Interlude: Outlines, AI Detectives, and Literature Alerts

Time and again, I meet researchers and other professional writers who do not use outlines in their writing process. They tell me that they sit at their computers and "just start writing."

Although this approach can be helpful when you need to do a brain dump or write a zero draft, it is not a helpful strategy in the long run.

An outline creates a roadmap for writing the first draft. A "writemap" if you will.

When you are cruising along in a car and reach an intersection, you can look at the map to see where you need to go next. Then you can make the turn and start cruising again.

When you are in the flow of writing and reach a new paragraph, you can look at the "writemap" to see where you need to go next. Then you can make the turn and get back in the flow of writing.

With a "writemap", your writing will have a better structure from the start, require less editing in later drafts, and save you time and energy in the overall writing process.

Do you use outlines before you start writing?

Now onto this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

💻 From My Desk

How to Find Problems in Your Draft with a Reverse Outline​
Have you already written a draft and it's too late to start with an outline? You can create a reverse outline to pinpoint problems with the structure, organization, and flow.

👓 Reading

The great detectives: humans versus AI detectors in catching large language model-generated medical writing​
“Our study found that Originiality.ai and ZeroGPT accurately detected AI-generated texts, regardless of whether they were rephrased or not. Additionally, Turnitin did not misclassify human-written articles. While professorial reviewers were generally able to discern AI-rephrased articles from human-written ones, they might misinterpret some human-written articles as AI-generated due to incoherent content and varied vocabulary.”

​Guidelines for academics aim to lessen ethical pitfalls in generative-AI use
​"…they launched a ten-month project to develop guidelines for researchers and university ethics committees. . . the project has three main objectives: to address the lack of expertise in identifying privacy risks caused by using genAI in research; to address data-management requirements in UK research, many of which don’t account for the growing use of genAI; and to address the legal risks for institutions that are using genAI to analyse or process participant data.”

🧰 Tools

Pubcrawler
I've used PubCrawler since my days in graduate school (I'm not going to admit how long ago that was. ) This free service scans daily updates to the PubMed and GenBank databases and will send you email alerts based on the search terms you set up in the platform. It's a great way to stay current on recent literature in your field. Warning: the first query will pull a very long list of results, but the following queries will be much better.

💭 Thoughts

Using an outline to write is like using a roadmap to drive.

When driving with a roadmap, you can more easily navigate the journey from the start of your location to the finish of your destination.

When writing with an outline, you can more easily navigate the journey from the start of your idea to the finish of your first draft.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Passive Voice, Writing Inspiration, and Argument Dilution

What is the writing topic I get asked about most often?

When to use or avoid passive voice.

This topic has been debated among researchers in the sciences for a while. And with good reason. The guidelines and conventions have changed over the years.

To settle the debate, I created the Passive Voice Primer, a short course to help you learn how to use active and passive voice to strengthen your scientific and medical writing.

This course will help you:

🧐 Learn why passive voice has been a conventional practice in science.

❗️ Understand the real problem with passive voice in scientific and medical writing.

🧰 Use passive voice as a strategic writing tool that engages, informs, and persuades readers.

​Learn more and enroll in the Passive Voice Primer​

Now onto this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

👓 Reading

Five Decisions That Are Better Than Waiting for Inspiration​
In this article, Ben Riggs shares five things you can do when you lack inspiration in your writing: show up, embrace the hard work of the sentence, work from a plan, clear your throat, and hoist the sail. This article is worth the read not only for Ben's excellent advice, but also for his beautiful use of words.

​Friday Forward - Argument Dilution (#432)​
"When individuals are presented with a large amount of argumentative information, which inevitably includes a mixture of strong and weak arguments, the weaker arguments stand out most in the listener’s mind, diluting the overall strength of the case. This dilution means that adding more argumentative points will often damage an otherwise persuasive message unless the added statements are extremely compelling."

🧰 Tools

With Emoji Kitchen, you can combine two emojis into one. Although the website will not combine all emojis, you can still have some fun creating new combinations.

💬 Quote

“The passive voice invariably comes across as pontificating, patronizing, talking down. It sounds insincere, even dishonest, and it makes the reader uncomfortable, not trusting, though usually the reader cannot put her finger on why.” – Henriette Anne Klauser, author of Writing on Both Sides of the Brain

✅ Action

Settle the debate between active and passive voice by checking out the Passive Voice Primer. And share the link with a colleague or friend to help put their mind at ease as well.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Impact, Tortured Acronyms, and Formalized Curiosity

Hi Crystal,

Earlier this week, I had a conversation with one of my students about the difference between significance, relevance, and impact in research. Although significance and relevance might seem relatively straightforward, impact is less clear.

Significance is the importance of the research. Does (or will) the project address an important problem or crucial barrier to progress in the field?

Relevance is the state of being appropriate or suitable for a particular purpose. How is (or will) the project benefit or advance science or society?

Impact is the combination of significance and relevance. It is the likelihood that the project has (or will have) a powerful influence on the field. How does (or will) the project move the field forward?

These three elements are key features of a persuasive argument that will win over your reviewers and readers.

Now onto this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

💻 From My Desk

Inclusive Language Course​
I was thrilled to get a couple of great reviews on my (free) inclusive language course this week. Here's what two recent students had to say:

"Fantastic, informative course"

"This was a concise, clearly presented overview of current best practices on using inclusive language. It provides links to some additional resources as well. It’s a great reminder to be compassionate and mindful of how you describe the people you are reporting on."

If you haven't already taken the course, I encourage you to check it out.

👓 Reading

Plagiarism in peer-review reports could be the ‘tip of the iceberg’​
”The team published the results of its investigation in Scientometrics in February, examining dozens of cases of apparent plagiarism in peer-review reports, identifying the use of identical phrases across reports prepared for 19 journals. The team discovered exact quotes duplicated across 50 publications, saying that the findings are just 'the tip of the iceberg' when it comes to misconduct in the peer-review system.”

​Software that detects ‘tortured acronyms’ in research papers could help root out misconduct​
”The group behind the acronym detection…previously developed a range of automatic misconduct detectors on the publicly available Problematic Paper Screener (PPS). The system automatically scans the scientific literature weekly and flags papers that have tortured phrases—nonsensical paraphrases such as “glucose bigotry” instead of “glucose intolerance”—cell lines that do not exist, and other giveaways that signal potentially grave problems.

Now, the group has added tortured acronyms to its list of red flags and is offering free software for publishers to screen for previously unidentified tortured acronyms in paper submissions…"

💬 Quote

"Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose." – Zora Neale Hurston

💭 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.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Note-Taking, Excessive Words, and Practicing Reasoning

Do you take notes while reading books?

I like to take notes while reading. The process of writing things down by hand helps me remember facts and synthesize ideas.

