Welcome to the Comprehensive Guide to Writing in the Health Sciences

The Comprehensive Guide to Writing in the Health Sciences is based on the unique program of writing instruction conducted by the Health Sciences Writing Centre in the Health Sciences and Social Work Faculties at the University of Toronto, Canada’s largest university.

Publication of the Comprehensive Guide is a multi-year process. The first portion was released in September 2007, with the objective of providing a set of basic guides essential to any student.  The second portion, launch date September 2008, addresses the specific needs of graduate students around thesis writing, presentation, and publication. Future launches will be announced on this page. You can see the full Table of Contents here.

Who is the Comprehensive Guide written for?

• students at universities and colleges who are studying in any discipline within the health professions, from the narrowly biomedical to the broadly sociocultural
• graduate students who are conducting and reporting on research through thesis writing, conference papers or posters, and publication
• faculty who are teaching in any Health Sciences and Social Work discipline in a university or college setting
• health professionals and researchers seeking to improve their professional writing

What is the basic philosophy of the Guide?

The health professions seek out individuals who are not only technically skilled, but who are also able to conceptualize social and ethical issues, shape policy, fulfill advocacy roles, and communicate their expertise to a wide range of health care and community stakeholders. A university, then, is both an instructional and a socializing institution. As a student, you can expect to gain knowledge, as well as to become a member of a knowledge community. Based on this philosophy, the Comprehensive Guide approaches writing in two interconnected ways:

1. language as a social act, a conscious act of persuasion by the writer for the purpose of creating or transmitting knowledge;
2. “correct” use of language, that is, adherence to the conventions of your field in matters of grammar, style and mechanics.

The Guide is constructed on the principle that learning to communicate in the knowledge society is a collaborative process negotiated between student and faculty. It therefore contains a considerable amount of material on assignment design and evaluation strategies, which can be adapted by faculty for use in their courses.

What does the Comprehensive Guide offer?

• Advice on writing about theory, research, and practice in a wide range of health science disciplines;
• Guides that address the particular writing issues facing
  • undergraduate students
  • graduate students
  • course instructors
  • non-native speakers of English
• Advice on communicating with a variety of audiences, from the narrow subset of your disciplinary peers and professors to the public at large;
• Samples of improvable student writing, along with a revised text and step-by-step explanations of why and how the improvements were made;
• Samples of excellent student and published writing, which are analysed to show their structure and how the writers have achieved excellent writing.