Interlude
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Interlude: Gifts, Inspiration, and Favorite Things
Welcome to a special holiday edition of the Interlude!
It's officially the holiday season, so I thought I'd share a short round-up of my favorite things that you might want to add to your gift list. I regularly use all these products. (These recommendations are not sponsored.)
I hope they inspire you to find the perfect gift for someone special (or yourself 😜).
💌 Round-up
⏰ A Gift of Time
TextExpander
The greatest gift we can give is time. And TextExpander has saved me many hours of work since I started using it last year. I highly recommend this tool to anyone who finds that they are writing the same text over and over again in emails, comments, documents, and more. This tool works across all programs on your computer.
☕️ A Gift of Warmth
Corkcicle Mug
On cold days, I like to enjoy a warm cup of tea while I work. After my tea quickly got cold in a coffee cup, a friend gifted me one of these mugs. It keeps my tea hot for hours. And the lid prevents major spills when I accidentally knock the mug over (which has happened a time or two ).
📔 A Gift of Growth
The Five Minute Journal
I have been using this journal for many years now. I love how in only five minutes in the morning and evening, you can cultivate gratitude and mindfulness with just a few simple prompts. The only thing I'd change is to add a hyphen to correct the name to "The Five-Minute Journal." 😉
🖊️ A Gift of Ease
Pentel EnerGel Pens
I have met many writers that have a thing about pens, and I'm definitely one of them. These pens roll smoothly and don't bleed with my small handwriting. I have them in several colors and keep a backup supply of refills at all times.
🎧 A Gift of Safety
Aftershokz Aeropex Headphones
I enjoy running, mostly on trails but also on the road. These headphones allow you to hear the wildlife and cars while also listening to your favorite podcast, audiobook, or music while out and about. They have great sound quality, a battery that lasts for 8 hours, and are completely waterproof. The microphone also works well for phone calls and virtual meetings.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Apologizing, Reframing, and Hijacking
Do you tend to apologize when you don't immediately reply to emails?
Perhaps you've opened an email with "I'm sorry for my delay in replying." Or "I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to you."
I had this habit for a long time. The phrase "I'm sorry" became an automatic reply out of politeness rather than a genuine (or even needed) apology.
Although some situations call for a true apology, a delayed email often isn't one of them.
So a couple of years ago, I started taking a different approach. Rather than open an email with an apology, I would open with words of appreciation: "Thanks for your patience while I replied."
According to research, this reframing shows appreciation that helps to boost the recipient's self-esteem and satisfaction. This reframing also sets a positive tone by showing respect for the recipient and their time, while also respecting your own time. And this appreciation and respect can help to foster a stronger and more meaningful relationship.
This approach also works in other situations.
Did you arrive late to lunch?
Apology: "I'm sorry. I got stuck in traffic."
Reframe: "Thank you for waiting. I got stuck in traffic."
Did you talk your colleagues ear off?
Apology: "I'm sorry I rambled."
Reframe: "Thank you for listening to me."
Did your meeting run late?
Apology: "I'm sorry we went over."
Reframe: "Thank you for staying a few extra minutes while we sorted out the next steps."
So the next time you find yourself apologizing unnecessarily, use language that reframes your response to appreciation.
Now onto the good stuff...
💌 Round-up
👓 Reading
Your Email Does Not Constitute My Emergency
"The more recipients believed they needed to respond quickly, the more stressed they felt — and the more they tended to struggle with burnout and work-life balance. The stress was mitigated when senders took a simple step: communicating their expectations. Just saying something like 'This isn’t urgent, so get to it whenever you can' was enough to alleviate the perceived pressure to respond quickly."
My journal was hijacked: an editor’s experience
"Journal hijacking is a growing problem and a threat to the entire scientific community. Hijacked journals are scam websites that impersonate legitimate journals and attempt to take over their brand...By stealing the brand, web domain, or the serial number used to identify a publication, cybercriminals try to lure researchers into paying for publications."
🧰 Tools
Just Not Sorry
This Chrome Extension for Gmail and Outlook warns you when you use phrases such as "I'm sorry" and many other phrases that can undermine your message. I've used the extension for many years and really appreciate when it flags messages that I can refine to send more confident and appreciative emails.
💬 Quote
“Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it all into words is all that is necessary.” — Margaret Cousins
📝 Experiment
The next time you default to writing an unnecessary "I'm sorry" in an email, delete the phrase and replace it with "Thank you."
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Self-Help Books, Self-Editing Tactics, and Simplified Peer Review
I love a good self-help book. I always learn something that is helpful in some way. But what I love most is drawing correlations with writing.
I recently read an article that claimed that every self-help book ever written could be boiled down to 11 simple rules:
Take one small step.
Change your mental maps.
Struggle is good. Scary is good.
Instant judgment is bad.
Remember the end of your life.
Be playful.
Be useful to others.
Perfectionism = procrastination.
Sleep, exercise, eat, chill out. Repeat.
Write it all down.
You can’t get it all from reading.
I think all these rules also apply to writing. Below are a few examples that relate to each rule.
Take one small step. ➡️ Break up writing tasks into small chunks.
Change your mental maps. ➡️ Visualize your writing goal and plan steps to achieve it.
Struggle is good. Scary is good. ➡️ Our struggles with writing help to clarify our thinking.
Instant judgment is bad. ➡️ Pause before sending an email after Reviewer #2 rejects your paper.
Remember the end of your life. ➡️ Writing is a way to leave a legacy.
Be playful. ➡️ Have fun with writing, even if it’s hard.
Be useful to others. ➡️ Use your writing strengths to help others.
Perfectionism = procrastination. ➡️ Procrastinating on your writing could be because you are expecting perfection.
Sleep, exercise, eat, chill out. Repeat. ➡️ Take care of your mind and body so that you are at your best for writing.
Write it all down. ➡️ Create a collection bucket to capture your ideas and writing snippets.
