Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

149
Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto Institute for Health Policy, Management & Evaluation, University of Toronto Institute for Pandemics, University of Toronto Techna Institute, Guided Therapeutics Core, University Health Network September 24, 2021 A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 1 / 48

Transcript of Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Page 1: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips

Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, University of TorontoInstitute for Health Policy, Management & Evaluation, University of Toronto

Institute for Pandemics, University of TorontoTechna Institute, Guided Therapeutics Core, University Health Network

September 24, 2021

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 1 / 48

Page 2: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

What is this workshop about?

Speeding up your writing process by

I De-mystifying what makes a good writer

I Reducing number of iterations between you and your advisor

I Reducing iteration time

I Helping you be faster by understanding expectationsI Making it easier for your advisor to have quick turnaround time

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Quick TAT (turnaround time)

Put yourself in your advisor’s shoes ...

I Use clear file names: Your name, abbrev title, version #

I Highlight all changed content.

I Have good grammar.

I Proofread and spellcheck to avoid sloppy typos.

I Preempt questions and frustrations:

I Indicate what is still on your to-do list.I If you don’t implement a requested change, explain why.I If you don’t understand a requested change, ask!

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Page 4: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

What makes a good writer?

1. Organization

2. Flow

3. Appropriate detail

4. Grammar

5. Spelling

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

What makes a good writer?

1. Organization

2. Flow

3. Appropriate detail

4. Grammar

5. Spelling

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Organization: Order in which topics are presented

I All topics needed to understand the work should be presented.

I Topics should be in order of dependence.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Dependence

Existence of problem, need for soln

Problem statement

Lit review

Methods

Results

Conclusions

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Dependence

Existence of problem, need for soln

Problem statement

Lit review

Methods

Results

Conclusions

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Dependence

Existence of problem, need for soln

Problem statement

Lit review

Methods

Results

Conclusions

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Page 10: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Dependence

Existence of problem, need for soln

Problem statement

Lit review

Methods

Results

Conclusions

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Page 11: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Dependence

Existence of problem, need for soln

Problem statement

Lit review

Methods

Results

Conclusions

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Page 12: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Dependence

Existence of problem, need for soln

Problem statement

Lit review

Methods

Results

Conclusions

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Page 13: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Basic organization framework

1. Introduction

I HookI Problem statementI Lit review

2. Methods

3. Results

4. Discussion

5. Conclusions

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Basic organization framework and common variations

1. Introduction

I HookI Problem statementI Lit review

2. Methods

3. Results

4. Discussion

5. Conclusions

1. Introduction

I HookI Problem statement

2. Lit review

3. Methods

4. Results

5. Discussion

6. Conclusions

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Basic organization framework and common variations

1. Introduction

I HookI Problem statementI Lit review

2. Methods

3. Results

4. Discussion

5. Conclusions

1. Introduction

I HookI Problem statement

2. Lit review

3. Methods

4. Results

5. Conclusions

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Page 16: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Basic organization framework and common variations

1. Introduction

I HookI Problem statementI Lit review

2. Methods

3. Results

4. Discussion

5. Conclusions

1. Introduction

I HookI Problem statement

2. Lit review

3. Method 1

4. Method 2

5. Results

5.1 Method 15.2 Method 2

6. Conclusions

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Page 17: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Basic organization framework and common variations

1. Introduction

I HookI Problem statementI Lit review

2. Methods

3. Results

4. Discussion

5. Conclusions

1. Introduction

I HookI Problem statement

2. Lit review

3. Method 1

3.1 The method3.2 Results

4. Method 2

4.1 The method4.2 Results

5. Conclusions

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Page 18: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

What goes in these sections?

IntroductionGet the reader interested. Explain theproblem and why it needs a solution.

Lit reviewBriefly explain previous related re-search, both methodological and appli-cation. Justify appropriateness of yourmethod. Explain gaps/shortcomingsthat your research fills.

MethodsDescribe your methods in enough de-tail to replicate. Cite other studiesonly as necessary (e.g., if your methodborrows from theirs).

ResultsDescribe experiments. In-terpret findings presented intables/figures.

DiscussionRelate your work to previousstudies’ findings (agreement,contradiction, etc.). Explainthe impact of your work onthe real world.

ConclusionsProvide a quick, high-levelsummary and general ideasfor future directions.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

What goes in these sections?

IntroductionGet the reader interested. Explain theproblem and why it needs a solution.

Lit reviewBriefly explain previous related re-search, both methodological and appli-cation. Justify appropriateness of yourmethod. Explain gaps/shortcomingsthat your research fills.

MethodsDescribe your methods in enough de-tail to replicate. Cite other studiesonly as necessary (e.g., if your methodborrows from theirs).

ResultsDescribe experiments. In-terpret findings presented intables/figures.

DiscussionRelate your work to previousstudies’ findings (agreement,contradiction, etc.). Explainthe impact of your work onthe real world.

ConclusionsProvide a quick, high-levelsummary and general ideasfor future directions.

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Page 20: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

What goes in these sections?

IntroductionGet the reader interested. Explain theproblem and why it needs a solution.

Lit reviewBriefly explain previous related re-search, both methodological and appli-cation. Justify appropriateness of yourmethod. Explain gaps/shortcomingsthat your research fills.

MethodsDescribe your methods in enough de-tail to replicate. Cite other studiesonly as necessary (e.g., if your methodborrows from theirs).

ResultsDescribe experiments. In-terpret findings presented intables/figures.