For the past few years, I've used a note-taking method that I learned from Tim Ferriss. I've found his approach helpful for indexing details that stood out to me in a book.

But I recently learned another approach: The Blank Sheet Method. This method involves the following steps:

1. Before reading anything: On a blank sheet of paper, write down what you already know about the subject.

2. After each reading session: Use a different-color pen to add new information you learned to the sheet.

3. Before the next reading session: Review the sheet.

4. After finishing reading: Store the completed sheet in a binder for periodic review.

I think this method is a great strategy to capture the big ideas that stand out to you in the book.

But I like to be more intentional about my note-taking. I like to refer back to the text and spend time thinking about and synthesizing the ideas. So I'm going to try a more detailed approach that uses parts of both methods:

1. Before reading anything: On a blank sheet of paper, write down the main subject and 3–5 key things you already know about the subject.

2. After each reading session: Use a different-color pen to add new information you learned to the sheet. Add page numbers where relevant. On the back of the sheet, note any new ideas or ways of thinking that come to mind

3. Before the next reading session: Review the sheet and add any additional ideas on the back of the sheet.

4. After finishing reading: Scan the sheet for electronic storage and store the completed sheet in the cover of the book. Add an event to your calendar to review the sheet in 6 months.

What's your note-taking method while reading? Hit reply and let me know.

Now onto this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

👓 Reading

Excessive use of words like ‘commendable’ and ‘meticulous’ suggests ChatGPT has been used in thousands of scientific studies
​"He analyzed five million scientific studies published last year and detected a sudden rise in the use of certain words, such as meticulously (up 137%), intricate (117%), commendable (83%) and meticulous (59%). The librarian from the University College London can only find one explanation for this rise: tens of thousands of researchers are using ChatGPT — or other similar Large Language Model tools with artificial intelligence — to write their studies or at least “polish” them.”

​AI Chatbots Have Thoroughly Infiltrated Scientific Publishing​
"The findings suggest something has changed in the lexicon of scientific writing—a development that might be caused by the writing tics of increasingly present chatbots. 'There’s some evidence of some words changing steadily over time” as language normally evolves, Gray says. “But there’s this question of how much of this is long-term natural change of language and how much is something different.' "

🖥️ Watching

High fashion......typography?​
In this reel, artist Wisdom Kaye uses his eye for creative fashion to style different fonts. I appreciate the artistic take he has on font styles.

💬 Quote

“While we naturally understand that writing is a good way to share ideas with others, we under-appreciate just how much good writing helps us think about an idea ourselves. Writing is not only a means of communication, it enables us to practice reasoning.” –Shane Parrish

✅ Action

The next time you read a book, try a note-taking method to track and synthesize ideas. Then add a reminder to your calendar to review your notes in 6 months.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Study Questions, Manuscript Templates, and Promotional Language

Hi Crystal,

Yesterday, I was out for my usual trail run. I was enjoying the cool morning air and a beautiful view of the mountains. And then it happened.

I stumbled to the ground in what seemed like slow motion but was probably a mere 2 seconds. (Don't worry, I'm okay.)

Any number of variables could have contributed to my fall. I've run the route many times and know it well. But I happened to be wearing a new pair of shoes I wasn't used to. Or maybe a loose rock "jumped out in front of me." Or maybe I was still just a little off my game from not sleeping well the night before.

Sometimes we don't know why things happen. But we can still learn from them.

My fall was a good reminder of an important life lesson. Sometimes you get knocked down and don't know why. But you get back up, dust yourself off, and then try again.

I think this is a great lesson for when our manuscripts and grants don't go as planned. Sometimes you get rejected and don't know why. But you get back up, dust yourself off, and then try again.

Now onto this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

🎉 Featured

Five Pitfalls to Avoid When Crafting the Study Question for a Research Manuscript​
I'm delighted to share my latest publication in the AMWA Journal. In the article, I share 5 pitfalls to avoid when crafting the study question for a research manuscript: focusing on the objectives of the study, only stating what was done in the study, reversing the order of the formula in the study question, focusing on the hypothesis of the study, and summarizing the key findings of the study.

💻 From My Desk

Research Manuscript Template​
Are you tired of wrangling the format of your research manuscripts? You're in luck! I created a general template that you can use for most original research manuscripts (some journals have other requirements). The template has built-in styles that you can customize as you wish, as well as guidance and links to resources to help you draft each section. And you can have it for free!

​Download the template

👓 Reading

Promotional language and the adoption of innovative ideas in science​
"Our analyses showed that across diverse datasets, the percentage of promotional language in a grant is a key predictor of a grant’s funding decision, innovativeness, and productivity and citation impact after controlling for PI and grant characteristics. Our raw data indicate that on average a grant contains one promotional word in every 100 words or about one promotional word every fourth sentence."

*This article is interesting to think about. But be careful not to overinflate your writing with promotional language. If you do, you risk making overstatements or exaggerations that can damage the credibility of the work. Remember that it’s not only about what words you use, but also how you use them.

💬 Quote

“Our investment in reading changes the book because the book has changed us. ... If books are merely a means of transferring information, then perhaps, yes, a book is a waste of time. If a summary of its thesis and key points could be presented in a brief article or Substack post, why not just save the hours and read the Substack post? All the more if the information is outdated or questionable for one reason or another. But that mistakes what a book is for. A book is a tool. It’s a machine for thinking. And “all machines,” as Thoreau once said, “have their friction.” The time it takes to engage with ideas—whether factual or fictional, emotional or intellectual, accurate or inaccurate, efficient or inefficient—might strike some as a drag. But the time given to working through those ideas, adopting and adapting, developing or discarding, changes our minds, changes us. It’s not about the wisdom we glean. It’s about what wisdom we grow.” – Joel Miller

💭 Thoughts

The best way to describe complexity is, paradoxically, with simplicity.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Notifications, Letters, and Wasting Time

Have you ever sat in a meeting and someone's phone kept beeping or vibrating with notifications?

I noticed this situation in a meeting just last week. And in that moment, I was reminded that I have an unusual approach to managing my notifications: I don't use them.

Yup. You read that right.

No sounds from incoming text messages. No vibrations for meeting reminders. No pop-ups with breaking news.

I have nearly all notifications turned off (the only exception is for missed calls).

I have found that turning off these notifications has done wonders for my focus and productivity. I can check them when I want to, not when my phone wants me to.

I recognize that not everyone can go to such an extreme. But carefully designing your notifications to support you (and not distract you) can give you more control over how you spend your time.

How did I design my phone to work for me? After reading this article, I considered the suggestions and customized my phone to best support me. It took some time to set things up. And at first, it was challenging to adapt to the changes. But 5 years in, I can confidently say it was one of the best things I've done to take more control of my time and attention.

What are your strategies for limiting distractions from your phone?