You can’t get it all from reading. ➡️ You need to do the work and recognize your limitations to make progress in your writing.
What examples do you have for these rules?
Now for this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
💻 From My Desk
10 Tactics to Help You Stop Overlooking How You Can Improve Your Writing
Editing your own writing can be challenging. Although you might think that you can just edit your own writing, often you are so close to the work that you can easily overlook the problems in the writing. Here are 10 tactics to help you avoid overlooking how your writing can be improved.
👓 Reading
Simplified Peer Review Framework
Last week, the NIH held an online briefing on their Simplified Peer Review Framework that will go into effect for most research grants submitted on or after January 25, 2025. "The Simplified Framework for NIH Peer Review Criteria retains the five regulatory criteria (Significance, Investigators, Innovation, Approach, Environment) but reorganizes them into three factors — two will receive numerical criterion scores and one will be evaluated for sufficiency. All three factors will be considered in arriving at the Overall Impact score."
3 Verbs You Just Don’t Need in Health Comm
Here are "3 verbs you can cut from your plain language vocabulary once and for all. They’re all common in health comm, and they all have one-to-one swaps — which means you really never need to use them... “Administer,” “ensure,” and “utilize” have no place in your plain language health content — they’re just too easy to swap out!"
💭 Thoughts
Be brave enough to write a bad first draft.
Be humble enough to refine it.
📝 Experiment
Are you concerned that you are overlooking how you can improve your draft? Try one of the tactics in this article. Better yet, collaborate with a professional editor.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Nervousness, Authorship Metrics, and Unbiased Science
Do you feel nervous before giving a presentation?
Most people fear public speaking, so I imagine that I am not alone in feeling nervous before giving a presentation. I often feel my heart racing and get butterflies in my stomach.
But last week, when I was getting ready to give a presentation in front of a large group, I wanted to shift my mindset around my feelings. Before getting on stage, I told myself that my feelings were not due to nervousness, but rather to excitement. I told myself that I was excited to get on that stage to present. And I was surprised to find that this shift in thinking helped to calm my nerves.
So the next time you feel nervous, try telling yourself that you are excited instead. You might be surprised at how the shift in your mindset will make you feel more confident or at ease.
Now onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
👓 Reading
Peer Review and Scientific Publication at a Crossroads
"The premise of all Peer Review Congresses is that peer review and scientific publication must be properly examined, tested, and corrected in the same way the scientific method and its products are applied, vetted, weighted, and interpreted....we encourage research in any area of work that may be relevant to peer review and scientific publication, including novel empirical investigations of processes, biases, policies, and innovations. "
A Complement to the H-Index: A Metric Based on Primary Authorship
"...we propose a simple metric to quantify research output in a fashion amenable for today's changing patterns of authorship. We call this metric the “pa-index,” for primary author index, which takes into account the first and last author publications of an author. This way we have a metric that uniquely focuses on the publications where a given author took a leading role."
🎧 Listening
The Unbiased Science Podcast
I had the pleasure of hearing the podcast hosts, Drs. Jessica Steier and Andrea Love, speak at the AMWA conference last week. Their podcast is "devoted to objective, critical appraisal of evidence on health topics relevant to our daily lives." And they have done a great job of bringing an unbiased perspective to a variety of topics in science, from disease to food to pets and much more.
🧰 Tools
Linktr.ee
As I was getting ready to attend an annual conference last week, I decided to try something different this year. Instead of handing out paper business cards, I created a Linktr.ee page. Then I downloaded a QR code that would point to my page and saved the code to my photos (or you can save it as your background). As I met people, I pulled up the QR code for easy scanning. I really like the modern way to share my contact information.
📝 Experiment
The next time you feel nervous before an important event, take a moment to reframe the situation so you can shift your mindset to feeling excited instead.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Presentations, Hunting, and Fabrication
This week's intro will be short and sweet (like a mini cupcake ).
I'm currently connecting with other word nerds, wordsmith wizards, and communication gurus at a conference hosted by the American Medical Writers Association (AMWA). If you're a medical writer or editor (or an aspiring one), I highly recommend that you check out AMWA.
And if you're attending the AMWA conference, please keep an eye out for me (or attend my education session!). I'd love to meet you in person.
Let's get to the good stuff...
💌 Round-up
💻 From My Desk
10 Things to Avoid Saying in Your Research Presentation
As I get ready for my presentation tomorrow, I'm reviewing my list of phrases to avoid saying in a presentation. The phrases that have been hardest for me to stop saying include "As you can see" and "Um." What phrases do you want to avoid saying in your presentation?
📆 Upcoming
Find Your Flow: Connect Ideas to Guide Readers Through Your Writing – October 28, 2023
Tomorrow, I'll be speaking at the American Medical Writers Association conference in Baltimore, MD. At this in-person event, I’ll be speaking about how to synthesize your writing to create a smooth flow that guides readers through your writing with ease.
👓 Reading
The hunter or the hunted: why do authors publish in predatory journals?
"A review of the limited literature on author motivations highlighted 2 main reasons authors opt for predatory journals:
lack of awareness about a journal’s dubious reputation
unethical motivations, including incentives tied to career advancement and disillusionment with traditional academic publishing."
Fabrication and errors in the bibliographic citations generated by ChatGPT
"Within this set of documents, 55% of the GPT-3.5 citations but just 18% of the GPT-4 citations are fabricated. Likewise, 43% of the real (non-fabricated) GPT-3.5 citations but just 24% of the real GPT-4 citations include substantive citation errors. Although GPT-4 is a major improvement over GPT-3.5, problems remain."
🧰 Tools
How to Track Changes in Microsoft PowerPoint
I've always wished that PowerPoint had a track-changes feature like Word. So I was thrilled to learn that you can compare slide versions to find out what was changed between versions. Check out this tutorial for step-by-step instructions to track changes made to a PowerPoint presentation.
