Important Editing Tips for Medical Writers

By Turacoz Healthcare Solutions

Table of Contents

• Plan, Organize and Edit

• Principles of Effective Editing

• Clear, Concise and Consistent Writing

• Correct Grammatical Errors

• Use Formal Language, Not Jargons

• Use of Hyphen, En Dash and Em Dash

• Headings

• Capitalization

• Use of Abbreviations

• Avoid using Hedge Words

The main goal as A medical writer is to convey the message clearly to the readers.

Writing style is, however, A tool that A MEDICAL WRITER may use to HIS/HER advantage.

THE writing style will decide how clear and comprehensible ONE’S medical writing is, and therefore, the impression THAT message has on the readers.

Plan, Organize and EditBefore you begin:

• Who is the audience (“My audience is pharmaceutical company, regulatory agency, etc.”)

• Purpose of the writing (“My purpose is________.”)

• How the reader will use the information (“So that the reader will________.”)

Principles of Effective Editing

Clunky Words Equivalent

• Not honest dishonest

• Does not have lacks

• Did not remember forgot

• Did not pay attention to Ignored

• Did not succeed failed

• A majority of most

• Less frequently occurring rare

• The fact that because

Clunky phrases are additional words used as a filler to reach the word count more quickly; these words and phrases are usually redundant, read poorly, or take five words to say what could be said in one.

Clear, Concise and Consistent Writing

• Writing should be clear and concise (try to keep sentences 10-25 words in length, and try to maintain paragraphs ¼ - ½ page long on an average).

– Description of a single idea in a sentence.– Description of a single theme in a paragraph.– Insert subheadings for clarity.

• Make sure that the whole document is consistent and accurate.

– Avoid repetition within sentences.

Correct Grammatical Errors

• Correct errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and usage.

• Use spell and grammar checker as first screening.

Example:

Spelling error Punctuation error

Use Formal Language, Not Jargons

• Use simple terms while writing.

• Example: “identical” instead of “exactly identical”; “do not” instead of “don’t”; "offspring” not “babies”.

• Example: Use “The concentration of HCl was tested every 15 minutes” instead of “The concentration of HCl was tested regularly”.

Use of Hyphen, En dash and Em dash

• Hyphen is used to describe an adjective or a compound modifier or a compound adjective.

– Example: The book token is worth five pounds. This is a five-pound book token.

• En dash (–) is used for range of numbers.

– Example: Steel contains 0.1–2% carbon.

• Em dashes (—) are used to connect the author’s broken up thoughts.

– Example: The boy got lost in the wards—there were too many people—doctors, nurses and patients.

Headings

• Capitalize the first and last words and all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions.

• Do not capitalize articles (a, an the), coordinate conjunctions (and, or, for, nor), prepositions, regardless of length, unless it is the first word of the title or subtitle.

• Use of acronyms in head levels should be avoided except in cases where the use of full form would be extremely awkward.

– Example: It is okay to use VIP-oma, instead of its full form in a head.

Capitalization

• Capitalize the proper noun but not the common noun.

– Example: Apgar score, Cushing syndrome, Down syndrome, etc.

• Capitalize genus (but not species) names as well as phylum, class, order and family.

– Examples: – Chlamydia trachomatis– Chordata (phylum)

• Scientific names are written in a particular manner, like species names for animals and plants are given in italics, with the genus capitalized.

– Example: Homo sapiens at first use, later H. sapiens.

Use of Abbreviations

• Full form of an abbreviation must given at the time of its first occurrence.

• A particular abbreviation or acronym should not be used for more than one term.

– Example: If CAD stands for coronary artery diameter, it should not be used for coronary artery disease.

• Plural abbreviations take a lower case “s” without an apostrophe.

– Example: Timely initiation of insulin can help reverse glucotoxicity and preserve β-cell function for longer than is possible with oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs) alone.

Avoid Using Hedge Words

• In scientific discipline, it is important to eliminate unnecessary qualifiers in each sentence.

• Use of active voice is suggested.

• Example:

– Incorrect way: “These results may propose that there is a possibility that use of isotretinoin could be responsible for birth defects”.

– Correct way: “These results suggest that isotretinoin is responsible for birth defects.”

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