Telling people about research is just as important as doing it. But many competent researchers are wary of scientific writing, despite its importance for sharpening scientific thinking, advancing their career, obtaining funding for their work and growing the prestige of their institution. This second edition of David Lindsay’s popular book Scientific Writing = Thinking in Words presents a way of thinking about writing that builds on the way good scientists think about research. The simple principles in this book will help you to clarify the objectives of your work and present your results with impact. Fully updated throughout, with practical examples of good and bad writing, an expanded chapter on writing for non-scientists and a new chapter on writing grant applications, this book makes communicating research easier and encourages researchers to write confidently. It is an ideal reference for researchers preparing journal articles, posters, conference presentations, reviews and popular articles; for students preparing theses; and for researchers whose first language is not English.

“Do you want to write clearer, livelier prose? This witty primer will help.” —The New York Times Book Review An exploration of how the most ordinary words can be turned into verbal constellations of extraordinary grace through the art of building sentences The sentence is the common ground where every writer walks. A good sentence can be written (and read) by anyone if we simply give it the gift of our time, and it is as close as most of us will get to making something truly beautiful. Using minimal technical terms and sources ranging from the Bible and Shakespeare to George Orwell and Maggie Nelson, as well as scientific studies of what can best fire the reader's mind, author Joe Moran shows how we can all write in a way that is clear, compelling and alive. Whether dealing with finding the ideal word, building a sentence, or constructing a paragraph, First You Write a Sentence informs by light example: much richer than a style guide, it can be read not only for instruction but for pleasure and delight. And along the way, it shows how good writing can help us notice the world, make ourselves known to others, and live more meaningful lives. It's an elegant gem in praise of the English sentence.

In the instruction and learning process, the role writing plays has often been overlooked. Writing is thinking! It is a tool for learning in all content areas. The ever-growing body of brain research supports that learning to write transitions into writing to learn as students progress through upper elementary, middle, high school, and college. Writing is much more than the ability to craft an analytical essay. Writing has the potential to engage students in critical thinking and critical reflection as historians, mathematicians, scientists, or experts in any content area. Writing is Thinking explores methods and activities to effectively incorporate writing to help learners successfully master, analyze, apply, and express content knowledge.

Many writers, even experienced ones, admit that one of the most frightening objects in their world is a blank piece of paper. Susan Horton feels that too many teachers, students, and writers themselves make writing harder than it needs to be. So much emphasis is placed on form and grammar—the "rules of the game," so to speak—that the essence of the writing process, the sheer joy of saying something new, is lost. Thinking Through Writing is, in Horton's words, "a 'Back-to-Basics' book"—but one with a twist. "I'm talking about the real basics," she says. "Not grammar, but basics like what writing is and is for, how you get an idea, and how and why each idea demands its own kind of organization, and how ideas turn into essays, and, even more basic, about how your mind forms ideas in the first place. You can use this book with or without a teacher in front of you. It is put together not to tell you what to do or how to write as much as it is designed to set things up so you can discover for yourself how writing works (yours and everybody else's), and, in the process, how your mind works as well. It's a kind of 'watch yourself think' book. There aren't many answers in it, but there are lots of questions: lots of things to try to explore and discover and play with. Even more than that, this is a book that tries to teach you not just how to answer questions, but how to find questions to ask." As a writer and teacher of writing for more than a decade, Horton knows firsthand the anxieties, frustrations, challenges, and rewards that are an integral part of that exciting craft. She also has extraordinary insight into the writing process itself, and it is that insight that she attempts to communicate in Thinking Through Writing. Sharp declines in standardized composition test scores and classroom performance during the past decade have created a "literacy panic" among educators and parents alike. As a result, composition is gaining a new prominence as an academic discipline. Horton's approach to the subject, emphasizing understanding oneself and one's craft rather than fear of error, is distinctive, original, and most of all, effective. Anyone who wants to learn how to write, how to think, and how thinking and writing are related will want to read this book.