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Interlude: Giving, Time, and Author Contributions
When I was a kid, my mom would make huge batches of homemade soup, bread, and jam. While the bread was still warm from the oven, she would wrap it up tightly in towels to keep it warm and then load it into the car along with mason jars of soup and jam. Then we would drive all over town to leave the treats on her friends' doorsteps. She would tell me to drop the treats at the door, ring the doorbell, and then run back to the car so we could take off before we were noticed.
I had so much fun delivering treats with my mom. And it taught me an important value.
Giving.
To this day, I leave "treat surprises" for my friends and neighbors. But my philosophy of giving doesn't stop there. It also extends into my work. I want to give researchers and other professional writers like you the tools you need to write well and advance your career.
That's why I created the Scientific Writing Masterclass—to equip you with the principles, resources, and systems you need to write well. And that's why I also expanded the course to include a community. This community creates a platform where I and other members of the community can give you ongoing support with your writing.
I'd be thrilled to support you in the masterclass and The Grove community. But doors close on Monday, so you'll need to enroll soon.
Now onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
💻 From My Desk
The Best Order to Draft a Research Manuscript
When you write a manuscript, do you start with the Introduction section? Although you might start with the Introduction when reading a manuscript, you don't want to start with this section when writing a manuscript. Writing your manuscript in a different order than you read it can save you time and energy.
👓 Reading
Is it time to change our approach to reporting author contributions?
“Rechavi and Tomancak’s approach involves assigning credit to each result in a manuscript. They ‘argue that it should be known who thought of each idea, who ran each experiment, and who analysed the data.’ But how exactly would this be achieved? The authors propose two ways. Rechavi suggests substituting the word ‘we’ for the names of specific, responsible authors. For instance, ‘we sequenced RNA’ would become ‘Rechavi sequenced RNA’. Alternatively, Tomancak proposes assigning a number to each author in the author list and citing these for each contribution. For example, ‘we sequenced RNA1’ would credit the first author in the author list.”
🧰 Tools
Harvest
After testing different tools to track my time, I finally landed on Harvest. I like the user interface, customizability, and reporting options. Even if you do not need to track time for your work, I recommend tracking your time for at least one month. You might be surprised to learn how much time you spend writing, answering emails, and attending meetings.
...Oh, if you want access to our ongoing list of helpful tools, we just added a resource library to The Grove community in our Scientific Writing Masterclass. You can get access to our growing list of resources, including writing tips, management tools, funding opportunities, and much, much more.
💬 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
📝 Experiment
The next time you whip up a batch of treats or visit a bakery, leave a "treat surprise" for your friend, colleague, or neighbor. If you'd like, you can also leave a little note so they know the treat is from you.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Investments, Data Sharing, and Short Peer Reviews
What do you think is the best investment you can make?
Many people jump to thinking about savings, retirement, buying a house, etc. Although these assets are valuable, I don't think they are the best investment you can make.
I think the best investment you can make is in yourself.
Unfortunately, many of us let investing in ourselves fall low on our list of priorities. We put it off—sometimes indefinitely—until we have more time, money, or motivation.
But investing in yourself by learning new skills and developing your mindset can enrich your life personally and professionally in so many ways. And investing in yourself can lead to growth in your career, relationships, health, and more.
I like to invest in myself daily by reading non-fiction books while I drink my coffee in the morning. I also invest in myself annually by allocating time and money to participate in professional development programs, such as courses, conferences, and workshops. These investments have come back to me many times over.
Do you have a practice of investing in yourself?
If you're thinking about investing in your writing skills, I hope you will join me in the Scientific Writing Masterclass. I'd be thrilled to have you. Enrollment is open until January 29, 2024.
Now onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
💻 From My Desk
How to Request Funds for Professional Development Programs
Although your institution may not offer professional development programs in scientific and medical writing, they may support you by sponsoring your participation. After all, these programs benefit you and the organization. If you want to request resources to participate in a professional development program, such as the Scientific Writing Masterclass, you can follow this easy four-step process.
👓 Reading
Prevalence of Short Peer Reviews in 3 Leading General Medical Journals
"In this study of 3 leading general medical journals, one-fifth of initial editorial decisions for published articles were likely based at least partially on reviews of such short length [>200 words] that they were unlikely to be of high quality."
Data Sharing — A New Era for Research Funded by the U.S. Government
“Many journals now require data-sharing statements in published articles, but studies have shown that authors rarely honor these statements and data generally aren’t made available upon request.”
