Scientific writing manuals
Where to start when writing a scientific work - be it a book, an article, a contribution in a collection, an undergraduate degree or PhD thesis, or a proposal for the funding of a research project that you have in mind?
On this page you will find orientation tools such as manuals and guidelines, starting with those of a more general kind, followed by an organised list based on the type of final publication. We have selected and commented on some of these resources, available online or in our printed collections.
Manuals for the writing of: Abstracts| Theses and dissertations | Journal articles | Reports | Research grant proposals | Literature reviews | Reviews | Specific disciplines
The Chicago Manual of Style. 17. ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2017
- This manual, of such well established authority as to have reached its seventeenth edition in 2017, is a tried and tested guide to the style, use and grammar in the English language of various types of academic-level scientific texts. In the English speaking world it constitutes a sort of publishing canon; the publisher Chicago University Press has available on the web a section of subsidiary tools as supplements (such as tutorials, FAQs, help pages, forums and indices).
Davis Martha; Davis Kaaron Joann; Dunagan Marion, Scientific papers and presentations: effective scientific communication. Third ed. Amsterdam: Academic Press, 2012
A resource with reserved access on the SNS network
- The third edition of this publication in e-Book version is updated in the light of the changing scenario of academic scientific publishing, increasingly geared as it is towards digital media, and also tackles aspects such as the planning of multimedial support, clear and concise communication, the treatment of ethical and juridical issues and public presentation. It provides a detailed analysis of the structure and style typical of the various types of final publications (theses and dissertations, journal articles, posters, abstracts, reviewing literature, grant proposals and the publication of data in tables and figures).
- In this manual William Germano, former editorial director of Columbia University Press and of Routledge, starts from the apparently banal assumption that academic manuscripts have need of readers in order to become academic books and suggests closing the gap between knowledge and communication by writing for and not on. The structure of the volume is coherent with an operative approach: the practice of scientific writing, the analysis of what publishers do and of what the scientific boards expect, the selection of the publishing site, the scientific proposal, the publishing contract, the handing over of the manuscript and the digital context.
Germano William, On revision: the only writing that counts. Chicago: Chicago University press, 2021
- This book explores a topic that is pivotal to raising the quality of scientific writing: the final revision process. Focussing on the importance of the three "As" (Arguments, Architecture and Audience) and balancing aspects of the philosophy of writing with suggestions of a more operative nature, this manual prompts the reader to adopt a method of rewriting his or her own scientific work with a precise aim.
Paola Rucci teaches at the Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences at the University of Bologna; in these slides she illustrates the essential characteristics of a good scientific article and deals with the motivations and the pathway to publication.
At the basis of this book lies the intention to support potential authors in developing a work plan to tackle the writing of complex scientific texts. The writing process is reworked in terms of time and organisation. The author, a professor emeritus of sociology at Rutgers University, presupposes that writer's block is a natural and pervasive phenomenon and that it tends to prevail independently of the resources of an individual; the first task is thus to safeguard oneself against this paralysing condition by commanding the “procedural" aspects of the production of a manuscript rather than the "material" ones. His philosophy is thus based on "temporal organisation": self-disciplined planning and organisation.
Abstract
- Synthetic indications, accompanied by a couple of bibliographical references, published for Firenze University Press by a technician and a lecturer of chemistry at the University of Florence.
Theses and dissertations
Each university or department has specific rules and requisites relating to the style of the thesis (frontispiece, abstract, typographical characters, citational style and bibliographical apparatus); for information on the discussion of PhD theses, Normalisti can apply to the Segreteria Allievi dell'Area Didattica (the Students' Office of the Teaching Area) (email contact). The resources listed here depart from this aspect to concentrate on the work methodology and the organisation of the contents.
Blair Lorrie, Writing a graduate thesis or dissertation, Leiden: Brill, 2016. DOI: 10.1007/978-94-6300-426-8.
A resource with reserved access on the SNS network.
- This e-Book, meant for students who have to write a thesis, contains a wealth of practical advice on how to tackle methodological and stylistic aspects: the differences between the various thesis formats, the preparation of the proposal, writing the literature revision, collecting and analysing data, and the discussion.
- This book by Jan Allen, associate dean at the Graduate School of Cornell University, is designed mainly for graduate students and touches lightly on the organisation that precedes the writing of a scientific publication, without neglecting practical and apparently extraneous aspects such as time management, keeping to deadlines and the use of good work practice.
