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VETWritingforPub

© 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 15 Tense, Syntax, Grammar, and Punctuation A scientific article describes work that has been completed. Therefore, the past tense should be used when referring to the work done in the study. The present tense is often used for statements referring to established knowledge, for example: “Malignant melanomas are usually metastatic”; however, past tense is used when attributing specific knowledge to someone else: “Coombs found that RBCs coated with globulin would agglutinate with the addition of anti-globulin.” The present tense also may be used to convey general conclusions from your study that are broadly applicable, such as, “Based on the results of our study, vaccination is an effective method of control for infectious keratoconjunctivitis in cattle.” Syntax refers to how words are combined to form phrases and sentences. Important considerations include using a verb to indicate action, placing modifying words close to the word they modify, and avoiding stacked modifiers. The journal’s copyeditor will correct small grammatical mistakes once your manuscript is accepted for publication; however, if grammatical mistakes impair understanding of scientific meaning (or are interpreted as sloppiness), unfavorable reviews can result even when the scientific quality is high. Make sure subjects and verbs agree (singular vs. plural), nouns are not used as adjectives, and sentences have parallel construction, i.e., the same pattern of words is used in a series. Avoid indiscriminate capitalization and keep punctuation to the minimum needed for readability and comprehension. Capitalization rules for animal breeds vary among veterinary journals; some use the official American Kennel Club spelling for canine breeds. Don’t place commas indiscriminately in your text. However, to ensure clarity, place a comma before the “and” in the last item in a series (serial or Oxford comma). Use apostrophes appropriately and don’t use them to form a plural. Be Precise Your goal is to communicate effectively, so avoid the use of jargon that some readers may not understand. If you submit your article to Veterinary Radiology & Ultrasound, your primary audience may understand a phrase like “low attenuation focus in the liver,” but it may not be clear to a generalist or non-specialist. Avoid shortcuts, such as “the cytospin was stained”, instead of “the cytocentrifuged sample was stained.” Always avoid slang, clichés, figures of speech, and idioms that are used in spoken language but are not appropriate in a scientific article. Understand the difference between similar words (e.g., parameter vs. variable, comprise vs. compose, maximum vs. optimum) and choose the correct one. When describing manifestations of disease in an animal, clinical signs is more accurate than symptoms (and subclinical is more accurate than asymptomatic), as symptoms are sensations felt and reported by a human patient. When a comparison is involved, describe changes as “higher” or “lower” rather than “increased” or “decreased”. Use specific rather than vague words to convey your meaning; for example, the sentence “Treatment affected clinical aspects of the disease” is imprecise. Affected how? What clinical aspects? A better sentence is “Heart rate returned to normal with treatment.” Use of correct and specific words will enhance comprehension of your writing. Pre-Review for Language If English is not your native language, ask someone skilled in scientific writing in English to critically review your manuscript prior to submission. It’s worth the investment in time and money. In our experience, one of the most common reasons for immediate rejection of a manuscript is unclear writing because of language. If your work merits publication, it merits close and detailed attention by a native English speaker. Some journals offer suggestions for editorial assistance for non-native English writers. Check the journal homepage for resources. Best use of language to avoid common errors Writing Aspect Examples SYNTAX Use verb to indicate action Wordy, poor syntax: “Examination of the dogs was performed by the clinician.” Good syntax: “The clinician examined the dogs.” Place modifiers next to or close to words they modify Unclear: “Antibiotics used to treat food animals banned by the FDA included…” (did the FDA ban the food animals?) Better: “The FDA will restrict use of the following antibiotics in food animals…” Avoid noun clusters and stacked modifiers Stacked: “purified pro-oxidant vitamin-deficient fish oil diet” Better: “pro-oxidant diet containing fish oil, but deficient in vitamin E” Position “only”, “just”, and “almost” correctly Incorrect: “We only recorded EKG tracings for 2 dogs” (means we did nothing else but obtain tracings). Correct: “We recorded EKG tracings for only 2 dogs.” Avoid use of “this”, “that”, “it” when what those words refer to is not clear “Different sampling techniques were used, and time to analysis was 10-30 minutes. This resulted in wide variation in the results.” What does “this” refer to? Avoid use of “there is” and “there are” Wordy: “There are many causes of tachypnea...” (now another sentence is needed to list those causes) Better: “Causes of tachypnea include…”


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