October 2018 - Cognibrain

Medical Editing: A Step-by-Step Guide to Edit your Document

Whether you have written a manuscript, thesis, or a dissertation, it needs to be edited and proofread. You can’t publish your research without this revision process.

In fact, good papers always stem from good editing.

You have to edit and proofread your own writing and make sure it is clear, correct, and consistent throughout. This is crucial to establish an authority with your audience and communicate your message clearly.

But, the biggest dilemma! How easy it is to pick up your own mistakes?

Not really! Isn’t it?

Thus, medical editing should always comprise of three passes of your document.

First pass to catch major errors
Second pass to catch minor errors and
A final proofread

Let’s see each step of medical editing in detail!

1) Conduct a First Pass

a) Ensure effective organization

An organized document ensures that the message is presented in the most logical and clear way. Depending upon the type of document you are writing, check whether it’s properly structured.

Check each paragraph, headings, and lists. Make sure their format follows your required style guide. The line spacing, page margins, capitalization, font size, color, and spacing between sections should be consistent.

b) Check the flow and tone

Flow and tone are the hardest elements of the English language. Read out your sentences aloud and you will be able to pick up any awkward sentence constructions.

Avoid writing long sentences. Check the transitions between paragraphs and sentences whether they flow into the next and make sense in succession.

c) Check for grammar and spellings

You can use an automatic spell-checker to catch these types of problems, but they are not perfect. You must review your writing word by word to ensure that the spellings and grammar are perfect. Plus, make sure you are consistent in the spellings according to the type of English you have chosen. For example, organization (US English) or organisation (UK English).

Also, make sure that the tense and voices are consistent throughout.

d) Ensure concision

Avoid any redundancy in the content. If you’ve already covered a topic, do not write about it again. Also, make sure that no word is overused or too repetitive in your document.

e) Check your punctuation’s

The specific punctuation issues to check are the exclamation marks, comma, semicolon, and a full stop. Consider the conventions of the English language to check these.

f) Review your citations and references

Make sure the formatting of your citations and references complies with the required style guide.

In addition, cross-check the in-text citations against the reference list. If you miss out a reference in the list, but have cited in the text, add it to the list. Check all the author names, years, and add the necessary reference information to avoid accidental plagiarism.

g) Check the figures and tables

If your document includes figures and tables, review them and their description in the text. Make sure you have mentioned them in the text prior to their placement. Avoid using acronyms in figures and tables or their titles.

h) Check the lists and equations

If your document has any lists/ equations, format and number them consistently through the document.

i) Refer to any specific instructions

Do you have any specific journal guidelines to follow in writing your medical document? If yes, ensure you follow them completely, whether it’s regards to the word count or the document format.

j) Take notes about the document

While you are conducting the first pass of your document, write notes about the areas that need rectification. For example:

Elaboration of a particular idea
Clarification of a particular context
Specifying the subjects in a sentence
Rearranging/ deleting any sections

These notes will help you turn your first draft into a second draft on which you can conduct a second pass.

2) Conduct a Second Pass

In the second pass, review the entire document once again, paying attention to the details outlined above, especially the clarity and the flow. Correct any errors you might have missed.

3) Conduct a Final Proofread

After the second pass, it’s time to review the whole document for the final time, checking for any missed or introduced errors. And Voila! You have finished your medical editing process and have a document that is ready to submit to the journal.

Conclusion

Medical editing is more of an art and can’t be learnt overnight. It’s easy to make mistakes or skip your own errors in writing, especially if English is not your first language. If medical editing is not your cup of tea or you have deadlines to meet, get it done from a professional medical editing services. But, never take the process of medical editing lightly. The final quality of your document depends upon it.

Scientific Communication

Scientific Editing: 10 Common Errors you Should Look for in your Manuscript

Writing, whether scientific or otherwise, can’t be devoid of errors. However expert you may be, you tend to make mistakes while writing your document. And that’s why scientific editing becomes necessary.

Like every process, scientific editing too has a strategy: A strategy on what errors to look for while editing the scientific manuscript.

So, here are the 10 common errors you should look for while editing your document.

1) Check for spelling mistakes

You may be a language pro, yet it is surprising to find many spelling mistakes in your manuscript. To make your work easier:

Use the spell check feature of the Word file and make sure it is applied to all of the text in the file.
Choose the correct language for your manuscript (US/UK English) before you begin writing.

2) Length of your sentences

Long sentences that continue to ramble and keep talking frustrate the readers. They get bored, confused, and just quit. In such a case, your written message won’t be communicated effectively or understood by the person reading the page.

