Page 192 - How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, 8th Edition 8th Edition

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Chapter 35
A Personalized Summary

Perhaps it may turn out a sang, Perhaps turn out a sermon.
—Robert Burns

I have been associated with scientific books and journals for more than 40 years. This experience may have instilled
in me a tad or two of wisdom somewhere along the line; certainly, it has instilled prejudices, some of them strong
ones. What has been instilled in me will now be distilled and dispensed to you. I leave it to you, the reader, to
determine whether this philosophical musing is "sang," sermon, or summary, or none of the above.

Through the years, I have had many occasions to visit various scientific laboratories. Almost always, I have been
impressed, sometimes awed, by the obvious quality of the laboratories themselves and of the equipment and supplies
they contain. Judging by appearances, one could only believe that the newest and best (and most expensive)
instruments and reagents were used in these laboratories.

During those same years, I have seen thousands of the products of those same laboratories. Some of these products
(scientific papers) properly reflected the quality and expense that went into their generation. But many did not.
I want to talk about the many that did not. I ask you, as I have often asked myself, why is it that so many scientists,
while capable of brilliant performance in the laboratory, write papers that would be given failing marks in a freshman
composition class? I ask you why is it that some scientists will demand the newest ultracentrifuge, even if it costs

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$80,000, and then refuse to spend a relatively few minutes at their computer to draw a proper graph of the results
obtained with the ultracentrifuge? About a dozen similar questions leap to my mind. Unfortunately, I do not know the
answers, and I doubt that anyone does.

Perhaps there are no answers. If there are no answers, that leaves me free to do a little philosophizing. (If you have
gotten this far in this book, you can heroically hang on for another few paragraphs.)

If we view knowledge as the house we live in, scientific knowledge will tell us how to construct our house. But we
need artistic knowledge to make our house beautiful, and we need humanistic knowledge so that we can understand
and appreciate life within our house.
If we view a scientific paper as the culmination of scientific research, which it is, we can, if we but try, make it more
beautiful and more understandable; we can do this by enriching our scientific knowledge with a bit of the arts and
humanities. A well-written scientific paper is the product of a well-trained scientist, yes; but the scientist capable of
writing a really good paper is usually also a cultured man or woman.
Students of the sciences must not content themselves with study of the sciences alone; science will be more
meaningful if studied against a background of other knowledge.

Especially, students must learn how to write, because science demands written expression. Erudition is valued in
science; unfortunately, it is often equated with long words, rare words, and complex statements. To learn to write, you
must learn to read. To learn to write well, you should read good writing. Read your professional journals, yes, but also
read some real literature.

file:///C|/...0208%20Books%20(part%201%20of%203)/How%20to%20write%20&%20publish%20scientific%20paper/35.htm[4/27/2009 1:34:29 PM]