Reading science for fun

Approaching the latter part of my first year as a PhD student, I find myself  'delving into the literature' as they say. Well, not so much delving, but lightly skimming on a calm day. But still, it's a start.

With my undergraduate study 5+ years behind me, I'm struggling to get my ageing brain to focus on the task in hand. Hence this blog post. How did I ever write a literature review for my Honours degree?! I suspect that it wasn't very good. Or perhaps back then I didn't get depressingly overwhelmed by the volume of literature out there that is relevant to me, most likely because I was totally ignorant of that fact. Whatever the reason, the literature hates me now, and is drowning me in it's obscure and 'waffly' sentences, most likely written that way to obscure the lack of any concrete data. Ah, how abstracts are misleading...

Occasionally I come across a real gem of a paper, that makes me think that science isn't so bad after all. Some authors have it, some don't. And as scientists are often the insular and introverted type (see Example 1: the author), few possess the communication skills that are required to actually write up their data in an 'intelligable' way. ie. intelligable to the reader, not written to make the author seem intelligent.

So, in the classes procrastination style, I've studied a range of papers, and made a list of what I think makes a good scientific article. Let's be honest, scientific articles aren't works of Shakespeare, or even your favourite crime/fantasy/romance novel that you read for enjoyment. This is WORK, and you want the whole thing to be done and dusted asap.

1. The author answers that vital bit of information that you've been searching for. eg. The epitope against this antibody is....

2. The author explains the backstory to their project. eg. Previously we found this, but now we are looking at this because... 

3. Good writing skills! First person. Avoids excessive use of passive voice. Short and concise sentences.  eg. 'Utilise is not better than 'use'!

4. Subheadings that summarise the key points.

5. Admitted faults or difficulties. eg. We used this particular technique because this other one didn't work, and we're admitting that now instead of trying to conceal this fact and confuse you even further. 

I'm sure I'll add to these as I continue to read, hopefully this will help me improve my own writing! When I eventually start writing that is...