Scientific Writing and Communication in Agriculture and Natural Resources

ISBN-13: 9783319031002 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 142 str.

P. K. Ramachandran Nair; Vimala D. Nair

Opis

The purpose of this book is to help early career professionals in agriculture and natural resources write their research papers for high-quality journals and present their results properly at professional meetings. Different fields have different conventions for writing style such that the authors of the book have found it difficult to recommend to young scientists in these fields a specific book or source material out of the several that are available as the "go to" guide. Writing a scientific paper is a tedious task even to experienced writers; but it is particularly so for the early career professionals such as students, trainees, scientists and scholars in agriculture and natural resources; the challenge is even more when their first language of communication is not English. This book is targeted mainly to that group.

Spis treści

Preface.- Part 1: Essentials for Good Writing.- 1. Introduction.- 1.1 Scientific Writing: A Brief Overview of Developments.- 1.1.1. The Importance of Writing and Writing Well. 1.1.2. Scientific Methods, Scientific Papers, and Science Writing.- 1.2. Scientific Publications.- 1.2.1. Research (Journal) Paper.- 1.2.2. Review Paper.- 1.2.3. Book Chapter.- 1.2.4. Conference Paper and Abstracts.- 1.2.5. Theses and Dissertations.- 1.2.6. Short Communication/Research Note.- 1.2.7. Monograph.- 1.3. Journal Articles and Location-Specific Research.- 1.3.1. Basic and Applied Research.- 1.3.2. “What,” “Why,” and “How” Types of Research.- 1.3.3. Location-Specific Research.- 2. Organization of a Research Paper: The IMRAD Format.- 2.1. Title.- 2.2. Authors.- 2.3. Keywords.- 2.4. Abstract.- 2.5. Introduction.- 2.6. Materials and Methods.- 2.7. Results.- 2.8. Discussion.- 2.9. Conclusions.- 2.10. Acknowledgments.- 2.11. References.- 2.11.1. Common Styles of Literature Citation.- 2.11.2. Some Other Issues of Reference Citation.- 2.12. Appendix.- 3. Tables and Figures.- 3.1. Importance of Tables and Figures.- 3.2. Table vs. Figure.- 3.3. Table Headings and Figure Captions.- 3.4. How to Construct Tables and Figures.- 3.5. Data Presentation Guidelines.- 4. The “Nuts and Bolts”: Numbers, Units, Dates, Abbreviations, Nomenclature ….- 4.1. Numbers.- 4.2. Units.- 4.3. Date and Time.- 4.4. Abbreviations and Acronyms.- 4.5. Nomenclature and Scientific Names.- 4.6. Mathematical and Statistical Expressions.- Part 2: English – The International Language of Science.- 5. Words.- 5.1. Gender and Pronouns.- 5.1.1. Gender Bias.- 5.1.2. Personal Pronouns.- 5.2. Modifiers.- 5.3. Idioms.- 5.4. Jargon.- 5.5. Nouns from Verbs.- 5.6. Collectives.- 5.7. Spelling.- 5.8. Specialized Words.- 5.9. Similar Words, Different Meanings.- 6. Sentences.- 6.1. Active and Passive Voice.- 6.2. Tense.- 6.3. Parallel Structure.- 6.4. Double Negatives.- 6.5. Disguised Writing.- 6.6. Complex Sentences and Indirect Language.- 6.7. Wordiness/Conciseness.- 6.7.1. Adding Conciseness.- 6.7.2. Verbosity: Unnecessary and Difficult Words.- 6.8. Transition.- 6.9. Awkwardness.- 6.10. Punctuation Marks.- 6.10.1. Comma ( , ).- 6.10.2. Period ( . ).- 6.10.3. Quotation Marks (“  ”).- 6.10.4. Hyphen ( - ).- 6.10.5. Dash ( — ).- 6.10.6. Colon and semicolon.- 6.10.7. Brackets  ( [   ] ) and Parentheses  (  ).- 6.10.8. Slash ( / ).- 6.10.9. Apostrophe, Ellipsis, Exclamation Point, Question Mark.- Part 3: Manuscript: Preparation, Submission, and Follow-up.- 7. Preparing the Manuscript.- 7.1. When to write.- 7.2. How to proceed.- 7.2.1. Overcome the “Fear” Complex.- 7.2.2. What Are the Results You Want to Communicate?.