Duke Medical Center Library & Archives News Tag: scientific writing

Bad grammar might distract readers from an otherwise good paper or make your work more difficult to read and comprehend. On the other hand, good writing may make an otherwise bad paper appear better than it is. 

Here are some explanations for a few common mistakes in scientific writing: 

• Incorrectly writing units or incorrectly using hyphens
• Use hyphens with adjectives. My camera has a 24-mm lens, but the lens is 24 mm. 
• Remember to put a space between the number and unit if there isn't a hyphen.
• The not-so-simple instructions were not so helpful. 
• Here's more from Grammar Girl about…

Tags: grammar, scientific writing, writing, writing support