The en dash

This is for the real experts! Most native English speakers don't know this.

The en dash (–) is a symbol you can't find on most keyboards. It is longer than the hyphen (-) and shorter than the em dash (—). It is called en dash because it is as wide as a capital en (N).

The en dash is used to indicate a range of numbers, e.g. 70–80 g/L.

The en dash is also used to contrast two words, like solid–liquid separation, the gas–liquid interface and the London–Paris flight.

Note that compound adjectives like liquid-soap dispenser or small-scale fermentation, where the first adjective modifies the second adjective (i.e. the soap is liquid and the scale is small), are written with a normal hyphen (see previous article).
 

More information on this sexy punctuation can be found here.

Verbs

This post is about the over-use of verb nouns.

By verb nouns I mean things like: 
- reduction, optimisation, calibration, etc.

where the verbs are: 
- reduce, optimise, calibrate, etc.

Try to use verbs instead of verb nouns where possible.

Don't say:

An optimisation of the fermentation was performed.

Instead say:

The fermentation was optimised.


Although it is not grammatically incorrect to use verb nouns, the text becomes difficult to read when it contains a lot of these words. This is even worse when the sentence is very long and the verb is at the end (see previous post). If you are trying to explain something complex, you your text should be easy to read! 

Take the following example: 

A reduction of H₂S content in the produced biogas of up to 78% in the methanogenic stage of the two-stage process was achieved.... This indicates a release of the formed H₂S mainly during the first step... As shown in Figure 2, complete H₂S removal was achieved with the acidic biofiltration unit established at inlet concentrations below 6363 ppm H₂S. 

Better:

The H₂S content of the biogas was reduced by up to 78% in the methanogenic stage of the two-stage process.... This indicates that the H₂S was mainly released during the first step... As shown in Figure 2, the acidic biofiltration unit completely removed H₂S from the inlet gas when the concentration was below 6363 ppm H₂S.


Here, I replaced "a reduction" with "was reduced" and "a release" with "was released" and "removal" with "removed".

Acronyms and abbreviations

An acronym is a series of letters that stand for words. For example, PCR is an acronym that stands for polymerase chain reaction.

The most important thing is: always define an acronym before you use it. If you define it in the abstract of a scientific text, you need to define it again in the introduction.

Acronyms are a complex subject!

My advice: use acronyms made of capital letters without dots in between, like DNA, DVD, BBC, etc.

When you define an acronym from normal words, do not use capital letters at the start of the full words. 

For example:

The process of anaerobic digestion (AD) is used to make biogas.

When you define an acronym from a proper noun (name, etc), use capital letters. 

For example:

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends vaccinating children against polio.

Don't use small letters or dots in between.

Some exceptions:

One exception is certain biological words like mRNA. Another exception is acronyms that are not made of the just the first letter of a word (Interpol, International Criminal Police Organization).

Plurals:

When you use a plural, use a small "s" without an apostrophe.

For example:

Two CDs

Three DVDs

For unusual acronyms, specific styles, and other information, see the ridiculously long Wikipedia article on this topic.

History:

British English used to be very logical. If it was the 'British Broadcasting Company' it was abbreviated as 'B.B.C.' and if it was 'missing in action' it was 'm.i.a.'.  Big letter acronyms for big letter words, small letter acronyms for small letter words, and dots in between to make it clear it was an acronym.

Then the Americans decided that it would be easier to write these acronyms without all those annoying dots, making BBC and mia. But "mia" doesn't look like an acronym, it looks like a word, so they changed small-letter acronyms to big-letter acronyms to clearly show that they were acronyms. The British gradually agreed that this was more convenient and they started doing it too. That's why MIA is the acronym for 'missing in action', even though the original words have small letters.

Tips for writing scientific texts

Questions to ask yourself before starting:

In these cases, both options are fine, but it must be consistent throughout the text.

- will I use US or British English?

- will I capitalise the titles or not?

- what kind of units will I use?

- will I use a dash or "to" to separate numbers (e.g. "27–35 °C" or 27 to 35 °C")?

- will I use hyphens for prefixes or not (e.g. "micro-organisms" or "microorganisms", "pre-treatment" or "pretreatment")?

- which reference format will I use?

- are there guidelines for this journal, homework, etc., and have I followed them all?

