E.
1600 Pons Lane Oleander, Florida, 26731
Bedford, XY3 LM7, UK USA
67
More lines to borrow
Because I am interested in participating in the X Conference held 12 to 15 August in Vienna,
I am requesting an application form and data concerning submitting an abstract for a poster /
talk. Please send the relevant information at Your your earliest convenience [Never “Send
it soon”] to the address above / below.
I would like to apply for a position at the X laboratory. (This means a job.)
Would it be possible for me to obtain a sample of Y / advice on Z / information
on accommodation(s)?
“Accommodation(s)”—2 c’s + 2 m’s, means a place to stay.
“Room & board” means bed & food.
I am planning to visit Rome this summer. Because my current research project is in
many respects similar to Yours yours, I would find it extremely rewarding to visit your
institute to consult with You you.
As underlined above, compare yourself (up) to experts—never experts (down) to you:
“Aho’s 2007 findings agree with ours.” “Our findings agree with those of Aho (2007).”
Excuse my late submission of this abstract; I have been ill.
Belatedly [ = I am late], I send payment for X / send reimbursement [pay-back]
of your expenses.
I trust that the check enclosed / amount enclosed is sufficient / funds are proper.
(We avoid saying or writing “MONEY.” Alternatives: “funding / support / expense(s) / grant.”)
Please accept our sincere regrets for our inability to attend X / do X.
We send our heartfelt sympathy for your loss / our hearts go out to you (death).
Thank you for your time / effort / concern / interest / support / aid.
Thanking you in advance (for your kindness in doing / sending X).
Never call yourself “kindly,” as in “I kindly send you—” Compliment the other person.
“Will you kindly aid us?” “Dr. Stephens kindly provided the cells.”
Sincerely yours, / Sincerely, / Yours, / With best regards. (Only first word capitalized.)
Repeat nothing here that is in the letterhead (logopaperi). Below this complimentary close go
your signature(s)
your typed name, title, department, workplace and address
phone, fax, email address
68
Email Suggestions
Choose a subject line that clearly informs the recipient of the topic. Vast numbers of emails
are—in self-defense—deleted unread. Yours is not spam, so make sure your message is
identifiable.
Reading long sentences on screen is almost as difficult as understanding long sentences in an
oral presentation. Keep sentences short--and simpler than in a letter on paper.
Use active voice.
Email is less formal than posted letters, Though I often omit a greeting, Kate Kellaway of The
Observer in England has recommended this practice. British people are polite. A compromise—
in Finland—may be just a simple “Hi!” But for editors, “Dear Dr. Brown, . . . .”
Unless your email is going to a total stranger or to someone you greatly respect, use a style close
to that of first-draft writing, meaning almost spoken English. Kellaway describes email as
Elegant phrases (“I await your answer,” “at your earliest convenience,” “pardon my belated
submission”) seem inappropriate in email. Contractions (“I'll, don't, couldn't”) seem fine.
As to font, avoid showing emphasis by CAPITAL LETTERS. This looks like SHOUTING.
using all lower case, however, fails to show how humble you are or i am!
Reserve pictograms like ;- ) for close friends. End with a brief closing such as “Regards,” your
name, and contact data.
Re-read your message carefully before sending it. If you are angry or upset, cool down before
striking the “Send” key.
Double-check before you copy or forward anything. Some copying and forwarding requires
permission.
Beware! Email can go to the wrong person. Criticism of a boss may go to your boss.
Some employers monitor email.
Avoid writing in email anything you would not write on a picture postcard,
because email is equally public communication.
As to faxing, much email advice also applies:
Probably omit any greeting, stay informal, choose active voice.
Provide fax-contact information. Give your fax number, which may be missing from the top
edges of the pages —or may be illegible.
In addition, on the cover page put the date, including year, the recipient’s fax number, and the
number of pages sent. (Say whether this includes the cover page.)
“Like writing on water,” email style is halfway between written and telephone language
69
Handling Reviewers / Referees and Editors
Before its submission, three people should read your manuscript (ms): one naive person who
does not know your field, one who is your scientific equal (peer), and one expert. All coauthors
should examine the ms carefully and sign the cover letter and disclaimers. Never rush
to submit.
Your manuscript surely will come back with criticism from reviewers / referees and editors.
Almost never is any manuscript accepted without changes.
Resist any rage or despair; have faith and say to yourself: “We are all on the same team.”
In 99% of all cases, everyone working at / with the journal is only trying
to improve your manuscript.
