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State your facts as simply as possible, even boldly. No one wants flowers of eloquence or literary ornaments in a research article.
—R. B. McKerrow
The Need for Clarity
The key characteristic of scientific writing is clarity. Successful scientific experimentation is the result of a clear mind attacking a clearly stated problem and producing clearly stated conclusions. Ideally, clarity should be a characteristic of any type of communication; however, when something is being said for the first time, clarity is essential. Most scientific papers, those published in our primary research journals, are accepted for publication precisely because they do contribute new knowledge. Hence, we should demand absolute clarity in scientific writing.
Receiving the Signals
Most people have no doubt heard this question: If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it fall, does it make a sound? The correct answer is no. Sound is more than "pressure waves," and indeed there can be no sound without a hearer.
And, similarly, scientific communication is a two-way process. Just as a signal of any kind is useless unless it is perceived, a published scientific paper (signal) is useless unless it is both received and understood by its intended audience. Thus, we can restate the axiom of science as being: A scientific experiment is not complete until the results have been published and understood. Publication is no more than "pressure waves" unless the published paper is understood. Too many scientific papers fall silently in the woods.
Understanding the Signals
Scientific writing is the transmission of a clear signal to a recipient. The words of the signal should be as clear and simple and well ordered as possible. In scientific writing, there is little need for ornamentation. The flowery literary embellishments—the metaphors, the similes, the idiomatic expressions—are very likely to cause confusion and should seldom be used in writing research papers.
Science is simply too important to be communicated in anything other than words of certain meaning. And that clear, certain meaning should pertain not just to peers of the author, but also to students just embarking on their careers, to scientists reading outside their own narrow discipline, and especially to those readers (the majority of readers today) whose native language is other than English.
Many kinds of writing are designed for entertainment. Scientific writing has a different purpose: to communicate new scientific findings. Scientific writing should be as clear and simple as possible.
Language of a Scientific Paper
In addition to organization, the second principal ingredient of a scientific paper should be appropriate language. In this book, I keep emphasizing proper use of English, because most scientists have trouble in this area. All scientists must learn to use the English language with precision. A book (Day, 1995) wholly concerned with English for scientists is now available.
If scientifically determined knowledge is at least as important as any other knowledge, it must be communicated effectively, clearly, in words of certain meaning. The scientist, to succeed in this endeavor, must therefore be literate. David B. Truman, when he was Dean of Columbia College, said it well: "In the complexities of contemporary existence the specialist who is trained but uneducated, technically skilled but culturally incompetent, is a menace."
Although the ultimate result of scientific research is publication, it has always amazed me that so many scientists neglect the responsibilities involved. A scientist will spend months or years of hard work to secure data, and then unconcernedly let much of their value be lost because of lack of interest in the communication process. The same scientist who will overcome tremendous obstacles to carry out a measurement to the fourth decimal place will be in deep slumber while a secretary is casually changing micrograms per milliliter to milligrams per milliliter and while the typesetter slips in an occasional pounds per barrel.
English need not be difficult. In scientific writing, we say: "The best English is that which gives the sense in the fewest short words" (a dictum printed for some years in the Instructions to Authors of the Journal of Bacteriology). Literary devices, metaphors and the like, divert attention from the substance to the style. They should be used rarely in scientific writing.
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