How to make the best use of graphics
The power of a graph lies in its ability to convey a variety of complex relationships in a way that is difficult to describe in words, but is easily comprehended from a picture.
How to make the best use of graphics: Line graphs
Line graphs are an extremely useful way of showing changes and trends, especially over time. The following pointers are helpful when considering the use of line graphs
The essentials of foolproof proofreading
By Ruth B Murray Proofreading is the final stage of the editing process, focusing on surface errors such as misspellings and mistakes in grammar and punctuation, and should be done…
The Gunning Fog Index: a useful tool for targeting an article to an audience
By Ruth B Murray In the 1930s, psychologists began to research how our brains process written information. They found that the longer a sentence the more difficult it is for…
Macro- and micro-editing
by Ruth B Murray Editing a manuscript through the draft stages to produce a final product is time consuming, but the process ensures clarity, sense, accuracy and consistency. Macro-editing Macro-editing…
Clinical trials – Top ten mistakes in statistical analysis of clinical trials
By Ruth Murray The growth of evidence-based medicine has triggered an increased focus on the quality of clinical trials. However, careful scrutiny of the literature has revealed high rates of…
The pros and cons of e-publishing
By Ruth Murray As recently as 1990 the World Wide Web did not exist, and email was still difficult to use. Even the most optimistic experts could hardly foresee how…