If you receive a rejection and submit elsewhere, follow the next target journal’s instructions
equally carefully. As Hall solemnly states: “It is a grave [as in burying yourself alive] mistake
to submit a paper in the style of another journal; this suggests that it has been rejected
recently.”
Rarely will reviewers ask you to cite their own or the journal’s articles just to enhance their
reputations or raise that journal’s impact factor. Even more rarely will a reviewer hold an ms.
for an extraordinarily long time, or—horrible to contemplate—will steal data from it.
All authors experience shock and shame over criticism. Non-native English-speakers must also
struggle with referees’ language. Often even native English-speaker referees / reviewers make
grammar (“between you and I”) and spelling errors (“Febuary,” “libary”). Your overburdened,
unpaid reviewer may be writing the report at three o’clock in the morning after a day of surgery.
Reply directly to the editor and quote each criticism in full or almost completely.
Don't expect an editor to search through papers or net files for reviewers’ comments in order to
understand your responses to each comment.
Never attack a reviewer! Take all blame upon yourself. Always be polite to the editor and
polite regarding your reviewers. (On the same team, remember?) Use correct, formal English.
Obey, or fully explain why you cannot:
“Procedure X is not an option / not according to general policy, here.”
“I must have been unclear: Because we used no X, we can provide no photo of X.”
If two reviewers disagree, politely explain why you prefer one opinion to the other. Explain
why a reviewer’s request is unclear to you.
The editor may then send your manuscript to an extra reviewer. Uninformed, prejudiced, or
careless reviewers may receive no more mss. to review.
The most valuable thing you can receive is fair and honest criticism.
Invite such criticism, welcome it, utilize it. Karl Popper, philosopher of science
70
Sample phrases for you: “As advised / suggested / pointed out, I have reworded / added /
deleted / corrected X.” “Altered lines are underlined / italicized in the text itself.”
A common journal instruction is to write fully, in your responses, all added lines.
And also highlight these new lines in the text. And make them match identically.
Again, I stress: A native English-speaker should also edit, if possible, each revised
manuscript and also replies to reviewers and editorial correspondence such as cover
letters.
Only in extreme cases of reviewer error would one dare say,
“Perhaps this is not his special subject.”
Famous authors can argue; young authors must be cautious.
Perhaps your choice of journal was unwise?
If the silence is very long, write a brief note asking whether the manuscript arrived. If the
editor confirms its receipt, be very careful. Wait six months? Ask your professor for advice, or
someone who is in contact with the editor?
From the European Association of Science Editors (EASE) on-line Forum, here are problems
and advice from the expert journal editors and reviewers.
In a few cover letters that one journal received, the author of the letter had mistakenly
used the wrong journal name, substituting the name of the target-journal’s rival journal!
(Helle Goldman)
“Take advantage of the review to undertake revisions [for the next target journal] as
seriously as . . . when re-submitting to the same journal.” (Mary Ellen Kerans)
“I sometimes found it difficult to find reviewers for certain papers [in a narrow field].
But is the only answer then to have the same reviewer constantly turning a manuscript
down?” (Elise Langdon)
“. . . a referee may not have recommended rejection, and might like to see whether the
paper has indeed been revised in the light of comments received.” (Will Hughes)
“Of course a referee who sees the same paper coming through a different journal should
make clear that it has been seen before, and of course editors should ensure that there
should be a fresh referee, too.” (Will Hughes)
Pay close attention if a journal offers to let you suggest referees or to request that a
certain person not be a referee. (Try to explain why the person is inappropriate.)
Journals tend to respect a request to avoid a certain person. Among suggested referees,
they tend to use at least one. For anyone you suggest, provide full contact information.
71
Permissions and notification
Before you reprint—exactly or as an adapted / modified table or a figure, or a major
portion of one—in your own publication, you must request and receive the publisher’s
permission. You must print in your article or thesis, below the borrowed material, the exact
line that the publisher supplies, such as “Used with the permission of Journal X.” (See the
thesis section for more.)
Cutting very thin the data from one project to produce a maximum number of articles is
called redundant, prior, or fragmented publication. This “salami publishing” means that
articles resemble very thinly—too thinly—sliced meat cut from a large chunk. Students and even
professor-candidates may salami publish to earn degrees or to pad (fatten) their c.v’s.
To avoid this, one author sent the editor a list of all published articles presenting data from her
group’s single large project. This showed that her own paper was fresh—had minimal overlap.
Journals usually now require that each article submitted be accompanied by reprints or the
manuscripts of any of your other articles that overlap with that one, especially texts with data
based on material, methodology, or controls identical to those of your current submission.
