Royal College of Nursing Annual Research Conference Thursday 5 April 2001 Glasgow

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Better writing techniques Roger Watson PhD RN
FAAN Editor-in-Chief, JCN Professor of
Nursing The University of Sheffield, UK
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Why are papers rejected? 10. Wrong journal 9.
No new information 8. Information old or out of
date 7. Topic too narrow 6. Missing
information or out of date references 5. Too
much literature/not enough results 4. Paper
taken from speech or thesis without modification
3. Methods flawed or poorly described 2. Paper
does not make a point 1. Poor writing! Journal
of Professional Nursing (2002)
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Writing a paper Use clear, simple
writing Organise the paper using headings and
sub-headings Be meticulous about
references Respond to feedback (from colleagues
and editors) Be aware of the limitations of
using the material of others
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Use clear, simple writing Often the first word
that comes to mind is the right one Dont seek
to use polysyllabic words Dont use jargon
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• Main points reviewers and editors are looking for
• Fittingness
• Quality
• Presentation

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The four rules of writing Read the
guidelines Set realistic targets and count
words Seek criticism Treat a rejection as the
start of the next submission
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How to avoid rejection Before you start
writing Think What is already known on this
topic? What does this paper add? After you have
written Think What is already known on this
topic? What does this paper add?
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What constitutes poor writing? Poor use of
English (not just by non-UK authors!) Using
English as a second language Reproducing
chunks of class papers, theses and
presentations
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Poor writing style Poor organisation Ambiguous
and flowery language Jargon Clichés Longer
words than necessary More words than necessary
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Presentation Heading and sub-headings Verbal
sign posts (eg I will argue thatin
conclusionetc) Paragraphs Sentence length
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Jargon "The local PCT advise the CPA when
passing ADHD clients with PTSD to CPN's from the
CMHT."
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• Clichés
• At the end of the day
• The bottom line
• Swept under the carpet

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• Ambiguous language
• Nurses are outstanding people who should go far
• To avoid pressure sores the patients were turned
  regularly
• The nurses were revolting
• We had the children for dinner

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• First or third person
• Do not be afraid to use the first person
• For example
• We hypothesized that is better than It was
  hypothesized
• I recruited interviewees is better than The
  researcher recruited interviewees
• We found that is better than It was found that

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Other points Dash e.g. The nursing process
whether you like it or not - is now an accepted
part of nursing care. Is OK Hyphens e.g
pre-operative or preoperative. Be consistent
Capital letters e.g. Nursing Care. Not
necessary Apostrophe e.g. its, dont, cant.
Do not use! Question mark? Try to avoid asking
your reader questions Exclamation marks! No
place in academic writing!!
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Shorter words Use rather than in within on
upon use utilize
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Examples Dont use The ways in which this is
achieved Use The ways this is achieved Dont
use over a period of five years. Use over
five years.
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Examples Dont use In Smiths (2003) study it
was shown Use Smith (2003) showed Dont
use These results are in agreement with
Use These results agree with
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Use plurals to avoid repetition in awkward
phrases For example Nurses should
always ask patients to give their consent before
starting to give care. is better than The
nurse should always ask the patient to give
his/her consent before starting to give care.
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Reading aloud will help you to find and remove
all unnecessary examples of the. This makes
the article move along in a livelier way.
For example Nurses developed good relationships
with patients. is better than The nurses
developed good relationships with the patients
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Reading aloud will also help you to find and
remove awkward repetitions. For
example Women told us that their symptoms were
improved and those in the intervention group
reported less fatigue. is better than Women
told us that their symptoms were improved and
women in the intervention group reported less
fatigue.
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Losing words The following The results of the
survey showed that green vegetables, raw fruits,
salads figured at the bottom of the students
list of preference. This can only be bad news
for their health, because it means that there is
a likelihood that their vitamin requirements are
not adequately met. It means also that there is
a serious lack of fibre in the lunch time diet.
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Losing words Is the same as The survey showed
that green vegetables, raw fruits and salads are
rarely eaten. Their vitamin requirements are not
adequately met. Fibre is also low in their lunch
time diet.
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email roger.watson_at_sheffield.ac.uk