Read that again

Structure and readability

Scientific papers and articles frequently write like this:

➤ The use of polymers to produce prosthetic heart valves that have the positive attributes of current commercial and mechanical valves without any of their drawbacks, has been a focus of research since the 1950s.

However, it reads poorly, requiring multiple readings. Help your reader and create flow:

➤ Since the 1950s, scientists have been trying to use polymers to produce prosthetic heart valves which have the positive attributes of current commercial and mechanical valves, but without any of their drawbacks.

Whether one is writing for a general or highly knowledgeable audience, readability and flow are essential: it is not the reader’s job to rearrange the writer’s sentences.

To keep it readable:

▪︎ make subjects people rather than concepts and place the main verb close to the subject
▪︎ choose strong verbs, check punctuation, and avoid unnecessarily long sentences