We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology. – Carl Sagan
As the global language of science, English goes hand-in-hand with scientific exploration and discovery. As a result, knowing English Scientific Writing is very important. We need to be able to communicate with not only other scientists and specialists but also the general public, many of whom do not speak general English as a native language. Scientific English was developed as a result.
Whether you are a committed scientist or just an avid enthusiast, Scientific Writing is a great tool to have. These posts will help you develop your scientific language skills:
Latest posts on Scientific English:
Hedging
Time to get out the trimmers! No, not that kind of hedging!! Hedging is an important tool that all writers should have in their arsenal, especially when writing in an academic or scientific context. But what is hedging? Hedging is a writing style used to make the meaning of a sentence less absolute. For example:…
The Grammar of Scientific English: Verbs, Voices and Abbreviations/Acronyms
If you think you have graduated from spacing, numbers and hyphens, try this post on for size! How do you feel about verbs/voices, abbreviations/acronyms and Latin? Now we are getting into the hard parts! Verbs/Voices – Active and Passive When someone refers to the ‘voice’ of a verb, they are talking about whether the verb…
The Grammar of Scientific English: Spaces in all the Right Places
The first thing to remember for Scientific English (or any specialised language) is that it is based on the general language, in this case, General English. If you have read my post on the Brief History of Scientific English, you may remember that Scientific English became more commonplace in the 1950s due to the Cold War…
The Basics of Scientific Writing
Just like learning anything, it is best to start with the basics (building blocks) and work up. If you are interested in learning Scientific Writing, I recommend you have an intermediate to advanced level of English. If you understood everything to get to this point so far, you will be fine.
The building blocks of Scientific Writing
The best way to start learning this “language” is to compare it to something you already know: general English. All those things you either learnt in school or when learning English are important. The good news: you use them in very specific ways and there are few to no exceptions to the rules! Here are some important concepts:
A Brief Post on the History and Use of Scientific English
So you may have seen my post on The Basic Characteristics of Scientific English, but what is it all for and where did it come from? What is the history of Scientific English? If you have wondered these questions, you have…
The Basic Characteristics of Scientific English
The words ‘Scientific English’ often conjure up convoluted, impenetrable sentences in the mind’s eye. What if I told you that it should not be this way? What if I said that Scientific Language (of any kind) should actually be easy…
Punctuation in Scientific Writing and How Powerful It Can Be
In addition to the basic characteristics of Scientific English, the next most important thing when writing is grammar. Oh no! I said the bad “g” word – grammar. No one really likes it but it is important and we will…
The Grammar of Scientific English: Spaces in all the Right Places
The first thing to remember for Scientific English (or any specialised language) is that it is based on the general language, in this case, General English. If you have read my post on the Brief History of Scientific English, you may…
The Grammar of Scientific English: Verbs, Voices and Abbreviations/Acronyms
If you think you have graduated from spacing, numbers and hyphens, try this post on for size! How do you feel about verbs/voices, abbreviations/acronyms and Latin? Now we are getting into the hard parts! Verbs/Voices – Active and Passive When…
Hedging
Time to get out the trimmers! No, not that kind of hedging!! Hedging is an important tool that all writers should have in their arsenal, especially when writing in an academic or scientific context. But what is hedging? Hedging is…