SCIENTIFIC WRITING SCIENTIFIC WRITING AND PUBLISHINGAND PUBLISHING

ASM Professional Development Series

Larry S. McDaniel, Ph.D.

University of Mississippi Medical Center

Why do we write?

How is our writing?

I do not have enough papers….

There are way too many papers!

Most scientific writing is rather bad…

What is wrong?

No measure of good or quality scientific writing

Can writing improve?

Illiterate

Time

Master Writer

How do we teach?

•10 g tryptone•5 g yeast extract•5 g NaCl•1 L water•Autoclave 20 minutes

4 figures + 8 paragraphs + submit ≠

No formula for a scientific manuscript

Habits to Improve Writing

•Dedicate time to write•Actually write•NO e-mail, NO internet, NO phone

•Reward yourself

Who will read you?

Your Audience

• Not you• They can not get inside your head• Guide your reader by the hand• Give the reader candy not a sleeping pill!

Goal for today

• Initiate the development of skills needed to write and submit a scientific manuscript

Overview

• Components of a manuscript• Titles and abstracts• The submission process• Dealing with reviews• Ethics in scientific publishing