DiscussionRelate your work to previousstudies’ findings (agreement,contradiction, etc.). Explainthe impact of your work onthe real world.

ConclusionsProvide a quick, high-levelsummary and general ideasfor future directions.

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Page 21: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

What goes in these sections?

IntroductionGet the reader interested. Explain theproblem and why it needs a solution.

Lit reviewBriefly explain previous related re-search, both methodological and appli-cation. Justify appropriateness of yourmethod. Explain gaps/shortcomingsthat your research fills.

MethodsDescribe your methods in enough de-tail to replicate. Cite other studiesonly as necessary (e.g., if your methodborrows from theirs).

ResultsDescribe experiments. In-terpret findings presented intables/figures.

DiscussionRelate your work to previousstudies’ findings (agreement,contradiction, etc.). Explainthe impact of your work onthe real world.

ConclusionsProvide a quick, high-levelsummary and general ideasfor future directions.

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Page 22: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

What goes in these sections?

IntroductionGet the reader interested. Explain theproblem and why it needs a solution.

Lit reviewBriefly explain previous related re-search, both methodological and appli-cation. Justify appropriateness of yourmethod. Explain gaps/shortcomingsthat your research fills.

MethodsDescribe your methods in enough de-tail to replicate. Cite other studiesonly as necessary (e.g., if your methodborrows from theirs).

ResultsDescribe experiments. In-terpret findings presented intables/figures.

DiscussionRelate your work to previousstudies’ findings (agreement,contradiction, etc.). Explainthe impact of your work onthe real world.

ConclusionsProvide a quick, high-levelsummary and general ideasfor future directions.

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Page 23: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

What goes in these sections?

IntroductionGet the reader interested. Explain theproblem and why it needs a solution.

Lit reviewBriefly explain previous related re-search, both methodological and appli-cation. Justify appropriateness of yourmethod. Explain gaps/shortcomingsthat your research fills.

MethodsDescribe your methods in enough de-tail to replicate. Cite other studiesonly as necessary (e.g., if your methodborrows from theirs).

ResultsDescribe experiments. In-terpret findings presented intables/figures.

DiscussionRelate your work to previousstudies’ findings (agreement,contradiction, etc.). Explainthe impact of your work onthe real world.

ConclusionsProvide a quick, high-levelsummary and general ideasfor future directions.

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Page 24: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Organizing your manuscript sections

I Before you start writing, determine your paper outline.

1. Think about all the things you want to say.2. Order those things by dependence.3. Group similar things into sections.4. Group similar things within sections into subsections.

I You don’t have to follow the basic outlines presented on theprevious slides, but you should have a really good reason if youdeviate.

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Page 25: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Section guidelines: Keep it simple!

I Each section should be a substantial1, major component.

I Subsections should be substantial.

I Only zero or 2+ subsections are allowed.

I If you have just one subsection, the parent section doesn’t haveenough distinct components to warrant subsections.

I Avoid subsubsections as much as possible.

1Two or more paragraphs, though exceptions can be made

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Page 26: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Section organization is only half the battle

I What goes in sections?

Paragraphs!

I Need to think about paragraph-by-paragraph organization.

I Same rules as before, applied to each section:

1. Think about all the things you want to say.2. Order those things by dependence.3. Group similar items into paragraphs.

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Page 27: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Section organization is only half the battle

I What goes in sections? Paragraphs!

I Need to think about paragraph-by-paragraph organization.

I Same rules as before, applied to each section:

1. Think about all the things you want to say.2. Order those things by dependence.3. Group similar items into paragraphs.

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Page 28: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Section organization is only half the battle

I What goes in sections? Paragraphs!

I Need to think about paragraph-by-paragraph organization.

I Same rules as before, applied to each section:

1. Think about all the things you want to say.2. Order those things by dependence.3. Group similar items into paragraphs.

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Page 29: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Paragraph guidelines

I Each paragraph represents a single, substantial2 thought.

I This thought is called a paragraph thesis.I The thesis is a short statement summarizing paragraph.I Think of it as a one-sentence replacement of the paragraph.I Every sentence in the paragraph supports the thesis.

I Make an outline of paragraph theses before you start writing.

2Three or more sentences, exceptions only in the rarest instances

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Page 30: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Paragraph guidelines

I Each paragraph represents a single, substantial2 thought.

I This thought is called a paragraph thesis.I The thesis is a short statement summarizing paragraph.I Think of it as a one-sentence replacement of the paragraph.I Every sentence in the paragraph supports the thesis.

I Make an outline of paragraph theses before you start writing.

2Three or more sentences, exceptions only in the rarest instances

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Paragraph thesis outline example

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Page 32: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Why bother making a paragraph outline?

I Saves back-and-forth time with advisor on organization andcontent changes.

I Prevents forgetting what you have and haven’t said.

I Streamlines incorporation of reviewer comments.

I Makes getting started easier.

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Page 33: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Why bother making a paragraph outline?

I Saves back-and-forth time with advisor on organization andcontent changes.

I Prevents forgetting what you have and haven’t said.

I Streamlines incorporation of reviewer comments.

I Makes getting started easier.

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 14 / 48

Page 34: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Why bother making a paragraph outline?

I Saves back-and-forth time with advisor on organization andcontent changes.

I Prevents forgetting what you have and haven’t said.

I Streamlines incorporation of reviewer comments.

I Makes getting started easier.