📝 Experiment
The next time you're preparing for a talk, record yourself while you practice (you can use Zoom or even PowerPoint). Then watch the video to help you learn how you can improve your presentation.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Collecting Books, Hype Terms, and Interactive Papers
Last week, I was browsing books at a thrift store and realized that I quickly had an armful of books that I wanted to purchase. I kept asking myself whether I really needed more books, because I already have a tall stack of TBR ("to be read") books at home.
Then I remembered an article that shared how reading one book often inspires us to read more books, which fuels the growth of the TBR stack.
The author proposes that instead of buying more books, we can create a "want to read" list and whittle our TBR pile to books that we will actually read soon.
I find these approaches helpful. I have a TBR list in an app, a TBR section on my bookshelf, and a TBR soon stack near my sofa, where I often read. And every few months, I browse my TBR books and list to see if I want to buy something or reorganize my TBR stack.
But I still can't resist buying books at thrift stores. Spending a few dollars on a wealth of information, experience, or imagery (all while supporting a good cause) is a thrill I can't seem to pass up.
Now onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
🎉 Featured
Medical Writing Uncut - Write Clinic video podcast
I was thrilled to speak with Virginia Chachati on her fantastic video podcast, Write Clinic. Check out the episode to hear our conversation on what led me to my career and Redwood Ink, what I wish I knew earlier in my career, and what are some of my top tips for writers and editors.
👓 Reading
How ChatGPT and other AI tools could disrupt scientific publishing
Although this article summarizes much of what has already been discussed on this topic, I found this excerpt rather interesting to think about: "In the age of LLMs [large language models], [Michael] Eisen pictures a future in which findings are published in an interactive, 'paper on demand' format rather than as a static, one-size-fits-all product. In this model, users could use a generative AI tool to ask queries about the experiments, data and analyses, which would allow them to drill into the aspects of a study that are most relevant to them. It would also allow users to access a description of the results that is tailored to their needs."
Hype in research: do we have a problem?
"An analysis of 360 articles published in leading journals across 4 scientific fields revealed that there are now twice as many ‘hype’ terms in each paper compared to 50 years ago. Additionally, reports indicate a 9-fold increase in the use of words such as ‘novel’, ‘innovative’, and ‘unprecedented’ in PubMed journals between 1974 and 2014."
🧰 Tools
FigJam
Do you wish that you could collaborate virtually with the benefit of a shared whiteboard? This program is a great tool for brainstorming, diagramming, strategy planning, and so much more. I'm looking forward to trying it out in my courses and live events.
📝 Experiment
Open the most recent draft of your writing and use the Find feature to search for hype words, such as "novel" and "innovative." How many times do you use these terms in that draft? How can you revise the text to be more persuasive without using these terms?
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Inclusive Language, Survey Questions, and Disability Identity
I'm sending this week's newsletter a few days early because today is a very important day.
It's World Inclusion Day.
This day is dedicated to ensuring that people of all races, ethnicities, ages, abilities, genders, and other characteristics are accepted, welcomed, and treated equally. This day also celebrates the sense of belonging among all people so that they feel heard, valued, appreciated, and respected.
In honor of this day, I want to do what I can to support diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. And I think that one valuable thing I can do is help people learn about inclusive language.
So starting today, my Inclusive Language Course will be available for FREE! You can enroll through the course website.
Please spread the word so that more people can learn the power of inclusive language and how they can use inclusive language in their writing, clinical practice, and daily lives.
Now onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
💻 From My Desk
How to Write for Equity and Inclusion in Medicine
"We may not always be aware of the subtle ways that our language can (unintentionally) impart bias or judgment. Or how even small changes in a word or order of words can affect the meaning of our message. To help you become more aware of these nuances in your writing, here are some things to keep in mind when writing for equity and inclusion in science and medicine."
👓 Reading
Blindness transformed my social world, and I changed with it
I was fortunate to meet the author of this article in my masterclass. I have learned so much from his expertise, perspectives, and outlook on his "enability." And his article is packed with mind-opening perspectives and stories that will touch your heart and soul. There were too many good excerpts to include in the newsletter. I recommend reading every word of the article.
How to ask sensitive questions in surveys
Do you use surveys in your research? This article shares 5 essential guidelines for how to ask sensitive questions in surveys.
Establish rapport before asking personal questions
Check for bias and don’t make assumptions
Lean into inclusive language
Include context about why you’re asking a sensitive question
Be upfront about anonymity and how you're protecting data
Six pregnancy terms you probably won’t hear again, including ‘high risk’ and ‘failed’
"...many women were less concerned about the way their baby was born but with whether they had a positive experience and felt safe and listened to." The Royal College of Midwives now recommends avoiding the following terms: "delivery", "low risk" or "high risk", "normal", "emergency cesarean", "incompetent cervix", and "failure" or "failed".
💬 Quote
“When we prioritize using inclusive language that values and respects every individual, we create an atmosphere where everyone feels a sense of belonging and their contributions are valued. It's like building bridges that help us understand each other better and create a safe environment where everyone can be their authentic selves, do their best work, and thrive.” – Silvija Delekovcan
📝 Experiment
Open the latest draft of a manuscript, proposal, or other important document that you wrote. Read through the draft and revise the text to use inclusive language.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Checklists, Figures, and Images
Do you use checklists for your writing?
For a long time, I would review drafts without a checklist. I had a systematic method for these reviews, but I relied on my memory to recall every step of the system.
Then I discovered The Checklist Manifesto. And my review process changed dramatically.
Now I have checklists for every type of document that I review regularly. These checklists include a variety of items related to the content, structure, format, and even particular style (eg, AMA, APA) needed for that document. And these items are organized in a way that makes my review as easy and efficient as possible.
Now my review process is so much faster and easier. And I continually update the checklists as guidelines change or to optimize my system.
I highly recommend creating checklists for anything that you find yourself repeating. Checklists can be incredibly helpful for ensuring that you don't miss something and that you optimize your time.
How do you use checklists to optimize your writing or systems? Hit reply and let me know.