- I promise that I will define all acronyms before using them

Some little reminders for German native speakers:

- I will not use capital letters unless there's a really good reason

- I will not confuse my dots and commas (10,000 and 0.45), even in diagrams/tables

- I will think about the correct use of hyphens in English (-)

- I will think about the correct use of commas in English

- I will try not to use extremely long sentences

- I will try to avoid putting the verb at the end
- I will try to use verbs instead of verb nouns where possible

- I will be careful where I put the word "also"
- I will be careful how I use the word "therefore"

- I will be very careful with the word "respectively"

- I will avoid the words "shall", "thereby" and "hereby"

- I won't talk about self-made things

- I will think about the correct use of present simple and present continuous

Units

Two metres per second can be written as:

2 m/s

2 m·s^-1

The most important thing is: choose one type and stick to it throughout your text.

There is always a space between the number and the units, except for percentage.

5%

Here is a list for how to write units according to international standards.

Further information can be found on the Wikipedia entry on this topic. 

Choose whether you will write "1 to 2 m·s^-1" or "1–2 m·s^-1", and stick to it throughout your text.

Bonus point: so that your units don't run onto the next line, e.g. 

the liquid was heated to 37

°C and held for one hour.

you can use something called a "non-breaking space" or "hard space". This means that even if you make changes to the text, this space will never break onto a second line and the number and units will always remain together on the same line.

On Word in Windows you can get this using ctrl-shift-space and in Mac you can get this using alt(option)-space. Click here for German keyboard instructions.

Another bonus point:

The symbol connecting numbers in a range like 1–2 m·s^-1 is called an "en dash". This symbol cannot be found on your keyboard and is not the same as a hyphen in a word (like co-operation). More information can be found here.

Should I use capital letters in titles?

Both are fine!
My advice: use small letters.

Many years ago students were taught to use capital letters in titles. For example:

The Effect of Changing Sleep Patterns on Brain Function

But this is changing, at it is now perfectly OK to use small letters in titles. For example:

An economic assessment of syrup production in Brazil

One reason for this change is that certain things in science are always with big or small letters, like mRNA or E. coli, and this makes using capital letters in titles complicated.

Whichever you choose (capitalised or uncapitalised titles), use only one style and use it throughout your text.

Good:

Materials and methods

Results and discussion

Also good:

Materials and Methods

Results and Discussion

Bad:

Materials and methods

Results and Discussion

When should I use hyphens?

It's complicated. There are some rules but they are loose and they vary in different countries.

Here are three rules to help you along:

- hyphenate compound modifiers before nouns

- hyphenate between a word and a prefix if you want and if it looks better

- don't hyphenate two nouns that "belong together"

Hyphenate between a word and a prefix if you want and if it looks better

Never use a space for prefixes. You can hyphenate prefixes all the time if you want to. Some words are hard to read without hyphens, particularly when there are two vowels next to each other. In these cases you should always use a prefix.

Examples:

pre-historic or prehistoric

pre-diabetes or prediabetes

pre-existence (preexistance looks strange)

pre-industrial (preindustrial looks strange)

Don't hyphenate two nouns that belong together

In English, two words that belong together are not usually separated with a hyphen, they are separated with a space.

Examples: 

a tablet computer

the hospital food

a mobile phone or a cell phone
the biogas process

If the word really takes on a new meaning, it is often joined together as one word.

Examples:

smartphone or smart phone



Origin of the confusion:

In German, it used to be easy. Two nouns that belonged together would be stuck together. Donaudampfschiff. Now things are changing, and people are starting to use hyphens instead of putting words together, to give Donau-Dampf-Schiff. People think this comes from English, but you don't do this in English! It would be a Danube steamboat (a Danube-steam boat would be a boat that uses steam from the Danube, and a Danube steam-boat is just wrong).


P.S. There are always exceptions

Hyphenate compound modifiers before nouns

In British English, all compound adjectives should be hyphenated.

Example: 

a well-written article

nitrogen-fixing bacteria

In American English, it's not as important unless there is a loss of meaning without a hyphen.

Example:

a small-appliance company (company that sells small appliances)

a small appliance company (small company that sells appliances)

If it's not before a noun, it usually isn't hyphenated.

Example:

The advanced-physics teacher teaches advanced physics.

The text was very well written.

This website is quite useful.

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.

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.