Issue 128 learning to write articles

NHD-EXTRA: SKILLS & LEARNING

LEARNING TO WRITE ARTICLES Michèle Sadler RNutr Rank Nutrition Ltd Michèle is Director of Rank Nutrition Ltd, which provides nutrition consultancy services to the food industry.

Michele has a BSc in Nutrition (University of London), a PhD in Biochemistry and Nutritional Toxicology (University of Surrey), and is a Registered Nutritionist.

Writing skills are a valuable asset for dietitians and nutritionists. Published articles, book chapters and scientific papers will raise your profile and help to establish your expertise. All such contributions will make a useful addition to your CV, and if freelancing is in your future plans, writing skills will give more options for potential work.

Whether you are writing for fellow health professionals, research scientists, or the public, honed skills will help to get your message across.

If you are a newcomer to writing, or time has passed since you last wrote for a publication, deciding where to start can be quite daunting. If you have been invited to write a book chapter, or are looking to contribute an article to NHD for example, this article aims to give some basic approaches and tips to help you get going.

GETTING STARTED

Identifying the main message of the paper or article that you want to write is a good starting point. Try to express this in a concise sentence, as this will help you to communicate a clear message. Then outline the title to give you a clear focus - it can be changed later on if required.

Where a literature search is necessary, this needs to be undertaken at an early stage. Otherwise, it is advisable to capture details of all the references you want to cite as you are writing.

This avoids a separate, time-consuming job at the end to hunt down missing citations. If available, a reference manager programme such as Endnote is a great help in organising references.

STYLE

Before you get started, look at some examples of previous articles, chapters or papers in the publication you are writing for and familiarise

yourself with the ‘house style’. If you are writing for a magazine or publication, you will be given a word count, or at the very least a guide to how many words are required for a particular topic. Take a look at various publications so that you can visualise how many words fit a page and how many pages make up an article.

Find out if there is a ‘style guide’ that you can follow for the particular publication. This will cover details such as how to deal with numbers or numeric terms and use of abbreviations.

Common conventions include spelling out numbers from one to 9, and using numerals for 10 onwards, though this varies between publications. In NHD, for example, units are spelt out from one to nine, e.g. six children, and numerals for 10 onwards, e.g.12 patients. Numerals are used with standard units of measure, e.g. 35mg, and percentages, e.g. 8%, but, Sentences should not begin with numerals, but with numbers written as words.

Abbreviations should only be used if the term appears more than once in the text, in which case the term is provided in full on first use followed by the abbreviation in brackets. Some publications have a list of permitted abbreviations that can be used without providing the term itself, as they are universally understood.

How to insert references within the text can vary from publication to publication too. With NHD for example, references are numbered in a list at the

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NHD-EXTRA: SKILLS AND LEARNING end of the article and corresponding superscript numbering appears in the main text of the article.

References for all NHD articles are features on the website too (www.NHDmag.com).

An important aspect of style is to be concise - and this takes time. It may seem illogical that it takes longer to write something short than to write something long, but this is generally the case, as acknowledged by Mark Twain in his well-known quotation: “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”

Attention to other aspects of style will help your writing to flow more gracefully.

For example, it is best to avoid over-use of intensifiers, such as ‘very’ much, or ‘extremely’ positive - ‘much’ or ‘positive’ is sufficient. If emphasis is necessary, it is better to be more explicit, e.g. ‘less than twice the value’ rather than ‘very much less’, depending on the particular details. It helps to explain terms that the reader may not be familiar with rather than using jargon. Adding a glossary may be useful, if it fits with the publication style.

GRAMMAR

Clear concise language without ambiguity avoids the reader having to stop and think what you intended to say. To quote another famous writer, George Orwell: “Good prose should be transparent, like a window pane.”

Correct use of grammar helps the text to flow, making it easier to read. If your knowledge of grammar is a bit rusty and you are stuck on any particular points, an internet search will pull up various websites with helpful information or facilities to check use of grammar. Make sure you are using an English UK site though!

STRUCTURE

Like a novel, scientific writing needs a beginning, middle and end. Organising the material you want to communicate into a clear and logical sequence is essential for the flow of your article or chapter, in order to lead the reader through your arguments.

The text will typically begin with an introduction that sets out the relevant background and informs the reader what you are writing about. Identifying at the outset the other sections you want to include will help to 54

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structure the main body of your article. Setting the heading levels early on is also helpful. It is important to marry the particular points you want to make to the correct sections and to avoid repetition in different sections. The conclusion should give an overall summary of the main messages that you want to convey to the reader.

Making use of tables, figures or other illustrations helps to express information more succinctly than writing the details as text.

Refer to the table or figure to make the point, and avoid repeating information in the tables and figures as text.

In view of increasing emphasis on conflicts of interest and funding sources, be prepared to declare these within your article or paper.

ACADEMIC JOURNALS

If you are writing a scientific paper or review for an academic publication, choose the journal you want to submit to at the outset.

Each journal has specific requirements and these should be identified before you start writing. The instructions to authors will give information about the required style and structure, referencing style, maximum word count and other relevant details such as any restrictions on the number of tables and figures.

A lot of time can be saved if you follow these guidelines when writing your initial draft.

Again, it is important to ensure your material is allocated to the correct section.

The methods section should cover factual information such as details of subjects, dietary manipulation and procedures and should not include any results. The results section should only report the findings and not explain them, whereas the discussion section is the place to elaborate on the results and put them into context with other research in the area in order to explore their significance. Most journals require discussion of the limitations of the research and suggestions for further research.

Where required, keywords and abstract are best written once you have a full draft, so you can draw on the main points you have written. The format of the abstract varies between different publications - some require

Table 1: Writing tips Check out and follow the house style of the publication you are writing for.

Organise your material into a clear and logical sequence; think: beginning, middle and end.

Keep your writing concise throughout.

Marry your points to the correct section.

Avoid repetition of the same point in different sections.

Data in figures and tables does not need to be repeated in the text.

Allow time to re-read and edit your draft; check your spelling, grammar and punctuation; also ask a colleague to read it.

a structured abstract with sub-headings and others require text without headings, so check this out beforehand.

PEER REVIEW

This is the ‘quality control’ process used by scientific journals that helps to maintain standards. It is also used by other publications.

For example, it is sometimes used by NHD to ensure that detailed facts have been correctly reported. It is more common today that peer review is a double-blind process where the identity of the authors is masked to the reviewer and the authors are unaware of the reviewer’s identity. In most cases peer review requires revisions to the manuscript, but this typically results in improvements to presentation and clarity, usually making it a positive process.

FINALISING YOUR MANUSCRIPT

Allowing sufficient time to leave your finished manuscript for a couple of days and then come back to it is usually beneficial. This allows you to read it with fresh eyes, making it easier to spot edits and tweaks that will improve the text before it needs to be submitted. It is also worthwhile asking a colleague to read through your draft for any extra insight they can provide.

MEETING DEADLINES

Finally, submitting in a timely manner is crucial, as publications work to tight schedules. Hence it is essential to bring time management and planning skills into the equation when writing articles. It generally takes longer than you think to write a polished piece of work that you can be proud of…but it is very rewarding.

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