The journal Radiology defines redundant publication as one or more authors in common for a
work which also has populations, methods, and results the same or similar. A report is redundant
if already published in another language; ask permission for its publication in English.
Possible redundancy requires “an accompanying letter informing the editor of any potential
overlap with other already published material or material being otherwise evaluated for
publication . . . also . . . [stating] how the manuscript . . . differs substantially from this other
material. The provision of copies of such material is required.” (Emphasis mine.)
The British Journal of Surgery net instructions explain: “Please submit with your manuscript
copies of any other papers (including abstracts)—published, in press, or submitted to
consideration elsewhere—that relate in whole or in part to the same data set; this is essential
to allow [our] assessment of any potential overlap.” (Emphasis mine.)
Every journal wants fresh, unique data only. Receiving redundant (repeated) data, some
journals threaten not only to reject the manuscript but also to inform your institution. If you
fool the journal into printing your redundant data, the editor may announce your sin in their
next issue and refuse to consider future articles of yours or even of your group or institute.
This blacklisting is serious censure. Ensure, therefore, that each manuscript is fresh and
worthwhile on its own.
Another crime usually leading to blacklisting is multiple submission—submitting the same
article to more than one publication simultaneously. Because much effort and cost go into
reading and assessing an article, no author can survive withdrawal of a submitted or accepted
text.
Cancer Cell : “If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included in your
manuscript, you must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and
credit the sources in the article. . . . . If you have adapted a figure from a
published figure, please check with the copyright owners to see if permission is
required and include a complete citation/reference for the original article.
Obtaining permissions can take up to several weeks . . . lack of appropriate
permissions can delay publication.” (Emphasis mine.)
72
Plagiarism
Customs vary, but in Anglo-American cultures, using other scholars’ exact published lines—
even with citations but with no quotation marks—is stealing. It is plagiarism.
The style of a text must not bounce back and forth between the author’s writing level and
splendid “Oxbridge” language. That screams “plagiarism.”
Although we all describe the views and findings of others, merely citing the source “(Smith
1995),” gives you no right to present Smith’s lines as if they were your own creation. The
original author struggled to create those lines and must not meet them in your pages,
masquerading as yours. To quote a few lines (in “ ”) is, however, sophisticated practice and a
compliment to the author.
You no longer own published lines that you yourself have written, if the publisher holds the
copyright. Editors thus generally consider self-plagiarism as illegal—abusing copyright
law.
As Stuart Handysides, MD and EASE board member, said in the EASE Forum: “Elsewhere
[than in Methods] simple cutting and pasting from earlier work might suggest that the writers
have stopped thinking about their subject, as the new data should be the prime focus of the
discussion and change the context at least somewhat. If not, what was the work for?”
The most frequent plagiarizers are writers without English as a native tongue. Paraphrasing is—
unfortunately—difficult even for native speakers.
Beware plagiarism—including self-plagiarism—in a thesis summary; e-theses travel
worldwide. The medical faculty now forbids use of your own lines, tables, or figures there.
Place quotation marks around all borrowed phrases or lines (quote).
Close the book and put the facts into your own words (paraphrase).
Give source and write “says / states / reports,” then quote a bit without “ .”
This might, for instance, be a vital, difficult definition of some object or process.
This anonymous news item is adapted slightly from Nature, number 422, 13 March, 2003.
Emphysema is a lung disease that is predicted to become one of the top five
causes of death and disability worldwide by 2020. Cigarette smoking is the
greatest risk factor for this disease. Despite this correlation, however, only
about 15 to 20% of cigarette smokers develop emphysema. The fact that these
susceptible individuals are generally clustered into families hints that there
may be certain genes that predispose people to smoking-induced emphysema.
Unlike asthma, in which the flow of air through the lungs is temporarily
obstructed, emphysema is characterized by a progressive airflow restriction
that results from permanent enlargement of the lungs’ peripheral air spaces
and loss of lung elasticity.
73
Exercise on Plagiarism Hunting
I have attributed this anonymous news story to an author with the invented name “Thoraksman.”
These five passages make use of the Nature news item on page 72. Where is plagiarism, and
where are the data presented well? Fix the illegal passages so they will be legal.
1. Our patient was diagnosed with emphysema, a progressive airflow restriction
that may result from permanent enlargement of the lungs’ peripheral air spaces
and loss of lung elasticity (Thoraksman 2003).