Now onto this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

💻 From My Desk

How to Write a Cover Letter for Your Manuscript​
Most journals require that authors submit a cover letter along with their manuscript. This letter is your chance to market your research findings and capture the journal editor’s interest. To write a strong cover letter that will help move your manuscript to the next stage of review, you can use a helpful guide and template to ensure you include the essential elements.

📆 Upcoming

​American Medical Writers Association Conference​
I'm thrilled to be invited to speak at the upcoming American Medical Writers Association conference in New Orleans. This year, I'll be leading or co-leading three sessions:

• A panel discussion on "The Future of Editing: Cultural Awareness, Technology Tools, and Mentoring."

• A panel discussion on "What to Do When You Have Enough Clients: Career Progression as a Freelancer."

• A roundtable discussion on "How to Sell Yourself Without Being Salesy."

Registration for the conference just opened, and you can get the early bird rates until the end of June. Learn more and register

👓 Reading

Writing effective letters of recommendation in physiology​
Although researchers need to write letters of recommendation for a host of reasons, most of them have not completed any formal training in how to write these letters. In this article, the author describes "...the responsibilities and challenges of writing letters of recommendation, for whom you should consider writing a letter, the pros and cons of asking the candidate to create an initial draft, and the information required for you to write a letter." They also share a helpful structure to follow and 10 tips for writing effective letters of recommendation.

🎧 Listening

Before You Waste Time, Listen to This – The Mel Robbins Podcast​
In this podcast episode, Dr. Alok Kanojia shares the shocking statistic that many of us will spend 20 years of our lives on our phones. He also shares his top strategies to take control of the time you spend with technology. Here are three strategies that I use:

• Turn off all notifications on your phone and computer, both the sounds and the pop-ups on the home screen. You might make exceptions for certain family members or apps, such as your calendar.

• Don't keep your phone on your desk or even within eyesight. Schedule time to check your messages when you want to, not when your phone wants you to.

• Use Focus mode in Word to prevent distractions while you do deep work.

🧰 Tools

​Opal​
If you want to spend less time on your phone, this free app can help you develop better screen habits, improve your productivity, and find balance in your life.

✅ Action

Take one step toward taking control of your technology and reducing distractions. Grab your cell phone, and put it in another room for 1 hour. During that hour, were you more focused and productive?

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: First-Person Pronouns, Writing by Hand, and the Timing of Books

This week's intro will be short and sweet.

I'm currently connecting with other word nerds, wordsmith wizards, and communication gurus at a conference hosted by the Northern California Chapter of the American Medical Writers Association. If you are attending the conference, come on over to say hi. I'd be thrilled to see you out in the wild.

Let's get to the good stuff...

💌 Round-up

👓 Reading

“I” versus “the author”: The power of first-person voice when writing about science​
“It’s time for scientists to embrace first-person pronouns and move beyond outdated notions that those powerful, short, gender-neutral, easy-to-read words are somehow inappropriate in science writing. Perhaps some of us more senior scientists have forgotten that a similar plea came decades ago...when we were young and starting to find our scientific writing “voice” but were too afraid to raise it. Those privileged to work as scientists must strive to write research articles in more engaging, creative, and interesting ways that serve readers. Using first-person pronouns can help.”

​Why writing by hand beats typing for thinking and learning​
"A slew of recent brain imaging research suggests handwriting's power stems from the relative complexity of the process and how it forces different brain systems to work together to reproduce the shapes of letters in our heads onto the page."

🎧 Listening

Morgan Housel: Get Rich, Stay Rich – The Knowledge Project Podcast​
In this episode, Morgan Housel shares how books can be missing puzzle pieces at a particular moment and how they are meaningful only if they come to us at the right time. He also shares his thoughts on why we shouldn't feel guilty about not finishing books. If you don't want to listen to the full podcast, jump to 1:18 to hear his thoughts on books.

🧰 Tools

ReallyWrite​
I was introduced to ReallyWrite last week when I was fortunate to meet one of the creators. My first reaction was, "How did I not know about this tool until now?!" ReallyWrite is a free editing tool that not only gives you line-by-line feedback on your text, but it also teaches you about the problems in your text and shows you how to fix them.

💬 Quote

“Try to leave out the parts that readers tend to skip.” – Elmore Leonard

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Grant Season, Specific Aims, and AI Images

It's grant season.

At least that's what I call the few weeks before an NIH R01 due date. These few weeks can be a bit hectic as researchers put the final touches on their grants before submission.

At least, I hope they are just making the final touches. But that's not always the case.

I've met many researchers who scramble to put together a grant in the few weeks before a due date. But to write a stellar grant proposal, you need more than just a few weeks. A lot more.

How much time do you need to write a grant?

The amount of time you need to write a grant depends on a lot of factors: your process for writing the grant, the number of coauthors (and their preferred process for writing), the type of grant, how well fleshed out the project is, how much time you have to write, and many other factors.

But if you want a number, one study found that the average federal proposal takes 171 hours to write: 116 hours from principal investigators and 55 hours from co-investigators.

So if you have 20 hours each week that you can dedicate to writing, you will need 8 to 9 weeks to write a federal proposal. That's like working a part-time job for at least 2 months. It's a lot to take on, especially if you already have a packed schedule.

If you're not sure how much time you spend writing a grant (or a manuscript, for that matter), I recommend that you track the time you spend on your next grant. I like to use Clockify to track my time, but you might also check out Harvest or Toggl, which both have free trials.

Tracking your time might be tedious at first. But you will learn valuable insight to help you create a strategy and timeline for writing your next grant.

Now onto this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

💻 From My Desk

How to Draft Your Specific Aims Page​
The specific aims page is the most important part of your proposal—and often the most difficult part to write. In only one page, you need to describe the background, goals, objectives, rationale, outcomes, and significance of the studies you propose. And you need to explain those details in a way that persuades reviewers to fund your project.

👓 Reading

Should researchers use AI to write papers? Group aims for community-driven standards​
"Known as CANGARU, the initiative is a partnership between researchers and publishers including Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley; representatives from journals eLife, Cell, and The BMJ; as well as industry body the Committee on Publication Ethics. The group hopes to release a final set of guidelines by August, which will be updated every year because of the “fast evolving nature of this technology,”. . . The guidelines will include a list of ways authors should not use the large language models (LLMs) that power chatbots and how they should disclose other uses.”

​ChatGPT’s ability to generate realistic experimental images poses a new challenge to academic integrity​
"Although the current ability of ChatGPT to generate experimental images is limited, our simple tests have demonstrated the significant risks of misuse in generating images. Combined with existing research findings, ChatGPT theoretically has the potential to generate entire academic papers from scratch, including text, raw data, and experiment result images. While images generated by ChatGPT currently are not as realistic as those generated by GANs, the low barrier to use and rapid technical improvements mean the generated images will likely be more realistic in future.“

💬 Quote

“I apologize for such a long letter - I didn't have time to write a short one.” – Mark Twain

✅ Action

Next week, track how much time you spend writing. Then calculate how many weeks you would need to write a grant proposal based on the 171-hour estimate. Were you surprised by the result? Hit reply and let me know.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Meeting Names, Negative Results, and the Power of One Word

Do you give much thought to the names of your meetings?

