Keep This Book In A Safe Place! A review of "Eloquent Science"

For my work as a teacher of scientific English, I have a shelf full of textbooks, manuals, and references. But one book is never there when I need it: "Eloquent Science" (Schultz 2009). This is because my wife takes it. Without asking.

Yes, even though Ania’s first language is Polish, and the book is in English, she takes it. And, even though she’s a veterinary scientist, and the subtitle of the book is “A practical guide to becoming a better writer, speaker and atmospheric scientist”, she leaves it on her desk or in her bag. Without telling me where it is, of course.

So I went to my wife and said, “Why are you always stealing my book?”

Things got exciting. Anyway, after a serious talk about how married couples share (I nodded), we got to the part you want to hear about. Ania told me that Schultz covers all aspects of writing research articles, plus posters, presentations and how to write reviews of other scientist’s papers. He writes clearly and briefly, with many lists and tables, so you don’t have to spend unnecessary time reading.

For my part, I agree with my wife about the content of the book. Also, I like Schultz's examples. He shows you samples of scientific writing, before and after improvement, and it’s easy to see what you need to do. English-language learners should be able to use this book if they’ve passed an upper-intermediate course or exam, like Cambridge First (formerly FCE).

We’ve marked many pages in the book for quick reference. Ania marks her pages with sticky notes; I mark mine with pieces of paper, which tend to fall out. (Hmm…) To give you an idea of the scope of the book, I’ll list the topics that we’ve marked:

• the structure of a good introduction
• what kind of writing process to use for good results
• figures, tables, and equations (this section is good, but some material may not be useful for people who are not atmospheric scientists)
• citations and references
• editing and finishing up
• guidance for English-language learners (including a list of common problems in their manuscripts — I consult this before classes and presentations)
• presentations
• posters
• commas, hyphens (-), and dashes (– or —).

We also agree that Schultz gives good advice. My wife said that his advice for reviewing a paper matches the most helpful reviews she’s ever received. And I can say that if my students and editing clients started to follow his advice on organizing and connecting their ideas, my job would be much easier. Their papers would be accepted more easily, and probably cited more often too. But on the other hand, if their papers were easier to read, I’d have more competition from teachers and editors who are not as patient as I am. And if that happened, I’d probably have to lower my prices. So don’t get this book, unless you really want to save money and be a successful scientific communicator.

Postscipt:

If Dr. Schultz ever reads this review, and if there is a 2nd edition of the book, I would like to see these additions:
    1)    A chapter on writing review articles
    2)    A chapter on writing research proposals
    3)    Lists of useful phrases and sentences for English-language learners to use in the most important parts of their papers, similar to this or this.

Acknowledgement:

Thanks to my wife Ania for help with this review — the dialogue is invented, but her opinions about the book are real. And she can keep my book as long as she wants, provided I can find it when I need it.

Literature:

Schultz, David M. 2009. Eloquent Science: A practical guide to becoming a better writer, speaker & atmospheric scientist. Boston: American Meteorological Society.
(To order, visit the author's website for information; the book is also available with free international shipping here.)