Writing in the Biological Sciences A Comprehensive Resource for Scientific Communication

About this book

Writing in the Biological Sciences: A Comprehensive Guide to Scientific Communication serves as a comprehensive "one-stop" reference guide to scientific writing and communication for budding professionals in the life sciences and related fields. The book is designed to function both as a free-standing textbook for a course on writing in the sciences and as an accompanying text or reference guide in courses with writing-intensive components. It covers all the basics of scientific communication that students need to know and master for successful scientific careers. The book lays the foundation for professional writing by starting with basic scientific writing principles and then by applying these principles to lab reports, summaries, and critiques and eventually also to full-fledged scientific research articles, review articles, and grant proposals. Practical advice for organising academic presentations and posters, as well as for putting together job applications, is also included.

Contents

PART I. SCIENTIFIC WRITING BASICS
1. Science and Scientific Communication
2. Fundamentals of Scientific Writing--Words and Word Location
3. Fundamentals of Scientific Writing--Technical Style and Sentence Structure
4. Fundamentals of Scientific Writing--Composition of Paragraphs

PART II. WORKING WITH DATA AND REFERENCES
5. Data, Figures, and Tables
6. Basics of Statistical Analysis
7. Literature Sources
8. Literature Citations and Plagiarism

PART III. INTRODUCTORY WRITING
9. Laboratory Reports and Research Papers
10. Sample Reports
11. Revising and Editing
12. Reading, Summarizing, and Critiquing a Scientific Research Article
13. Term Papers and Review Articles
14. Note-Taking and Essay Exams

PART IV. ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC DOCUMENTS AND PRESENTATIONS
15. Oral Presentations
16. Posters
17. Research Proposals
18. Job Applications

Appendix A: Commonly Confused and Misused Words
Appendix B: MS Word Basics and Top 20 MS Word Tips
Appendix C: Excel Basics and Top 20 Excel Tips
Appendix D: PowerPoint Basics and Top 20 PowerPoint Tips
Appendix E: Microsoft Office Cheat Sheet

Answers to Chapter Practice Questions
Brief Glossary of Scientific and Technical Terms
Bibliography
Credits
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Angelika H. Hofmann is an academic fundraiser for the sciences at Dartmouth College, as well as the Founder and President of SciWri Services, a venture that provides workshops, consulting, and editing services on scientific communication globally.