Hi.
This is Karen McKee, retired scientist and author with another video about scientific
writing.
In this video, I'm going to focus on minor errors that mark you as an amateur or careless
writer.
Some of these mistakes many of you probably already know.
But not everyone, which is why I'm going through them.
Let's start with an embarrassing one.
I once received a manuscript to review, and as I was about to fall asleep reading the discussion,
a line of text startled me awake.
One of the authors had inserted a personal comment right after citing a published paper.
It said, "This paper is terrible, but I guess we have to cite it."
Obviously, this was a note made by one of the co-authors that they failed to remove
later during editing.
Clearly, these authors had not carefully proof-read their manuscript before submitting it.
My suggestion is to avoid including such personal comments in the first place.
A second mistake is to use terms inconsistently throughout the manuscript, especially capitalization,
spelling, and acronyms.
For example, if you say sea-level rise with a hyphenated modifier, don't later use sea
level rise without the hyphen.
A third mistake is to use the same sentence construction over and over.
The water samples were stored in acid-washed bottles.
The samples were transported to the laboratory within 12 hours.
The samples were analyzed for salinity and pH.
Mix it up.
The water samples were stored in acid-washed bottles for transport.
At the laboratory, the water was analyzed for salinity and pH.
Four.
Using only passive sentence construction.
By this, I mean a sentence in which the subject is acted upon by the verb.
Samples were analyzed.
Field sites were selected.
There is nothing wrong with passive sentences, and sometimes that is the best choice.
But active sentences, in which the action is carried out by the subject, will make your
writing more interesting and alive.
A single tree species dominated the site.
Nutrient addition altered plant competition.
Five.
Switching between past and present tense inappropriately.
Use the past tense to describe what you did in the past.
The leaf samples were washed with deionized water.
Use present tense to relate general truths.
The earth's orbit around the sun is elliptical.
The future tense is used to state a perspective.
Future work will focus on the mechanism underlying the observed phenomenon.
Six.
Using multiple-word nouns and stacked modifiers
Surface elevation change rate.
Maximum global sea level rise rate.
Use prepositions and hyphens to break these up.
Rate of surface-elevation change.
Maximum rate of global sea-level rise.
Seven.
Using more words than necessary.
Due to the fact that.
On account of.
These can be replaced with a single word: because.
Eight.
Replacing words with bigger words to sound more authoritative.
Superincumbent stratum of calcareous composition could be simply stated as an overlying bed
of limestone.
Nine.
Using flowery descriptions.
The river flowed like a shining ribbon through the verdant landscape.
Save it for your novel.
Also, don't lecture the reader about well-known facts.
A central goal of ecology is to describe and understand the abiotic and biotic factors
controlling an ecosystem.
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use radiant energy and carbon dioxide to synthesize
carbohydrates.
Chances are, your readers will already know these facts.
Although you want to put your work into a broader perspective, these are a bit too broad.
Ten.
Describing every blip in the data.
The nitrogen concentration was high in January, a bit lower in February, even lower in March,
and reached the lowest point in mid-July, after which the concentration increased from
August to December.
Instead, describe the general pattern.
Nitrogen concentrations fluctuated seasonally from a high in mid-winter to a low in mid-summer.
Let the reader study the graph in which nitrogen concentrations are plotted to get the details.
Well, that's just a sampling of minor writing mistakes that will tell a reviewer or editor
that you are either a novice or a careless writer.
I hope you'll find these points useful, if you weren't aware of them before.
Or, it may remind you to be more careful and proofread your paper before submitting it.
If you liked this video, please let me know by voting.
If you'd like me to do a video about a writing topic you are having trouble with, be sure
to leave a comment.