The scientist's guide to writing : how to write more easily and effectively throughout your scientific career / Stephen B. Heard

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Heard, Stephen B., author.

Series:

Skills for scholars (Princeton University Press)

Skills for scholars

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Technical writing.

technical writing.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

illustration

monochrome

Edition:

3rd edition

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2026]

Summary:

A fully updated and expanded third edition of the acclaimed writing guide for scientists. The Scientist's Guide to Writing explains the essential techniques that students, postdocs, and early-career scientists need to write more clearly, efficiently, and easily. Now in its third edition, this incisive primer offers practical advice on a host of topics, from maintaining writing momentum to structuring a scientific paper, revising a first draft, reading effectively, handling citations, responding to peer reviews, and choosing the right journal for your research. The ability to write clearly is critical to any scientific career. This book shows scientists how to become better writers so that their ideas have the greatest possible impact. Features a new chapter on AI writing tools that discusses the benefits and pitfalls of using LLMs as well as the legal, ethical, and professional implications scientists need to consider before working with them. Provides expanded coverage of preprinting and predatory journals, humor and cultural references in titles, graphical abstracts, and managing very large coauthorship teams. Offers detailed guidance on submission, review, revision, and publication. Shares invaluable advice on reporting statistical results, dealing with conflicting peer reviews, writing with English as an additional language, and more. Encourages habits that improve motivation and productivity. Includes a wealth of exercises along with numerous new literature citations to support the discussions in the book

Contents:

On Bacon, Hobbes, and Newton, and the selfishness of writing well

Genius, craft, and what this book is about

Writing and reading

Managing your writing behavior

Getting started

Momentum

Finding and telling your story

The canonical structure of the scientific paper

Front matter and abstract

The introduction section

The methods section

The results section

The discussion section

Back matter

Citations

Beyond the IMRaD canon

Paragraphs

Sentences

Words

Brevity

Self-revision

“Friendly” review

Formal review

Revision and the “response to reviews”

AI writing tools

Journals and preprints

The diversity of writing forms

Managing coauthorships

Three kinds of reading : reference, survey, and deep

Writing for speakers of English as an additional language

On whimsy, jokes, and beauty : can scientific writing be enjoyed?

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Online resource; title from PDF title page (De Gruyter Brill, viewed September 3, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version: Heard, Stephen B. Scientist's guide to writing

ISBN:

9780691281094

0691281092

9780691291833

0691291837

OCLC:

1592778971

Publisher Number:

CIPO000404084

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license