PLoS (Public Library of Science), in its journal PLoS Computational Biology published three very helpful papers by Philip E. Bourne and Thomas C. Erren describing the way to write and present science better.
They are:
- Ten Simple Rules for Getting Published
- Ten Simple Rules for Making Good Oral Presentations
- Ten Simple Rules for a Good Poster Presentation
It would be nice if things were that simple, wouldn’t it. If all people following those rules were actually recognized as good scientists while the other, bypassing those rules, were bad scientists. But it helps taking the steps in the right direction anyway.
On the same topic, you may also find useful the brochure entitled Scientifically Speaking and the more sarcastic article by Kaj Sand-Jensen How to write consistently boring scientific literature published in . This last piece, in addition to being much fun to read, actually gives good advice… if you do the opposite of what is described! To conclude with another Ten Rules, here are those according to Sand-Jensen:
- Avoid focus
- Avoid originality and personality
- Write l o n g contributions
- Remove implications and speculation
- Leave out illustrations
- Omit necessary steps of reasoning
- Use abbreviations and jargon
- Suppress humor
- Degrade everything to statistical elements
- Provide citations for self-evident statements
Promising, isn’t it.
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