2. Thoraksman in 2003 considered rather low the 15 to 20% incidence rate for
emphysema among cigarette smokers. He warns, however, that emphysema
may, by 2020, become a major worldwide cause of disability and death.
3. The figure of “15-20%” for the incidence of emphysema among “cigarette
smokers” seems low to Thoraksman (2003), who continues: “there may be
certain genes [perhaps the X gene?] that predispose people to smoking-induced
emphysema” (Thoraksman 2003).
4. Concerning cigarette smokers with emphysema, the fact that these susceptible
individuals are generally clustered into families hints that there may be certain
genes that predispose people to smoking-induced emphysema (Thoraksman
2003).
5. Although pulmonary emphysema, as we read in Nature, may “become one of the
top five causes of death and disability worldwide by 2020” (Thoraksman 2003),
not everyone believes that heavy cigarette smoking offers any serious risk for
emphysema.
If professors, directors, or language revisers aid you in writing up your work and agree to
your submitting their lines under your own name, this seems ethical. Lines they write with or
for you have are unpublished. Someone’s writing your entire paper is unethical ghostwriting.
Plagiarism can no longer escape detection. At many net sites, any reviewer or editor can check
whether your words are actually your own. These sites can search billions of documents in
minutes, underlining matching passages. Some editors now check all submissions for plagiarism.
Medics are not alone in their sins. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers says that
plagiarism in its journals soared from 14 cases in 2004 to 26 in 2005, and in 2006 to 47—
annually doubling. The IEEE thus began running a tutorial for author education and crime
prevention!
74
Impact Factors
In The European Association of Science Editors (EASE) Science Editors’ Handbook section
“Journal impact factor,” Jane Moody, in November 2005, discussed impact factors, developed by
the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in the 1960s. “The impact factor of a journal is
calculated by dividing the number of citations in a year by the articles (source items) published
in that journal during the previous two years.”
Some of the problems that Moody notes:
Multiple authors all citing their own articles will affect the impact factor.
Impact factor differences are not credible unless differences reach about 22%.
Frequent citation may occur because of negative responses to an article, and criticism of
it, because “it is simply quantity that is being measured, not quality.”
Review articles are often cited, so the more review articles a journal publishes, the higher
its impact factor.
The earlier in the year something is published, the longer the time to receive citations.
“Artificial manipulation of the impact factor can be unethical” according to the Committee on
Publication Ethics (COPE), at www.publicationethics.org.uk , an organization established to
provide aid concerning authors’ and editors’ ethics questions and problems.
One editor arranged for that journal’s own referees to “insert citations” of that journal’s
articles into submitted papers. Authors were afraid to refuse.
The COPE declared that this “manipulation had been ‘wicked practice’ [an extremely
strong term], and the editor was reprimanded [severely scolded].”
Björn Gustavii states that “the impact factor ranks journals; it does not evaluate individual
papers.”
He suggests looking at the 2006 Faculty of 1000 Medicine rating system at
http://www.f1000medicine.com
where 2500 top scientists have rated papers regardless of journal.
See also the 2002 site for biologists at http://wwwf2000biology.com.
75
Valuable Resources, in order of relevance
Gustavii Björn. 2008. How to Write and Illustrate a Scientific Paper. 2nd ed. Cambridge,
New York: Cambridge University Press, CUP (By a physician/editor/teacher: clear, witty,
especially excellent regarding tables and figures).
Watch for his next CUP book—on compilation theses
Goodman Neville and Edwards Martin, 1999. Medical Writing: a Prescription for Clarity.
Cambridge: CUP. (Doctor-authors battle passive voice, pomposity, misuse of words)
Perttunen J. M. 2000. The Words Between. 4th ed. Helsinki: Medical Society Duodecim.
(For Finns in biology/medicine, much about Finnish) Out of print; seek it in a library.
O'Connor Maeve. 1999. Writing Successfully in Science. London: Chapman and Hall.
(Former Bulletin editor for the European Association of Science Editors)
Hall George M, ed. 1998. How to Write a Paper, 2nd ed. London: BMJ Books (by doctors)
Day Robert A and Gastel Barbara. 2006 How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper. 6th ed.
Cambridge, CUP. (Or any earlier Robert Day edition; thorough, famous, and humorous)
Huth Edward J. 1999. Writing and Publishing in Medicine. 3rd ed. London: Williams
& Wilkins (Top US medical manual by ex-ed. Annals of Int. Med; likes Perttunen)
Merne Simo. 1989. Handbook of Medical English Usage. Oxford: Heinemann,
(A Finn's useful definitions of terms & distinctions)
——————————————————
Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (the Vancouver
Document) is at <http://www.icmje.org/index.html
The Cobuild Dictionary (for learners), any edition (Large, cheap, essential for natives and
non-natives, with idioms, verb + preposition pairs, US versus British usage. Explanations are
simple; actual examples are numerous and authentic). Check for what is on the net and on
CD-ROM.