Over the years, I've changed how I've titled meetings. For example, when I schedule meetings with someone, I list my name first.

Why?

So that when the event appears on their calendar, they can easily see who they are meeting with, without opening the full invite. I'd rather take that extra step of clicking so that they don't have to.

But, frankly, I hadn't given much thought to the names of the meetings.

Until now.

Earlier this week, I listened to a podcast episode that described how dull event names make us feel the same way. Dull. Uninterested. Even unmotivated. And those feelings set the tone for the event.

But we can change that. With purposeful meeting names, we can prime people to feel, think, and behave in certain ways when they see the event on their calendars. And even when they show up to the meeting.

Not convinced? How do you feel when you read the following meeting names?

❌ Weekly meeting
❌ Check-in Call
❌ 1:1 Session

✅ Team Brainstorm
✅ Goal Setting
✅ Collaborative Session

Are you convinced? I am!

So one of my tasks for the coming week is to create better meeting names that set the tone for the kind of meeting I want to foster.

I'm curious. What do think are good meeting names? Hit reply and let me know!

Now onto this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

📆 Upcoming

Which Voice is the Better Choice? Writing Intentionally with Active and Passive Voice – June 7, 2024
I was thrilled to be invited to speak at the AMWA NorCal Pacific Coast Conference. During this education session, I'll share why passive voice was the traditional norm and what has led to the new focus on active voice. I'll also share when active and passive voice are powerful tools that can strengthen your writing. Register for the conference

👓 Reading

Publishing negative results is good for science
​“…most scientific journals are biassed in accepting positive and novel findings. Despite their importance, negative results often go unpublished, leading to duplication of efforts, biassed meta-analyses, and ethical concerns regarding animal and human studies. In this light, the initiative by Access Microbiology to collect and publish negative results in the field of microbiology is a very important and valuable contribution towards unbiassed science.”

​Researchers need ‘open’ bibliographic databases, new declaration says​
”Some of the best known databases, such as the Web of Science and Scopus, are proprietary and offer pay-to-access data and services supporting these and other metrics, including university rankings and journal impact factors. But in a declaration posted today, more than 30 research and funding organizations call for the community to commit to platforms that instead are free for all, more transparent about their methods, and without restrictions about how the data can be used.”

🎧 Listening

How to Read Body Language to Get What You Want: 6 Simple Psychological Tricks to Be More Confident – The Mel Robbins Podcast
In this episode, Vanessa Van Edwards shares mindset shifts and helpful strategies for building confidence, communicating effectively, and changing someone's behavior with just one word. Fast forward to 48:35 to hear her thoughts on meeting names and email subjects.

🖥️ Watching

The Meeting to Decide Time Periods​
I've often raised an eyebrow when someone uses the word "biweekly." Do they mean twice a week or every two weeks? In this Instagram Reel, stage_door_johnny shares a creative conversation on how this word may have come to be.

✅ Action

Open your calendar and read through the meeting names in your schedule for next week. How do the names make you feel? How could you revise the names to be more purposeful?

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: "Dumbing It Down," the Laundry Method, and Publication Facts Labels

I've heard a lot of researchers admit that they hesitate to write with simple language because they fear they will offend readers by "dumbing it down."

But simple language is not "dumbing it down." Simple language is clear, direct, and easy to understand.

And those features will help you impress readers, not offend them.

So, what if we could reframe our thinking?

What if instead of thinking of simple language as "dumbing it down," we think of it as "clearing it up" or "translating it across"?

I like the simplicity of these reframes and the parallelism of the language. And I think that these parallel reframes can help us to more easily shift our mindset to a more impressive way to write—with simple language that showcases our work and makes our reader's job easy.

What do you think?

Now onto this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

👓 Reading

Researchers want a ‘nutrition label’ for academic-paper facts​
“Through transparency, we want to show how closely journals and authors are adhering to the scholarly standards of publishing. We want to help readers, including researchers, the media and the public, to decide whether an article is worth reporting on or citing. The facts that we have selected for the label include publisher and funder names, the journal’s acceptance rate and the number of peer reviewers. The label also shows whether the paper includes a competing-interests statement and an editor list, where the journal is indexed and whether the data have been made publicly available.”

​Authorship of Publications Supported by NCI-Funded Grants Involving Low- and Middle-Income Countries​
"…the percentage of LMIC-affiliated first and last authors remained low. The percentage of publications with at least 1 author affiliated with an LMIC increased but remained below 50%. Furthermore, bibliometric output was lower for publications with LMIC-affiliated authors than for those with HIC-affiliated authors. . . These findings will provide an important benchmark when assessing strategies to promote equitable scientific participation by LMIC institutions and investigators in global cancer research...”

🎧 Listening

Insights from Google's Productivity Expert—On Saying No, Cozy Corners, The Laundry Method, and More with Laura Mae Martin​
When we do laundry, we don't process clothes one item at a time. Yet, that’s how many people tackle their email. In this podcast episode, Laura shares how we can better manage our email inbox with The Laundry Method. With this method, we process our email in batches by separating sorting, reading, and answering into separate activities. So if you have limited time, you can do just one of those activities.

🖥️ Watching

FastPPT​
Do you use PowerPoint to create slide presentations? I recently discovered the FastPPT Instagram account that shares short tutorials for creating beautiful and informational slides in PowerPoint. After watching only a few tutorials, I realized the incredible potential of PowerPoint.

💭 Thoughts

You take a powerful step toward achieving your goals when you turn someday into today.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Life Tetris, Literature Reviews, and Stolen Identities

Do you use the time-blocking method to manage your time?

For a couple of years now, I've used time blocking to schedule time on my calendar to complete tasks. I've found the method rather helpful for mapping out my days, but not so much for managing my time.

What often happens is that something comes up, like a meeting, and then I need to shift around all the boxes on my calendar. This means that I'm constantly playing a game of "life Tetris"—moving blocks of time around to figure out when I can fit tasks in.

But what if there was a better way?

I recently heard someone suggest a different mindset toward time blocking: once you block time for something on your calendar, that time becomes a non-negotiable commitment to your goals.

I recognize that this negotiation is often with ourselves, which is no easy feat. But I think that if we can protect our time and prioritize our goals, then this mindset of non-negotiable commitments is quite powerful.

What is your approach to managing your time? And how is that approach working for you? Hit reply and let me know.

