Medical Writing (4^th Ed.) A Prescription for Clarity

Effective communication is the ultimate, but often daunting, purpose of any medical research or review. This book provides the practical information necessary to turn first drafts into concise, unambiguous text, without loss of individuality. Written by a consultant anaesthetist and an experienced medical editor, and also illustrated by an accomplished medical editor, all of whom are sympathetic to the problems and needs of medical writers, this book deals with the basic craft of writing, from choosing the best word or phrase to essential grammar. This expanded fourth edition includes many more words better replaced, and deals explicitly with the problems of writers whose first language is not English. Whether you are writing a simple clinical report or a thesis, supervising others, running a course on medical or scientific writing, or just want to develop your skills in written communication, this book is the ideal guide and reference. Clear, simple and precise, and illustrated with apt cartoons, this is an invaluable handbook.

Foreword Tim Albert; Preface; Part I. Problem: The Illness: 1. Introduction; 2. The malaise of medical manuscripts; 3. The difficulties of English as an additional language (EAL); Part II. Solution: Symptomatic Relief: 4. Technology, changing language, and authority; 5. Guidelines to clearer writing; 6. Spelling; 7. Is there a better word?; 8. Superfluous words; 9. Imprecise words; 10. Superfluous phrases; 11. Trouble with short words; 12. Use of the passive voice; 13. Consistency: number and tenses; 14. Word order; 15. Punctuation; 16. Circumlocution; 17. Words and parts of speech for EAL writers; 18. Clichés and article titles; 19. Constructing sentences; 20. Further help with sentences for EAL writers; 21. Drawing clear graphs; 22. It can be done; Part III. Practice: Recuperation: 23. Exercises; Appendix: British-American English; References and further reading; Index.

Dr Neville W. Goodman is a retired consultant anaesthetist who formerly worked at Southmead Hospital, Bristol.
The late Dr Martin B. Edwards was formerly Senior Research Fellow at the Royal College of Surgeons and a freelance medical editor.
Elise Langdon-Neuner is a freelance medical editor and editor emeritus of Medical Writing.