Suomi/Englanti/Suomi Sanakirja, Ilkka Rekiaro and Douglas Robinson, Gummerus,
Jyväskylä/Helsinki (Brit + US; modern, idiomatic)
The Collins Thesaurus in A-Z Form, 1990, Collins, UK.
Useful addresses :
http://www.helsinki.fi/kksc/language.services/AcadWrit.pdf This book, updated twice
annually
www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors English errors—vocabulary
www.ease.org.uk/esecont.htm Assoc. of European Science Editors (EASE) journal
www.wordiq.com/definition/American and British English differences
US-British styles—writing & pronunciation
76
Appendix I Find more than 70 problems here (many from Finnish interference).
1. It is shown in this randomized double blind case control study, that intravenous
X has no renal protective effects in patients operated for coronary heart disease.
(Find the vital “what.” Move the “who,” “when,” and “where” that they precede the final “what.”)
2. 35 females and 11 men of age over 90 years old were studied. It was shown by this
study, that elderly can, despite of their old age, get improvements by
participating a weight training program, etc.
3. Based on one criteria, informations indicate their equipments are the finest ones.
4. The aims include e.g.: 1) to control the patients for 1 year, 2) discovering noncompliance,
3) a search for ways to monitor patients compliance with doctors’
orders.
5. In 1994, in a survey in X province it was reported that the prevalence of diabetes
was 3 % in the 30-60 years old age group (See the Table 7.). The prevalence rose
up to 6 % in the 30-60 population in 1997, as shown by the present study.
6. Eighty-seven per cent (131/150) of the patients, who had lymphoma diagnosed
improved with this treatment after a period of sixteen weeks had past. The
majority of them was male.
7. Also Aho’s 2007 results are more impressive compared to Bix’s findings (Bix
2001). Bix’s results are different to / than our study.
8. Her income was 70.000 € at a tax-rate of 48,5 % a rate she wieved as far too
high.
9. On other hand, these two series contain remarkably interesting phenomenon, but
on other hand are like those of Smith, et al.’s whose so-called QRX series was
published in 2009.
10. John Jones discusses about this data shortly in her third articles' result's
chapter.
11. Other article soon will appear in the "Nature," It is now in print.
12. However, during the recession as much as every ninth nurse was remaining
unemployed; studied hospital districts comprised of Helsinki, Lahti and
Tampere.
77
Appendix II Introduction exercise
First, glance through “Recipe for an Introduction.”
I found an excellent Introduction from a good journal. I then rearranged its clauses to give you
practice in recognizing good introduction organization. Consider this a rough draft that you
might write, pouring your thoughts onto a page or a screen. Find in it the actual four
Introduction moves. Can you improve end-focus slightly? Where would citations appear?
1. In the mechanism underlying the association between increased body weight
2. and OA, mechanical loading across joints is probably involved. However,
3. evidence is inconsistent from cross-sectional surveys for a link between
4. obesity and hand osteoarthritis (OA). In the longitudinal Tecumseh
5. Community Health Study, adult obesity associated with incident hand OA
6. in men and women ages 50-74 years was suggested. Therefore, the
7. relationship between birth weight, childhood growth, adult weight and hand
8. OA should be examined. Obesity is the strongest risk factor 8. for knee
9. osteoarthritis (OA), and the relationship is not known between OA and body
10. weight in early life. However, the force across hand joints is not necessarily
11. greater in persons who are overweight, and metabolic factors associated
12. with obesity have been implicated; some of these factors, e.g. impaired
13. glucose tolerance, are also linked to low weight at birth. Prospectively
14. collected data from a large population based birth cohort was used to
15. explore this issue in our study.
Adapted from “Weight from Birth to 53 Years: A Longitudinal Study of the Influence on
Clinical Hand Osteoarthritis,” A. Aihie Sayer, et al., Arthritis & Rheumatism, Vol. 48, No. 4,
April 2003, p.1030.
78
Appendix III Editing exercise
An exercise from Gustavii, 2005 (adapted from Kelsing, 1958): Shrink these four sentences,
taking 53 words, into one short sentence. Omit no vital information.