Now onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
💻 From My Desk
How to Improve the Quality of Your Scientific Figures
Figures are an important part of visually conveying your research. And some readers believe that the quality of your figures reflects the quality of your research. To create quality figures, use these eight tips to showcase your research and expertise.
📆 Upcoming
Find Your Flow: Connect Ideas to Guide Readers Through Your Writing – October 28, 2023
I’m thrilled to be invited to speak at the upcoming American Medical Writers Association conference in Baltimore, MD. I’ll be speaking about how to synthesize your writing to create a smooth flow that guides readers through your writing with ease.
👓 Reading
Community-developed checklists for publishing images and image analyses
"Here, we present community-developed checklists for preparing light microscopy images and describing image analyses for publications. These checklists offer authors, readers and publishers key recommendations for image formatting and annotation, color selection, data availability and reporting image-analysis workflows."
🧰 Tools
BioRender
This online tool can help you easily create professional science figures with more than 50,000 pre-made icons and templates. These icons and templates cover more than 30 fields of the life sciences, and they have been curated and vetted by industry professionals.
📝 Experiment
Open the most recent paper or proposal that you submitted. Review the figures and think about what changes you could have made to make the images and information clearer for readers.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Jokes, Quality, and Tracking Accomplishments
As a word nerd, I love a good writing joke. And I recently discovered a list of writing jokes that are too good not to share. I hope they add a little fun to your day.
An Oxford comma walks into a bar, where it spends the evening watching the television, getting drunk, and smoking cigars.
A dangling participle walks into a bar. Enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly.
A bar was walked into by the passive voice.
An oxymoron walked into a bar, and the silence was deafening.
Two quotation marks walk into a “bar.”
A malapropism walks into a bar, looking for all intensive purposes like a wolf in cheap clothing, muttering epitaphs and casting dispersions on his magnificent other, who takes him for granite.
Hyperbole totally rips into this insane bar and absolutely destroys everything.
A question mark walks into a bar?
A non sequitur walks into a bar. In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly.
Papyrus and Comic Sans walk into a bar. The bartender says, “Get out—we don't serve your type.”
A mixed metaphor walks into a bar, seeing the handwriting on the wall but hoping to nip it in the bud.
A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves.
Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They converse. They depart.
A synonym strolls into a tavern.
At the end of the day, a cliché walks into a bar—fresh as a daisy, cute as a button, and sharp as a tack.
A run-on sentence walks into a bar it starts flirting. With a cute little sentence fragment.
Falling slowly, softly falling, the chiasmus collapses to the bar floor.
A figure of speech literally walks into a bar and ends up getting figuratively hammered.
An allusion walks into a bar, despite the fact that alcohol is its Achilles heel.
The subjunctive would have walked into a bar, had it only known.
A misplaced modifier walks into a bar owned by a man with a glass eye named Ralph.
The past, present, and future walked into a bar. It was tense.
A dyslexic walks into a bra.
A verb walks into a bar, sees a beautiful noun, and suggests they conjugate. The noun declines.
A simile walks into a bar, as parched as a desert.
A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, drinking to forget.
A hyphenated word and a non-hyphenated word walk into a bar and the bartender nearly chokes on the irony.
Now onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
👓 Reading
Reporting quality of abstracts and inconsistencies with full text articles in pediatric orthopedic publications
"...we found low reporting quality of abstracts and noticeable inconsistencies with full-text articles, especially regarding inclusion or exclusion criteria and study correlations....we recommend that authors, reviewers, and editors ensure abstracts are reported accurately, ideally following the appropriate reporting guidelines, and that they double check that there are no inconsistencies between abstracts and full text articles."
Strategies for communicating scientific evidence on healthcare to managers and the population: a scoping review
"Among the strategies evaluated and appearing to yield some benefit are (i) risk/benefit communication: natural frequencies instead of percentages, absolute risk instead relative risk and number needed to treat, numerical instead nominal communication, mortality instead survival; negative or loss content appear to be more effective than positive or gain content; (ii) evidence synthesis: plain languages summaries to communicate the results of Cochrane reviews to the community were perceived as more reliable, easier to find and understand, and better to support decisions than the original summaries; (iii) teaching/learning: the Informed Health Choices resources seem to be effective for improving critical thinking skills."
🧰 Tools
Flight Tracker
I got the scoop on this software while I was at Vanderbilt University Medical Center last week and highly recommend checking it out. "Flight Tracker for Scholars...tracks the academic career development of biomedical scholars – whether on a training (T) grant, an early career (K) grant, or some other population of scholars. It provides up-to-date and accurate statistics on your scholars’ publishing, grant awards, resource use, and more."
❓ Question
How do you keep track of your accomplishments and career development? Can you create a system to make the tracking easier?
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Adaptability, Credibility, and Reliability
I love trail running. And a few months ago, I set a goal to run a half marathon (self-supported).
This isn't a new goal for me. I've trained to run a half marathon a few times and was sidelined by aggravating old injuries or getting new ones (I had no idea how much I used my toes until I broke one!).
This time around, I took things slower to avoid injuries. But a few weeks before my planned half marathon, I lost a loved one, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to stick to my training schedule in the coming weeks. So a few days later, I extended my planned 11-mile run to a half marathon. And I completed it!
Why am I sharing this story?
Because when we set goals—running, writing, or otherwise—and make plans to achieve them, things may not go exactly as planned. We need to be flexible and agile so that we can adapt to the situation. And even if a task or goal may take longer than expected, or we need to speed up the timeline, we don't have to give up. We can still accomplish our goals.
“One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks.” – Jack Penn
Now onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
🎉 Featured
3 Common Phrases That Tarnish Credibility in Medical Writing
I'm thrilled to share my latest publication in the AMWA Journal. In the article, you'll learn three common phrases that can tarnish your credibility—and how to fix them to make your credibility shine.