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 14 / 48

Page 35: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Flow: Transitions between topics

I Organization: Bones and muscles

I Flow: Tendons and ligaments

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Flow: Transitions between topics

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Flow: Transitions between topics

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Flow: Transitions between topics

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Page 39: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Best illustrated by example

Automated brachytherapy planning has not received much attention in the literature. It is difficult to obtainconformal brachytherapy treatments due to the uniform dose distribution of radioactive seeds, which also preventshomogeneous dose coverage. Other radiation modalities are thus more common.

Mathematical optimization is used to solve complex decision-making problems. Linear programs may notaccurately represent clinical needs. Quadratic programs are more flexible. Integer programs are difficult tosolve. Quadratic programs can be reformulated as semi-infinite linear programs and solved using an interior pointconstraint generation algorithm.

The primary benefits of applying optimization to brachytherapy planning are improved tumor coverage, re-duced organ dose, and faster treatment planning time. Standardized treatment quality expectations will alsoimprove health outcomes. A mathematical framework will also allow for simulated testing of new treatmentapproaches.

1

flow demo.pdf

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Page 40: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Is this intro good or bad?

Why is it bad?

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Page 41: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Is this intro good or bad?

Why is it bad?

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Page 42: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Let’s evaluate

Concept Good/bad?

Organization

Paragraph thesis:1. Although it is difficult to obtain conformal brachytherapy

treatments, automated brachytherapy has not received muchattention in the literature.

2. Mathematical optimization approaches could be used toautomate BT planning.

3. An optimization framework will provide both clinical andefficiency improvements in BT planning.

Dependence

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Page 43: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Let’s evaluate

Concept Good/bad?

Organization ∼

Paragraph thesis:1. Although it is difficult to obtain conformal brachytherapy

treatments, automated brachytherapy has not received muchattention in the literature.

2. Mathematical optimization approaches could be used toautomate BT planning.

3. An optimization framework will provide both clinical andefficiency improvements in BT planning.

Dependence

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Page 44: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Let’s evaluate

Concept Good/bad?

Organization ∼Paragraph thesis:1. Although it is difficult to obtain conformal brachytherapy

treatments, automated brachytherapy has not received muchattention in the literature.

2. Mathematical optimization approaches could be used toautomate BT planning.

3. An optimization framework will provide both clinical andefficiency improvements in BT planning.

Dependence

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Page 45: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Let’s evaluate

Concept Good/bad?

Organization ∼Paragraph thesis:1. Although it is difficult to obtain conformal brachytherapy

treatments, automated brachytherapy has not received muchattention in the literature.

2. Mathematical optimization approaches could be used toautomate BT planning.

3. An optimization framework will provide both clinical andefficiency improvements in BT planning.

,

Dependence

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Page 46: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Let’s evaluate

Concept Good/bad?

Organization ∼Paragraph thesis:1. Although it is difficult to obtain conformal brachytherapy

treatments, automated brachytherapy has not received muchattention in the literature.

2. Mathematical optimization approaches could be used toautomate BT planning.

3. An optimization framework will provide both clinical andefficiency improvements in BT planning.

,

Dependence

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Page 47: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Let’s evaluate

Concept Good/bad?

Organization ∼Paragraph thesis:1. Although it is difficult to obtain conformal brachytherapy

treatments, automated brachytherapy has not received muchattention in the literature.

2. Mathematical optimization approaches could be used toautomate BT planning.

3. An optimization framework will provide both clinical andefficiency improvements in BT planning.

,

Dependence /

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Page 48: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Let’s do a detailed analysis together

Automated brachytherapy planning has not received much attention in the literature. It is difficult to obtainconformal brachytherapy treatments due to the uniform dose distribution of radioactive seeds, which also preventshomogeneous dose coverage. Other radiation modalities are thus more common.

Mathematical optimization is used to solve complex decision-making problems. Linear programs may notaccurately represent clinical needs. Quadratic programs are more flexible. Integer programs are difficult tosolve. Quadratic programs can be reformulated as semi-infinite linear programs and solved using an interior pointconstraint generation algorithm.

The primary benefits of applying optimization to brachytherapy planning are improved tumor coverage, re-duced organ dose, and faster treatment planning time. Standardized treatment quality expectations will alsoimprove health outcomes. A mathematical framework will also allow for simulated testing of new treatmentapproaches.

1

flow demo.pdf

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Page 49: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

An improved version

Brachytherapy is a minimally invasive cancer treatment commonly used for prostate and cervical cancer. Inbrachytherapy, radioactive seeds are placed at strategic locations inside the tumor for a predetermined amount oftime. Brachytherapy planning is a time-consuming manual process, made difficult by the uniform dose distributionof radioactive seeds, which prevents homogeneous radiation dose coverage. Although automated treatment plan-ning methods are widely used to improve on manually-generated plans in other radiation modalities, automatedbrachytherapy has not received much attention in the literature.

Mathematical optimization is used to solve complex decision-making problems, and has been applied to in-tensity modulated radiation therapy and stereotactic radiosurgery treatment planning with success. Linear pro-gramming approaches for radiotherapy are computationally fast, but may not accurately represent clinical needs.Integer programs have also been applied to radiotherapy, and may be useful in brachytherapy to indicate seedplacement, but generally suffer from large computation times. Quadratic programs are most common due to theirmore accurate representation of clinical attitudes towards over- and underdose, and can be solved quickly eitherby inexact gradient descent methods or by ε-optimal interior point constraint generation algorithms.

We therefore apply a quadratic programming optimization approach to design brachytherapy treatments. Aswith optimized treatment planning in other radiation modalities, improved tumor coverage, reduced organ dose,and faster treatment planning time are achieved compared to the current manual planning process. Addition-ally, standardized treatment quality expectations will improve population health outcomes. The mathematicalframework will also allow for simulated testing of new treatment approaches.