Therefore, write short sentences as they are much easier to understand. Always break up a long sentence into two.

3) Check the text on the graphs

Many manuscripts contain graphs with a tiny text. When you are not able to read it clearly, how will the readers? And they will receive a printed copy of your manuscript. Nobody wants to use a lens to read the text. So, make sure the headings and other text on the graphs are big enough to read with a normal eye.

4) The names of the group

When you name your groups and treatments, keep them as close to the original treatments as possible without using abbreviations. This makes it easier for the readers who don’t have to “translate” your results and figures.

5) The size, text, and alignment of the table

This gets easier if you use the Table feature of your Words file rather than laying out the text using space bar. So, even if you change the text, it won’t misalign the rows and columns of the table.

6) Number of values after the decimal point

If you measure all the values to the same level of accuracy, report them as 42.35 m, 46.90 m and 22.00 m instead of 42.35 m, 46.9 m, and 22 m respectively. The zero after the decimal point is as valid as the other numbers.

7) References to other sections of the paper

Provide the specific location, section number, or page/line number while referring to the other sections of your paper. Don’t make the readers read through the whole paper to find a little piece of information.

8) All abbreviations are well defined

In general, you should define all the abbreviations at first use in the abstract and the main paper even if they are standard abbreviations. Check if you have done so while editing your paper.

9) Format of the units

Units are always written in the singular form, for example, mL, cm, mM (not mLs, cms, mMs).

Plus, there should be a single space between the number and the unit, for example, 2 µM, 3 cm and 5 mL. Check their formats during scientific paper editing.

10) Consistency

Be it the language, spellings, or values, it’s important to be consistent in their use. Scientific editing of your document ensures you have maintained this consistency.

These all seem like minor errors which won’t affect the meaning of the text. In fact, many readers won’t even notice them. However, if you check for these errors in your scientific paper editing, it will make your writing more professional, and the readers will enjoy your manuscript.

Scientific Communication

Make your Scientific Writing Productive with 6 Awesome Strategies

As a scientist, you must excel at different skills, all at the same time. The lab work, data analysis, sitting in committees, faculty meetings, attending conferences and what not! Plus, publish papers and apply for grants. So, you are always under tremendous pressure.

It’s natural to get overwhelmed because scientific writing requires time, focus, and creativity. Writing at the last minute won’t give you a quality paper.

Well, there are six strategies you can implement right now to stay productive in your scientific writing. By implementing these strategies, you can get your paper done in less time and feel good about it.

So, here are those 6 strategies:

1) Get plenty of sleep

Haha! Only if you could get it!

Though it’s hard to find more time to sleep, being rested increases your productivity. If you write with a tired mind, it will take longer and affect the quality of your document. On the other hand, adequate sleep keeps you focused on your writing.

2) Set your goals

Why do you want to write a scientific paper? To get your doctorate degree or a promotion in your lab?

Be clear about your immediate and ultimate goals; see whether your writing project gets you closer to these goals. Once you commit to a writing task, it means you say no to the other tasks. So, be mindful on how you spend your time.

3) Plan your writing

Scientific manuscript writing differs from normal writing. In Science, you can’t foresee your findings; your article may take a different direction than you had planned. But still, you can have a plan and change it with time. A plan is always useful as it keeps you on track.

To create a writing plan:

Include all the members of the writing project in the plan and agree on the deadlines.
Make sure the people whom you need feedback form will be available at the desired time.
Know how long it will take to complete the various tasks in scientific writing.

4) Give yourself deadlines

Deadlines keep you focused on work. That’s why they should be a part of your writing plan. Besides the final deadline for submission, include several deadlines for the specific goals in your writing plan.

We usually take the final deadline seriously but tend to put other things off. Therefore, involve other members while setting a deadline so they can keep you focused.

5) Find your ideal writing time

Getting up at 4 am every day and writing for two hours may seem ideal for some people, but not for many including you. So, don’t pressurize yourself.

Try writing at different times of the day for two weeks and assess at what time you were most focused and efficient. That’s your ideal writing time.

6) Make a daily to-do list

Don’t just write “Write Paper” in your to-do list. Instead, put the daily tasks of scientific writing that you will be able to finish that day. For example, “writing the discussion section”, “cross-checking all references” or “proof-reading the results section” etc.

Finally, know that productivity in scientific writing is all about planning your tasks. Plan your writing tasks in bits and keep a check on how you spend your time.

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Monthly Archives: October 2018