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D. R. Lindsay
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Scientific Writing = Thinking in Words Kindle Edition

by David Lindsay (Author), Lindsay. David (Contributor) Format: Kindle Edition
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 29 ratings
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Telling people about research is just as important as doing it. But many researchers, who, in all other respects, are competent scientists, are afraid of writing. They are wary of the unwritten rules, the unspoken dogma and the inexplicably complex style, all of which seem to pervade conventional thinking about scientific writing.
This book has been written to expose these phantoms as largely smoke and mirrors, and replace them with principles that make communicating research easier and encourage researchers to write confidently. It presents a way of thinking about writing that emulates the way good scientists think about research.
It concentrates on the structure of articles, rather than simply on grammar and syntax. So, it is an ideal reference for researchers preparing articles for scientific journals, posters, conference presentations, reviews and popular articles; for students preparing theses; and for researchers whose first language is not English.
Scientific Writing = Thinking in Words expounds principles that produce scientific articles in a wide range of disciplines that are focussed, concise and, best of all, easy to write and read. As one senior scientist observed, ‘This book not only made me a better writer; it made me a better scientist’.
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  1. Print length
    129 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    CSIRO PUBLISHING
  5. Publication date
    February 1, 2011
  6. File size
    754 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
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  9. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Lindsay's nitty-gritty guide to style and clarity covers all aspects of scientific writing for both text and oral presentation... This concise guide demonstrates through good and bad examples how a well-reasoned and well-expressed argument helps focus thinking to make a memorable impact. Highly Recommended." (Choice 2011-09-01)

"...[S]hould be read by every scientist." (AMSA Bulletin)

"Lindsay has prepared a manual that guides students, step by step, in the writing of scientific papers. He organizes the volume into three major sections: Thinking About Your Writing; Writing About Your Thinking; and Thinking and Writing Beyond the Scientific Article. Each section has numerous subsections. The overall theme of his approach to science writing is 'be precise, brief, and clear,' which he repeats throughout his book. The book is worth recommending to graduate students, sums up the experience of journal editors, and will save a lot of frustration in the rewriting young scientists often experience because of poor writing habits." (Elof Axel Carlson, Stony Brook University The Quarterly Review of Biology 2013-07-12)

"Scientific Writing = Thinking in Words provides a fine assessment of scientific writing and research, surveying unspoken dogma, unwritten rules, and the complexities of article structure. Any researcher preparing articles for scientific journals and reviews will find this packed with basic principles applicable to scientific articles in a range of disciplines." (Midwest Book Review 2011-11-01)

About the Author

David Lindsay was a researcher and teacher in animal biology and behavior at the University of Western Australia for 33 years. He initiated formal studies in writing for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Now retired from active research, he teaches scientific writing to scientists all over the world.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004WYC8KA
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ CSIRO PUBLISHING (February 1, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 1, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 754 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 129 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 29 ratings

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D. R. Lindsay

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
29 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Zachary R. Hartman
5.0 out of 5 stars Concise, very useful
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2013
Verified Purchase
I bought this book mainly because of the reviews I read, and I'm glad I did. I am very near to finishing my PhD in bichemistry, so I've read a lot of papers. I've also done a fair amount of writing. To be honest, when I first opened this book and saw the table of contents, I felt it was a waste of money. The book is small, and I figured it was just going to be a short, descriptive writeup: "All right, boys and girls. This is an abstract. This is an intro. Etc."

Dead wrong on that count. Force yourself to read this book, even if you think you have things locked down. There's a LOT of practical information in here that will not dawn on most people intuitively. I fancy myself a writer and intend to enter the medical writing field, and I have learned an awful lot about the scientific process and how to think writing through.

David provides very clear descriptions of specific techniques and ideas he is trying to promote in this book. He explains why it is all important, and he even provides a sort of shortcutting frame to help you remember (e.g., all paragraphs in your discussion should begin with a thesis statement and end with a conclusion to help both the reader and the writer in organization).

Too many scientists are bad writers. Many of those bad writers have disorganized thoughts and a lot of time wasted because they did not take the time to develop their thinking skills that go into writing. Becoming a better writer (by reading this book) should dramatically aid your entire logical thought process, strengthening your scientific skills across the board. I can't recommend this book highly enough!
6 people found this helpful
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Everyman
5.0 out of 5 stars A few hours to read; a lifetime of benefit
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2012
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This book should be required reading for every graduate student. We are not taught how to write scientific papers, but our work is judged by how well we write it up. Unfortunately most of us don't do a very good job, but this book can change that. It provides an excellent framework for putting together a paper, including specific guidance for each section: title, introduction, methods, results, discussion, and summary or abstract. It also covers theses, posters, presentations, and even pop science articles. In addition to the science-specific guidance, the book also shows how to make your writing more readable by making your sentences and paragraphs flow.