Now onto this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

📆 Upcoming

Which Voice is the Better Choice? Writing Intentionally with Active and Passive Voice – June 7, 2024
I was thrilled to be invited to speak at the 2024 AMWA NorCal Pacific Coast Conference. During this education session, I'll discuss a hotly debated topic: passive voice. Attendees will learn why passive voice was the traditional norm and what has led to the new focus on active voice. They'll also learn when to make the intentional choice to use active or passive voice as tools that strengthen writing.

👓 Reading

Hi Crystal,

Do you use the time-blocking method to manage your time?

For a couple of years now, I've used time blocking to schedule time on my calendar to complete tasks. I've found the method rather helpful for mapping out my days, but not so much for managing my time.

What often happens is that something comes up, like a meeting, and then I need to shift around all the boxes on my calendar. This means that I'm constantly playing a game of "life Tetris"—moving blocks of time around to figure out when I can fit tasks in.

But what if there was a better way?

I recently heard someone suggest a different mindset toward time blocking: once you block time for something on your calendar, that time becomes a non-negotiable commitment to your goals.

I recognize that this negotiation is often with ourselves, which is no easy feat. But I think that if we can protect our time and prioritize our goals, then this mindset of non-negotiable commitments is quite powerful.

What is your approach to managing your time? And how is that approach working for you? Hit reply and let me know.

Now onto this week's round-up...

Round-up

Upcoming

​Which Voice is the Better Choice? Writing Intentionally with Active and Passive Voice – June 7, 2024
I was thrilled to be invited to speak at the 2024 AMWA NorCal Pacific Coast Conference. During this education session, I'll discuss a hotly debated topic: passive voice. Attendees will learn why passive voice was the traditional norm and what has led to the new focus on active voice. They'll also learn when to make the intentional choice to use active or passive voice as tools that strengthen writing.

Reading

​Hijacked journals: a case of stolen identity​
"...to create an illusion of authenticity, journal hijackers often use or mimic a legitimate journal’s title, ISSN, and other metadata. They then use a variety of methods to infiltrate indexing databases, known as ‘indexjacking’, including:

• compromising a journal’s homepage link to instead link to a cloned website

• hacking the website of a legitimate journal​

• registering an expired domain of a legitimate journal

• targeting print-only journals with inactive or unestablished homepage links."

​What can institutions do to stop predatory journals?​
This article suggests several approaches that institutions could adopt to help prevent authors from falling prey to predatory journals:

• "Provide education on scholarly publishing norms and guidance on navigating the complex publishing landscape, especially for researchers in LMICs [low- and middle-income countries].

• Offer resources...in local languages and forums for knowledge exchange to empower researchers and reduce their vulnerability to predatory publishers.

• Create partnerships between institutions in LMICs and wealthier countries to facilitate access to reputable publications and integration within the global scientific community.

• Alleviate the pressure to publish by broadening the criteria for evaluating researchers beyond publications and acknowledging contributions in teaching, outreach, and other knowledge-sharing activities."

🎧 Listening

How to Choose the Right Literature Review Approach for Your Project​
In this episode of the Write Medicine podcast, Alex Howson shares her expertise in what literature reviews are and how to choose the right type of review for your project. What I appreciated most was her comment that literature reviews need to do more than just summarize the literature. "A good review usually synthesizes the available research to identify patterns, gaps, and new insights that help us to think critically about that topic."

💬 Quote

"Productivity isn’t about being a workhorse, keeping busy or burning the midnight oil… It’s more about priorities, planning, and fiercely protecting your time." –Gary Keller

✅ Action

Go into your calendar and add blocks of time to prioritize your writing. In the name of the event, add "non-negotiable" to remind yourself to prioritize your writing goals.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Reframing Should’s, Grant Templates, and Writing Tips

I've always had a funny feeling about the word "should."

Something about this word feels demanding or obligatory, and that connotation puts me off.

For a while, I would simply replace "should" with "could," but that substitution fell a little flat for me. I thought that there must be something better.

And there is.

I learned that you can reframe the statement in a more supportive way—with encouragement.

For example, you might find yourself saying something like, "You should read this manuscript." But instead, you could say, "I encourage you to read this manuscript."

That feels much better.

Or if you want something a little stronger, you might say, "I recommend that you read this manuscript."

That feels better too.

This reframing is also a great strategy in scientific and medical writing:

Original: Researchers should study whether the gene is associated with heart function.
Revised: We encourage researchers to study whether the gene is associated with heart function.

Original: Health care providers should develop new guidelines to treat Huntington's disease.
Revised: We recommend that health care providers develop new guidelines to treat Huntington's disease.

In addition to this reframing being more encouraging, you are also giving yourself or the research team credit for the suggestion, which is more accurate and persuasive. That's a powerful shift for such a small revision.

So instead of using "should" in your writing (and in life), I encourage you to reframe the statement in a more supportive, accurate, and persuasive way.

Now onto this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

💻 From My Desk

NIH grant template​
Are you tired of wrangling the format of your NIH grant proposals? You're in luck! I created a template that you can use for any NIH grant application. The template has built-in styles that you can customize as you wish—and you can have it for free!

​Download the template

👓 Reading

Write Insider​
Write Insider is a twice-monthly newsletter that shares tips, tools, and tactics to help medical writers confidently create content that connects with and educates health professionals. Although the newsletter is framed around continuing medical education, I pull away actionable strategies, insights on emerging trends, valuable frameworks and templates, and even wellness tips. This newsletter is produced by the host of the Write Medicine podcast, which I also recommend adding to your regular feed.

🎧 Listening

Tips for Scientific Writing
​In this podcast episode, Dr. Linda Chu, Scientific Editor for Radiology, discusses her top 10 tips for writing the materials and methods in the Radiology journal. Although she frames the tips around radiology, much of her advice is helpful for any scientific field. You can also read the full article she wrote on the topic.

💬 Quote

"Mastery is not only about getting better at your craft, but also about finding ways to eliminate the obstacles, distractions, and other annoyances that prevent you from working on your craft.

Top performers find ways to spend as much time as possible on what matters and as little time as possible on what doesn't. It is not someone else's responsibility to create the conditions for success.

You have to actively work to eliminate the things that don't matter from your workload. If you haven't figured out how to do that, you haven't mastered your craft." –James Clear

✅ Action

In the draft you are currently working on, use the Find feature of Word to search for the word "should." Then reframe any phrasing that contains "should" to use more supportive language.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Growth, Hyphens, and Extremely Productive Authors

This past weekend, I spent some time in my hometown. It is a beautiful little town nestled along a river in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

While I was there, a lot of memories surfaced, reminding me of "the old days." Swimming in the river, frolicking in the mountains, gathering with the community.

As I reflected on these memories, I realized how much I have grown since I lived there. And I noticed how sometimes I take that growth for granted.

I think that this same phenomenon can happen with our writing. We often focus on what can be improved (how far we need to go) rather than what we have already accomplished (how far we've come).

