Reports, grant applications, theses, manuscripts, essays, patent applications, your Nobel Prize acceptance speech.
As a scientist, there are so many things you have to write. And writing them well is important. Writing clearly and with structure allows you to get your message across and avoiding grammatical errors stops you looking stupid in front of your audience in Stockholm.
But writing is just one of the many transferrable skills you have to master to get on in science - how will you ever get the time to work on it?
Well fear not. “The Little Red Writing Book” is here to save you from the Big, Bad Wolves of poor structure, poor style and poor readability.
The book will take you no more than a few hours to read, but it is packed with 20 essential writing principles and 30 commonly breached rules of grammar. The rules and principles are explained clearly and illustrated with lots of clarifying examples. Also, exercises are provided to allow you to test yourself to make sure they go into your brain.
It might sound like a text book, but it doesn’t read that way. The style is very informal, down-to-earth and at times funny, making this a very easy read (what more would you expect from a book on how to make things easy to read?). Also, the chapter headings are beautifully illustrated, so it’s a pleasure to start a new one. The book really does provide an easy, quick shot-in-the-arm for your writing skills.
Among the topics explained are:
- How to use the six basic writing structures to put ideas in their proper order
- Why you should write your conclusion and place it first
- How to cut out redundancies and excessive qualification
- Why you should vary the lengths of your sentences
So if you struggle like a pig in a straw house to write your manuscripts, reports or grant applications this book will help you replace the straw with some good, solid bricks and keep the wolf from the door for good.
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Nick Oswald
Nick is a molecular biologist who grazes in the field of biocatalysis by day and cooks up Bitesize Bio by night.
January 29th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
okie.. i’ll try to look for the book in the library.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:50 am
“stops you looking stupid in front of your audience in Oslo”
Ummm, sorry to be pedantic, but don’t you mean Stockholm. The Nobel prize is given in Stockholm (Sweden) where as the Peace prize is given in Oslo (Norway).
March 14th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Al - thanks for being pedantic!
I have fixed it.