💬 Quote
"Ultimately, there’s one investment that supersedes all others: Invest in yourself. Nobody can take away what you’ve got in yourself, and everybody has potential they haven’t used yet." – Warren Buffet
📝 Experiment
Take a moment to think about the last opportunity you took to invest in yourself. How did that opportunity benefit you? Now what do you plan to do next to invest in yourself again?
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: SMARTER Goals, Research Management, and a Two-Word Theory
The new year tends to spark a surge in goal setting. But many of us set goals without creating a plan of the actionable steps we need to take to accomplish those goals. And in the words of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "A goal without a plan is just a wish."
I like to create SMART—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound—goals. I have found this strategy to be really helpful in planning the steps I need to take to accomplish my goals.
But I recently learned about an expanded form of this approach: SMARTER. This expansion adds the criteria Evaluate and Reward, which are really important parts of accomplishing your goals.
We need to continually evaluate our progress to help us stay accountable, and we need to reward ourselves and celebrate our wins.
I'm going to add ER to my SMART goal-setting practices moving forward. And I hope that you will experiment with them too.
Now onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
👓 Reading
How research managers are using AI to get ahead
This article shares several ways that research staff are using AI for research management. "For those at the interface of funding organizations and the scientific community, platforms such as ChatGPT can tackle menial tasks and free up time for relationship-building work such as coaching and mentoring."
Guest Post — Hanging in the Balance: Generative AI Versus Scholarly Publishing
"The issues with generative AI chatbots are known: accountability, potential to propagate bias, and not-always-reliable accuracy. But they can also help us humans to think in different and creative ways, and to streamline tedious tasks, which may ultimately be a boon for burdened researchers."
🖥️ Watching
Writing Advice from Matt Stone & Trey Parker @ NYU
In this 2-minute clip, the creators of South Park share how a simple theory with two words—"but" and "therefore"—drives their approach to creating connections in their stories. I've been playing around with this theory, and I think it might help some writers avoid gaps in logic in their writing.
🧰 Tools
Strava
This tool might seem unusual to include in this newsletter, because it's not related to writing. But I've been a fan of Strava since I was an avid cyclist and still use the app as a runner. I find the app helps me stay accountable, connect with friends for kudos, and track my progress. If you're not a cyclist or runner, the app includes an array of exercises to help you track your fitness progress and goals.
📝 Experiment
On a fresh sheet of paper, write your biggest goal for this year at the top. Then write the letters S-M-A-R-T-E-R in a column down the left-hand side of page. Next to each letter, write down the relevant details of your plan to accomplish that goal. Now tape/pin that piece of paper somewhere where you will see it every day.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Goals, Energy, and Promotion
Happy New Year!
Did you make a New Year's resolution?
I stopped making them years ago. The only resolution I've ever kept was to quit smoking. (Yup, you read that right. I had a rebellious streak in my teenage years.)
Over the past couple of years, I've taken a different approach. Instead of creating a resolution, I choose a word to set my intentions for the year.
This year, my word is ENERGY.
Where we direct our energy reflects our priorities. This year, my intention is to better focus my energy on my list of top priorities. And YOU are on that list.
I've got some exciting things in the works for you this year, and I can't wait to share them with you. Stay tuned.
Now onto the first round-up of 2024...
💌 Round-up
👓 Reading
Presence and consequences of positive words in scientific abstracts
“…this paper shows that in recent decades, scientific abstracts have not only become longer descriptions of research, but have also increasingly used positive language in describing their study results, thereby adopting a more promotional function….By triggering a low-threshold, positive affect through an excessive use of terms with positive connotations this trend can systematically impact the judgments of the respective abstracts in a way that is counterproductive to rigorous scientific practices.”
How to get your writing found: Why medical writers and academics need to use search engine optimisation
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of optimising your writing so that it can be found easily on the internet. There are five key steps that you can take to increase the discoverability of your work, which will be discussed below. These are:
Choose your keywords carefully;
Optimise your title;
Optimise your abstract;
Use your keywords throughout your article; and
Build links to your work.”
🎧 Listening
How to Set & Achieve Goals: 2 Surprising Science-Backed Steps You Must Follow - The Mel Robbins Podcast
In this episode, Mel Robbins shares five mistakes that many of us make when setting goals. She also shares hacks to help you set achievable goals, including the two parts of a goal you need to factor in to ensure you accomplish that goal.
💭 Thoughts
Passive voice is not the enemy in scientific and medical writing.
Overuse of passive voice is the enemy.
