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

‘Figure 1. Scientific writing. Image credit: Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson.’

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.

How to use these exercises

There are two sets of writing exercises:

  • composition exercises1 intended to assist with basic composition (sentence and paragraph structure, word choice, etc.)

  • structural exercises intended to help you understand how to structure the different elements of your thesis, and how to follow the scientific conventions for each.

You are expected to complete these exercises in your own time, but encouraged to discuss any of them with Dr. Feeney during your weekly meetings.

Important

You may complete these exercises at any time and in any order2, but you are expected to have completed all of the composition exercises before submitting an initial draft to Dr. Feeney.

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 thesis, but throughout your studies and in your future career.

PhD Comics cartoon about the difficulty of writing

Figure 2. Writing shouldn’t be so hard. Image credit: PhD Comics.

Composition exercises

  1. Writing composition exercise C01: Use definite, specific, concrete language; Put statements in positive form

  2. Writing exercise C02: Omit needless words

  3. Writing exercise C03: Active vs. passive voice and choice of verb tenses

  4. Writing exercise C04: Using transitional words

  5. Writing exercise C05: Sentence structure considerations (use parallel construction, keep related words together, place emphasis at the end of sentences)

  6. Writing exercise C06: Avoiding jargon, acronyms, and abbreviations

  7. Writing exercise C07: Word choice considerations

Structural exercises

  1. Writing structure exercise S01: Evaluating Scientific Writing

  2. Writing structure exercise S02: Paragraph Structure; using topic sentences and organizing the logical flow of information in a paragraph

Bonus - Additional exercise on paragraph structure

Bonus - Additional exercise on sentence structure(more practice with some of Strunk & White’s Principles of Composition)

  1. Writing structure exercise S03: Formulating a hypothesis

  2. Writing structure exercise S04: Structuring your introduction

  3. Writing structure exercise S05: Writing a methods section

  4. Writing structure exercise S06: Experimental narratives

  5. Writing structure exercise S07: Figure legends - see also the “Guidance on writing a good figure title and legend” in Preparing Figures

  6. Writing structure exercise S08: Model Figures

  7. Writing structure exercise S09: Writing a discussion

  8. Writing structure exercise S10: Abstracts

  9. Writing structure exercise S11: Titles and Subtitles

  10. Writing structure exercise S12: Editing

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.

Footnotes

  1. 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).↩︎

  2. note that a suggested schedule for completing the structural exercises is provided in the Project Schedule↩︎