Medical Writing
A Prescription for Clarity

Significantly expanded and updated, this is an invaluable handbook for anyone seeking to improve their written communication of medical content.

Neville W. Goodman (Author), Martin B. Edwards (Author), Elise Langdon-Neuner (Edited by), Andy Black (Illustrated by)

9781107628151, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 28 August 2014

382 pages, 24 b/w illus. 4 tables
23.1 x 15.5 x 1.8 cm, 0.64 kg

Review of previous edition: '… whether you are an amateur or a well-published author this book will be useful. After reading it, I immediately wanted to redraft work I had written previously. But it is too late!' British Journal of Anaesthesia

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.

Subject Areas: Medicine: general issues [MB], Writing & editing guides [CBW]