1

flow demo better.pdf

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Page 50: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

An even better version

Brachytherapy is a minimally invasive cancer treatment commonly used for prostate and cervical cancer. Inbrachytherapy, radioactive seeds are placed at strategic locations inside the tumor for a predetermined amount oftime. Brachytherapy planning is a time-consuming manual process, made difficult by the uniform dose distributionof radioactive seeds, which prevents homogeneous radiation dose coverage. Although automated treatment plan-ning methods are widely used to improve on manually-generated plans in other radiation modalities, automatedbrachytherapy has not received much attention in the literature.

Mathematical optimization is used to solve complex decision-making problems, and has been applied to in-tensity modulated radiation therapy and stereotactic radiosurgery treatment planning with success. Linear pro-gramming approaches for radiotherapy are computationally fast, but may not accurately represent clinical needs.Integer programs have also been applied to radiotherapy, and may be useful in brachytherapy to indicate seedplacement, but generally suffer from large computation times. Quadratic programs are most common due to theirmore accurate representation of clinical attitudes towards over- and underdose, and can be solved quickly eitherby inexact gradient descent methods or by ε-optimal interior point constraint generation algorithms.

We therefore apply a quadratic programming optimization approach to design brachytherapy treatments. Aswith optimized treatment planning in other radiation modalities, improved tumor coverage, reduced organ dose,and faster treatment planning time are achieved compared to the current manual planning process. Addition-ally, standardized treatment quality expectations will improve population health outcomes. The mathematicalframework will also allow for simulated testing of new treatment approaches.

1

flow demo better.pdf

Brachytherapy is a minimally invasive cancer treatment commonly used for prostate and cervical cancer[2]. In brachytherapy, radioactive seeds are placed at strategic locations inside the tumor for a predeterminedamount of time. Brachytherapy planning is a time-consuming manual process [5], made difficult by the uniformdose distribution of radioactive seeds, which prevents homogeneous radiation dose coverage. Although automatedtreatment planning methods are widely used to improve on manually-generated plans in other radiation modalities(see, e.g., [2-6,9,14]), automated brachytherapy has not received much attention in the literature.

Mathematical optimization is used to solve complex decision-making problems, and has been applied to in-tensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) [2,5,9,14] and stereotactic radiosurgery [3,4] treatment planningwith success. Linear programming approaches for radiotherapy are computationally fast [9], but may not accu-rately represent clinical needs. Integer programs have also been applied to radiotherapy [8], and may be useful inbrachytherapy to indicate seed placement, but generally suffer from large computation times. Quadratic programsare most common due to their more accurate representation of clinical attitudes towards over- and underdose,and can be solved quickly either by inexact gradient descent methods [2,4,5,9,14] or by ε-optimal interior pointconstraint generation algorithms [3].

We therefore apply a quadratic programming optimization approach to design brachytherapy treatments. Aswith optimized treatment planning in other radiation modalities, improved tumor coverage, reduced organ dose,and faster treatment planning time are achieved compared to the current manual planning process. Addition-ally, standardized treatment quality expectations will improve population health outcomes. The mathematicalframework will also allow for simulated testing of new treatment approaches.

1

flow demo best.pdf

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Make floating elements flow

I Floating elements: Figures, tables, algorithms

I Should never break up text.

I Distracting to skim over large element to keep reading.

I Always belong at top or bottom of page, or on own page.

I LATEX users: Use [tbp].

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Captions: Organization+flow for floating elements

I Should make the figure/table understandable even if the readeronly looks at the figures and tables.

I Think dependence.I Define acronyms, variables, meaning of bold/italics, etc.

I Never say “Comparison of” or “Histogram of” or otherunnecessary statements.

I Only end with a period if the caption is a complete sentence.

I Caption location:

I Figures: BelowI Tables, algorithms: Above

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Grammar 6= style

I Grammar: Rules that must be followed

I Style: Personal choices

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Page 54: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

What is and isn’t a sentence?

Parts of sentences (not whole sentences):

I Lists

I Equations

Not parts of sentences (floating elements):

I Figures

I Tables

I Algorithms

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Page 55: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Sentence examples: Lists

1. Right or wrong?

I like bright colors, including the ones listed here.

I Red

I Green

I Blue

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Sentence examples: Lists

1. Right or wrong? / (List is on its own)

I like bright colors, including the ones listed here.

I Red

I Green

I Blue

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Sentence examples: Lists

1. Right or wrong? / (List is on its own)

I like bright colors, including the ones listed here.

I Red

I Green

I Blue

2. Right or wrong?

I like bright colors, including the following:

I Red

I Green

I Blue

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Sentence examples: Lists

1. Right or wrong? / (List is on its own)

I like bright colors, including the ones listed here.

I Red

I Green

I Blue

2. Right or wrong? ,I like bright colors, including the following:

I Red

I Green

I Blue

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Sentence examples: Equations

3. Right or wrong?

R0 is used to determine disease impact [1].

R0 = kbd (Reproduction number)

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Sentence examples: Equations

3. Right or wrong? / (Equation is on its own)

R0 is used to determine disease impact [1].

R0 = kbd (Reproduction number)

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Sentence examples: Equations

3. Right or wrong? / (Equation is on its own)

R0 is used to determine disease impact [1].

