
Explore the 15 common errors in scientific writing and learn practical fixes to help new and aspiring science writers communicate medical and scientific ideas clearly.
Explore the 15 common scientific-writing errors across grammar, style, and word choice, covering verb tense, data as plural, abbreviations, numbers and units, and affect versus effect.
Master verb tense in scientific writing by distinguishing simple past, present, and present perfect, and applying rules for methods, results, and figures for clear, accurate communication.
Explore the present perfect tense in scientific writing, including rules for past results that remain relevant and past results that are ongoing, with tense correction examples.
Master covert plurals in scientific writing, including data, axis, phenomenon, bacterium, and locus, and fix common subject-verb agreement errors with Latin and Greek plurals.
Master hyphenation in scientific writing by learning rules for number-unit adjectives, noun-verb participles, adjective-noun compounds, and common compounds like up-to-date and state-of-the-art.
Explore common capitalization errors in scientific writing and learn rules for first words, proper nouns, abbreviations, brand names, diseases, and table or figure designators.
Explore common style mistakes with abbreviations, emphasizing consistency, correct first-use expansion, and readability. Learn to identify and correct abbreviation errors throughout a manuscript.
Identify and correct possessive misuse in scientific writing by replacing apostrophe-s with 'of' constructions or adjectives, and use possessive pronouns like its without an apostrophe.
Identify and fix errors in comparisons by ensuring thing a and thing b are comparable, using 'more' or the -er ending with 'than', and comparing like things with 'compared with'.
Explore common sentence set-up errors in scientific writing and learn practical edits to improve clarity, including avoiding starting with numbers, Greek letters, or abbreviations, and using clear voice.
Learn the correct affect versus effect usage in science writing. Apply verb and noun distinctions, guided by Stedman's medical dictionary and AMA style for hyphens and apostrophes.
Learn how the term 'significant' is misused in medical writing and why it must accompany a p value; substitute with 'statistically significant' or alternatives like substantial.
This lecture clarifies the correct use of that, which, and who as relative pronouns, distinguishing restrictive from non-restrictive clauses and showing how commas affect meaning.
Learn how to use inferential words correctly in scientific writing, avoid using prove, and replace it with indicating or demonstrated based on certainty levels.
Explain the difference between ie and eg, from Latin id est and exempli gratia, and show when to clarify versus introduce examples, with usage in cognition and medical contexts.
Distinguish between fewer and less by identifying countable nouns versus uncountable quantities, using fewer with plural nouns and less with singular, illustrated by mice and time.
Adopt person-first, inclusive language to avoid dehumanizing medical terms and misused words. Learn when to use people, participants, or patients and how to replace cases or subjects per AMA style.
Hello! This course is 15 Errors in Scientific Writing and How to Fix Them. I’m Dr. Emma Nichols, a long-time medical writer. I’ve collaborated with medical writer Dr. Jessica Martin to bring you this course so you can eliminate some of the common errors in your scientific, academic, or medical writing and earn the trust of your readers, which is so important in this field.
If you are a researcher or clinician, you may think that the science is the most important part of what you do. But writing up your results and communicating them in an error-free way is just as important. Alternatively, if you're a copyeditor or copywriter, you may find writing about and editing science intimidating. However, editing and proofreading medical and scientific writing is a great way to boost your income in this growing and in-demand field. Don't shy away from these opportunities! Instead, take this course so that you can begin to learn the conventions and common errors in medical and scientific writing, and find the high-paying clients that you have been looking for!
By eliminating these 15 errors in your scientific and medical writing, you will create a great first impression.
In this course, the 15 most common errors are broken up into three categories:
Grammar. In this section, we will discuss verb tense. When should you write in the present tense? When should you write in the past tense? We will also discuss nouns that are always plural, such as data, and how to use verbs that agree in number. We will talk about proper hyphenation, which is frequently a struggle for writers who are not used to the many compound adjectives and phrases used in science writing.
Style mistakes. Mistakes in style are things like inconsistent word or abbreviation usage, incorrect comparisons, and sentence set-up.
Misused words. Some misused words that we discuss are applicable to all types of writing (such "that" versus "which" and "ie" versus "eg") and some are specific to science writing, like the use of the word “significant.” And, importantly, this section includes a lesson on person-first language to ensure your scientific and medical writing is sensitive to all people.
Perhaps you are…
a researcher, academic, scientist, professor, or doctor who struggles to write in an error-free manner, resulting in manuscript rejections or revisions that focus more on the writing style than the substance of your work.
already a skilled writer, but not so familiar with the quirks that come along with science writing; this course will make your writing the best it can be.
a freelance copyeditor or copywriter and want to expand your clientele to include more lucrative and profitable scientific and medical jobs
All you need is high school-level English and English language proficiency to get started and, of course, a need or desire to use that writing in a scientific or medical arena. Just click on the link to enroll! Thank you so much!