When I began designing my Scientific Writing course at the University of Nebraska, I began by looking for a textbook. I took a close look at about half a dozen books. Some of them seemed dated, some seemed a little too dry, some were too general, but this one was just about what I was looking for. It covered a good amount of territory, with chapters on each section of an IMRaD journal article, and also chapters on figures and tables, grant proposals, scientific talks, posters, even job searching. When I began teaching my class, I assigned the book to my students, and I have stuck with this one ever since.
What I like about the book is that each chapter not only describes writing, but also includes annotated examples, sample phrases, and problem sets at the end of the chapter. A motivated student has plenty to work with just from the book alone, and could apply the prompts for the problems to other material as well. Each chapter also includes a set of guidelines and a checklist for authors. As I’ve gained experience I realize that I don’t agree with all of the advice and guidance in the book, but that’s OK, each individual has their own style, and having the guidelines to follow is fantastic in comparison to trying to learn to write journal articles just by reading journal articles.
At the time I began teaching with this book, there was only the first edition; now the third edition is out, and a fourth edition is on the way. I reviewed six chapters of the third edition as it was in development (even though they forgot to list me in the Acknowledgements on page xxi 
), so I feel a small sense of pride in the final version. With each new edition, the book has become more comprehensive. The second edition added new sections to several existing chapters. The third edition expanded several chapters and actually added a chapter on statistical analysis and a glossary, yet is only slightly longer (746 pages) than the second edition (728 pages).
To sum up, I highly recommend this book to students and postdocs, even faculty members, who want to deep-dive into self-teaching scientific writing. Experienced scientific writers could pick up the book for a refresher or to get some new insights into writing-related topics. Even though the second and third editions are more comprehensive, the first edition is still highly relevant, and if you are on a tight budget and can pick it up for less, it will still be worthwhile. Links to purchase the book are below.
Pre-order the fourth edition.
Order the third edition.
Order the second edition.
Order the first edition.
Have you used this book, and what do you think? Do you have recommendations for other textbooks? Leave a comment below.