R0 = kbd (Reproduction number)

4. Right or wrong?

R0 is used to determine disease impact [1]:

R0 = kbd (Reproduction number)

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Sentence examples: Equations

3. Right or wrong? / (Equation is on its own)

R0 is used to determine disease impact [1].

R0 = kbd (Reproduction number)

4. Right or wrong? ,R0 is used to determine disease impact [1]:

R0 = kbd (Reproduction number)

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Sentence examples: Tables

5. Right or wrong?

Values were calculated over three experiments, as shown in Table 1:

Table 1: Experiment results

# Time (s) Resistance (Ω)

1 12.5 0.252 17.8 1.433 22.1 4.87

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Sentence examples: Tables

5. Right or wrong? / (Table can’t be part of a sentence)

Values were calculated over three experiments, as shown in Table 1:

Table 1: Experiment results

# Time (s) Resistance (Ω)

1 12.5 0.252 17.8 1.433 22.1 4.87

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Floating element referencing

I Every floating element must be referenced in the text.

I Only number equations if you will refer to them later.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

In-text lists

I Two correct options:

I A, B and C (no comma before “and”)I A, B, and C (comma before “and”, called the Oxford comma)

I Each bullet must have parallel construction.

I All phrases beginning with a noun, all phrases beginning with thesame tense verb, or all complete sentences

I Bullets must be consecutively listed.

I Can’t break up a list with other text

I Use semi-colons (;) instead of commas if list items have their owncommas.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Bulleted lists

I Same as in-text lists, just with each element on its own line

I Same rules as in-text lists

I Commas and “and” may be used same as in-text lists.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

List examples

1. Right or wrong?

Four ingredients are required: (1) water, (2) flour. Flour can besubstituted with almond flour or other nut flour. (3) salt, and (4)sugar.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

List examples

1. Right or wrong? / (List is broken up)

Four ingredients are required: (1) water, (2) flour. Flour can besubstituted with almond flour or other nut flour. (3) salt, and (4)sugar.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

List examples

1. Right or wrong? / (List is broken up)

Four ingredients are required: (1) water, (2) flour. Flour can besubstituted with almond flour or other nut flour. (3) salt, and (4)sugar.

2. Right or wrong?

Four ingredients are required: (1) water, (2) flour, (3) salt, and (4)sugar. Flour can be substituted with almond flour or other nut flour.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

List examples

1. Right or wrong? / (List is broken up)

Four ingredients are required: (1) water, (2) flour. Flour can besubstituted with almond flour or other nut flour. (3) salt, and (4)sugar.

2. Right or wrong? ,Four ingredients are required: (1) water, (2) flour, (3) salt, and (4)sugar. Flour can be substituted with almond flour or other nut flour.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

List examples

3. Right or wrong?

Four ingredients are required:

1. water,

2. flour,

3. salt, and

4. sugar.

Flour can be substituted with almond flour or other nut flour.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

List examples

3. Right or wrong? ,Four ingredients are required:

1. water,

2. flour,

3. salt, and

4. sugar.

Flour can be substituted with almond flour or other nut flour.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

List examples

4. Right or wrong?

Four ingredients are required:

1. water

2. flour

3. salt

4. sugar

Flour can be substituted with almond flour or other nut flour.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

List examples

4. Right or wrong? ,Four ingredients are required:

1. water

2. flour

3. salt

4. sugar

Flour can be substituted with almond flour or other nut flour.

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Page 76: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Colons (:)

[before]: [after]

I [after] is an explanation or list that would be grammaticallyincorrect to add to [before] without a colon.

I If the colon is unnecessary, it is incorrect.I Colons cannot follow verbs.

I [before] must be a complete sentence

I If [after] is a complete sentence, it should be capitalized.

I Rules are the same regardless of whether [after] is sentence-text ora bulleted list.

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Colons in sentences

1. Right or wrong?

I like bright colors, including: red, green, and blue.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Colons in sentences

1. Right or wrong? / (Colon is unnecessary)

I like bright colors, including: red, green, and blue.

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Page 79: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Colons in sentences

1. Right or wrong? / (Colon is unnecessary)

I like bright colors, including: red, green, and blue.

2. Right or wrong?

I like bright colors, including the following: red, green, and blue.

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Page 80: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Colons in sentences

1. Right or wrong? / (Colon is unnecessary)

I like bright colors, including: red, green, and blue.

2. Right or wrong? ,I like bright colors, including the following: red, green, and blue.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Colons in sentences

3. Right or wrong?

I like bright colors: they make me happy.

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Page 82: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Colons in sentences

3. Right or wrong? / (Complete sentence after colon should be capitalized)

I like bright colors: they make me happy.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Colons in sentences

3. Right or wrong? / (Complete sentence after colon should be capitalized)

I like bright colors: they make me happy.

4. Right or wrong?

I like bright colors: They make me happy.

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Page 84: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Colons in sentences

3. Right or wrong? / (Complete sentence after colon should be capitalized)

I like bright colors: they make me happy.

4. Right or wrong? ,I like bright colors: They make me happy.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Colons before bulleted lists

1. Right or wrong?

My favorite colors are:

I red

I green

I blue

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Page 86: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Colons before bulleted lists

1. Right or wrong? / (Colon is unnecessary)

My favorite colors are:

I red

I green

I blue

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Colons before bulleted lists

1. Right or wrong? / (Colon is unnecessary)

My favorite colors are:

I red

I green

I blue

2. Right or wrong?

My favorite colors are the following:

I red

I green

I blue

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Page 88: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Colons before bulleted lists

1. Right or wrong? / (Colon is unnecessary)

My favorite colors are:

I red

I green

I blue

2. Right or wrong? ,My favorite colors are the following:

I red

I green

I blue

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Colons before bulleted lists

3. Right or wrong?

I like bright colors:

I They make me happy.