- 7.2.3. A Plan for the Paper.- 7.2.4. The First Draft.- 7.2.5. The Second Draft.- 7.2.6. The Third Draft.- 7.2.7. The Final Manuscript.- 7.3. Publication Ethics.- 7.3.1. Double Publishing.- 7.3.2. Authorship.- 7.3.3. Plagiarism.- 7.3.4. Copyright.- 8. Dealing with the Journal.- 8.1. Selecting a Journal.- 8.1.1. Journal Quality: Impact Factor.- 8.1.2. International vs. Local Journals.- 8.2. Submitting the Manuscript.- 8.2.1. Manuscript Preparation.- 8.2.2. Manuscript Submission.- 8.3. Peer Review of the Manuscript.- 8.4. Communications from the Journal.- 8.4.1. Initial Screening before Peer Review.- 8.4.2. Response to Peer-review Decision.- 8.5. When a Paper is Not Accepted.- 8.5.1. Reasons for Rejecting a Manuscript.- 8.5.2. What to do with a Rejected Paper?.- 8.6. Proof Correction.- 8.6.1. Proofs.- 8.6.2. Proofreading.- Part 4: Oral and Poster Presentations.- 9. Oral Presentations.- 9.1. “To Do” Prior to Preparing an Oral Presentation.- 9.1.1. Identify the Audience.- 9.1.2. Determine the Nature and Time Allowed for the Presentation.- 9.2. Preparing your Oral Presentation.- 9.2.1. Title and Introduction.- 9.2.2. The Main Body of your Presentation.- 9.2.3. Conclusions/Implications.- 9.3. The Oral Presentation.- 9.3.1. Before the Actual Presentation.- 9.3.2. During your Presentation.- 9.3.3. Some Additional Guidelines.- 9.4. Oral Presentations in Relation to Scientific Writing.- 10. Poster Presentations.- 10.1. “To Do” Prior to Creating the Poster.- 10.1.1. Prepare the Abstract.- 10.1.2. Determine the Poster Size.- 10.1.3. Identify Components of the Poster.- 10.2. Creating the Poster.- 10.2.1. Layout and Format.- 10.2.2. Contents.- 10.3. Other Considerations for Poster Preparation.- 10.4. Presenting Your Poster.- 10.4.1. Before your Presentation.- 10.4.2. During your Presentation.- 10.5. Poster Evaluation.- References and Recommended Reading.- Subject Index.

Blurb

Perhaps there is no dearth of books, reference manuals, and internet sources on scientific writing. Given, however, that different fields have different conventions for writing style, we have found it difficult to recommend a specific book or source material as the “go to” guide to young scientists in agriculture and natural resources. Having been involved as authors, reviewers, and editors of various journals and publications during the past few decades, we have come to the conclusion that writing a scientific paper is a tedious task for not only us, but most writers. While that is true even for experienced writers, it is a sort of nightmare for the early career professionals such as students, trainees, scientists, and scholars in agriculture and natural resources, especially when their first language of communication is not English. Their trials, tribulations, and frustrations are compounded by the severe pressure they experience from the increasing importance attached to authoring scientific publications (in English). This book is targeted mainly to that group.

The ten short chapters of the book are organized in four parts. The first, “Essentials for good writing,” contains four chapters that emphasize the importance of publishing research results, review briefly the various types of scientific publications and other important features of scientific writing. The second part that includes two chapters deals with the use and misuse of English as the international language of science. Manuscript preparation and submission is the scope of the third part that also has two chapters. Part 4 is about communication of research results through oral and poster presentations to the peer groups at conferences and meetings. Finally, a list of references and recommended reading is included.