insulation vs. isolation

Insulation is a layer of material that prevents energy from escaping.

For example:

I feel very well insulated with my new coat.
A rat nibbled the electrical insulation on the cable.

Isolation is being alone.

For example:

The disease was very contagious so they put the patient into isolation.
I felt very isolated when I lived in China because I couldn't speak Mandarin.

Be careful with the word "also"

The word "also" should be used very little. 

It should not be used at the start of a sentence, unless it's before a comma.

It should be used (i) before the verb, (ii) after the word "is", or (iii) before words like "because".

Alternatively, it can be used (iv) as an introductory word — followed by a comma — to link the sentence to the sentence before it.

For example:

(i) British people are passionate tea drinkers, but they also drink coffee.

(ii) Tea is the most popular hot drink in the UK, but coffee is also popular.

(iii) Tea is popular in the UK because it tastes good, but also because the British Empire had a large presence in India.

(iv) I don't like ice cream because it's sickly sweet and melts all over my hands. Also, I get brain freeze every time I eat it.

Origin of the confusion

German language texts often put "also" at the start of sentences, particularly before nouns.

e.g. Auch Kaffee wird in Großbritannien getrunken. In English, this would be "coffee is also drunk in Britain".

No comma before "that"

In German, you always put a comma before "dass". 

In English, you don't put a comma before "that"!

Examples:

It was shown that trace elements enhance microbial growth. 

Our results demonstrate that high levels of X cause Y.

I thought that you didn't like tomatoes!

Example of incorrect comma use:

It was shown, that trace elements enhance microbial growth. 

Get to the point and stop putting the verb at the end

There are several factors that make German-English sentences seem like they don't get to the point.

- the verb often goes at the end of the sentence. 
- there is a lot of what I would call "additional information" before the sentence gets to the point.

These two things make the sentences difficult to read.

Here is a fictional example. Can you see the difference? Do you agree that the second text is easier to read?

Bad sentence (additional information in the middle of the sentence):

The results show in experiment A compared with experiment B where a lower concentration of X was used a higher signal.

Improved sentence (additional information after subject verb object):

The results from experiment A show a higher signal than in experiment B, in which a lower concentration of X was used.

Bad sentences (verb at the end):

As a cleaning fluid for the pH meter electrode, distilled water was used. Standard solutions of pH 4 and pH 7 to calibrate the pH meter were used. For obtaining an average pH, 3 pH measurements were taken. A sample pH of 6.14 +/- 0.21 was found.

Improved sentences (verb not at the end!):

Distilled water was used to clean the pH meter electrode. The pH meter was calibrated using standard solutions of pH 4 and pH 7. The pH was measured 3 times and the values were averaged. The pH of the sample was found to be 6.14 +/- 0.21. 

Some guidelines to writing in science

(1)          Always write with the reader in mind. 

In science they tell you to write so that someone with scientific background but little knowledge of your topic can understand. 

I like to use the idea of "the imaginary reader". This could be a master's or final-year bachelor's student from a subject related to yours. This person doesn't understand unless you explain everything or give references to a source where they can find more information. You need to introduce every topic briefly.

(2)          Say only what is important.

If you do not explain yourself in enough detail, no-one will understand your results and ideas. However, if your text is too long and detailed, no-one will want to read it to the end and you will never be able to communicate your results and ideas. Writing accurately and concisely is one of the most important skills you need to learn as a scientist.

(3)          Always use references.

Without references, your statements are just your beliefs. 

(4)          Use simple English

I love English literature and poetry as much as anyone, but this is science. You are more likely to waste time and make your text unnecessarily long and confusing if you include too much complicated language. Remember that the reader is probably also not a native English speaker. Also, try to think in English as much as you can, rather than directly translate what you would say in your mother tongue.

Use of the word "shall"

I keep reading the word "shall" used incorrectly.

My advice is: don't use the word "shall" at all. 

Native speakers don't use this word that often, so why risk using it incorrectly when you can live without it?

Origin of the confusion:

The word "shall" sounds a lot like the German word "soll". 

The German word "soll" usually means "should" in English.

Greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced by 20% by 2020.

Treibhausgasemissionen sollen bis 2020 um 20% reduziert werden.

What time should be meet tomorrow?

Um wie viel Uhr sollen wir uns morgen treffen?

Another source of confusion is the 10 commandments, which in English are "you shall not" and in German "du sollst nicht". But it means "you will not" as opposed to "you should not".

Correct use:

"Shall" can be used in questions and for talking in the future tense instead of "will".

For example: 

Question:  "Shall we have a cup of tea?"

Instead of will:  "I shall bring cake tomorrow!"

getting vs becoming

a.k.a. Why your colleague did not become a baby last weekend.

Although this is the most well-known German-English mistake, I still hear it regularly. 

The English words "getting", "obtaining" and occasionally "having" translate into the word "bekommen" in German.

The English word "becoming" translates into the word "werden" in German.

For example:

Did you get the form you need from the secretary?

I got an e-mail from an old friend yesterday.

We're getting new computers at work.

Did you obtain permission to take a holiday next Friday?

The chemicals were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich.

My sister is having a baby.

I had a sandwich from the cafeteria for lunch today.

My grandfather became forgetful in his old age.

Obama became president of the USA in 2008 after a very successful presidential campaign.

Electricity generated from renewable resources is becoming increasingly important as fossil fuel supplies run out.

Organism names in italics

There is really no excuse for writing this incorrectly. It makes you look sloppy and it makes you look like a bad scientist.

Organism names (in their binomial nomenclature) should be written in italics. The genus should be capitalised (e.g. Drosophila) but the species should not be capitalised (e.g. melanogaster). 

Give the full name (e.g. Escherichia coli) once. After that, the abbreviation (e.g. E. coli) should be used throughout the entire text.

Do not use an abbreviation without defining it beforehand.

For example:

Escherichia coli K-12 carrying the engineered plasmid was cultivated in Lysogeny broth (LB) with 25 mg/L neomycin at 37°C. Colony morphology investigation of E. coli was carried on on LB agar.

Possible exceptions:

Many style guides say that the first word of a new sentence should not be an organism abbreviation. Re-write the sentence so the organism does not appear at the start of the sentence, or write out the Genus name.

Define acronyms before using

Do not use an acronym without defining it beforehand. Define acronyms by saying the word, then putting the acronym in brackets. 

Use the acronym throughout. 

For example:

Membrane bioreactors (MBR) are widely used in wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). The WWTP monitored in this study treats water from almost 4000 households.

Possible exceptions:

Some style guides say that the first word of a new sentence should not be an acronym or abbreviation. Some journals also recommend redefining acronyms in the results or discussion section of a paper if they were first mentioned in materials and methods, because not everyone ready materials and methods.