Six Honest Serving Men for Medical Writers

Abstract

Kipling's poem gives an admirable summary of the way we get most of our knowledge. Most scientific enquiry is based on these six monosyllables, and the orderly presentation of a scientific paper is helped by trying to answer the six questions they pose. I shall use these six honest serving men here as headings in this communication on the writing of articles for medical journals. I am going to write as if you knew nothing about the subject and as if I knew everything, because I find it easier to write that way. I realize that is not so and that you are probably a capable writer yourself, because the people whocanwrite are generally those who read about how it is done. They are the people with well-used copies ofThe Complete "Plain Words"by Sir Ernest Gowers1and Fowler'sModern English Usage2; and, if they

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