📝 Experiment
Take a few minutes to think about a word to help you set your intentions for this year. Write that word on a sticky note and put it somewhere you will see it every day.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Reflection, Authorship, and Best of 2023
At the end of the year, I like to do a Past-Year Review. I typically follow the original strategy by Tim Ferriss. But this year, I did something a little different.
Like Tim suggests, I created lists of positive activities to prioritize and negative activities to avoid. But when I reviewed each item in my lists, I also asked myself why I listed the item in a particular category. This extra step helped me learn the root of what needs to be addressed.
For example, if a particular project made my negative list, was it because I didn't find the project inspiring? Or was it because the project was not well managed? Or was it because I was having a tough week?
Sometimes we just need to address the root of the problem rather than avoid the problem altogether.
Do you have a practice for reflecting on the past year? Hit reply and let me know. I'd love to learn other ways that I can reflect and grow.
Now onto the last round-up of 2023...
💌 Round-up
🎉 Featured
Best Practices to Guide Decisions of Authorship and Author Order in a Research Manuscript
I'm delighted to share my latest publication in the AMWA Journal. In the article, I share how to determine who qualifies for authorship, in what order authors should be listed, and strategies for how teams can prevent authorship conflict when writing a research manuscript.
💻 From My Desk
Top 10 Scientific and Medical Writing Articles in 2023
I recently reviewed which of my resource articles were most read during the past year. This review helps me learn what resources you find most useful so that I can create more resources to help you become the best writer you can be. This article includes my 10 most-read articles on scientific and medical writing in 2023.
🎧 Listening
Super Brain: 10 Things to Eat, Think, & Do to Improve Your Memory and Learn Faster
In this episode of The Mel Robbins Podcast, Jim Kwik shares how to read faster, how to remember someone's name, and how you can better retain information with visualization strategies.
🧰 Tools
How to play background music on Zoom—without sharing your screen
I recently hosted an online workshop and wished that I could play background music while the attendees worked on their exercises. So I looked up whether it was possible to play music in a Zoom meeting—and it is!
💬 Quote
“We do not learn from experience… we learn from reflecting on experience.” – John Dewey
📝 Experiment
Before the end of the year, take 45-60 minutes to do a Past-Year Review. Then take the added step of asking yourself why each item landed in the positive or negative category. Did you learn anything that surprised you?
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Excellence, Integrity, and Popular Papers
Do you often wish that you could write the perfect first draft?
Many authors strive for perfection in their writing. Personally, I think "perfect" is unattainable for any draft, let alone a first draft.
The word "perfect" suggests that something is completely free from faults or defects. And I believe that there is always room for improvement, even if we don't see how in the moment.
Have you ever read something that you felt proud to publish only to discover a typo or other error you wish you could fix? I sure have.
So rather than strive for perfection in your writing (and life), strive for excellence. Do the very best you can do.
Now for this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
🎉 Featured
Most Popular Papers
I was delighted to discover that my article, "Inclusive Language Matters: Recommendations for Health Care Providers to Address Implicit Bias and Equitable Health Care," is among the top five most popular papers downloaded from the Journal of Maine Medical Center.
...Oh, and if you want to learn more about inclusive language, you can enroll in my Inclusive Language Course—for free!
👓 Reading
Notice to research community: Use of generative artificial intelligence technology in the NSF merit review process
"To safeguard the integrity of the development and evaluation of proposals in the merit review process, this memo establishes guidelines for its use by reviewers and proposers:
NSF reviewers are prohibited from uploading any content from proposals, review information and related records to non-approved generative AI tools.
Proposers are encouraged to indicate in the project description the extent to which, if any, generative AI technology was used and how it was used to develop their proposal."
Author reports of potential conflicts of interest: room for improvement
“Inaccurate author disclosures continue to be an issue in medical publishing. A recent study shows that most authors fail to report, or under-report, ‘potential conflicts of interest’.”
Detecting generative artificial intelligence in scientific articles: Evasion techniques and implications for scientific integrity
“AI detectors have low efficiency, and simple modifications can allow even the most robust detectors to be easily bypassed. The rapid development of generative AI raises questions about the future of scientific writing but also about the detection of scientific fraud, such as data fabrication.”
💭 Thoughts
Be brave enough to write a bad first draft.
Be humble enough to refine it.
📝 Experiment
The next time you sit down to write, add the statement “Strive for excellence, not perfection” to the header of your document. Then as you write the draft, you will get gentle reminders to focus on doing your best.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Creativity, Statistics, and Gifts for Writers
Do you consider scientific and medical writing as creative?
Many scientists and clinicians think that writing manuscripts and grant proposals is technical writing that does not require creativity. But writing is a creative process, even if you're writing about something technical.