👓 Reading
Use of AI Is Seeping Into Academic Journals—and It’s Proving Difficult to Detect
“If researchers use these generated responses in their work without strict vetting or disclosure, they raise major credibility issues. Not disclosing use of AI would mean authors are passing off generative AI content as their own, which could be considered plagiarism. They could also potentially be spreading AI’s hallucinations, or its uncanny ability to make things up and state them as fact.”
Accuracy of Chatbots in Citing Journal Articles
"Because GPT-4 cites some fake journal articles, they must be verified manually by humans; GPT-3.5–cited references should not be used...When asked why it returned fake references, ChatGPT explained that the training data may be unreliable, or the model may not be able to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources."
💬 Quote
“When one gets reports from scientists, engineers and technicians whose credibility by all common standards is high and whose moral caliber seems to preclude a hoax, one can do no less than hear them out, in all seriousness.” – J. Allen Hynek
📝 Experiment
The next time you read one of the 3 phrases that damage credibility, pause and notice how you think and feel after reading those words. Do you notice a hint of skepticism? Or a glimmer of doubt?
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Ease, Experimentation, and Plain Language
I often talk about the #1 principle in scientific and medical writing: make the reader's job easy.
I recently read an article that described how making the reader's job easy is influenced by thrust and drag.
"Every article has thrust and drag. The thrust of a piece is what motivates readers to invest the energy necessary to extract its meaning... Drag is everything that makes the reader’s task harder, such as meandering intros, convoluted sentences, abstruse locution and even little things like a missing Oxford comma.
When your writing has more thrust than drag for a group of readers, it will spread and your audience will grow. Achieving this takes practice and experimentation."
I think this concept also applies to scientific and medical writing. You want to maximize thrust (ie, motivation and persuasion) and minimize drag (ie, confusion and frustration) for your readers. And mastering this art takes dedicated practice and experimentation.
I also like the idea of experimenting with writing, but not just because it relates to experiments in research. I think experimenting with text sounds like much more fun than revising text.
What do you think?
Now onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
📆 Upcoming
Harness the Power of Plain Language to Enlighten Clinical Experts – September 27/29, 2023
I'm so excited to facilitate a workshop for the Master of Science in Clinical Investigation program at Vanderbilt University. We'll be discussing my favorite topic: the value of using plain language principles to enlighten expert readers.
👓 Reading
Scientists who don’t speak fluent English get little help from journals, study finds
"Out of the 736 journals surveyed, only 2...stated in their guidelines that manuscripts would not be rejected solely on the grounds of perceived English quality... Meanwhile, of the 262 journals whose editors-in-chief were surveyed, only 6% instructed reviewers not to base their assessments solely on language proficiency."
🧰 Tools
ORCID
"ORCID provides a persistent digital identifier (an ORCID iD) that you own and control, and that distinguishes you from every other researcher. You can connect your iD with your professional information — affiliations, grants, publications, peer review, and more. You can use your iD to share your information with other systems, ensuring you get recognition for all your contributions, saving you time and hassle, and reducing the risk of errors."
💬 Quote
“Getting good at communication—particularly written communication—is an investment worth making. My best advice for communicating clearly is to first make sure your thinking is clear and then use plain, concise language.” –Sam Altman
💭 Thoughts
Editing is a lot like doing research. Through experimentation and discovery, you test words and phrases until you unearth meaningful content.
📝 Experiment
The next time you struggle with how to write a sentence, write multiple versions, hitting return in between each version. Then read each version out loud and choose which sentence sounds clearest.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Integrity, Retractions, and Corrections
Over the summer, Marc Tessier-Lavigne stepped down as president of Stanford after some data integrity problems were discovered in a few of his publications. Since then, I've been asked a lot of questions about scientific misconduct, paper retractions, and correcting errors in papers.
But these situations are not new. I think that Dr. Tessier-Lavigne's situation made headlines because of his position at a prestigious university. But about 8 in every 10,000 papers are retracted. And during the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw a rise in retractions as researchers rushed to publish what they were learning about the virus.
We also need to understand that paper retractions occur for many reasons. They can involve ethical or other extreme misconduct, such as falsifying data or using paper mills. Or they can be inadvertent mistakes, such as mislabeling vials during experiments.
In any case, we need to correct the errors to uphold integrity in our work, in our reputation, and in science. This integrity is vital for supporting trust in science.
Because retractions have been a hot topic recently, I thought I'd put together a themed issue for you.
Let's get to it.
💌 Round-up
👓 Reading
Society-first science: 10 rules for responsible research
"Scientific research...can also inadvertently cause harm to individuals or social groups by reinforcing stereotypes, biases, or negative perceptions. Researchers often lack the necessary training and tools to consider and minimise such negative impacts of their studies. To address this issue,...a team of international colleagues have developed 10 rules for socially responsible science..."
There’s far more scientific fraud than anyone wants to admit
"The number of retractions each year reflects about a tenth of a percent of the papers published in a given year – in other words, one in 1,000....We estimate that at least 100,000 retractions should occur every year; some scientists and science journalists think the number should be even higher."
How scientists work to correct the record when there is an error in a paper
This article gives a helpful overview that answers key questions about the correction process. How often do errors occur? How are errors identified? What happens when concerns are raised? And why correct the record?
🧰 Tools
PubPeer
PubPeer is a discussion forum where researchers can comment on the validity of scientific papers. The site is separate from publishers' web pages, which can help researchers share their views more frankly. And when comments are made on a paper, PubPeer contacts the authors to share the commenters' feedback on the paper.
💬 Quote
"Scientists make mistakes. Accordingly, it is the job of the scientist to recognize our weakness, to examine the widest range of opinions, to be ruthlessly self-critical. Science is a collective enterprise with the error-correction machinery often running smoothly." — Carl Sagan
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Simplicity, Plain Language, and Health Communications
Later this month, I'm giving a couple of talks on the power of using plain language when writing for experts. Yes, experts.
Many people only associate plain language with writing for a lay audience, or the general public. But plain language is a powerful way to communicate information to any audience.