If you're feeling this way, open a draft of something that you wrote several years ago and reflect on how your writing has grown. If you're new to writing, pull up an early draft that you crafted and notice how your writing improved with each draft.

I think we can learn a lot about our writing and ourselves by occasionally reflecting on our hard work and accomplishments. So here's a gentle nudge to pause for a moment to think about how you've grown in your writing and in your life.

Now onto this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

💻 From My Desk

​How to Use Hyphens to Create Connections and Clarity in Your Writing​
Hyphens are powerful tools for adding clarity to your writing. They link words and word components to help readers easily connect and understand concepts. But how do you know when to use a hyphen in your scientific and medical writing?

👓 Reading

Rise in “extremely productive” authors sparks concern​
"...the number of extremely productive authors – defined as those who publish the equivalent of more than 60 papers a year – has almost quadrupled since a previous analysis carried out in 2018. . . Based on raw citation counts, extremely productive authors now account for 44% of the 10,000 most-cited authors across all areas of science."

​Exploring the potential of ChatGPT in the peer review process: An observational study​
"ChatGPT can complement human scientific peer review, enhancing efficiency and promptness in the editorial process. However, a fully automated AI review process is currently not advisable, and ChatGPT's role should be regarded as highly constrained for the present and near future."

​The Use of Artificial Intelligence in Writing Scientific Review Articles​
"Overall, use of AI decreased the time spent to write the review article, but required more extensive fact checking. With the AI-only approach, up to 70% of the references cited were found to be inaccurate. Interestingly, the AI-assisted approach resulted in the highest similarity indices suggesting a higher likelihood of plagiarism. Finally, although the technology is rapidly changing, at the time of study, ChatGPT 4.0 had a cutoff date of September 2021 rendering identification of recent articles impossible."

💬 Quote

"The simplest way to clarify your thinking is to write a full page about whatever you are dealing with and then delete everything except the 1-2 sentences that explain it best." – James Clear

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: New Books, Neglect, and Text Recycling

Earlier this week, I was walking my dog, and we stopped by a Free Little Library. (Confession: I might plan our walks so that we pass these little gems).

As I browsed the books, I found myself thinking, "Why am I looking at more books? I already have a stack of books that I need to read at home."

And then I thought, "But these are new books!"

I think there is something joyful about getting a new (or new-to-me) book. I enjoy the excitement of possibility—of learning something new or being engrossed in a story.

I also appreciate that books are packages of knowledge or imagination that the author is sharing with the world. It's a pretty remarkable accomplishment and contribution to society.

So the next time you pass a Free Little Library, take a book or leave a book to spread the joy.

Now onto this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

👓 Reading

One Scientist Neglected His Grant Reports. Now U.S. Agencies Are Withholding Grants for an Entire University.​
"The National Institutes of Health, the Office of Naval Research, and the U.S. Army are withholding all of their grants from the University of California at San Diego because one scientist failed to turn in required final reports for two of his grants..."

​When it is and isn’t OK to recycle text in scientific papers​
"Text recycling refers to the reuse (copying) of one’s own previous writing in the production of a new piece of work. . . From the journal’s perspective, we encourage reuse of methodological information from your previous work, as long as you cite the original paper in which you introduced the method (and the reuse complies with copyright law). However, reusing ‘boilerplate’ stretches of text outside of the methods section is not only problematic, but is also likely to obscure the specific point that you are trying to make in a paper and to reduce its accessibility and impact."

🖥️ Watching

Rejection​
In this post, Jamie Kern Lima shares her positive outlook on rejection. I think that her perspective is a valuable way for us to reframe our thoughts and feelings when we face rejection from a journal or funding agency.

💬 Quote

"In any case, don't get into the habit of using a semicolon (or anything else) merely to mark a breathing space. Your reader will be perfectly capable of doing his own breathing, providing your sentence is well punctuated; punctuation is an aid to understanding, not to respiration." –R L Trask, Penguin Guide To Punctuation

✅ Action

The next time you pick up a book to read, pause for a moment to appreciate the time and effort that the author invested in crafting that book.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Mindset, Honorary Authorship, and AI-Generated Abstracts

Your mindset is powerful.

And whether you have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset can influence your success in writing.

According to Carol Dweck, author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, people with a fixed mindset believe that their qualities are carved in stone, whereas people with a growth mindset believe that their qualities can be cultivated through effort, strategy, and support.

How does this apply to your writing?

If you have a fixed mindset, you might be telling yourself limiting beliefs that hold you back from success with your writing. For example, you might think that you're not a good writer or that writing is hard.

However, if you have a growth mindset, you might be telling yourself empowering beliefs that support your success with writing. For example, you might think that you're working on improving your writing skills or that writing has challenges that you can overcome.

Do you find that you have a fixed mindset when it comes to your writing?

If so, there's good news: mindsets can be changed. So whenever you have a fixed-mindset thought about your writing, trade it for a growth-mindset thought.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

🤔 Trade "I'm not a good writer" for "I'm not a good writer yet".

🤔 Trade "Why is writing so hard?" for "How can I make writing easier?"

🤔 Trade "Why do I keep making mistakes?" for "What can I learn from this?"

How does your mindset affect your writing?

Now onto this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

👓 Reading

Honorary authorship is highly prevalent in health sciences: systematic review and meta-analysis of surveys​
"...HA [hyperauthorship] prevalence was 26% when respondents were asked if there are honorary authors on their publication at issue, and not explicitly informing authors about criteria for authorship. The pooled prevalence was 18% when they were asked the same question but ICMJE criteria were disclosed to them, and 51% when respondents were asked to declare their co-author(s) contributions and these contributions were then compared to the ICMJE criteria independently. This indicates that how questions are asked may affect HA estimates, but also that what researchers perceive as HA and may differ from how authorship is defined using ICMJE criteria."

​Can ChatGPT assist authors with abstract writing in medical journals? Evaluating the quality of scientific abstracts generated by ChatGPT and original abstracts​
"ChatGPT generated an authentic-looking abstract with an appropriate structure and concise language while it attempted to extract relevant details to the methodology and results components of a RCT report. . . GPT-generated abstracts demonstrated significantly inferior overall quality as the original abstracts outperformed GPT 3.5 and GPT 4 by 22.22% and 37.30% in the OQS, respectively. Moreover, the original abstracts outperformed GPT 3.5 and GPT 4 in 10 and 14 of the 18 items from the CONSORT-A checklist, respectively. . . abstracts generated by GPT 3.5 were deemed to be most readable in 62.22% of cases in comparison to the GPT 4 and original counterparts, and it demonstrated minimal hallucination rate of 0.03 errors per abstract.

🖥️ Watching

How to Stop Holding Yourself Back​
In this 2.5-minute clip, Simon Sinek shares how taking control of your perspective can make you much more likely to succeed. I bookmarked the video and watch it every so often as a reminder of the power of your mindset.