Don't be turned off by the relatively high price. It's a pittance compared to the value this book will add to your science career.

I do have one complaint about the print edition. The print is so small that the book is physically a chore to read, and the layout is poorly designed. Fortunately the book is not long, and the content is so beneficial that I give it 5 stars despite the poor reading experience.

Edit: I also recommend Writing Science, by Joshua Schimel. It covers most of the material in Lindsay's book, but in greater depth and with more style. Moreover, it adds another dimension by addressing the storytelling aspect of writing, which is what makes your papers and proposals memorable. Overall, Schimel's book is more nuanced, more philosophical, and more complete, not to mention more fun to read. However, Lindsay's book is a good place to start if you want a quick and dirty guide to better science writing.
16 people found this helpful
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Harald Dahle-Sladek
5.0 out of 5 stars Impressive book set in a much to small font.
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2014
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This book is written by a man who has lived his life teaching others how to write. I give the content five stars. However, the book is set in 9/12 Palatino font, which might be large enough for the Chinese readers were it is printed in China. The font is irritatingly small and it spoiled the fun of reading the book. In this particular case, I am afraid to say,the medium has not served the message properly. Please see if you can correct this drag in the next printing of the book.
2 people found this helpful
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Mykers
3.0 out of 5 stars Great Advice, Strong Arguements, but...
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2012
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This books content is great. The arguments, or way the arguments and advice are presented is amazing. However, the grammar is this book is terrible. I know the author already stated, "When writing a scientific paper, do not worry too much about grammar." I actually had a very hard time making it through this book due to the long sentences, misuse of commas, and overall sentence fragments.

I did get the main point of this book and I indeed learned a lot. Being from a different part of the world, words like "realize" are spelled instead like "realise." I get this, and in no way complaining about this. It just seems the sentences are long, and commas are not used when they are supposed to be. Essentially, I feel I have read this book twice. Why?

There were several times (6 out of 10) when I would have to re-read a sentence twice due to the lack of break in a sentence-where a comma should be. In conclusion, I o recommend this book. I think the information is great and the author knows the information well. If you are insistent on reading a scientific book with the expected excellent grammar, this is not the one for you. Happy reading my friends.
6 people found this helpful
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nac
5.0 out of 5 stars Truly satisfied customer....
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2016
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Excellent, concise and to the point.... Easy to read and apply.
Also addresses topic overview of thesis writing, review articles, oral and poster presentations which are rarely found in other similar texts.
One person found this helpful
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AC
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book for teaching writing
Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2014
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Fantastic book for teaching writing. I've used it in a graduate chemistry class, students found it very easy to read and a great illustration of good technical writing.
One person found this helpful
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Wendy
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2017
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shipped fast and was in good conditions
One person found this helpful
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Nova
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2015
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good quality.all as promissed
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Ivan Yudushkin
5.0 out of 5 stars Short and up to the point
Reviewed in Germany on April 17, 2017
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I've read a lot of books, journal articles and blogs on scientific writing. Reading these soon becomes a tedious chore: yet another description of the IMRaD structure, more exercises on using the right tenses or correct articles and, inevitably, a reference to Strunk's "The Elements of Style", either as a direct citation or the author's own long-winded interpretation thereof. It was therefore a pleasant surprise to read a thoughtful and pointed book by David Lindsay. Instead of focusing on trivial details, he highlights the very principles of scientific writing, describing both the role of individual sections in manuscripts and explaining how exactly writing reflects and complements the scientific method. This is a pleasantly concise account (a little above 120 pages) of the most important science writing principles, including the nuts and bolts of writing theses, research papers and reviews as well as a few pieces of excellent advice regarding preparation of conference posters or public talks. I disagree with the author on some of his claims, such as that all research questions must be formulated as hypotheses, the author's strong belief that observations in the Results section must be thoroughly fenced off from their interpretation in the Discussion and, above all, the author's usage of 'an' as a proper article for the word 'hypothesis'. Despite these minor points, Lindsay's book unquestionably goes to the top of my Recommended Reading list, along with "The Craft of Research" and Joshua Schimel's "Writing Science". Highly recommended.
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Mr. John H. Reid
5.0 out of 5 stars Exellent Undergrad Tool
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 26, 2017
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Excellent guide to writing scientific reports and papers. This book helped me so much during my undergraduate degree in microbiology. It makes writing effortless and simple to understand. I've lent it to friends too and they also enjoyed using to write their own scientific reports.
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happycamper
3.0 out of 5 stars beginning is interesting
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 5, 2013
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The first chapters are really good, well structured. I know a lot of the good schools teach writing like this. Really useful and practical approaches to each part of a paper, how to build a paragraph, how to build a sentence, how to make them flow. But the rest is really filling up space to make it into a book.
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