Scientific Writing 3.0: A Reader And Writer's Guide

Contents
Preface
Part 1 The Reading Toolkit
	Chapter 1 Writer vs. Reader, a Matter of Attitude
		Why Am I Writing This Paper?
		The Illusion of Clarity
		The Do-unto-others-as-others-do-unto-you Inversion
		The Right(er) Attitude
	Chapter 2 Strategic Writing
		The Scientific Paper: An Intellectual Product
			Product expiration date
			Promoting with social media?
			Promoting by archiving your paper on preprint servers/repositories
		Journal Choice: Subscription or Open?
			Payment and copyright
			Visibility vs. Citations
			Prestige
		Predatory Open Access Journals
		The Publishing Process
		The Halo Effect and Confirmation Bias
		The Assumption of Expertise Trap
		The Editor
			The cover letter
		Learn from Principles, Not Examples
	Chapter 3 The Scientific Writing Style
		Characteristics of the Scientific Writing Style
		Understanding Sentence Length
			Clauses
			Prepositions
		The Scientific Style Virus
			Sentence Meanders
			Word Spikes
				Colloquialisms
				Long compound nouns
				Latin or Greek
				Jargon
		Deactivated Verbs
		Curing the Scientific Style Virus
	Chapter 4 Require Less from Memory
		The Forgotten or Undefined Acronym
		The Detached Pronoun
		The Diverting Synonym
		The Distant Background
		The Broken Couple
		The Word Overflow
	Chapter 5 Sustain Attention to Ensure Continuous Reading
		Keep the Story Moving Forward
			The lake
			The whirlpool
			The omega meander
			The counter current
		Twist and Shout
		Pause to Illustrate and Clarify
		Recreate Local Suspense
	Chapter 6 Reduce Reading Time
	Chapter 7 Keep the Reader Motivated
		Dash or Fuel the Hopes of Your Readers, Your Choice
		Meet the Goals of Your Readers to Motivate Them
	Chapter 8 Bridge the Knowledge Gap
		Bridge to Ground Zero
		Bridge to Title Words
		Just-in-Time Bridge by Way of Local Background
	Chapter 9 Set the Reader’s Expectations
		Expectations from Grammar
			Main clause–subordinate clause
			The placement of words in a sentence influences expectations
			Dynamic sentences have words that set expectations
		Expectations from Science
			Verbs, adjectives and adverbs make claims
			The main sections of a paper create their own expectations
	Chapter 10 Set Progression Tracks for Fluid Reading
		Topic and Stress
		Inverted Topic
		Topic Sentences
		Three Topic-Based Progression Schemes to Make Reading Fluid
			Progression around a constant topic
		Topic to sub-topic progression
			Chain progression
		Non Topic-Based Progression Schemes
			Progression through explanation and illustration
			Time-based progression
			Numerical Progression
			Announced Progression
			Logical Progression
			Progression through transition words
		Pause in Progression
		Troubleshooting Progression Problems
			Unstructured paragraph
			Interrupted topic
			Final text (version one — Virus is the constant topic)
			Final text (version two — Mosquito is the constant topic)
			Final text (version three — sequence progression and Cycle topic)
			Final text (version four — greater knowledge gap — children with some prior knowledge on mosquitos)
	Chapter 11 Detect Sentence Fluidity Problems
		Reasons for No Expectations
			Rear-mirror sentence
			Descriptive sentence
			Paragraph break
			Enumeration with no predictable item length
			Vortex of chained explanatory details creating an expectation void
			Vague, general statement
			Long sentence diluting expectations across many topics
		Reasons for Betrayed Expectations
			Unannounced topic change and ambiguous pronoun
			Adjectival or adverbial claim not followed by evidence
			Unclear answers to clear questions
			Unjustified choice
			Broken repeated patterns and paraphrase
			Lack of knowledge (or unexplained word) and synonyms
	Chapter 12 Control Reading Energy Consumption
		The Energy Bill
			What would consume excessive syntactic energy, ESYN?
			What would consume little syntactic energy, ESYN?
			What would consume great semantic energy, ESEM?
			What would consume little semantic energy, ESEM?
			What would get the reader into trouble?