💬 Quote

“The questions you ask yourself will largely determine the answers you get.

• “Why am I not successful?” You’ll get answers that berate you.

• “How can I succeed here?” You’ll get answers that push you.

Be deliberate in the questions you ask yourself.” – Julie Gurner

❓ Question

How is your mindset holding you back?

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Struggles, Fonts, and Article-Level Metrics

Let's get something straight: we all struggle with writing.

But very few of us see that struggle in others.

What do we see? The final product—the published article, the printed book, or the funded proposal.

What don't we see? The blank page you faced, the isolation you felt while writing, the countless hours you spent doing research, the words and sentences you deliberated over, the fascinating data you uncovered that doesn't support the core idea of the paper, the beautifully crafted paragraph that you cut to meet the word limit, and the many revisions that you made before arriving at the final draft.

Just because we don't see the struggle doesn't mean the process was easy.

The struggle is part of the writing process. And with great struggle comes great wisdom and reward.

Now onto this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

📆 Upcoming

Craft the Essential Elements of a Compelling Grant Proposal – April 9/16, 2024
Next week, I’ll be facilitating a workshop for the Center for Research Artistic, and Scholarly Excellence at the University of San Francisco. During the workshop, we'll cover how to effectively craft the essential elements of a grant proposal.

…Oh, and if you’re interested in sponsoring a seminar or workshop for your group, just reply to this email. I’d be delighted to discuss ideas.

👓 Reading

Measuring the impact of scientific publications and publication extenders: examples of novel approaches​
"The past decade has seen the development of article-level metrics (ALMs), that measure the online attention received by an individual publication in contexts including social media platforms, news media, citation activity, and policy and patent citations. These new tools can complement traditional bibliometric data and provide a more holistic evaluation of the impact of a publication. This commentary discusses the need for ALMs, and summarizes several examples..."

​Writing matters​
"Compared to the original versions, economists judge edited versions as higher quality; they are more likely to accept edited versions for a conference; and they believe that edited versions have a better chance of being accepted at a good journal. . . Making the writing easier to understand causes economists to evaluate academic papers more positively."

🖥️ Watching

Fonts Hanging Out – Part 3​
In this clever Instagram reel, you can watch a creative spin on what a conversation might be among a group of fonts. I hope it adds a smile to your day.

💬 Quote

“When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.” –Stephen King, On Writing

✅ Action

The next time you sit down to read something, take a moment to acknowledge the hard work that the author(s) put into the draft. Notice if you feel more appreciation for the work and empathy for the struggles the authors faced while writing.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Email Invitations, Predatory Journals, and Disappearing Papers

Earlier this week, I opened my inbox to find an invitation to submit an article to a journal. My first thought was, "How delightful!"

Then I read the email.

At first, the email seemed legit. Although I hadn't heard of the journal, the name seemed plausible. And the email referred to me by name and mentioned the title of one of my publications.

So, I took the next step: I checked the email address of the sender.

That's right. I've read a lot about predatory journals, so I always check the sender's email address before clicking on anything in these types of emails.

And I'm glad I did.

The email address was a generic address that clearly wasn't from a specific web domain of the "journal." Red flag.

To be extra sure, I also googled the journal name (I did not click any links in the questionable email). Believe it or not, I found a website for the "journal." The website had all the elements you might expect: a landing page, author guidelines, a mission statement. But the design was shoddy, the text was poorly written, and the website used a submission form rather than a portal. More red flags.

So I promptly deleted the email.

This wasn't the first email of this kind that I've received. And I anticipate that you have likely received similar emails.

I've even met researchers who put hours and hours into writing and submitting a manuscript, only to discover that they submitted to a predatory journal. It's heartbreaking.

However, sometimes these email invitations are real. So when you get these emails, do your homework before clicking any links, downloading any documents, replying to the sender, or submitting anything to the "journal." If everything checks out, you might be on your way to a great opportunity.

Now onto this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

👓 Reading

Millions of research papers at risk of disappearing from the Internet​
"More than one-quarter of scholarly articles are not being properly archived and preserved. . . The findings...indicate that systems to preserve papers online have failed to keep pace with the growth of research output."

​US project seeks standard way to communicate research retractions​
”A large part of what we’re recommending is modifications in how retraction information — including article titles and author names — is shared. We recommend that all journals use the same format to label retracted papers, as well as those that have been flagged with other editorial notices.”

💬 Quote

"Writing is the only way to talk without being interrupted." – Jules Renard

💭 Thoughts

Writing from an outline is like driving with a map.

It's easier to get to your destination of a finished draft if you have clear directions to get there.

✅ Action

If you receive an invitation to submit a manuscript to a journal, take just a minute to do a little research first. The easiest indicator is to check the email address of the sender. If the email address doesn't look legit, delete the email.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Introverts, Meetings, and Plagiarism

Happy National Introverts Week!

Many writers and editors are introverts, including me.

Although we often hear advice on what introverts can do to become (or at least appear) more extroverted, both introverts and extroverts have valuable strengths.

I recently listened to a podcast interview with Clair Hughes Johnson, an advisor for Stripe and former leader at Google. During the interview, she said that "introverts think to talk, and extroverts talk to think."

I was struck by the simplicity and accuracy of this statement.

I think this thinking and talking dynamic is readily apparent in meetings, where extroverts can dominate the conversation while introverts contemplate before responding. Because of this dynamic, I think we can support more inclusive and collaborative meetings with a few strategies:

Circulate an agenda in advance to give introverts time to think before the meeting.

Collect input before the meeting, even anonymously when possible.

Give adequate time for processing after asking questions.

Make decisions after, not during, meetings.

If you're curious about the dynamics of being an extrovert and introvert (and how you may channel these different ways of being in different scenarios), I highly recommend that you check out Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain. It's a fascinating read.

Now for this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

🎉 Featured

​A few favorite resources for academic writers and editors​
I was delighted to learn that Kyra Freestar of Bridge Creek Editing featured me in her list of favorite resources for writers and editors—and at the top of the list! Check out her blog post for more great resources on language, writing, publishing, and technical skills, as well as several great books on writing.

📆 Upcoming

Connection Compass: Create Flow that Guides Readers Through Your Writing – March 27, 2024, 11 am PT
Next week, join me and the American Medical Writers Association for my recent conference presentation on flow. During the webinar, I’ll share how writers can apply valuable writing principles to create a smooth flow that guides readers through the content, builds on their knowledge, and keeps them engaged in the writing. All are welcome to attend.

👓 Reading

Why is There So Much Plagiarism Right Now?​
"Fixing this is going to require systemic change in academia. However,...a good place to start would be to emphasize education about the writing process itself, with a heavy focus on citation. Teaching students how to write and how to cite and making those expectations clearer can help separate the students with bad habits from those actively trying to game the system."

