Offensive and Defensive Writing: The Secret to Getting Your Manuscript Published?
In a recent email conversation with my friend John Knox, he mentioned a game that he played by trying to spot the parts of the text in a scientific article that the author added specifically to address reviewers’ concerns. I have to admit to playing the same game at times. John’s point was that the […]
Dump the tilde
I am an Assistant Editor at the Electronic Journal of Severe Storms Meteorology. As we have no paid staff, we depend upon authors to send us manuscripts that are near-ready to publish. The rest of the work we do ourselves, including much of the layout, technical and copy editing, and Web pages. For all that, […]
Denotation versus Connotation
In Eloquent Science, I mention understanding the difference between denotation (the literal meaning of a word) and connotation (the idea or feeling that the word evokes in the listener). This idea hit home recently when I was co-writing a proposal with a British colleague. He had written the word “envisage”, which I thought sounded a […]
Writing Advice from William Safire
Dave Jorgensen sent me this wonderful piece of writing advice from author, columnist, and presidential speechwriter William Safire. 1. No sentence fragments. 2. It behooves us to avoid archaisms. 3. Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration. 4. Don’t use no double negatives. 5. If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times, “Resist […]
Flattering review in Polar Research
Kevin R. Wood of the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean, University of Washington, has written a flattering review in Polar Research. Here are some excerpts. …at the time of my first reading of Eloquent science, I was rewriting a paper that had not, shall we say, passed gracefully through the […]
