Scientific Writing and Communication in Agriculture and Natural Resources

Perhaps there is no dearth of books, reference manuals, and internet sources on scientific writing. Given, however, that different fields have different conventions for writing style, we have found it difficult to recommend a specific book or source material as the “go to” guide to young scientists in agriculture and natural resources. Having been involved as authors, reviewers, and editors of various journals and publications during the past few decades, we have come to the conclusion that writing a scientific paper is a tedious task for not only us, but most writers. While that is true even for experienced writers, it is a sort of nightmare for the early career professionals such as students, trainees, scientists, and scholars in agriculture and natural resources, especially when their first language of communication is not English. Their trials, tribulations, and frustrations are compounded by the severe pressure they experience from the increasing importance attached to authoring scientific publications (in English). This book is targeted mainly to that group.