-
Contractions do not have a place in scientific documents
Words such as “can’t /won’t /don’t” dilute the tempo of the scientific document and make it seem like the person who wrote it was not really conversant with the topic. Surely this example will help:
“Don’t hold the rat by its tail, he doesn’t like it and likely as not, he’ll turn around and bite you.”
See the point?
-
Do not plagiarise
Copying someone else’s work is plain and simple stealing – avoid it at all costs! If you need to quote someone else’s work make sure that you quote the source.
-
Feelings, impressions or opinions are not scientific
Statements/conclusions in scientific documents are always supported by data, expressing anything else is unscientific. The example includes all of the No-Nos:
“We feel the studies done by Ian et al., Wells, et al., and Fargo were very poorly designed. In contrast, our study is superior, well designed and our hypothesis is proved. We, however, need to do more studies to finalize our hypothesis. We are confident, though, that this hypothesis is perfect and the additional work is simply an exercise to convince the world.”
Unless irrefutable data from the current study support the first two statements, the authors have no business making such statements. Yet again unjustified arrogance oozes out of the fourth statement!
-
Overly long and convoluted sentences only confuse
Since long sentences address too many facts/issues, the reader tends to confuse the various subjects and objects, and also loses interest. Try untangling the facts given in the example:
“The body weight of the mini-pigs were unchanged up to Day 8 of the study, even though a reduction in food consumption was observed in many animals during the same period coupled with an elevation of liver function markers which is really a class effect, notwithstanding the fact that food consumption came back to near normal after Day 10 and body weight continued to remain unchanged”
Would somebody please clarify: is the reduction in food consumption a class effect or is that represented by elevated liver function markers? Also why is there an apparent disconnect between food consumption and body weight change?
