Science Research Writing: A Guide for Non-Native Speakers of English

by Glasman-Deal Hilary

This book is designed to enable non-native English speakers to write science research for publication in English. It can also be used by English speakers and is a practical, user-friendly book intended as a fast, do-it-yourself guide for those whose English language proficiency is above intermediate. The approach is based on material developed from teaching graduate students at Imperial College London and has been extensively piloted. The book guides the reader through the process of writing science research and will also help with writing a Master's or Doctoral thesis in English.Science writing is much easier than it looks because the structure and language are conventional. The aim of this book is to help the reader discover a template or model for science research writing and then to provide the grammar and vocabulary tools needed to operate that model. There are five units: Introduction, Methodology, Results, Discussion/Conclusion and Abstract. The reader develops a model for each section of the research article through sample texts and exercises; this is followed by a Grammar and Writing Skills section designed to respond to frequently-asked questions as well as a Vocabulary list including examples of how the words and phrases are to be used.

Genres: Writing, Research, Science, Reference, Academia, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published December 18, 2009

Reviews

[Asef · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is designed to help non-native speakers of English write science research papers for publication in English. However, it can also be used as a guide for native English speakers who would like support with their science writing, and by science students who need to write a Master’s dissertation or PhD thesis.

[Essam Munir · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very practical book!

[Aprisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a non native English speaker, who needs to write papers in English, this book is beyond valuable to me. I bring it everywhere whenever I need to write. Firstly, the author starts with a clear guidance on how to use the book, including how it can best help us. She asks us to prepare few papers to exercise. The book is separated into clear chapters based on the agreed structure of academic writing (i.e. introduction, methodology, results, etc) and has a balanced amount of applicable/practical English grammar and theories, vocabulary (can I repeat this? VOCABULARY to make sure you're not uselessly and boringly repeating your words), examples, and exercises; all in each chapters. I love love love this book. Whenever I'm stuck with my paper, or abstract (yes, it has abstract section, too!), I just open the corresponding chapter, and problem solved!

[Akbar Madan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scientific and research writing has a special methodology. Any learner must adjust its rules so that his research or article is of a scientific quality. These rules include all parts of the research or article, such as the necessity of using scientific linguistic vocabulary that has its own character in achieving meaning and semantic control. It should contain a certain structure that assumes the existence of the scientific hypothesis to the methodology used to reach the results and then analyze the results and compare them with the results or previous research and discuss and interpret those comparisons until we reach the conclusion that outweighs the results of the research over others. This writing has its own methodological and verbal character.

[Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Scientist's Guide to Writing: How to Write More Easily and Effectively Throughout Your Scientific Career is a much better book for this topic. This book focus too much on the grammatical rules and offers not much help outside of scientific writing.

[Olga Kuminova · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely structured book, to the point of mechanicity, and for this reason easy to navigate and use selectively. The learning method of analyzing academic writing in terms of rhetorical moves is used throughout, on the basis of model articles from the writer's specific field. Useful tables of words, expressions and templates related to each section of research article. Also some insightful comments on the rhetorical moves and functions that comprise the parts of the article, and some pleasant humorous touches.

[Gabor Scheiring · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book on the technicalities of science writing, not just for non-native speakers. I found the models for constructing different sections particularly valuable. The sections on grammar are also quite useful. The author relies on natural and life sciences mostly but the insights are also relevant for social scientists who want to write better, who value clarity and analytic rigour. However, the book is so much focused on technicalities that it somehow misses the bigger picture, the creative side to the process, and it's sometimes hard to relate to from a social science perspective.

[Lucian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A step-by-step guide through scientific writing.

The author sheds light on the scientific community's expectations from an article/ thesis, which is really helpful for beginners. Moreover, the vocabulary sections are especially useful for non-native english speakers.

I totally recommend it for scientists at the start of their career.

[Salma سلمى · Rating 5 out of 5]

كتاب ممتاز في مجال الكتابة باللغة الإنجليزية للباحثين في العلوم، يتطرق إلى قسم من أقسام المقال البحثي (الورقة البحثية) بدءاً من المقدمة، طريقة البحث، النتائج، المناقشة والخاتمة وأخيراً ملخص البحث. في كل من الأقسام السابقة قامت المؤلفة بشرح القواعد اللغوية الشائعة في كل جزء مع أمثلة وتمرينات .. كتاب ممتاز و مفيد لكل باحث في مجال كتابة المقالات باللغة الإنجليزية

[Lillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great help for writing my first academic paper.

[Pongsak Sarapukdee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommended it to everyone who wants to public your research, including the native speaker of English.

[Fatema AlKa'by · Rating 5 out of 5]

very helpful, highly recommended.

[Mario Joaquín · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book for unpacking scientific writing for native and non-natives

[Mary Mojica]

This book is not only well-organized and full of examples. It also provides much helpful information, even for native speakers.

[Luis Garrido · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantástico

[Aleister Pang · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a non-native phd student, this book is definitely a life-changing guideline for me.

[Clara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful

[Jing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Methodology (writing handbook).

Good designing and details. Balanced the scientific writing with English expressions.

[Mohammed Alshahrani · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exceptional book recommended for a non-native speaker.

[Kobkaew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should have read it 4 years ago though. There are some repetition contents in every chapter, which you can skip reading that.

If you are writing a scientific paper, article, thesis, this book can help you a lot. Except that you started writing already, or the due date is very close.

The vocabulary sections are useful and quite handy. Although you can use a thesaurus online nowadays, understanding the usage of each word is still necessary. And, of course, especially for a non-native English speaker.

The structure of the content in the book itself can assure you how important to give a direction/structure of the following content, then describe it in detail. When you finish reading the book, this pattern will stick in your head and, hopefully, it will appear in your written paper as well.

[Yu · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a useful book for novice researchers and doctoral students to learn the style and convention of academic writing. Although it is not closely related to the writing style in management literature, it did help me to reflect on my writing process and identify mistakes that I tend to make as non-native speaker. This book would also be a good guidance for any writing related siminars.

[Yud Ye · Rating 5 out of 5]

A practical guide for writing a research paper from the very beginning

This book offers lots of useful advices as well as provides necessary vocabularies and expressions for writing a paper professionaly.

[Natalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

As they say "to whom it may concern"... I'm dealing with my thesis. So, yeah, for now - perfect reading... any other time - no, thanx

[Munawar · Rating 5 out of 5]

a must read for academia from non-native speakers.
very helpful during my thesis writing :)