If you're not sure you agree, I highly recommend that you read The Creative Act by Rick Rubin. I recently finished this book and was incredibly impressed with the author's insight and advice—too much to share in this little newsletter. I borrowed the audiobook from my local library and have every intention of buying a hardcopy that I can take notes in, so you know it's good.
Now onto the other good stuff...
💌 Round-up
🎉 Featured
Elected Vice-President/President-elect for the AMWA Northern California Chapter
I'm thrilled to share that I was elected the 2024 Vice-President/President-elect and the Communications Committee Chair for the AMWA Northern California Chapter. I'm so excited to continue supporting the chapter and its remarkable community of medical writers.
👓 Reading
Introducing the Guide to Statistics and Methods: A New Series for JAMA Internal Medicine
"JAMA Internal Medicine is...introducing a new series, the Guide to Statistics and Methods, intended to help clinician readers more fully understand and interpret scientific articles...The focus of each...article will be a specific statistical method applied in a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine and will address why one should apply that statistical method vs another approach. These articles will explain how the findings from the specific statistical method used in the accompanying...article should be interpreted, including consideration of its limitations, potential for bias, and generalizability.”
Randomized Clinical Trial Visual Abstract Display and Social Media–Driven Website Traffic
“Linking VAs [visual abstracts] were associated with increased link clicks compared with expandable VAs and article figures. Expandable VAs were associated with increased impressions and engagement compared with linking VAs and article figures.”
🎁 Gifting
Your 2023 Guide to Holiday Gifts for Writers
Are you looking for a holiday gift for a writer (or yourself)? Check out this incredible list of gifts for the word nerds in your life. I've got my eye on the Scone with the Wind cookbook and book puzzle.
💬 Quote
"To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science." – Albert Einstein
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
Interlude: Multitasking, Feedback, and Significant Results
Do you tend to think you're good at multitasking?
I think that many of us like the idea of multitasking. We dream of juggling many different tasks so that we can accomplish more in less time.
But multitasking is a fallacy. Your brain is wired to process only one task at a time. So when you think you're multitasking, you're actually switching between tasks over and over.
When you switch your attention from one task to another, you incur the cognitive switching penalty. Your brain spends extra time and energy adjusting to the context of each task as you switch tasks. And the more tasks you juggle, the more your ability to do each task well suffers.
How can you avoid the cognitive switching penalty? Use strategies that help you focus on one task at a time. Here are a few of my favorite strategies.
Turn off all notifications. You can even log out of messaging and social media apps. The additional step of needing to log back in will help you resist the temptation to take a quick peek.
Put your phone on Do Not Disturb mode. Better yet, put your phone in a different room. Just having your phone nearby reduces your cognitive capacity.
Batch communication tasks. Rather than spend 10 minutes every hour replying to emails, dedicate a block of 30 minutes each day to process emails.
What strategies do you use to avoid the cognitive switching penalty?
Now onto this week's round-up...
💌 Round-up
💻 From My Desk
When to Use Continual vs Continuous
Some authors use the term continuous as a synonym for continual. Although these terms may seem similar, their definitions have important nuances that distinguish their meanings.
👓 Reading
Writing to Think
"Writing is the process by which you realize that you do not understand what you are talking about. Of course, you can learn a lot about something without writing about it. However, writing about something complicated and hard to pin down acts as a test to see how well you understand it. When we approach our work as a stranger, we often discover how something that seems so simple in our heads is explained entirely wrong."
The role of results in deciding to publish: A direct comparison across authors, reviewers, and editors based on an online survey
“Our findings suggest that statistically significant findings have a higher likelihood to be published than statistically non-significant findings, because (1) authors…are more likely to write up and submit articles with significant results compared to articles with non-significant results…; (2) reviewers…give more favourable reviews to articles with significant results compared to articles with non-significant results…; and (3) editors…are more likely to accept for publication articles with significant results compared to articles with non-significant results…”
🎧 Listening
How to Master the Difficult Art of Receiving (and Giving) Feedback - The Tim Ferriss Show
In this podcast interview, Sheila Hein and Tim Ferris give great insight on writing. They share their thoughts on how writing communicates with the reader's internal voice, how writers need to meet readers where they are, how to ask for feedback on writing, and much more. If you don't want to listen to the full 2.5-hour episode, listen from about 24:00 to 55:00 to get the most valuable nuggets of writing wisdom.
📝 Experiment
The next time you sit down to write, turn off your notifications for 1 hour and notice how your focus and productivity improve.
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
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