Our research, designed to test the fatal effects of PGF on dogs, was
carried out by intravenously introducing the drug. In the experiments, a
relatively small quantity, 30 mg, was administered to each animal. In each
case, PGF proved fatal. All 10 dogs expired before a lapse of 5 minutes
after the injection.
Discuss these variants. Note end-focus. Which do you prefer and why?
1. For disease Z, X may become the treatment of choice, because X is well
tested and causes few side-effects.
2. Drug X, because it is well tested and has few side-effects, may become
the treatment of choice for disease Z.
3. For disease Z, drug X, well tested and with few side-effects, may
become the treatment of choice.
Results presentation: This sort of Results paragraph seen too often. Is it immediately clear?
Present these data instead in a grasp-at-one-glance flowchart with all the data in boxes.
To study these Vantaa residents over age 85 in 1991, we recruited 601
individuals. Examinations were clinical and covered 92% of them, of
whom 61% were non-demented. Before being examined, however, 36
died. Those refusing the examination numbered 11, and one could not be
contacted.
The demented and non-demented became two groups. Of the 203
demented individuals who died by 2001, 60% had an autopsy. Of the nondemented
61%, one moved away. Of the other 337, 231 remained nondemented.
The others showed incident dementia. Of the former, 211 died
by 2001, and of the latter, 92. Autopsies for these groups numbered 99
(47%) and 60 (65%), respectively.
The overall total of autopsies for the 506 who died by 2001 was 281
(51%). The results shown by the autopsies were the following: cortical
Lewy bodies in 42, severe amyloid pathology in 178, severe NFT pathology
in 128, and both of the latter in 110.
79
Appendix IV Improve this Methods section by editing out passives. Lose 70+ words!
Do you also have the skill to avoid using many—or any—“we” pronouns?
A retrospective review of all breast cancer patients treated for local
recurrence in our hospital was performed. Cases with other cancers
present or unknown primary were excluded. The information was
gathered from the patient database of the Department of XXX, Turku
University Central Hospital (TUCH), consisting of 5859 breast cancer
patients. All the patient records in the database were reviewed, and
those patients with local recurrence of breast cancer were selected to be
included in this study. A total of 506 patients were found. They had
been treated between 2005 and 2009 for local recurrence in the excision
scar or for in-transit metastasis. Factors predicting outcome after local
recurrence were analyzed. Patient records were analyzed for patient,
tumor, and treatment characteristics. Details on tumor characteristics
were obtained from pathology reports, and all pathology reports were
re-examined by a specialist in pathology to obtain all information on
the primary tumor. Surgical and radiological reports were analyzed for
follow-up data on patterns and timing of local recurrence.
Furthermore, possible development of lymph node or distant
metastases was recorded. The ABCD staging system from 2003 was
used for grouping patients according to their stage of the primary
disease. (14 passive verbs in 195 words)
80
. Appendix V Proofreading exercise
This sample lacks any authenticity, so ignore the medical data. The grammar is almost
acceptable.
Here, repair the extremely common style errors overlooked by most young Finnish authors.
This imaginary author has failed to imitate the target-journal style.
139 men and 125 females were in the study. The XYZ procedure was performed in1
44.7% (118/264) cases. 1/3rd (90/264) of these cases were under 60-years-old, and 66%2
(174/264) were over the age of 60-years old and under 80 years in age. Their disease was3
considered acute in 62,5 % (165/264) and chronic in 31,4% (83/264). In statistical4
analysis, PLI was associated with poor prognosis (p=0.002). In addition, tumor stage5
(p<0.0001), prevalence of GHI (p < 0.0001), distant metastasis (P<.001), tumor size6
(P<0.0001), tumour site (p = 0.0001), patient age (P = 0.004) and noncurative operation7
(p < 0.0001) were associated with poor prognosis. Consensus between two oncologists,8
PKK and IMR, determined which patients were candidates for experimental drug LPE.9
LPE treatment was organized by the county hospital district where the ethical10
committee gave consent to the study procedures.11
81
Appendix VI Table exercise
First, in the article in which this table would appear, in the Results section, suppose that
readers meet these lines.
“Table 1 shows the responses found in mice in haemoglobin and in enzyme X after
feeding them with the HSF diet and the LC diet and the respective figures for control
mice on a normal diet.”
Then, on the same article page, comes this table: Find errors throughout this terrible table,
ranging from almost invisible to macro.
Table 1. The responses found before and after the feeding of mice with the HSF diet, the
LC diet and a normal diet for 15 and 30 days.
