Scientific and Medical Communication A Guide for Effective Practice ATTW Series in Technical and Professional Communication Series

Scientific and Medical Communication: A Guide for Effective Practice prepares readers to effectively communicate in professional scientific communities. The material in this book is firmly grounded in more than 500 published research findings and editorials by scientific writers, authors, and journal editors. Thus, this text provides the broadest and most comprehensive analysis of scientific writing. In addition, carefully selected and thoroughly annotated examples from the scientific and medical literature demonstrate the recommendations covered in the text.

These real-world examples were carefully selected so that the scientific content can be understood by those without a detailed background in any particular scientific or medical field?thus clearly illustrating the content organization and writing style. This text will prepare individuals to write and edit scientific manuscripts, conference abstracts, posters, and press releases according to journal and professional standards. Readers will also learn to conduct effective searches of the scientific and medical literature, as well as proper citation practices.

SERIES EDITOR FOREWORD by

Tharon Howard, Series Editor

Clemson University

GUEST FOREWORD by

Shelley M. Payne

The University of Texas at Austin

SECTION I: FOUNDATIONS

Chapter 1: Effective Communication in Science and Medicine

Chapter 2: Scope, Genres, and Audiences of SMC

Chapter 3: Searching and Citing the Scientific and Medical Literature

SECTION II: WRITING JOURNAL ARTICLES

Chapter 4: Communicating Research in Primary Journals

Chapter 5: The Introduction Section

Chapter 6: The Methods Section

Chapter 7: The Results Section and Effective Presentation of Data

Chapter 8: The Discussion Section

Chapter 9: Summary Sections: Titles and Abstracts

Chapter 10: Preparing a Manuscript for Submission: Cover Letters, Publication Ethics, and the Peer Review Process

SECTION III: PRESENTING RESEARCH AT CONFERENCES

Chapter 11: Introduction to Scientific Conferences

Chapter 12: Creating Scientific Posters

SECTION IV: COMMUNICATING RESEARCH FINDINGS WITH THE PUBLIC AND NEWS MEDIA

Chapter 13: Public Communication Strategy and Ethics

Chapter 14: Writing Press (News) Releases

APPENDIXES

Appendix A: Typesetting Greek Letters and Other Symbols in Microsoft Word

Appendix B: General Formatting Requirements for Research Manuscripts

Appendix C: Glossary of Terms to Describe Medical Research Studies

Appendix D: Creating Tables in Microsoft Word

Appendix E: Common Measurements and International System Units

Scott A. Mogull is an Associate Professor of scientific and technical communication in the Department of English at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX. Previously he was an Assistant Professor at Clemson University where he focused on teaching scientific writing to science majors. His primary research focuses on scientific and medical communication and scientific communication ethics. He has published research in the fields of microbiology, technical communication, medical writing, and medical rhetoric. For nearly a decade, Mogull has worked in the biotechnology, biodefense, and molecular diagnostics industry as a scientific communicator, product manager, marketing manager, and coordinator of global technical information. Since 2008, he has been on the editorial board of Technical Communication Quarterly, the journal of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW). He has a Ph.D. in Technical Communication and Rhetoric from Texas Tech University, an M.A. in Microbiology from The University of Texas at Austin, and an M.S. in Human Centered Design and Engineering from the University of Washington.