Plain language is clear, concise, easier to understand, and faster to read. And all these things make the reader's job easy—the number one principle in scientific writing.
Because plain language has been on my mind, I thought I'd put together another themed issue on the topic for you.
Let's get to it!
💌 Round-up
📆 Upcoming
The Power of Plain Language and Improving the Readability of Your Writing – September 21, 2023
I'm thrilled that Edge for Scholars at Vanderbilt University Medical Center invited me to talk about my favorite topic: the power of using plain language to enlighten expert readers. After the seminar, I get to facilitate a workshop on how to improve the readability of your writing.
👓 Reading
Questions Surround “Paused” NIH Health Communication Research Program
“The NIH’s explanation for why it halted the health communication program seems to raise more questions than it answers: ‘NIH has decided to pause moving forward with the development of the program to reconsider its scope and aims in the context of the current regulatory and legal landscape around communication platforms,’”
Comparing lay summaries to scientific abstracts for readability and jargon use: a case report
"It was found that (1) the average reading grade level of lay summaries was significantly higher than that of scientific abstracts, and (2) a higher proportion of technical terms were used than the recommended threshold in both lay summaries and scientific abstracts."
Want to learn how to craft effective lay summaries at the right reading grade level? Check out my Lay Summary Fundamentals course.
🖥️ Watching
Demand to Understand: How Plain Language Makes Life Simpler
Deborah Bosley has dedicated her life to making information clear and simple. In this TEDx talk, she shares how "people have the right to understand information that affects their lives," and we need to "demand to understand" and "lead with simplicity."
💬 Quote
“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” – Hans Hofmann
📝 Challenge
Open the latest lay summary that you wrote and check the reading grade level with the Editor function in Word or an online tool, such as Storytoolz or the Hemingway App. Does your lay summary meet the 8th-grade reading level recommended by the CDC, AMA, and NIH?
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Grit, Space, and BioGPT
I recently finished a book called Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth. In the book, Angela shares data and stories that highlight how grit has twice the value of smarts in achieving success.
At the end of the book, she shares a poem on how grit helps us succeed with the challenges of writing.
“The challenge of writing
Is to see your horribleness on the page
To see your terribleness
And then go to bed.
And wake up the next day
And take that horribleness and terribleness,
And refine it,
And make it not so terrible and not so horrible.
And then to go to bed again.
And come the next day,
And refine it a little bit more,
And make it not so bad.
And then to go to bed again.
And do it again the next day,
And make it maybe average,
And then one more time,
If you’re lucky,
Maybe you get to good,
And if you’ve done that,
That’s a success.”
I really appreciate how this poem reminds us that with grit (passion and perseverance), we can do the hard work of transforming a bad first draft into a good final draft.
Now onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
📆 Upcoming
Find Your Flow: Connect Ideas to Guide Readers Through Your Writing – October 28, 2023, 9:30–10:30 am ET
I'm thrilled to be invited to speak at the upcoming American Medical Writers Association conference in Baltimore, MD. I'll be speaking about how to synthesize your writing to create a smooth flow that guides readers through your writing with ease. Registration for the conference is open, and you can get the summer rates until the end of August.
👓 Reading
BioGPT: a useful tool or cause for concern?
"Microsoft’s biomedical-specific BioGPT, which generates text based on millions of published research articles, has huge potential, but many medical publications professionals remain cautious about its use and call for appropriate guidance to be established."
How to Use the Psychology of Space to Boost Your Creativity
"Experimental data and construal level theory support the idea of a direct relationship between proximity and cognitive style. Near things elicit narrow focus. Far things elicit a holistic outlook....Since early stage ideation (think brainstorming, sketching, first drafts, etc.) relies on abstract, big-picture thinking, the greater our intimation of spatial distance, the more predisposed we will be to idea formation."
💬 Quote
"Perseverance. The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it." – Moliere
💭 Thoughts
Learning to write well is like learning to drive a car.
At first, you really need to pay attention to how you are controlling the vehicle or the writing.
With practice, the skills become more natural and instinctive.
📝 Challenge
Look around your workspace and think about what you can change to help you narrow your focus or broaden your outlook while writing.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Beginnings, Growing Talent, and Health Literacy
Today, I'm heading to my hometown to visit my dad, who still lives in the same house I grew up in. Whenever I visit, I am reminded of my beginnings, and I think a lot about where I came from.
I grew up in a very small, rural town. And my family got by on what my mom liked to call "modest circumstances." She was being euphemistic.
Most people in my hometown had financial challenges and were not well-educated. I was actually the first person in my family—and born and raised in my hometown—to go to college and get a degree, let alone a PhD in a STEM field.
I'm not sharing this story to humblebrag. I'm sharing because it reminded me that checking in with our past selves can help us recognize how we've grown, not only in the big parts of life, but also in our writing.
For example, when I read the paper that I wrote in graduate school, I see how much I've learned about writing and how much my writing has improved. Sometimes my inner critic chimes in about how much better I could have done in the past. But more often, my inner teacher reminds me of how much my writing has grown.
So if you're feeling like you're not making progress in your writing, channel your inner teacher. Read something that you wrote 5 or 10 years ago and think about how your writing has grown.
Onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
💻 From My Desk
10 Helpful Tips for Communicating Research to the Public
Although you may be most comfortable writing in an academic style, this style is complex and confusing for many readers. And it fuels the communication gap between researchers and the general public. This article describes 10 tips that will help you write in a way that connects not just with a lay audience, but also with any reader.
👓 Reading
Health Literacy and Systemic Racism—Using Clear Communication to Reduce Health Care Inequities
"Typical written and spoken health information is unnecessarily complex, is written at too high of a reading level, is presented using unfamiliar jargon terms, and requires too high of numeracy skills for the average patient. This creates systemic disadvantages for patients with lower health literacy, who are more likely to identify as American Indian or Alaska Native, Black, or Hispanic individuals."
