Writing for Health Professionals: A Manual for Writers

244 Pages·1996·7.754 MB·English

by  Philip Burnard (auth.)

Writing for Health Professionals
About the Author
Philip Burnard is a Reader at the University of Wales College of Medicine,
Cardiff. He is the author or editor of 30 books and more than 200 papers in jour
nals and magazines. His work has been published in the UK, USA, Italy, Czech
Republic, Finland and Hong Kong and has been translated into various
languages. He is a book, computer software and manuscript reviewer for a
range of journals, on the editorial boards of four international journals and an
editorial adviser to various publishing companies. He is also the editor of a
series of research monographs.
Dr Burnard has carried out research into counselling, interpersonal communi
cation, experiential learning, reflective practice, forensic psychiatry and atti
tudes towards mental health. He is an honorary lecturer at the Hogeschool
Midden Nederland, Utrecht, Netherlands and a visiting lecturer at universities
and colleges in Sweden, Hong Kong, Finland, Brunei and Curacao. He lives in
Caerphilly, South Wales and is married with two children.
Other books by Philip Burnard available from Chapman & Hall
Counselling Skills for Health Professionals
2nd edn (0 412 56690 7), 272 pages
Coping with Stress in the Health Professions
A handbook of experiential learning for health professionals
Paperback (0 412 38910 X), 208 pages
Personal Computing for Health Professionals
Paperback (0 412 49670 4), 256 pages
Health Care Computing
A survival guide for PC users
Paperback (0 412 60530 9), 224 pages
For more information, please contact:
The Promotion Department, Chapman & Hall,
2-6 Boundary Row, London SEt 8HN.
Writing for
Health Professionals
A MANUAL FOR WRITERS
Second Edition
Philip Burnard
Reader, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff, Wales.
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA B.V.
Distributed in the USA and Canada by Singular Publishing Uroup !ne., 42!!4 41st Street, San V1ego,
California 92105
First edition 1992
Reprinted 1994
Second edition 1996
© 1996 Philip Burnard
Original1y pub1ished by Chapman & Hali in 1996
Typeset in 10/12pt Tirnes by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby
Printed in Great Britain by St Edrnundsbury Press Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
ISBN 978-0-412-71980-6 ISBN 978-1-4899-6822-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-6822-7
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review,
as permitted under the UK Copyright Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this pub1ication may not be
reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in
writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction only in accordance with the
terms ofthe licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK, or in accordance with
the terms of licences issued by the appropriate Reproduction Rights Organization outside the UK.
Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the terms stated here shou1d be sent to the publishers at
the London address printed on this page.
The publisher makes no representation, express or imp1ied, with re gard to the accuracy of the
information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any
errors or omissions that may be made.
A catalogue record for this book is availab1e from the British Library
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 95-71225
@l
Printed on permanent acid-free text paper, manufactured in accordance with ANSI/NISO
Z39.48-1992 and ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1984 (Permanence ofPaper).
For Sally, Aaron and Rebecca
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Introduction IX
1 Writing: the basics
2 Equipment and environment 25
3 Buying a computer 31
4 Writing with a computer 63
5 Keeping databases 71
6 Educational writing 85
7 Writing essays 99
8 Writing theses and dissertations 119
9 Writing articles 135
10 Writing books and reviews 143
11 Writing: a personal view 187
12 Conclusion 199
Appendix A Cliches 201
Appendix B Proofreading marks 203
Appendix C Sample book contract 211
Appendix D Guidelines for non-sexist language 217
References 227
Further reading 231
Index 235
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements are offered to the British Standards Institution for permission
to reproduce the proofreading marks and to Chapman & Hall for permission to
reproduce the sample contract in the appendices of this book. Thanks, too, to
the American Psychological Society for permission to reproduce the notes on
non-sexist writing, also in the appendices. I am also grateful to Rob Heil of the
Saint Maarten Medical Center Foundation, Saint Maarten, for supplying me
with further material about referencing and to Martin Noble for editing this
edition.
Trade names
The following registered trade names have been used in this book:
Animator, Applause, Apple, Apple Macintosh, Arts and Letters, Claris Works,