Diet Group Type Time of
blood
sample
Length
of the
diet
Numbers of
studied mice
Male
mice
Age Hemoglobi
n
p
values
Enzyme X P-
value
HSF diet Before diet 15 days 18 11/18 2.0 8.6
NS
0.41 µg
NSLC diet Before diet 15 days 18 12/18 1.9 8.5 .37 µg
Normal diet Before diet 15 days 18 10/18 2.2 8.50 0.39 µg
HSF diet After diet 15 days 18 11/18 2.0 8.70
NS
0.43 µg
NSLC diet After diet 15 days 18 12/18 1.9 8.9 0.42 µg
Normal diet After diet 15 days 18 10/18 2.2 10.10 0.41 µg
HSF diet Before diet 30 days 18 9/18 1.5 8.3
NS
0.41 µg
NSLC diet Before diet 30 days 18 10/18 2.1 8.50 .38 µg
Normal diet Before diet 30 days 18 12/18 1.8 8.4 0.41 µg
HSF diet After diet 30 days 18 9/18 1.5 9.1
< 0.03
.44 µg
NSLC diet After diet 30 days 18 10/18 2.1 9.3 0.42 µg
Normal diet After diet 30 days 18 12/18 1.8 14.1 0.41 µg
82
Index
abbreviations 18, 22-24, 31, 59, 62
abstract 18-22, 30, 54, 67, 71, 74
acknowledgements 22, 35, 36, 37
active voice 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 68
adjectives 6, 8, 11, 27, 35, 46, 52, 55
affect/Affect 46
aims 33, 34, 76
ambiguous / -guity 3, 5, 57
and / or 61
as 48
authors’ instructions 16, 20, 63, 64, 69
await 64, 68
background 12, 19, 20, 24, 34
belated 67, 68
black balls, “bullets” 34, 61
black-listing 34, 71
capitals/-tilization 32, 46, 57, 64, 67, 68
chance, change 46
chapter 46, 61, 76
chronological/chronology 14, 27
citation 6, 16, 25, 26, 31, 41, 56, 60, 62, 74, 72
clarity 12, 14, 52, 62, 75
clear (being) 3-5, 64, 68-70, 79
clinically significant 48
cohesion 12
colloquial 7, 45
colon / semicolon 21, 50, 53, 56, 57, 58, 59
columns 23, 24, 60
comma 22,, 52, 53, 55, 56, 58-60, 62
comment (vs. definition) 29, 43, 52, 56
compare 19, 24, 29, 34, 43, 49, 67, 76
comparataive degree 49
comparison 30, 60, 62
comprise 33, 44, 57, 76
concern, concerning 20, 27, 32, 44, 67, 73
conclusion 19, 20, 21, 30, 41
confidence intervals (CI) 18
conflict of interest 64
connectives 5
contractions 8, 53, 58, 68
contributors 22, 37
control 6, 8, 28, 46, 62, 71, 76
convenience (at earliest) 67, 68
countable, uncountable 46, 51
cover letter 64, 66, 69-71
cut and paste 34
dates 16, 31-33, 55, 59, 66, 68
decimals, decimal point 52, 59, 61
decrease 43, 47
defining or commenting commas 52
degrees 22, 36, 37, 64, 71
deteriorate 43, 47
dictionary 6, 43, 75
differ, different 3, 6, 46, 48, 49, 76
disclaimer 64, 69
double documentation 29
double-spacing 32
e.g. 41, 61, 62, 76
economic / -ical 46
effect, affect 14, 46, 49, 51
email 66, 67, 68
embed/-ding) 5
end-focus 5, 6, 12 , 13-15, 20, 27, 40, 41, 44, 58,
77, 78
et al 61
etcetera, etc. 62
etheses 3, 7
ethics 27, 32, 64, 74
expect 64
fax 66, 67, 68
female(s) 62
Finnish 3, 4, 15, 22, 31, 34, 62, 75, 76
first draft 4, 12, 43
first person 11
flow 112-14
flow chart 28, 34, 54
font 27, 33, 42, 60, 68
footnote 22-25
formal(ity) 7, 45
French lines 34, 45
front focus 18, 21
genes, italicized 42
gender 62, 64
genitive 47, 53, 58, 62
ghostwriting 73
gold standard 46
grammar 3, 4, 13
grid 24
hand, on the other 47, 76
Harvard style 16, 60
histograms 25
hyphen 53, 55, 57, 58, 61
hypothesis 19, 26, 29, 30, 39
i.e. 49
idioms 4, 75, 79
impact factor 69, 72
implicate 44, 77
implication 19, 30, 31, 35
