Scientific writing is a challenge for students, clinicians, and researchers across fields and professions. In forum after forum online, students, academics, and non-academic researchers are posing the question “how can I improve my scientific writing?” For those who are non-native English speakers (i.e., English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL) speakers), the process of scientific writing in English poses additional stumbling blocks.

 The importance of scientific writing skills cannot be understated. International research trainees in the United States report that their level of English has interfered with professional opportunities, and students with low self-confidence in their scientific communication abilities are less likely to pursue research-intensive careers after graduation. For academic researchers, publications in English language journals may be explicitly or implicitly required for tenure and are thereby a cornerstone of...

Scientific writing is – understandably - a major source of stress for international students studying for science Master’s and PhD degrees in the United States. The pressures of didactic coursework, teaching and/or research assistantships, and productivity expectations are challenging for all students.

The need to learn, teach, and write in a non-native language, even if a student has high English proficiency, often adds an additional layer of anxiety to an already demanding time.

Below, we walk through five critical pieces of advice surrounding scientific writing among non-native English speaking graduate students in the United States.

1) Know that you are not alone.

 Scientific writing is difficult for all students and is especially challenging for non-native English speakers. 

Consider this:

            A Google search for “scientific writing” yields nearly 1 billion results.

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Overview of Article Use among Non-Native English Speakers

Articles – a, an, and the – while short in length – are critical to effective spoken and written communication in English. Native English speakers generally have an intuitive sense of article use; one commonly cited researcher (Hewson 1972, p.132) calls this a “psychomechanism”, through which native speakers use articles correctly but unconsciously.

The high frequency with which articles are used in the English language facilitates the unconscious use of articles among native speakers. The Oxford English Corpus, the largest collection of English written works, ranks the article “the” as the single most commonly used English word out of the over 2 billion words in its collection; “a,” is the sixth most commonly used work in English writings.

For those learning English as a second (or third!) language, articles present a unique challenge because they are a language area that...

Scientific writing is hard. It is even harder if English is your second (or third) language. Non-Native English speakers face unique challenges to mastering scientific writing and often prefer to focus on other technical elements of their scientific training and careers. However, scientific writing skills are essential to professional development, and the advantages of being a strong English writer are considerable. Here are the top five reasons to improve your scientific writing as a non-native English speaker:

1) Save Time

Scientific writing takes time. Each step of the writing process, including literature review, outlining, writing, editing, and formatting, requires a substantial amount of dedicated time and attention. Both anecdotal reports and published research suggest that non-native English speakers require substantially more time to complete scientific writing tasks.

How much more time does it take for researchers to write in English when English is a foreign language?

One...