Say What You Mean

Accuracy is important when writing documentation, but it's even more important in scientific papers. This article provides advice on making sure wording in scientific papers is as accurate as possible. It should also be directly relevant to most technical writers.

Here's an example from the article.

‘These’ and ‘this’ can be vague. Make sure it is clear what these pronouns refer to. Take a look at this example:

The cytoskeleton consists of microtubules, actin filaments, and intermediate filaments. In neurons, these are called neurofilaments.

Here, it is not clear whether ‘these’ refers to all or just one component of the cytoskeleton. In fact, neurofilaments are intermediate filaments and do not contain microtubules or actin. To be perfectly clear, the sentence should read:

The cytoskeleton consists of microtubules, actin filaments, and intermediate filaments. In neurons, intermediate filaments are called neurofilaments.