The Young Statisticians Writing Competition Some tips on writing 1 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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The Young Statisticians Writing Competition Some tips on writing 1 - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Young Statisticians Writing Competition Some tips on writing 1 So - youve got your subject Now the tough bit Getting started 2 Draw readers in with Some mental imagery they can all relate to Weve all been there: stuck in the


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The Young Statisticians Writing Competition

Some tips on writing

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So - you’ve got your subject

Now the tough bit Getting started

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Draw readers in with…

Some mental imagery they can all relate to “We’ve all been there: stuck in the slowest queue…”

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Draw readers in with…

A recent and/or well-known real-life example “When Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 went missing….”

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Draw readers in with…

A “killer fact” “85% of Wall St fund managers do worse than chance”

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Keep ’em interested

Tell stories: of your project, the puzzle, the science…

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Now just keep going

Use analogies: Pr(winning Lotto jackpot): 49!/(43!6!) ~ 1.4x107 “Like pulling out the one black sugar grain hidden in a 12-kg bag of the stuff”

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Keep it simple

Jargon A little is OK (lets readers into your world, and may tell them something new) Always explain Consider putting explanation in a “box” Keep algebra to a minimum – it scares people

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Keep it simple

Sentences: short-ish, and active, not passive: “We decided to investigate further” NOT “It was decided to investigate further” Words: monosyllabic and colloquial “This seems to be just flat wrong” NOT “The alternative hypothesis H1 was not confirmed (p = 0.924)”

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How to wrap up

  • The loop-back

“So next time you’re in a supermarket queue…” “What happened to Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 may never be known, but….”

  • Look forward /call to action

“Over the next year, we plan to…” “So how can we break the stalemate ?”

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Final words

Read widely and critically, see what works – and create your own style Robert Matthews rajm@physics.org

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