Scientific Writing

Adam Ruben recently wrote a very funny article for Science entitled How to Write Like a Scientist. He comments that his PhD advisor claimed he didn't write like a scientist (a sort of back-handed compliment) and then proceeds to give some very lively advice for "remedying" said problem, such as:

Scientific papers must begin with an obligatory nod to their own relevance, usually by citing exaggerated figures about disease prevalence or other impending disasters. If your research does not actually address one of these issues, pretend it does, because hey, that didn’t stop you on the grant application. For example, you might write, “Twenty million children die of scabies every day. OMG we built a robot kangaroo!”

and,

Remember your audience. It consists primarily of graduate students who, 10 years from now, will include your paper in their own voluminous collection of superscripted references. So remember them, and make your name easy to spell. 

Check out the entire article for much more advice.