11 | Use a Formal Tone in Scientific Writing

Written text can have either a formal or informal tone, but it is best to avoid informal figures of speech when writing grant proposals and manuscripts. Informal expressions are known as colloquialisms (in Latin, colloquor means to converse), and these common components of everyday speech include certain contractions, slang, and idioms.

Contractions are words formed by the omission of a certain letters, such as “didn’t” or “can’t”. These are informal expressions. While it is fine to use a contraction on social media or in a science blog, spell out the contraction in academic papers—for example, did not or cannot.

Slang is informal language particular to a certain group of people. Scientists use many slang terms such as vax for vaccination, lab for laboratory, and DI for deionized water.^[1] While it is fine to use such terms over lunch with your labmates, use the full unabbreviated form of the word in your academic papers.

Idioms are phrases that have a meaning that cannot be discerned from the individual words. In the health sciences, popular idioms include “cherry picked,” “go viral,” “cold feet,” and “it’s not rocket science.” Idioms should be avoided in scientific writing because they are informal and can be difficult to understand for multilingual learners.

Maintaining a formal tone and following other standard writing practices will help ensure that your grant proposals and manuscripts are of the highest quality.