There follow guidelines for the writing of scientific proposals for applying for scholarships, PhD or research grants, as well as ways of writing undergraduate degree or PhD theses, scientific articles destined for journals or proposals for publication at a publishing house.
Eco Umberto, Come si fa una tesi di laurea. Milano: La nave di Teseo, 2017
- Since the first Bompiani edition of 1977 this bestseller has trained generations of students, providing a clear and well articulated framework of the steps, from the choice of subject to the gathering of the materials, that lead first to the writing and then to the final editing of a degree thesis in the humanistic field.
Journal articles
- The seventh edition of this book by Markman and Waddell, enriched by the contributions of Peter Markman and Alison Henry, came 46 years after the first edition, as confirmed by a publishing success that has its basis in its functional and complete approach, spaced as it is over 10 chapters that guide the reader in the process of creating a scientific paper. This simple guide teaches how to identify the subject of the paper and to define the thesis supporting it, to assess the bibliographical sources, to utilise library catalogues and find the sources, and to manage the bibliographical apparatus and the revisions of the text in order to arrive at the definitive version. The appendix contains lists of definitions of the terms and abbreviations most used in papers written in English, together with examples of the use of footnotes and endnotes conforming to the Chicago manual of style, and some pages dedicated to the phenomenon of plagiarism.
Scientific reports
- This document is a synthetic description of the organisational structure commonly utilised to report on experimental research studies in many scientific disciplines, in conformity with the so-called IMRAD format (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion).
Research grant proposals
Each funding call (European, national, regional; public or private) is a law unto itself and requires specific modalities in the presentation of the project, whereas the resources listed here are of a general nature. The reference point for the SNS community in the management of funding calls is the The Research and Technological Transfer Service; Art. 6 of the Regulations for agreements and research projects and training of an institutional nature and for third parties defines the ways of presentation of funding applications. The Sportello delle opportunità is available here (in Italian language only).
Holloway Brian R., Proposal writing across the disciplines. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2003.
- This easy to use manual by Brian Holloway (Mountain State Univ.) is aimed at those who operate in professional contexts but also at those operating in academe; regardless of the reference discipline, it presents techniques for the drawing up of research proposals in various formats (letters, memos, reports, applications for theses, articles, grants) illustrated with examples and models. The appendix includes an extensive scrutiny of technical writing dealing with the aspects of style, tone, structure, audience and format.
- In these simple slides, Elena Kallestinova, the director of the MIT Writing and Communication Center, summarises some fundamental concepts for drawing up an efficacious abstract of a scientific proposal with the aim of obtaining funding for a research project. The funder scenario refers to the situation in the United States, although the principles are of a general nature and hence valid for other contexts too.
- The stated aim of this book is to provide advice for writing a research proposal, avoiding making suggestions as to how to carry out research. An analysis of the various functions that can be carried out by a research proposal (communicative, programmatic, contractual) is followed by an analysis of its specific purposes (formulation of the scientific hypothesis, delimitations of the research field, definitions and procedures); particular attention is paid to the writing modes useful for an efficacious development of the central idea of the research. Aspects of style and advice as to the oral presentation precede a long part dedicated to economic management, that is, the determination of the costs of the research that one intends to propose. The book ends with practical examples of experimental and qualitative research proposals, funded grants and studies of investigations.
- This book differs from other publications on the topic of grant proposals in that it provides the practical advice needed to write the narrative of a grant proposal. Intended as a support for both expert researchers and those attempting for the first time to write a narrative sufficiently persuasive to obtain funding for their research, this guide details the type of content, the organisation, the layout, the phraseology and the scientific argumentation of a narrative. The authors (a linguist, freelance scientific writer and curator at an agency specialising in the writing of grant proposals; a lecturer in biomedical engineering at Oregon Health & Science Univ.), have completed over twenty years of research and analysis of grant proposals, having worked at length with researchers at various levels. The guidelines and the advice offered are applicable to many funding agencies.
- Anyone intending to apply for funding in the social sciences field will find useful this booklet of 8 pages produced by A. Przeworski, a professor emeritus of Comparative Politics at New York University, and by F. Salomon, a professor emeritus of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
- This document, also available in PDF format, written by K. Vieira (Distinguished Chair in Literacy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison), contains advice and concrete models for participating in funding calls, drawing up hypothetical scientific proposals with good chances of success.
