8 ways to supercharge your science writing
Scientific or technical writing is an art form. Done well, your readers will enjoy informative, balanced and powerful pieces of content. Done poorly, and it will drag them back to their least favourite lesson at school.
Here are eight things to watch out for when you're commissioning, writing or editing science articles.
Know your reader
Who is the article aimed at? A specialist audience, or are you going for a wider readership?
Writing for a specific reader will help you frame the article and judge what might be considered too technical. But bear in mind that if you're publishing online, anyone can see it and who you're reaching might not be who you expected. If in doubt, broad is always best.
Watch the jargon
Jargon doesn’t make you sound more credible or authoritative. It’s just a big neon sign telling people this content is not for them. And even if your 'specialist' audience are used to endless acronyms or talk of 'open dialogues' and 'diversifying supply', that doesn't mean they expect or want that in an article or social video.
If you're using technical language, try to explain it first. It helps make it clear to readers that knowing the word 'telomere' isn't a prerequisite to reading the article.
❌ To protect it during cell division, our DNA has telomeres, a repetitive junk sequence at the end of each strand.
✔️ To protect it during cell division, our DNA has a section of repetitive 'junk' at the end of each strand, called a telomere.
Keep it on point
Like most subjects, science is complicated. An article on how cells change as we age could go in (almost) a million different directions – it could focus on one process and go in-depth, cover the latest research papers or the most impactful studies, it could try and cover all the ways cells change in little to no detail.
There’s no right or wrong here, the most important thing is to pick your angle and stick with it. Make it clear to the reader. Don’t get side-tracked. And acknowledge what you’re not including.
Don’t patronise
Good science writing is not about ‘dumbing things down’. It’s about being clear. Give people enough context/information for them to orient themselves, but don’t be condescending.
This video from UN Disaster Risk Reduction doesn't complicate things. It lets the visuals explain the concept of augmented reality, giving more room to focus on the best bit — what the tech can achieve.
It’s an article, not a science lesson
Good science writing explains jargon/concepts. Great science writing explains concepts without it detracting from the overall flow of the piece. Who wants to wade through a bunch of descriptions to get to the juicy bits?
When you’re introducing a new concept, ask yourself
Is this explanation integral to the story?
Does this explanation interrupt the flow of the article?
It's a juggling act between clarity and flow, which this article on climate chaos does really well.
Strip away redundant scientific terms wherever you can. Or consider putting explanations in an info box. If that won’t work, triple check your article still reads well with everything in there.
If you don’t understand it, your readers won’t either
Whatever your training or background, you’re bound to bump into unfamiliar topics from time to time. A little bit of reading/research might be enough to get it straight in your head. If it’s not, chat to someone about it or flag it to your editor. Don’t paraphrase a paper and hope for the best. If you don’t get it, what hope do your readers have?
Be picky with references
Have a read around before you pick which papers/sources you’re going to reference. Ideally, find the original paper, the one that outlines the initial discovery. You can often trace these back from review articles or news articles. If you’re covering a topic more broadly, go for a review or a comment piece in a journal.
Whatever you use, make sure the reference actually fits with what you’re saying. If in doubt, dig further or leave a comment so your editor knows you're unsure.
Great science writing is just great writing
Don’t get sloppy just because it’s a ‘specialist’ topic. Good science writing should flow well, capture (and hold) the reader’s attention, have characters and colour and vibrancy. It should leave people feeling something — inspired, motivated, angry — take your pick.
For science writing inspiration, check out this article on why soil is one of the world's most valuable resources.
Use all the writing tricks at your disposal (and these eight tips) and you won’t go far wrong.