On Writing (Science) Well

I'm working my way through On Writing Well by William Zinsser (hat tip to Merlin Mann). It is a simple, but not easy, approach to better nonfiction writing. It advocates boldness. Directly stating is better than obliquely suggesting. Active is better than passive.

This is very different from my default writing style for science and statistics. Standard science and statistics language is too often passive and awkward. While revising one of my current manuscripts, I have found the following peccadillos:

• “This can be seen when”
• “All procedures were approved by”
• “could potentially have”
• “can be described as”

Mindfulness is the first step towards change.