🧰 Tools
Storytoolz
This website is still my go-to resource for improving the readability of my writing. I appreciate that the tool gives me an average readability score based on multiple readability measures. And I like that I get a wealth of information about what to target (eg, word length, sentence length, passive voice) to improve the readability of the text.
💬 Quote
"A talent grows by being used, and withers if it is not used. Closing the gap between expectation and reality can be painful, but it has to be done sooner or later. The fact is that millions of young people would like to write, but what they dream of is the published book, often skipping over the months and years of very hard work necessary to achieve that end..." – May Sarton
📝 Challenge
Open the most recent lay summary you've written and run the text through a readability measure, such as Storytoolz, the Hemingway App, or the Editor function in Word. Does your text meet the 8th-grade reading level recommended by the CDC, AMA, and NIH?
If you want to learn how to craft a readable and relatable lay summary, check out my Lay Summary Fundamentals course.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Curses, Lay Titles, and Poor Writing
What is the greatest contributor to poor writing?
According to Steven Pinker, author of The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century, the greatest contributor to poor writing is the curse of knowledge.
"The curse of knowledge is the single best explanation I know of why good people write bad prose. It simply doesn't occur to the writer that her readers don't know what she knows—that they haven't mastered the patois of her guild, can't divine the missing steps that seem too obvious to mention, have no way to visualize a scene that to her is as clear as day."
The curse of knowledge is a difficulty imagining what it is like for someone to not know what you know. And what's worse is that the curse of knowledge also prevents you from noticing that it is affecting your writing. And without awareness of the problem, you cannot fix it.
So how can you overcome the curse of knowledge? You might be tempted to just send your writing to a colleague or another expert in your field to review. But they may have the same curse of knowledge as you.
I think that the most valuable way is to work with a professional editor. A skilled editor will help you identify when the curse of knowledge seeps into your writing.
But you can also take a break from your writing (at least a few days). Sometimes that time will give you enough distance to see how your writing can be improved.
What strategies do you have for overcoming the curse of knowledge?
Now onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
👓 Reading
What makes an effective lay title for a clinical trial?
"The results...highlighted several shortcomings of the assessed lay titles:
72% did not include all recommended elements, compromising their ability to convey essential trial information.
73% contained specialist language, making them less meaningful to potential trial participants.
51% were deemed inadequate, indicating a failure to effectively inform readers."
Scientists used ChatGPT to generate an entire paper from scratch — but is it any good?
"A pair of scientists has produced a research paper in less than an hour with the help of ChatGPT... The article was fluent, insightful and presented in the expected structure for a scientific paper, but researchers say that there are many hurdles to overcome before the tool can be truly helpful."
🧰 Tools
Pexels
Are you looking for free images or videos to use in your presentations, articles, or social media posts? Pexels is a website with a huge database of free stock photos, royalty free images, and videos.
💬 Quote
"Poor writing transfers the work from the writer to the reader. Good writing, on the other hand, nearly reads itself, allowing the reader to spend more time thinking about the ideas than pulling out meaning." — Shane Parrish, Brain Food
📝 Challenge
The next time you review your draft, look for common culprits of the curse of knowledge: jargon, abbreviations, and technical vocabulary.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Credibility, Titles, and Talent
I recently read that health care professionals spend only an average of 1 minute 38 seconds reading a medical publication. If adults read about 250 words per minute, then 1 minute 38 seconds is only enough time to read a little more than the average 250-word abstract.
Although these health care professionals were likely reading the abstracts for relevance, I've met several researchers who will cite a publication after reading only the abstract. I find this practice unsettling.
I believe that as a researcher or professional writer, you need to read the full text before you consider citing it. You need to think critically about the study and whether you endorse or refute the findings. For example, do you believe the methods were sound? And do you agree with the authors' conclusions?
I also believe that any article you cite reflects on your work and on you. If you cite a publication, you are endorsing (or sometimes refuting) that research in writing. That's an important reflection on your credibility—and the credibility of science and medicine.
What do you think about the practice of citing a publication after only reading the abstract?
Now onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
👓 Reading
Content and form of original research articles in general major medical journals
"In conclusion, title content differed substantially between the five major medical journals BMJ, JAMA, Lancet, NEJM and PLOS....We recommend that authors study titles of articles recently published in their target journal when formulating the manuscript title."
Reminding Peer Reviewers of Reporting Guideline Items to Improve Completeness in Published Articles
“…giving peer reviewers an additional task by emailing them a reminder of the 10 most important and poorly reported reporting items did not improve the reporting completeness in published articles. We therefore encourage journals to implement other interventions that have proven to be efficient in other trials (ie, hiring expert reviewers for adherence to reporting guidelines) to increase the reporting completeness in published articles.”
🖥️ Watching
Brain Hack: 6 secrets to learning faster, backed by neuroscience
In this TEDx talk, Dr. Lila Landowski explains six critical ingredients that you can use to help you learn faster: attention, alertness, sleep, repetition, breaks, and mistakes. She also shares how talent mostly comes down to practice, perseverance, and when someone starts learning a skill (the earlier the better).
💬 Quote
"Writing is one of the only ways to outlive yourself. People still read books from hundreds or even thousands of years ago. The author's physical life ended long ago, but their mental life remains alive and meaningful even today.” —James Clear
📝 Challenge
Go to the website of your favorite journal and read the table of contents in the latest edition. Do you think the authors could have crafted stronger manuscript titles?
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Respectively, To-Do Lists, and Issues With BMI
Language matters. Even in the little things, like our to-do lists.
I like to craft each item on my to-do lists like I write aims for a grant: use strong verbs and be really specific.
I like to start each item with a strong verb that gives the task a little more energy (ie, action) to fuel my motivation and focus my attention. For example, rather than write "LinkedIn post," I'll write "Draft LinkedIn post."
I also like to be really specific to make the task more concrete (ie, achievable). So rather than write "Email Jane," I'll write "Email Jane about her JAMA submission."
