How do you get into Nature? Publish, publish, publish!

March 19, 2012 1:15 PM

Can you recommend a good book/guide to writing scientific research papers (for publication)?

I've always written papers with experienced collaborators, but I'm now writing my first paper where I'm by myself. So, I thought I might see what the latest advice is for writing journal papers - advice in book/written form (as opposed to the live, experienced human form I've had before). I'm writing in the biomedical/statistics field. Thanks!

posted by bluefly to writing & language (7 answers total)

How to write a lot
posted by dhruva at 1:20 PM on March 19, 2012

Are you looking for style guides, or generally how to structure one's arguments in academic writing?

If you have an idea where you want to publish, major scientific journal publishers will frequently have their own author guides -- which focus a lot on structure and format.

For more general academic writing advice, I like They Say/I Say.
posted by pantarei70 at 3:43 PM on March 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm not really looking for format guides -- I've got that down. I'm just looking for writing advice. Thanks for the suggestions.
posted by bluefly at 4:02 PM on March 19, 2012

Seconding How to Write a Lot.
posted by puritycontrol at 5:17 PM on March 19, 2012

Scrutiny of the Introduction by Jon Claerbout is a good piece by a man who is generally considered one of the best technical writers in my own narrow field.
posted by bukvich at 5:44 PM on March 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

Lest statistics, more biomedical. I link to this a lot: Whitesides' paper isnt a book, but it is full of good advice.
posted by lalochezia at 7:07 PM on March 19, 2012

I've been to George Gopen's writing seminar, which was excellent. He wrote a book The Sense of Structure: Writing from the Reader's Perspective. Here's an article that he wrote: The Science of Scientific Writing, which is free.
posted by Comrade_robot at 4:28 AM on March 20, 2012 [1 favorite]