Writing science in plain English

Why write science in plain English?

Before you write

Audience

Register

Tone

Tell a story

Make characters subjects and their actions verbs

Use strong verbs

Place subjects and verbs close together

Favor the active voice

Benefits of active voice

Proper uses of passive voice

Choose your words with care

Use short words instead of long ones

Keep terms the same

Break up noun strings

Rethink technical terms

Omit needless words

Redundancy

Metadiscourse and transition words

Affirmatives and negatives

Old information and new information

Put old information at beginnings of sentences

Put new information at ends of sentences

Make lists parallel

Vary the length of your sentences

Design your paragraphs

Issue

Development

Conclusion

Point

Arrange your paragraphs

Chronological order

General to specific

Least important to most important

Problem to solution

Compare and contrast

Transition words revisited

Appendix 1: basic writing concepts

Appendix 2: exercise key.