Here are some suggestions:
This book is unusual among style books in focusing on the level of the
sentence, where much scientific writing suffers:
Richard Lanham -- "Revising Prose"
Most ecologists have to write about some level of mathematics from
time to time. Paul Halmos's little essay talks about some of the
pitfalls in that, but more than that it contains outstanding advice on
how to write anything:
Paul Halmos --- "How to Write Mathematics" (a short essay, available
on the web if you search for it)
A quote from the opening:
There is no recipe and what it is.
The basic problem in writing mathematics is the same as in writing
biology, writing a novel, or writing directions for assembling a
harpsichord: the problem is to communicate an idea.
To do so, and to do it clearly, you must
• have something to say,
• have someone to say it to,
• organize what you want to say,
• arrange it in the order you it said in,
• write it, rewrite it, and re-rewrite it several times,
• be willing to think hard about and
• work hard on mechanical details such as diction, notation, and
punctuation.
That's all there is to it.
The following book by Knuth et al. has more material, including
extremely valuable guidance on how to avoid some pitfalls involved
with writing mathematics.
"Mathematical Writing", by Donald E. Knuth, Tracy L. Larrabee, and
Paul M. Roberts (Washington, D.C.: Mathematical Association of
America, 1989), ii+115pp. This is available as a .pdf file on the
web; just Google it.
It might be good for students to realize that scientific writing is
writing. I recommend:
Annie Dillard --- "The Writing Life"
Finally, students should get something, I don't know what, that would
teach them how and why to avoid the trap of the Introduction -
Methods - Results - Discussion format.
Hal
On Mar 5, 2010, at 3:27 AM, Michael Kopp wrote:
Hello,
I was wondering if any of you would have some suggestion on books
or texts providing tips on how to improve scientific writing. I
have read George Gopen�s book (The sense of structure, writing
from the reader's perspective; 2004, Pearson Longman editors) and
recommend it, but I would like to know if there are any other good
references out there.
I very much like Joseph M. Williams "Style - towards clarity and
grace". There are multiple editions, with some coming as a work
book, but they all seem to be essentially equivalent. Note that the
book is about (non-fiction) writing in general, not about writing
scientific papers.
Hope this helps,
Michael.
--
Dr. Michael Kopp
Postdoctoral researcher
Mathematics and Biosciences Group
Max F. Perutz Laboratories
University of Vienna
Dr. Bohr-Gasse 9 (postal address)
VBC 5, room 1722 (physical address)
A-1030 Wien
Phone: ++43 (0) 1 4277 24052
Mobile: ++43 (0) 664 60277 24052
Fax: ++43 (0) 1 4277 24098
Email: [email protected]
www.mabs.at
---------------------------------
Hal Caswell
Senior Scientist
Biology Department
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole MA 02543
508-289-2751
[email protected]
