I started to learn English when I
was 14 years old. I needed to pass a
written English exam to be admit-
ted to high school in China, so my
teacher had us practice vocabu-
lary and grammar. In later years, I
needed to pass other English exams
to gain admission to university, and
to graduate. Writing wasn’t a huge
component of them—instead, they
consisted mostly of multiple choice
questions testing reading compre-
hension, vocabulary, and grammar.
The first time I needed to write
anything substantive in English
was during my master’s program
in China, when I wanted to submit
a manuscript to an international
journal. I didn’t have enough con-
fidence to compose a first draft in
English, so I wrote it in Mandarin
and used an online translation tool.
The paper was accepted, which gave me a feeling that my
strategy worked. But as I read more papers in English and
reassessed my own writing, I realized my approach wasn’t
ideal. The tool had translated my text word for word, creat-
ing sentences that were technically correct but sounded un-
natural, in part because sentences are structured differently
in Mandarin and English.
I knew if I wanted to continue publishing, I would
need to write in English directly—and when I moved to
the United Kingdom for my Ph.D., I had no choice. Sud-
denly, I not only had to publish papers in English; I also
had to write emails and prepare proposals in that lan-
guage. (I needed to speak English, too, which was its own
challenge—but that’s a different story.)
At first, I sometimes sat at my computer all day and only
ended up with 200 words of text. I couldn’t tell whether my
writing was any good. Every time I composed a sentence, I
imagined someone laughing at it.One day I’d had enough of writing
the same sentence over and over. I
decided to write the first draft of a
manuscript as quickly as possible.
That’s when something magical
happened: The sentences seemed to
flow out of me, and in a few hours I
had a rough draft. I had to go back
and edit my work later, but it was
a relief to have text to work with—
and to know that my draft could
only get better.
My supervisor’s feedback on the
draft was another turning point.
Without his comments, I wouldn’t
have figured out that complicated
sentences and big words might con-
fuse my readers. He also helped me
see the importance of telling a story
as clearly as possible, paring down
tangential details.
I now think through my simpli-
fied message before I start to write. I also try to get a first
draft down quickly, doing my best to quiet the perfectionist
voice in my head. Then I go back and take a closer look to
see whether I can make my sentences more concise and
trim any unnecessary details. I’ve also become more relaxed
about editing: Even if I receive a manuscript full of changes
again, I will just take it as an opportunity to discover prob-
lems I am not aware of. Lately, though, I’ve noticed that
my supervisor has made fewer revisions, which gives me
confidence I’m making progress.
It’s frustrating to know I will probably never write as well
as my supervisor. But I take solace in the fact that writing
is hard for many native English speakers, too. It’s not like
solving a straightforward math problem—there’s an art to
it, and it can take years of practice. I hope my journey can
help others develop writing strategies that work for them. jYunhe Tong is a Ph.D. student at the University of Bristol.“Every time I composed
a sentence, I imagined someone
laughing at it.”
My writing journey
I
grew up in China and was still developing my English skills, so I was nervous when I emailed my
Ph.D. supervisor the first draft of a manuscript. One week later, he sent it back full of changes.
At first, I was frustrated that my writing required so much editing. But after I took a closer look,
I realized where I’d gone astray. He had shortened many of my sentences and commented that
I should avoid unnecessarily long and complicated phrases. The advice was counter to what I’d
learned when studying for English language proficiency exams. Showing off complex grammar
and advanced vocabulary had always brought higher scores, so that’s how I approached writing. But
I clearly had more lessons left to learn.By Yunhe Tong
ILLUSTRATION: ROBERT NEUBECKER1062 4 MARCH 2022 • VOL 375 ISSUE 6584 science.org SCIENCE
WORKING LIFE