Europe PMC Team

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[By Elizabeth McAdam, a postdoctoral researcher at the Cancer Research
UK London Research Institute,
UK]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}  
[  
]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}[[Note:
Elizabeth ]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}[was
awarded second place in this year's *[Access to
Understa](http://europepmc.org/sciencewritingcompetition){target="_blank"
rel="noopener"}*]{style="background-color: white; font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"}*[nding](http://europepmc.org/sciencewritingcompetition){target="_blank"
rel="noopener"}*[ competition. Check back tomorrow to read her winning
entry. Congratulations
Elizabeth!]{style="background-color: white; font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"}]{style="font-size: x-small;"}  
[  
]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}  
[Writing always terrified me. Growing up, I didn't enjoy English at
school; I positively hated it. It all seemed to be about big words and
complex detail. But I didn't really care; I was going to be a scientist!
And who needs to worry about being good at writing when you're a
scientist?]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}  
[  
]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}  

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| [![](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-01MUcwQPC3g/U2i2x6NlR6I/AAAAAAAAATQ/ipgfP9T20G0/s1600/240314_0115.jpg){decoding="async" loading="lazy" border="0" height="400" width="266"}](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-01MUcwQPC3g/U2i2x6NlR6I/AAAAAAAAATQ/ipgfP9T20G0/s1600/240314_0115.jpg){style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"} |
|              [Elizabeth receiving her award from Sir Mark Walport ]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"}[©The British Library Board]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"}               |

[Fast forward ten years to my doctoral studies. I found myself becoming
increasingly frustrated reading poorly written research articles.
Scientists were desperately trying to look impressive by using long
complex paragraphs of words to explain work that could easily be
summarised in a sentence. I would spend hours reading and re-reading a
single article trying to get my head around the unnecessary (and often
wrong) use of words, all the while wondering how an interested member of
the public might fare. Someone newly diagnosed with a particular disease
may be curious as to what the latest research means for them, or maybe a
scientific documentary inspired another to read on further. Whatever the
reason, these people would find the jargon filled, over complicated,
research articles impossible to
understand. ]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}  
[  
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[Often, the media is the messenger between scientist and non-scientist,
and is usually fairly accurate in its reporting. Unfortunately however,
many newspaper articles describing current scientific findings are
headed by misleading, sensationalised titles and content, particularly
when it comes to medical research. 'Food X causes cancer!' or 'Food Y
prevents cancer!' can be weekly occurrences in some heavily read
tabloids, at best misleading the public; at worst outright scaring
them. ]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}  
[  
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[That's the beauty of *Access to Understanding*. It promotes simple, yet
accurate scientific writing intended for interested members of the
public often bewildered by the science which directly impacts upon their
daily lives. The competition requires entrants to summarise a research
article in plain English, which is then checked for its scientific
accuracy and judged. I chose an article from Dr Stephen Young's research
group at Birmingham University, which detailed some exciting
possibilities for alleviating rheumatoid arthritis, something I knew
almost nothing about beforehand. This was actually beneficial, as I
needed to simplify the information to understand it
myself. ]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}  
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[The competition has raised an important issue, and hopefully in the not
too distant future, scientists will be asked to provide a lay summary
when they publish their work, to help make research accessible to anyone
who is interested in it. Encouraging the next generation of scientists
to write in plain English will help immensely, which, I was pleased to
hear, is already happening at Dr Young's University.
 ]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}  
[  
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[Writing no longer terrifies me quite as much as it used to. *Access to
Understanding* has helped me to realise that a good piece of writing
doesn't always involve fancy words and in-depth descriptions. Sometimes,
keeping it simple is best. After all, what's the point of writing
something if most people can't understand
it?]{style="font-family: \"helvetica neue\" , \"arial\" , \"helvetica\" , sans-serif;"}  
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[Look out here and on
Twitter [@EuropePMC_news](https://twitter.com/EuropePMC_news){target="_blank"
rel="noopener"} for further competition news and other Europe PMC
announcements.]{style="font-family: \"arial\" , sans-serif; line-height: 24px;"}
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[By Elizabeth McAdam, a postdoctoral researcher at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, UK]{style=“font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;”} [ ]{style=“font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;”}[Note: Elizabeth ]{style=“font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;”}[was awarded second place in this year’s
<em>
 Access to
</em>

Messaggi di Rogue Scholar

Simplicity is sometimes best