		Punctuation: An Energy Refueling Station
			The period, a full-stop to refuel
			The semicolon, a fuel stop for topping a half-full tank
			The three “:” “!” “?” fuel stops and the comma
Part 2 Paper Structure and Purpose
	Chapter 13 Title: The Face of Your Paper
		Six Titles to Learn About Titles
		Six Techniques for Improving Titles
			1-Placement of contribution upfront in a title
			2-Addition of verbal forms
			3-Adjectives and numbers featuring qualitative or quantitative aspects of the contribution
			4-Clear and specific keywords
			5-Smart choice of keyword coverage
			6-Catchy attention-getting schemes
		Purpose and Qualities of Titles
			Purpose of the title for the reader
			Purpose of the title for the writer
			Qualities of a title
		Title Q&A
		Title Metrics
	Chapter 14 Abstract: The Heart of Your Paper
		The Four Parts
		Coherence Between Abstract and Title
		Tense of Verbs and Precision
		Purpose and Qualities of Abstracts
			Purpose of the abstract for the reader
			Purpose of the abstract for the writer
			Qualities of an abstract
		Abstract Q&A
		Abstract Metrics
	Chapter 15 Headings-Subheadings: The Skeleton of Your Paper
		Structures for Readers and Structures for Writers
		Four Principles for a Good Structure
			Non-linear Finite Element Simulation to Elucidate the Efficacy of Slit Arteriotomy for End-to-side Arterial Anastomosis in Microsurgery
			Principle 1: the contribution guides the shape of a structure
			Principle 2: Headings and subheadings detailing the contribution are grouped
			Principle 3: Title words describing the contribution are repeated in the headings and subheadings of a structure
			Principle 4: A structure tells a story that is clear and complete in its broad lines
		Syntactic Rules for Headings
		Purpose and Qualities of Structures
			Purpose of the structure for the reader
			Purpose of the structure for the writer
			Qualities of a structure
		Structure Q&A
		Structure Metrics
	Chapter 16 Introduction: The Hands of Your Paper
		The Introduction Starts Fast and Finishes Strong
			The vacuous false start
			The considerable false start
			The right start
			The dead end
			The strong finish
		The Introduction Answers Key Reader Questions
		The Introduction Frames Through Scope and Definitions
			Scope
			Define
		The Introduction Is a Personal Active Story
			Personal
			Active story
	Chapter 17 Introduction Part II: Popular Traps
		TRAP 1 — The Trap of the Story Plot
		TRAP 2 — The Trap of Plagiarism
		TRAP 3 — The Trap of References
			Incorrect reference
			Imprecise reference
			Unnecessary references
			Unbalanced references
			Plagiarized references
			Missing references
			Courtesy references
		TRAP 4 — The Trap of Imprecision
		Hedge Words
		TRAP 5 — The Trap of Judgmental Words
			Pascal
		Benjamin Franklin
			Santiago Ramón y Cajal
		The Deadly Outcome of the Sum of All Traps: Disbelief
		Purpose and Qualities of Introductions
			Purpose of the introduction for the reader
			Purpose of the introduction for the writer
			Qualities of an introduction
		Introduction Q&A
		Introduction Metrics
	Chapter 18 Visuals: The Voice of Your Paper
		Seven Principles for Good Visuals
			Principle 1: A visual does not raise unexpected questions
			Principle 2: A visual is custom-designed to support the contribution of only one paper
			Principle 3: A visual keeps its complexity in step with readers’ understanding
			Principle 4: A visual is designed based on its contribution, not on its ease of creation
			Principle 5: A visual has its elements arranged to make its purpose immediately apparent
			Principle 6: A visual is concise if its clarity declines when a new element is added or removed
			Principle 7: Besides caption and title, a visual requires no external text support to be understood
		Purpose and Qualities of Visuals
			Purpose of the visual for the reader
			Purpose of the visual for the writer
		Qualities of a visual
		Visuals Q&A
		Visuals Metrics (calculate your score for each visual)
	Chapter 19 Conclusions: The Smile of Your Paper
		Abstract Versus Conclusions
		Examples and Counterexamples
			Examples
			Counterexamples
		Purpose and Qualities of Conclusions
			Purpose of the conclusions for the reader
			Purpose of the conclusions for the writer
			Qualities of conclusions
		Conclusions Q&A
		Conclusion Metrics (if you have a conclusion)
	Chapter 20 Additional Resources for the Avid Learner
Epilogue: Your Future Work