I They only need three html indicators.

I Everyone likes them.

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 32 / 48

Page 90: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Colons before bulleted lists

3. Right or wrong? ,I like bright colors:

I They make me happy.

I They only need three html indicators.

I Everyone likes them.

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 32 / 48

Page 91: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Colons before bulleted lists

3. Right or wrong? ,I like bright colors:

I They make me happy.

I They only need three html indicators.

I Everyone likes them.

4. Right or wrong?

I like bright colors because they

I make me happy.

I only need three html indicators.

I Everyone likes them.

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 32 / 48

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Colons before bulleted lists

3. Right or wrong? ,I like bright colors:

I They make me happy.

I They only need three html indicators.

I Everyone likes them.

4. Right or wrong? / (Non-parallel list items)

I like bright colors because they

I make me happy.

I only need three html indicators.

I Everyone likes them.

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 32 / 48

Page 93: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Colons before bulleted lists

5. Right or wrong?

I like bright colors because they

I make me happy.

I only need three html indicators.

I are enjoyed by everyone.

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 32 / 48

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Colons before bulleted lists

5. Right or wrong? ,I like bright colors because they

I make me happy.

I only need three html indicators.

I are enjoyed by everyone.

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 32 / 48

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

E.g. and i.e.

Meaning Punctuation

e.g. for example Comma before and after, periods between

i.e. that is Comma before and after, periods between

E.g. example

The gradient can change rapidly, e.g., a 20% fall-off occurs over therange [0.50, 0.75].

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

E.g. and i.e.

Meaning Punctuation

e.g. for example Comma before and after, periods between

i.e. that is Comma before and after, periods between

I.e. example

The method is clinically viable, i.e., it meets safety and coststandards.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

“Ambiguous this” fallacy

I “This” must always be followed by a noun (or noun phrase).

I Same for “that”, “these”, “those”

I “This” specifies which one of something, e.g., “the dog” or “adog” or “this dog”.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

“Ambiguous this” examples

1. Right or wrong?

Accuracy was within 10% of the benchmark, while material costswere generally two times higher than the benchmark unit. Thisrenders the unit impractical for most industry applications.

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Page 99: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

“Ambiguous this” examples

1. Right or wrong? / (Does “this” mean accuracy or costs or both?)

Accuracy was within 10% of the benchmark, while material costswere generally two times higher than the benchmark unit. Thisrenders the unit impractical for most industry applications.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

“Ambiguous this” examples

1. Right or wrong? / (Does “this” mean accuracy or costs or both?)

Accuracy was within 10% of the benchmark, while material costswere generally two times higher than the benchmark unit. Thisrenders the unit impractical for most industry applications.

2. Right or wrong?

Accuracy was within 10% of the benchmark, while material costswere generally two times higher than the benchmark unit. This highcost renders the unit impractical for most industry applications.

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Page 101: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

“Ambiguous this” examples

1. Right or wrong? / (Does “this” mean accuracy or costs or both?)

Accuracy was within 10% of the benchmark, while material costswere generally two times higher than the benchmark unit. Thisrenders the unit impractical for most industry applications.

2. Right or wrong? ,Accuracy was within 10% of the benchmark, while material costswere generally two times higher than the benchmark unit. This highcost renders the unit impractical for most industry applications.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Citations

I Must have citations if your sentence

I Refers to previous findings (even if your own findings)I Makes a claim that has been stated by someone else beforeI Makes a claim that is not proven in the documentI Makes a claim that is not obvious to the world

I Citation belongs at the narrowest scope in the sentence.

I Ordering in sentence should be alphabetical or numerical.

I Sentence must make sense if parenthetical or numbered citationsare removed.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Citation location examples

1. Good or bad?

Previous methods [1,2,3] did not address demand uncertainty orlimited resource availability.

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Citation location examples

1. Good or bad? (Good if all three ignored both components; bad otherwise)

Previous methods [1,2,3] did not address demand uncertainty orlimited resource availability.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Citation location examples

1. Good or bad? (Good if all three ignored both components; bad otherwise)

Previous methods [1,2,3] did not address demand uncertainty orlimited resource availability.

2. Good or bad?

Previous methods did not address demand uncertainty or limitedresource availability [1,2,3].

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Citation location examples

1. Good or bad? (Good if all three ignored both components; bad otherwise)

Previous methods [1,2,3] did not address demand uncertainty orlimited resource availability.

2. Good or bad? / (Did all three ignore both components, or just resources?)

Previous methods did not address demand uncertainty or limitedresource availability [1,2,3].

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Citation location examples

1. Good or bad? (Good if all three ignored both components; bad otherwise)

Previous methods [1,2,3] did not address demand uncertainty orlimited resource availability.

2. Good or bad?

BETTER: Previous methods did not address limited resourceavailability [1,2,3] or demand uncertainty.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Citation location examples

1. Good or bad? (Good if all three ignored both components; bad otherwise)

Previous methods [1,2,3] did not address demand uncertainty orlimited resource availability.

2. Good or bad? / (Now missing citations for demand uncertainty claim)

BETTER: Previous methods did not address limited resourceavailability [1,2,3] or demand uncertainty.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Citation location examples

1. Good or bad? (Good if all three ignored both components; bad otherwise)

Previous methods [1,2,3] did not address demand uncertainty orlimited resource availability.