Clean Sweep, Corel Draw, Dashboard, Dataease, dBase, Dream, EFMS,
EndNote Plus, Excel, Excel for Windows, File Express, Findex 3 X 5, Flex base,
Freelance Graphics, Harvard Graphics, IBM Idealist, Idealist for Windows, Info
Select, Infobase, Lotus, Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, Memory Mate,
Microsoft, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Project, Microsoft
Publisher, Microsoft Works, Norton Utilities, Novell Office, Oxford Writer's
Shelf, Page Plus, Page Wizards, Papers, Paradox, PC File, PC Tools, Q and A
Write, R:Base, R:Base Personal, SmartSuite, Vault, Walkman, Windows, Word,
Word for Windows, WordPerfect, WordPerfect for Windows, Zephyr.
Introduction
I try to leave out the parts that people skip.
Elmore Leonard
Like it or not, most health professionals have to write. In the last few years, this
has become even more apparent. As health professionals of all sorts become
more highly qualified, so they have to write more. Many carry out research
projects and many more share their ideas through writing for publication. With
the continuing development of the Internet - that sprawling but useful network
of computer networks, many people are writing in a new, immediate way. The
Internet allows health professionals to communicate around the world in
seconds. It seems unlikely, though, that the Internet will replace the more
formal written word: in papers, articles, books and records.
Non-fiction writing is more attractive when it is easy to read. It helps every
one if what you write is both easy and interesting to look at. Most of us can
improve our writing. In this second edition of this book about writing, I have
tried to expand the text to make it even more practical. For the sort of writing
that health professionals most often do is of a practical nature. This book, then,
is about non-fiction writing - writing so that other health professionals, teach
ers, patients and anyone else with whom we come in contact can make sense of
what we think and do.
When you write a book like this you put yourself on the line. You run the
risk of people reading what you have written and saying 'he is saying one thing
and doing another'. You stand to break the rules that you set up - quite badly.
That is probably not such a terrible thing. Besides, that should be part of the
process of using this book. As you read it, notice when rules are broken. Check
the phrasing, the sentence and paragraph construction and see whether or not I
have stuck to the rules. Then see whether or not the rules would have improved
the passage in question. Begin to read books as much for their style, layout and
general format as for their content. If you are going to write, you need to see
plenty of examples of all of these things: good, bad and indifferent.
___________________
__j
L__x_ _~ ll~ IN_T_R_O_D__U C__ TI_O_N_ ________________
In this second edition, I have generally revised and updated the text and added
the following features:
• more practical examples of what is described in the text;
• more details about the writing process;
• information about punctuation and layout;
• descriptions of the Internet and of computer software useful to writers;
• sections on reviewing-books and other people's work;
• information about plagiarism and how to avoid it;
• information about copyright;
• examples of what other writers have said about writing.
A word about sexism and the writing process. I find the use of 'his or her'
and its variants clumsy. I have decided to use 'her' to refer to the person who
might be writing, throughout the book. Read 'his' where this applies to you. At
present, there is no elegant way of avoiding sexism in writing but we should
continue to work at it. There is an appendix to this book that illustrates ways in
which sexism in writing can be avoided but some of the suggestions lead to
some fairly ugly compromises.
WHO IS THIS BOOK FOR?
All health professionals have to write. Some enjoy doing it. Others loathe the
thought of picking up a pen or sitting at a keyboard. This book is for a wide
range of health professionals. I particularly hope it will be of use to the follow
ing groups of people:
• students in the health professions on certificate, diploma, undergraduate and
postgraduate courses;
• researchers who have to write papers, dissertations or theses;
• practitioners in the clinical or community field who find themselves wanting
or having to write;
• managers who have to prepare reports and are not sure how to;
• lecturers and teachers who want some ideas about advising students;
• the general reader who wants some straightforward ideas about how to write.
In a phrase: this book is for you. If you want to write, it will give you some
practical help. It won't make writing easy, if you already find it difficult. But it
might help.
WHAT IS IN THE BOOK?
In summary, this book aims to help you do the following things:
• write clearly and well;
• keep a bibliographic database;
• write essays;