in press 32, 47, 71
inanimate agent 6, 10-12, 14, 29
incidence 12, 19, 47, 74
increase 43, 47, 49
indent 24, 46
infinitive 22, 34, 40, 41
instructions, see author’s instructions
introduction 16, 18, 20, 26, 30, 46, 54, 77
involve, involving 4, 51, 57, 73
italics 14, 15, 33, 42, 61, 64, 70
83
journal 4, 6, 11, 16-20, 22-29, 31-33, 37, 41, 42,
59, 60, 61, 64, 69, 70-74, 74
keep vs. give 3, 47
key words 5, 20
kindly 35, 67
late (dead) 11
layout 24, 41, 42, 66
legends 23, 24, 25, 27, 32
literature 34
male(s) 62
money 23, 46, 49, 67
monograph 34
multiple submission 71
N / n 24, 47, 60
negative(s) 8
next 47
non-temporal verbs 41
nouns 27, 34, 46, 51, 62
number (as verb) / numbering 22, 24, 32, 46, 59
numerals 59, 61
open series 62
P - / p-values 60
paragraph 46
parallel(ism) 34
parameter, paradigm 48
parentheses 23, 32, 41, 52, 53, 56, 58, 60
participle 34, 40, 48, 50
passive voice 3, 4, 10, 11, 15, 29, 75
past tense 6, 22, 27, 29, 40
percent/-age 25, 59-61
perfect tense 40
permission 32, 33, 37, 45, 65, 68, 71, 74
pie charts 25
plagiarism/-ize 20, 32-34, 1, 72, 73
plural(s) 11, 48, 57, 58, 60, 62
politeness 3, 11, 33, 35, 68, 69
prefixes 8
prepositions 49, 59, 60, 75
present tense 6, 22, 34, 40
press, in, see in press
prevalence 47, 48, 51
print, in 47
prior (publication) / priority 30, 31, 49, 71
process writing 4, 18, 54
pronouns 5, 10, 11, 41
proofreading 79
p-values 18, 24, 25, 48, 56, 59, 60, 80
quotation marks, quotes 33, 34, 53, 58, 61, 64, 72
range 48, 49, 56, 57
ranging vs. varying 24, 48
ratios 50, 57, 58
redundant publication 71
referee(s) 27, 31, 65, 66, 69, 70, 74
references 16, 18, 21, 31, 32, 39
regard, regarding 12, 43, 44, 64, 67, 68
rejection 16, 69, 70
remarkably 29, 45, 76
repetition 5, 18, 20, 24, 33, 51
reprint/-ing 32, 33, 64, 65, 71
respective, respectively 61, 79, 80
reviewer(s) 4, 28, 31, 41, 66, 69, 70
reviser, revising, revision 9, 15, 27, 31, 32, 37, 66,
70, 74
risk 48, 49, 72, 73, 77
rough draft 13, 77
salami publishing 71
semicolon, see colon
sentence titles 21
sexism 62
significant/significance 8, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29, 48
signposts 4, 5
since 48
single-spacing 24
slash 53, 58, 60
space (area), space-fillers 24, 33, 34, 39, 55, 57,
59, 60
speech, spoken forms 44, 45, 68
statistic(s)/-ically 19, 22, 24, 25, 28, 29, 37, 48
structured abstract or discussion 19, 29, 31
subheadings 19, 24
subjects (people) 10, 19, 24, 28
subjects (grammar) 9, 41, 52, 55
submit/submission 16, 19, 30, 32, 42, 64, 65, 66,
67-70, 71, 74, 73, 75
substantive 9, 12, 43, 50
such as 7, 62
summary 18, 29, 30, 32-34, 72
superscripts 22, 25, 41, 53, 60
supplier(s) 61
syllable-break 42
symbols 58, 59, 60
synonyms 5, 6, 24, 33, 45, 63
table(s) 17, 23, 24, 25, 27, 29, 32-34, 51, 59, 60,
65, 71, 75, 76, 80
target journal, see journal
tense 10, 22, 27, 29, 40
thesis 21, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 62, 71, 72
title (of text) 16, 18, 20-22, 23, 24, 32, 61, 64, 65
translate, translation 3, 4
unit 28, 46, 52, 59, 61
Vancouver style 16, 20, 25, 31, 60, 75
variable 25, 48
varying vs. ranging 24, 48
voice (see active/passive voice)
wait (for) 64
weigh vs. weight 48
while 48
whiskers 25
worth 48