2. Good or bad?

BETTER: Previous methods did not address limited resourceavailability [1,2,3] or demand uncertainty.

3. Good or bad?

Previous methods did not address demand uncertainty [2] or limitedresource availability [1,3].

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Citation location examples

1. Good or bad? (Good if all three ignored both components; bad otherwise)

Previous methods [1,2,3] did not address demand uncertainty orlimited resource availability.

2. Good or bad?

BETTER: Previous methods did not address limited resourceavailability [1,2,3] or demand uncertainty.

3. Good or bad? ,Previous methods did not address demand uncertainty [2] or limitedresource availability [1,3].

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Citation grammar examples: Numerical citations

1. Good or bad?

[1] showed that iron is an ineffective substrate for fuel cells.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Citation grammar examples: Numerical citations

1. Good or bad? / (No subject after removing [1])

[1] showed that iron is an ineffective substrate for fuel cells.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Citation grammar examples: Numerical citations

1. Good or bad? / (No subject after removing [1])

[1] showed that iron is an ineffective substrate for fuel cells.

2. Good or bad?

Iron is an ineffective substrate for fuel cells [1].

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Citation grammar examples: Numerical citations

1. Good or bad? / (No subject after removing [1])

[1] showed that iron is an ineffective substrate for fuel cells.

2. Good or bad? ,Iron is an ineffective substrate for fuel cells [1].

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Citation grammar examples: Numerical citations

1. Good or bad? / (No subject after removing [1])

[1] showed that iron is an ineffective substrate for fuel cells.

2. Good or bad? ,Iron is an ineffective substrate for fuel cells [1].

BONUS: #2 is a stronger statement and uses fewer words!

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Citation grammar examples: Author-year citations

1. Good or bad?

(Doe et al., 2015) showed that iron is an ineffective substrate for fuelcells.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Citation grammar examples: Author-year citations

1. Good or bad? / (No subject after removing parenthetical)

(Doe et al., 2015) showed that iron is an ineffective substrate for fuelcells.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Citation grammar examples: Author-year citations

1. Good or bad? / (No subject after removing parenthetical)

(Doe et al., 2015) showed that iron is an ineffective substrate for fuelcells.

2. Good or bad?

Doe et al. (2015) showed that iron is an ineffective substrate for fuelcells.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Citation grammar examples: Author-year citations

1. Good or bad? / (No subject after removing parenthetical)

(Doe et al., 2015) showed that iron is an ineffective substrate for fuelcells.

2. Good or bad? ,Doe et al. (2015) showed that iron is an ineffective substrate for fuelcells.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Citation grammar examples: Author-year citations

1. Good or bad? / (No subject after removing parenthetical)

(Doe et al., 2015) showed that iron is an ineffective substrate for fuelcells.

2. Good or bad? ,Doe et al. (2015) showed that iron is an ineffective substrate for fuelcells.

3. Good or bad?

Doe et al. (2015) showed that iron is an ineffective substrate for fuelcells [1].

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Citation grammar examples: Author-year citations

1. Good or bad? / (No subject after removing parenthetical)

(Doe et al., 2015) showed that iron is an ineffective substrate for fuelcells.

2. Good or bad? ,Doe et al. (2015) showed that iron is an ineffective substrate for fuelcells.

3. Good or bad? , (If using numerical citations)

Doe et al. (2015) showed that iron is an ineffective substrate for fuelcells [1].

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Citation cheating for LATEX users

I Use natbib’s sorting options in your header:

I \usepackage[sort]natbib

I \usepackage[sort&compress]natbib

I Never use \cite.

I Only use \citet (in-text author-year citations) or \citep(parenthetical citations).

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

The only style rule: Be consistent!

I Canadian/British or American spelling: Pick only one.

I Oxford comma: Use it everywhere or nowhere.

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Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Most important guideline: Less is more

“If I had more time, I would have written ashorter letter.”

- Blaise Pascal, 1657

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Page 125: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Most important guideline: Less is more

I Don’t use five words when three will do.

I Don’t use gerunds (verbs ending in -ing).

I Don’t ramble or repeat yourself.

I Don’t use complicated language; keep it simple.

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 42 / 48

Page 126: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Style examples

1. Good or bad?

In order to calculate annual efficiency, the simulation was set to runfor 365 simulated days.

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Page 127: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Style examples

1. Good or bad? / (Too wordy)

In order to calculate annual efficiency, the simulation was set to runfor 365 simulated days.

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 43 / 48

Page 128: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Style examples

1. Good or bad? / (Too wordy)

In order to calculate annual efficiency, the simulation was set to runfor 365 simulated days.

Alternative , (16 words to 8 words: 50% reduction!)

To calculate annual efficiency, 365 days were simulated.

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 43 / 48

Page 129: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Style examples

2. Good or bad?

Jones et al. [1] have developed a response surface approach tooptimize nonlinear functions. They found that the method convergesquickly compared to most other nonlinear optimization approaches.Thus, we use a response surface approach to optimize our nonlinearfunction.

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Page 130: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Style examples

2. Good or bad? / (Too wordy, weird tense)

Jones et al. [1] have developed a response surface approach tooptimize nonlinear functions. They found that the method convergesquickly compared to most other nonlinear optimization approaches.Thus, we use a response surface approach to optimize our nonlinearfunction.

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 43 / 48

Page 131: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Style examples

2. Good or bad? / (Too wordy, weird tense)

Jones et al. [1] have developed a response surface approach tooptimize nonlinear functions. They found that the method convergesquickly compared to most other nonlinear optimization approaches.Thus, we use a response surface approach to optimize our nonlinearfunction.

