While teaching writing to undergraduate science students, Gilpin and Patchet-Golubev discovered that although many relatively sophisticated manuals for scientific writing exist, most are aimed at mainly professionals or specialists and are of little practical use to the majority of students. This introductory guide fills that large gap.

Direct and friendly in tone the book provides clear and concise explanations of the basic elements of scientific writing required of students. The various genres are detailed - in particular lab reports and research essays - as well as scientific...