Preface ........................................................ ix
Preface to the third edition .................................... x
1 PREPARING TO WRITE ........................................ 1-30
Search and research .......................................... 1
Conducting a comprehensive literature review
Using the Internet wisely and well
Tapping other informal and formal communication channels
Your research: the big picture
Choose a communication venue ................................ 13
Formal publication: the message determines the medium
Other ways to publish
Plan to succeed ............................................. 21
Organize and plan your message
Avoid plagiarism
Use the Process Approach to take charge
Exercise 1.1. Search strategy and Boolean logic
Exercise 1.2. Message, format, and audience
Exercise 1.3. Organizing ideas
2 COMPOSING A FIRST DRAFT .................................. 31-55
Deal with matters of authorship ............................. 31
Productivity tools and pitfalls ............................. 33
Use word processing to write more efficiently
Master the tools that will make your writing life simpler
Spellcheckers, grammar and style analysis programs
Follow standard structure ................................... 42
Introduction
Materials and methods
Results
Discussion and conclusions
Acknowledgments
References
Abstracts and summaries
The title
Other title page items
Use tense to show the status of work ........................ 48
Build momentum - and keep it! ............................... 50
Exercise 2.1. Spelling and grammar programs
Exercise 2.2. Title choices
Exercise 2.3. Tense use
3 VISUAL SUPPORT FOR THE WRITTEN WORD ...................... 56-78
Choosing and using visual aids .............................. 56
Tables
Figures
Graphs
Photographs and other documentary illustrations
Explanatory artwork
Examining your choices ...................................... 75
Exercise 3.1. Table and figure choices
4 VISUAL SUPPORT FOR THE SPOKEN WORD ...................... 79-102
Oral presentations .......................................... 80
Media choices for oral presentations
Developing a traditional text-based oral presentation
Visual elements of text, tables, and figures
The PowerPoint controversy
Speaking in public: the human factor ........................ 91
Control nervousness
Delivering the speech or presentation
Handling questions
Poster presentations: a happy hybrid ........................ 97
Preparing a poster
Presenting a poster
Exercise 4.1. Slide presentation format
Exercise 4.2. Answering questions
5 REVISING TO INCREASE COHERENCE ......................... 103-124
Work efficiently ........................................... 103
Start with organization and logic
Use the power at your command
Improve the big picture .................................... 105
Rework for clarity
Rewrite for readability
Condense for brevity
When short might be too short .............................. 118
Abbreviations, acronyms, and other shortened forms
Noun clusters and strings of pearls
Exercise 5.1. Person and point of view
Exercise 5.2. Readability
Exercise 5.3. Shortened forms
Exercise 5.4. Clarity and brevity
6 IMPROVING WORD CHOICE, AND SYNTAX STYLE ................ 125-152
Choose a better word ....................................... 126
Recognize and minimize jargon
Use bias-free, inclusive language
Choose the right word
Focus fuzzy nouns and qualifiers
Check the verbs ............................................ 139
Choose livelier verbs
Unmask disguised verbs
Active and passive voice
Subject-verb agreement
Beware of strange links .................................... 145
Ambiguous antecedents and misplaced modifiers
Dangling participles
The mischief of multiples .................................. 148
Collective nouns and noun phrases
The grammar of comparisons and lists
Exercise 6.1. Jargon
Exercise 6.2. Handling language sensitively
Exercise 6.3. Devil pairs
Exercise 6.4. Which and that
Exercise 6.5. Fuzzy words and disguised verbs
Exercise 6.6. Active and passive voice
Exercise 6.7. Subject-verb agreement
Exercise 6.8. Dangling participles and other
misplaced modifiers
Exercise 6.9. Collective nouns, comparisons, and lists
7 ATTENDING TO GRAMMAR, NUMBERS, AND OTHER MECHANICS ..... 153-181
Tweak the text ............................................. 153
Punctuate for clarity
Capitalize consistently
Treat scientific names properly
Use foreign words and phrases to inform, not impress
Fine-tune number use ....................................... 170
Numerals versus written numbers
The SI metric system for measurements and weights
Very large and very small numbers
Percentages
Practicing mixed corrections ............................... 179
Exercise 7.1. Punctuation
Exercise 7.2. Capitalization
Exercise 7.3. Scientific names and other foreign words
and phrases
Exercise 7.4. Number use and interpretation
Exercise 7.5. Practicing mixed corrections
8 the rest of the story .................................. 182-208
Preparing to publish ....................................... 182
Double-check references and attributions
Verify submission format
Submit the document
Remember Murphy's Laws
Back and forth: editorial review ........................... 188
Correct galley proof conscientiously
Celebrate - You have published!
Tips for international publication ......................... 192
Address second-language English readers effectively
Choose an effective approach when writing English as
a second language
Usage and grammar pitfalls for nonnative writers
Ethical issues ............................................. 198
Respect your data - and your readers
Check again for plagiarism
Protect yourself from potential libel and slander
charges
Legal matters .............................................. 202
Trade names
Copyright
Permissions
Patents
Appendix 1: Suggested responses to exercises .................. 209
Appendix 2: Excerpts from "Uniform requirements for
manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals:
Writing and editing for biomedical publication" ... 221
Selected resources ............................................ 232
Index ......................................................... 236
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