But not everyone likes this approach. In this blog article, the author describes this approach as giving commands to your future self. Instead, she encourages people to make kinder to-do lists to practice kindness and self-compassion.
Although I have not tried kinder to-do lists, I like the idea of using your to-do lists to help you improve a skill, such as fueling your motivation.
What is your approach to creating to-do lists?
💌 Round-up
💻 From My Desk
Avoid the Word “Respectively” for Clear Writing
Many scientific and medical authors use the word "respectively" in their writing. You might think this word is an easy way to write concisely. But this word actually creates more work for readers and hinders their understanding.
👓 Reading
Science funding agencies say no to using AI for peer review
"On 23 June, NIH banned the use of online generative AI tools like ChatGPT 'for analyzing and formulating peer-review critiques'...In a similar move, the Australian Research Council (ARC) on 7 July banned generative AI for peer review after learning of reviews apparently written by ChatGPT."
AMA adopts new policy clarifying role of BMI as a measure in medicine
"The report also outlined the harms and benefits of using BMI and pointed to BMI as an imperfect way to measure body fat in multiple groups given that it does not account for differences across race/ethnic groups, sexes, genders, and age-span. Given the report’s findings, the new policy supports AMA in educating physicians on the issues with BMI and alternative measures for diagnosing obesity."
🧰 Tools
Scholia
This service creates visual scholarly profiles for researchers, organizations, publishers, research topics, and more by accessing data stored in the open knowledge base Wikidata. You can see a variety of visuals, including publication timelines, topics of authored works, citation timelines, and much more.
📝 Challenge
Open your to-do list and review the language you used for each item on the list. Think about how you could change the language in your list to fuel your motivation, practice self-compassion, or otherwise improve a skill.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Dedicating Time, Misusing Terms, and Using Definitions as Guides
I often say that the hardest part of writing is not the writing itself, but the thinking needed to write. And thinking takes time and attention. But in our fast-paced world, you may struggle to find the time to think (and write).
How can you dedicate time to thinking?
In this article, the author shares five strategies to help you find your flow and make the most of your time:
State your intention.
Change your environment.
Truly disconnect.
Capture your ideas systematically.
Take strategic breaks.
Although the author describes these strategies in the context of a "creative retreat," writing is a creative process. So these strategies are great tools to help you plan a "writing retreat," even for just a few hours.
How do you find your flow and make the most of your thinking and writing time?
Now onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
💻 From My Desk
How You Might Be Misusing 32 Common Clinical Terms
Some authors misuse common clinical terms in their writing and clinical practice. To ensure the language you use is accurate and inclusive, check out this list to learn whether you are using these common terms accurately.
👓 Reading
‘Transformative’ journals get booted for switching to open access too slowly
"Two-thirds of the more than 2300 scientific journals participating in a program designed to flip them to open access (OA) failed to meet prescribed targets for progress in 2022. As a result, the Coalition S group of research funders behind the initiative announced today that it will remove these journals from the program at the end of the year."
🖥️ Watching
TriCalm Commercial
This commercial is a clever reminder of how the curse of knowledge can make it difficult for experts to describe information with plain language that the general public can understand and relate to their lives.
🧰 Tools
Clinical Research Glossary
This glossary includes a list of research words and their meanings. Although you can use this glossary to learn more about words that are used in research studies, I like to use the definitions as guides when writing content for a lay audience.
📝 Challenge
Think about a word that you often misuse. Write that word on a sticky note and place it near your desk. After you finish writing something (eg, a manuscript, an email, a chart note), search for that word and replace it with the better word. Over time, you'll stop misusing that word.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Writing Time, Dosage, and Predatory Journals
How long does it take to write a grant proposal?
I hear this question a lot. And it's a hard one to answer. We all have different schedules, priorities, and circumstances that affect how much time and energy we can dedicate to writing.
But according to this survey, the average federal proposal takes 171 hours to write: 116 hours from principal investigators and 55 hours from co-investigators. So if you write part-time at 20 hours per week, you will need 8 to 9 weeks to write a federal proposal. And if you can only dedicate 10 hours per week, that time doubles to 16 to 18 weeks.
And that's just the average amount of time. You may need more.
In any case, writing a grant proposal is a huge time investment. What are three things you can do to optimize that time?
Start early, and earlier than you think. Many project managers suggest adding a 20% time buffer to account for any hiccups that may arise.
Schedule time in your calendar, and plan what you will do during that time. Create SMART goals so that you can work smarter, not harder.
Plan with your co-authors, and agree on a process for writing the proposal. Ensure everyone is on the same page as the writing progresses.
What are your strategies for optimizing your writing time? I'd love to know.
And now onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
💻 From My Desk
When to Use Dosage vs Dose
Some authors think that the term "dosage" is a more formal synonym for "dose." But "dosage" and "dose" have different meanings. In this article, you will learn the difference between these terms and whether you are using them accurately in your writing.
👓 Reading
Content Analysis of Emoji and Emoticon Use in Clinical Texting Systems
"This qualitative study found that when clinicians use emoji and emoticons in secure clinical texting systems, these symbols function primarily to convey new and interactionally salient information. These results suggest that concerns about the professionalism of emoji and emoticon use may be unwarranted."
🖥️ Watching
Visit the New NIH Virtual Tour
The NIH recently released a virtual tour of their 32-building campus in Bethesda, Maryland. Through the tour, you can learn about the NIH’s 27 Institutes and Centers, including in-depth tour stops at research labs and patient rooms.
🧰 Tools
Think.Check.Submit
Predatory journals are on the rise. To help you identify the right journal for your manuscript, the Committee on Publication Ethics created the Think.Check.Submit checklist. "The checklist is a tool that will help you discover what you need to know when assessing whether or not a publisher is suitable for your research."
📝 Challenge
Before you start your next writing project, meet with your author team to choose a process, create SMART goals, and plan a schedule to successfully complete the writing.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal