Writing Science in the Twenty-First Century

Book excerpt: Writing Science in the Twenty-First Century offers guidance to help writers succeed in a broad range of writing tasks and purposes in science and other STEM fields. Concise and current, the book takes most of its examples and lessons from scientific fields such as the life sciences, chemistry, physics, and geology, but some examples are taken from mathematics and engineering. The book emphasizes building confidence and rhetorical expertise in fields where diverse audiences, high ethical stakes, and multiple modes of presentation provide unique writing challenges. Using a systematic approach—assessing purpose, audience, order of information, tone, evidence, and graphics—it gives readers a clear road map to becoming accurate, persuasive, and rhetorically savvy writers.