Medical Writing
Writing Matters
Getting what you want from your scientific writing: tips for writing clearly
Volume 21, Issue 3 - Writing Matters
Getting what you want from your scientific writing: tips for writing clearly
Author: Michele Arduengo
Abstract
Good medical writing is like good writing in any discipline: the writer should explain complex concepts and ideas clearly and accurately and engage the reader. In this article, I provide four suggestions to help clarify writing on complex subjects: avoiding nominalizations, using language precisely, using parallel construction, and placing information where readers expect to find it. Applying these principles to science and medical writing can help readers understand difficult concepts more easily the first time they read your document.
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References
- Purdue Online Writing Lab, Medical Writing. Available from: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/732/01/
- Knight J. Clear as mud. Nature 2003;423:376–8.
- Gopen GD, Swan JA. The science of science writing. Am Scientist 1990;78:550–8.
- American Medical Writers Association. Essays for biomedical communicators. Vols. 1 and 2. 2001 Available from: http://www.amwa.org/default.asp?id=181
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Getting what you want from your scientific writing: tips for writing clearly
What's your problem? A practical approach to scientific document design
The joys of outlining in medical writing
Pleasing the reader by pleasing the eye—Part 1 The role of format and design in readability
Writing visually for medical writers
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Editoral Board
Editor-in-Chief:
- Phillip Leventhal (4Clinics, Lyon, France)
Co-Editor:
- Stephen Gilliver (TFS Trial Form Support, Lund, Sweden)
Managing Editor
- Victoria White (Tampa, Florida, USA) Email: MEW@emwa.org
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Associate Editors:
- Anuradha Alahari (PAREXEL International, Paris, France)
- Raquel Billiones (Clinipace, Zurich, Switzerland)
- Barbara Grossman (Hawkeye Medical Limited, Berkshire, UK)
- Joselita T Salita (Freelance, Bremen, Germany)
- Katharine Webb (INC Research, in Munich, Germany)
- Nathan Susnik (Hanover Medical School, Hanover, Germany)
Section Editors:
- Alison McIntosh (ICON Clinical Research, Hampshire, UK)
- Karin Eichele (Novartis Pharma, Nürnberg, Germany)
- Greg Morley (Freelance, Madrid, Spain)
- Wendy Kingdom (Wendy Kingdom Ltd., Dulverton, UK)
- Lisa Chamberlain-James (Trilogy Writing and Consulting, Norfolk, UK)
- Maria Koltowska-Haggstrom (Proper Medical Writing Warsaw, Poland)
- Laura Collada Ali (Teksema, Cogne, Italy)
- Simon Page (Cambridge Medical Communication Ltd, Cambridge, UK)
- Hervé Maisonneuve (Freelance, Lyon, France)
- Satyen Shenoy (Describe Scientific Writing & Communications, Cologne, Germany)
- Claire Gudex (Klinisk Institut, Odense, Denmark)
- Evguenia Alechine (Epsilon Scientific Communication, Buenos Aires, Argentina)
- Beatrix Doerr
Ad-hoc Editors:
- Amy Whereat (SpeaktheSpeech Consulting, Asnieres sur Seine, France)
Editor Emeritus:
- Elise Langdon-Neuner (Medical University of Vienna, Austria)