​The ChatGPT conundrum: Human-generated scientific manuscripts misidentified as AI creations by AI text detection tool​
“This has broad-reaching implications, with the possibility of career-altering allegations being made against students and researchers when their work was an original creation. . . up to 8.69% of the ‘real’ abstracts had more than 50% probability of being characterized as AI-generated text, and up to 5.13% of all “real” abstracts being erroneously characterized as having a 90% likelihood of being AI-generated.”

💬 Quote

"Quiet people have the loudest minds." – Stephen Hawking

✅ Action

The next time you plan a meeting, try a new strategy that encourages more contributions from introverts. After that meeting, reflect on what went well and how that strategy could be improved to support more inclusive meetings.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Sculpting, Authorship Gaps, and Diverse Opinions

Do you tend to write and edit at the same time?

Admittedly, I have struggled to overcome the habit of writing and editing at the same time. And sometimes I still falter. As a professional editor, my default is to edit.

But writing and editing at the same time can slow down the writing process, interfere with the flow of writing, and diminish the quality of the final piece.

If you're not convinced, I recently read an article that correlated the craft of writing with the art of sculpting.

A sculptor visualizes a statue within a block of marble, and chips away to reveal it. She does so in iterations of the whole statue, rather than focusing and refining one part before moving to another. In her first iteration, she carves out the rough dimensions of the statue itself, from head to toe. In the second one, she outlines some details such as the face, the limbs and the torso. In the third pass, specific features such as the eyes, nose and the fingers start to appear. Later, she adds the finishing touches such as fingernails, eyebrows and curls of the tunic.

On the contrary, if she started with one part — if she started carving out the statue’s hand in intricate detail it is likely to be over-defined compared to the rest of the statue. The hand could also end up disproportionately smaller or larger.

The craft of writing works in the same manner. Great writers have always separated their writing from their editing. They wrote in a flow — the words appeared on paper just as they thought about them. Later, they edited their drafts and rewrote them.

I think that this analogy beautifully and accurately explains the importance of separating writing from editing: efficiency, flow, and quality.

To avoid writing and editing at the same time, I have a few strategies that I use that you might find helpful:

• Create an outline to "sculpt" the document, and then expand and write from that outline.

• Write comments to myself to do more research on a topic or come back to something later.

• Use square brackets around words or language that I want to revisit (this helps me avoid thesaurus rabbit holes).

• Add placeholders for citations that I insert later (this helps me maintain my writing flow without pausing to cite while I write).

What strategies do you have for avoiding writing and editing at the same time?

Now onto this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

👓 Reading

​A bibliometric analysis of the gender gap in the authorship of leading medical journals
​“…this computational audit indicated that gender disparity in medical research is country-specific, partly related to the distinct research focus and more evident at the senior researcher level.”

​A bibliometric analysis of geographic disparities in the authorship of leading medical journals​
“This study demonstrates that medical publishing is marked by Anglocentric dominance. Moreover, journals tend to publish more studies from the country in which the journal is based, and authors are more likely to cite work from their own country. However, geographical representation has gradually increased in recent years.”

🎧 Listening

Claire Hughes Johnson, Building Stripe from 160 to 6,000+ Employees — How to Take Radical Ownership of Your Life and Career (#724)
​"And why do I care about inclusion? Yes, inclusion is a good thing for people to feel better and included, but actually because if you’ve hired a bunch of smart people and yet they don’t feel included, they will not share their opinion. And the reason you hired them is because they’re smart people who bring diverse opinions, and if they won’t say them, then you’re not really benefiting from all that work hiring them, because you want a better outcome."

💬 Quote

“I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that I’m simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.” –Shannon Hale

💭 Thoughts

Editing while writing is like driving with the emergency brake on.

✅ Action

During your next writing session, resist the urge to edit your work as you write. Instead, add notes and placeholders to come back to later.

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal

Interlude: Science-ese, Authorship, and Synonyms

How do you feel while reading legal contracts?

I'll bet that you don't enjoy reading the complex language that many people refer to as "legal-ese." And actually, lawyers don't enjoy reading legal-ese either.

Yet, many researchers use "science-ese" in their writing. And science-ese sparks the same feelings in readers, whether or not they are experts in the same field.

Many researchers attribute this style of writing to convention, formality, "academic writing," or wanting to impress readers. But these perceptions only rob your writing of clarity, concision, and persuasion.

To secure your reader's attention, make their job of reading your writing easy. Avoid using science-ese and burying your ideas in complex language. Instead, use simple language that will showcase your work and ideas.

Now let's get to this week's round-up...

💌 Round-up

📆 Upcoming

Connection Compass: Create Flow that Guides Readers Through Your Writing – March 27, 2024, 10 am PT
Join me for an expanded version of my conference presentation at the 2023 American Medical Writers Association conference. During this webinar, I'll share how writers can apply valuable writing principles to create a smooth flow that guides readers through the content, builds on their knowledge, and keeps them engaged in the writing.

👓 Reading

Up-Dated ICMJE Recommendations (January 2024)​
The ICMJE updated the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. These updates include guidance on why authorship matters, how to acknowledge work conducted with artificial intelligence, use of artificial intelligence in the review process, medical publishing and carbon emissions, acknowledging funding support, protecting research participants, and referencing citations. To see the exact changes, check out the annotated pdf.

​How many authors are (too) many? A retrospective, descriptive analysis of authorship in biomedical publications​
"Credible explanations for this seemingly unstoppable trend [in authorship proliferation] are increasing research complexity, increasingly sophisticated methodology, multidisciplinary research, larger research units, internationalization, and multicenter collaborations. . . [However,] the reported high frequency of authorship misconduct (honorary authorship etc.) suggest additional and different factors driving authorship inflation: mainly the (increasing) pressure to publish primarily induced by current academic performance assessments, promotion policies and reward structures which themselves mainly focus on quantitative citation metrics and publication counting. Against this background, this paper discusses possible approaches to limit authorship proliferation, to maintain its value, and how to sustainably embed a more sensitive attitude towards the ethical aspects of authorship."

💬 Quote

Writing is hard work, not magic. It begins with deciding why you are writing and whom you are writing for. What is your intent? What do you want the reader to get out of it? What do you want to get out of it. It's also about making a serious time commitment and getting the project done." – Suze Orman

💭 Thoughts

Choosing words for writing is like choosing spices for cooking.

Salt and sugar may look similar, but they have different flavors that affect how people experience the meal.

Words may seem like synonyms, but they have different meanings that affect how people experience the writing.

✅ Action

Open the most recent manuscript that you collaborated on and review the author names in the byline. Did all the authors qualify for authorship? Were the authors listed in the fairest order? What would you do differently when discussing authorship for your next manuscript?

Thank you so much for reading.

Warmly,

Crystal