Alternative , (3 sentences to 1; 40 words to 21 words: 48% reduction!)

To optimize our nonlinear function, we use a response surfaceapproach due to its improved convergence over most other methods[1].

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 43 / 48

Page 132: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Style examples

3. Good or bad?

We are simulating the heat dispersion in several tissue types.

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Page 133: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Style examples

3. Good or bad? / (Too wordy; -ing red flag)

We are simulating the heat dispersion in several tissue types.

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Page 134: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Style examples

3. Good or bad? / (Too wordy; -ing red flag)

We are simulating the heat dispersion in several tissue types.

Alternative , (1 word saved; more direct and strong sentence)

We simulate the heat dispersion in several tissue types.

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Page 135: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Style examples

4. Good or bad?

When the distance parameter σ is set to 1, we are allowing pointswithin the maximum radius R of the current point to be consideredfor the next current point.

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Page 136: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Style examples

4. Good or bad? / (Too wordy; -ing red flag)

When the distance parameter σ is set to 1, we are allowing pointswithin the maximum radius R of the current point to be consideredfor the next current point.

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 43 / 48

Page 137: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Style examples

4. Good or bad? / (Too wordy; -ing red flag)

When the distance parameter σ is set to 1, we are allowing pointswithin the maximum radius R of the current point to be consideredfor the next current point.

Alternative , (28 words to 17 words: 39% reduction!)

When σ = 1, all points within radius R of the current point areconsidered for the next current point.

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Page 138: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Style examples

5. Good or bad?

Table 1 shows the quality and computation time outcomes of the twomethods. Method 1 had an average quality score of 0.75, whileMethod 2 had an average quality score of 0.5. Method 1 required 10min of computation time, while Method 2 required 5 min.

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Page 139: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Style examples

5. Good or bad? / (Every sentence is useless, redundant with table)

Table 1 shows the quality and computation time outcomes of the twomethods. Method 1 had an average quality score of 0.75, whileMethod 2 had an average quality score of 0.5. Method 1 required 10min of computation time, while Method 2 required 5 min.

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 43 / 48

Page 140: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Style examples

5. Good or bad? / (Every sentence is useless, redundant with table)

Table 1 shows the quality and computation time outcomes of the twomethods. Method 1 had an average quality score of 0.75, whileMethod 2 had an average quality score of 0.5. Method 1 required 10min of computation time, while Method 2 required 5 min.

Alternative , (46 words to 32 words: 30% reduction! Interprets data in table instead of repeating it)

On average, Method 1 showed a 25% improvement in quality scoresover Method 2; however, Method 1 was twice as slow as Method 2,although still less than 10 min (Table 1).

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Page 141: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Style examples

6. Good or bad?

Several statistical performance measures are assessed. They aredefined as follows. Accuracy is calculated as (TP + TN)/(P + N).Sensitivity is calculated as TP/P. Specificity is calculated as TN/N.Positive predictive value and negative predictive value are calculatedas TP/(TP + FP) and TN/(TN + FN), respectively.

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Page 142: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Style examples

6. Good or bad? / (Drones on and on, hard for reader to digest)

Several statistical performance measures are assessed. They aredefined as follows. Accuracy is calculated as (TP + TN)/(P + N).Sensitivity is calculated as TP/P. Specificity is calculated as TN/N.Positive predictive value and negative predictive value are calculatedas TP/(TP + FP) and TN/(TN + FN), respectively.

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 43 / 48

Page 143: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Style examples

6. Good or bad? / (Drones on and on, hard for reader to digest)

Several statistical performance measures are assessed. They aredefined as follows. Accuracy is calculated as (TP + TN)/(P + N).Sensitivity is calculated as TP/P. Specificity is calculated as TN/N.Positive predictive value and negative predictive value are calculatedas TP/(TP + FP) and TN/(TN + FN), respectively.

Alternative , (6 sentences to 1; 39 words to 10 words: 74% reduction! Improved readability)

The statistical performance measures shown in Table 1 are assessed.

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 43 / 48

Page 144: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Sentence length: Don’t be monotonous

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 44 / 48

Page 145: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Sentence length: Don’t be monotonous

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 44 / 48

Page 146: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Verb tense: Past, present, or future?

Past Present Future

Intro, problem statement X

Previous studies X

Methodology X

Results X

Discussion X (prev studies) X (your work)

Conclusion X

Future work X

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 45 / 48

Page 147: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

What to do to get better?

I Practice, practice, practice.

I Proofread slowly, but not more than twice.

I TIP: Read out loud. Seriously.

I Analyze papers that you like:

I What made the paper nice to read?I What was the organization like?I Can you see how sentences/paragraphs help concepts flow?I When were lots of details v. not many details presented?

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 46 / 48

Page 148: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Strengthening exercises

I Read and evaluate an article from a crappy, unranked journal.

I Make a paragraph thesis outline of your last paper.

I Try cutting 20% out of your last paper without losing info.

I Try using ONLY parenthetical citations and figure/tablereferences.

A brief blitz of scientific writing tips Medical Operations Research Laboratory (morLAB) 47 / 48

Page 149: Dionne M. Aleman, PhD, PEng

Good writing Organization Flow Grammar pitfalls Style Tips morLAB

Resources

I The Introduction Formula: http://blogs.ubc.ca/khead/

research/research-advice/formula

I The Conclusion Formula:http://marcfbellemare.com/wordpress/12060

I The Grammarist: http://grammarist.com

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