The idea of trying to repeat words can seem strange to students of scientific English who come from non-English-speaking cultures. These students understand that a clear and direct style will help them to communicate with readers around the world, but they still feel uncomfortable repeating words. The students' cultures often value varied and inventive expression more than English-speaking cultures do, and put less emphasis on clear and direct communication. Some of my Polish students have told me how their high school teachers took away points if they repeated words—"Never, never repeat words!" one student told me, shaking his finger as he imitated his teacher. The problem is that many synonyms in English have very specific meanings, so if you use a synonym, you change the meaning enough that your writing is no longer accurate and precise.
Therefore, it is important to repeat key words (the words that express the most important ideas in your article). This makes your writing clearer and more precise, and it helps connect your ideas so that other scientists can follow your thinking. It also has an additional benefit: if you repeat key words, you have a better chance of being read and cited.
I first saw this information on how repeating key words increases your chances of being cited on David M. Schultz's Eloquent Science blog. Schultz had posted a link to a page on Wiley-Blackwell Author Services which I excerpt below:
Optimizing your article for search engines will greatly increase its chance of being viewed and/or cited in another work…The crucial area for optimization is your article's abstract and title, which are freely available to all online…most [search engines] now scan a page for keyword phrases, giving extra weight to phrases in headings and to repeated phrases…In search engine terms, the title of your article is the most interesting element. The search engine assumes that the title contains all of the important words that define the topic of the piece and thus weights words appearing there most heavily. This is why it is crucial for you to choose a clear, accurate title. Think about the search terms that readers are likely to use when looking for articles on the same topic as yours, and help them by constructing your title to include those terms…The next most important field is the text of the abstract itself. You should reiterate the key words or phrases from the title within the abstract itself. You know the key phrases for your subject area, whether it is temporal lobe epilepsy or reconstruction in Iraq…Use the same key phrases, if possible in the title and abstract. Note of caution [author's emphasis]: unnecessary repetition will result in the page being rejected by search engines so don't overdo it. The examples below illustrate the difference between an abstract which is well-optimized and one which is not. [I recommend that you look at the examples in the original.]
In other words, as Schimel (2012, p. 5) has written, "It is the author's job to make the reader's job easy." Think about what words your readers are likely to search for. Put those key words in your title, and repeat those key words in your abstract. This will make it easy for readers to find your article. When you're writing your article, find the clearest, most precise words to explain your important ideas to your readers. Repeat those those key words; this will make it easy for your international readers in China, Argentina, Egypt or Germany — they don't want to be forced to use their dictionaries again and again. Remember, if you mean "bacteria", but instead you write "microbes", "microorganisms" or "prokaryotes", just to avoid repetition, your papers may be repeatedly rejected or returned for revision. Okay, I think I've repeated myself enough — after all, the Wiley-Blackwell Author Services page warns that we shouldn't overdo it ;-)
CALL FOR COMMENTS: Please help make Better English for Scientific Impact
a better resource for teachers and students everywhere. If you find a
good example of precise, clear scientific writing, post a reference to
it in the comments and it may be included in a future lesson. If you
have any questions, comments or suggestions, please post them too.
REFERENCE:
Joshua Schimel, Writing Science: How to write papers that get cited and proposals that get funded (OUP: Oxford, 2012), 5.
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