Writing Exercises

Writing Exercises

Introduction and Rationale

A great deal of academic writing is, to put it quite simply, very bad. It may be unnecessarily verbose, confusing, or unclear. Or, it may be written with no reference to the reader’s likely background knowledge or experience, leaving ideas that are quite clear in the writer’s mind inaccessible for most readers. Worst of all, it may indeed sometimes be written in a deliberately deceptive way - as Calvin says, inflating weak ideas and obscuring poor reasoning (Figure 1). All of these writing “sins” should be avoided.

Calvin and Hobbes cartoon

Writing well is a skill that all scientists must develop with practice and through incorporating feedback from readers into their writing practice. Just as you would not expect to win a marathon or paint a masterpiece on the first attempt, you cannot expect your writing to be flawless when you first begin. Constant practice is essential.

We will therefore give you the opportunity to practice your writing skills in the following set of exercises during your final year project. You do not need to read through the exercises or complete them in advance of our group meetings; however, the slides/documents for each exercise are provided below for your reference.

The “Principles of Composition” exercises are largely based on Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style, which is an excellent resource (available online or at your friendly university library). In addition to the principles of composition we will be discussing, Strunk & White contains sections on grammar and spelling, which may be helpful. However, there are many other style guides and writing resources available which you may wish to consult (see (add link here) for an inexhaustive list).

In addition to the weekly writing exercises we will work through in our group meetings, I have provided a set of exercises that aim to help you with various other aspects of scientific writing (add link here). You are encouraged to work through these in your own time.

Finally, please note that writing well and easily is a matter of constant practice (Figure 2). Try to make an effort to write a little every day; and whenever you write, evaluate your own writing, and seek out feedback on ways that you can improve. These are skills that you will find useful not just for writing your honours thesis, but throughout your studies and in your future career.

PhD Comics cartoon about the difficulty of writing

  1. Writing exercise 01: Evaluating Scientific Writing

  2. Writing exercise 02: Paragraph Structure; using topic sentences and organizing the logical flow of information in a paragraph

  3. Writing exercise 03: Use definite, specific, concrete language; Put statements in positive form

  4. Writing exercise 04: Omit needless words; tips for succinct, concise writing

  5. Writing exercise 05: Active vs. passive voice and choice of verb tenses

  6. Writing exercise 06: Use of transition words/phrases

  7. Writing exercise 07: Sentence structure considerations (use parallel construction, keep related words together, place emphasis at the end of sentences)

  8. Writing exercise 08: Avoiding jargon, acronyms, and abbreviations

  9. Writing exercise 09: Word choice considerations

  10. Writing exercise 10: Experimental narratives (how to describe an experiment)

  11. Writing exercise 11: Editing

Additional Exercises

You are encouraged to work through the following exercises independently, but please don’t hesitate to discuss them with Dr. Feeney if you have any questions.

  1. Additional exercise 01: Paragraph structure

  2. Additional exercise 02: Sentence structure/form (more practice with some of Strunk & White’s Principles of Composition)

  3. Additional exercise 03: Hypotheses — Additional exercise 03 with Brucella hypothesis examples discussed in our meeting

  4. Additional exercise 04: Structuring your introduction — example outline for antimycin biosynthesis paper

  5. Additional exercise 05: Writing a methods section

  6. Additional exercise 06: Figure Narrative

Concluding Thoughts

One of the best ways to improve your writing is to read broadly and pay attention to the way that papers are written. Take note of which writing techniques are effective and which are less so, and then apply these ideas to your own writing.