Literature reviews
Hart Chris, Doing a literature review: releasing the research imagination. 2. ed. Thousand Oaks: SAGE, 2018
- To realise a solid and well constructed review of the publications produced in a precise research field, a sort of systematic-evaluative search for accredited sources and scientific research studies, is the mark of a good researcher, as witness the critical knowledge of the area of research in which he or she is engaged. In this book, Chris Hart explains the purposes of literature reviews, the various types into which they can be classified, the methodology supporting the argumentation, the reading of the research of others and the selection and assessment criteria. The last chapter deals with the ways of writing a literature review and defines its structure and organisation.
Reviews
- Writing a review of a book or an article involves identifying, summarising and assessing the ideas and information presented by another author; in this resource you will find indications as to the intellectual process and the typical structure of a review.
Scientific writing on specific disciplines
Andersen L.E.; Johansen M.W.; Sørensen H.K., Mathematicians writing for mathematicians, «SYNTHESE», 198 (Suppl 26), p. 6233-6250 (2021). <https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11229-019-02145-5>. DOI: 10.1007/s11229-019-02145-5
A resource with reserved access on the SNS network
- This case study reports an interview in which two mathematicians, a talented but inexpert PhD student and his expert supervisor, present the scientific revision process that, through a series of significant modifications of the mathematical modus operandi, transformed the original document from a draft to a well structured article ready for submitting to peer review.
Chudnoff Elijah, A guide to philosphical writing. Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard University Writing Center, 2007. <https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/grants/>. (Last visit: 3/9/2024)
- Elijah Chudnoff, a lecturer in knowledge theory at the University of Miami, edited these guidelines for the activities of the Writing Center of the University of Harvard, where he attained his PhD. The document is available in PDF format and consists of 56 pages.
Fischer Beth A.; Zigmond Michael J., The essential nature of sharing in Science, «Science and Engineering Ethics», 16 (2010), 16, p. 783–799, <https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11948-010-9239-x>, DOI: 10.1007/s11948-010-9239-x
A resource with reserved access on the SNS network
- This article is intended mainly for researchers operating in pure and applied sciences; we mention it above all for the chapter dedicated to Methods, that is, the section of a research article that enables the reader to make an autonomous assessment of the techniques utilised in the research.
- Intended for students of scientific subjects who are about to write their thesis, this book does not limit itself to illustrating the modalities of organisation of the work and the most efficacious structure to confer to the final version; it also provides indications relating to the more specific aspects of scientific writing such as the collaborative context in which the research can be completed (team working), the management of tables, figures, raw data and special characters and the writing in scientific English.
Grimoult Cédric, La dissertation d'histoire. Paris: ellipses, 2024.
- In this volume Grimoult, a historian of science, writes for students of the human sciences but predominantly for those studying for a degree in historical disciplines. The topics dealt with include the organisation of the study work and the methodology of historical research, the choice of the research subject, the planning of the activities, the search for information and the construction of the argumentation, the conclusions and questions of style.
- Sociologists who use interviews as a research tool will find in this guide, available at the Florence site of the SNS Library, a useful support for setting up a methodology, both in collecting field data and at the writing stages and in the citation mechanisms of this particular data source.
Matricciani Emilio, La scrittura tecnico-scientifica. Santarcangelo di Romagna: Maggioli, 2023.
- This book by Emilio Matricciani, a lecturer at the Milan Polytechnic, is meant for undergraduate students, PhD students and young researchers in the technical-scientific field and is divided into two parts: the first part analyses the basics of technical-scientific communication, its historical evolution, the strategic practices, the methodological aspects and the communicative contexts; the second part mainly concentrates on the writing of quality manuscripts, analysing in detail their canonical structure, the modalities of data presentation and the revision process. The last chapter illustrates particular types of documents (theses, scientific articles, review articles and book reviews).
- In this document Patrick Rael, a history professor at Bowdoin College, introduces us to various topics: how to read a primary or secondary source; the division into three parts of an article with a historical subject; how to write an article on history intended for a specialised journal.
- This book by William Storey, a history professor at an American college, has many advantages for a student of history approaching the historiographical research. It indicates preselected online sources (databases and portals) and how to select and analyse them critically; in addition, several very particular aspects are dealt with, such as how to engage in a constructive dialogue with your reference lecturer. The book provides tools for the interpretation of historical materials and sources, indications useful for the construction of the bibliographical apparatus and the management of the writing of your text, from the draft to the final revision.
- In this brief guide of 4 pages, Dan Wewers (Harvard PhD) defines various types of document on history (reports, review essays, research articles, historical analysis), indicating for each the different type of research, analysis and style.