Coherence, though, is not the only feature of scientific writing. The others are clarity, conciseness, accuracy, objectivity, formality, and appropriateness.

Clarity refers to ease of understanding. Clarity is a special problem in science and technology writing. Specialized languages, mathematically detailed analyses, and complex conceptual schemes can make technical subjects hard to grasp even when prepared by skilled writers and read by expert readers. You can increase the clarity of your material in several ways.

At the level of the whole document, you can promote structural clarity, making it easy for the reader to get the large picture. Use abstracts and other forecasting strategies such as introductions that state the purpose and scope of the document. Tables of contents, problem statements, and even strategic repetition also promote structural clarity. Graphs and tables, effectively designed and placed, help focus and clarify information. Descriptive titles and frequent subject headings guide readers and help keep the large picture in focus.

Stylistic clarity is promoted by simple, direct language. Simplicity in language is obtained with directly worded sentences. Using simple sentences and avoiding overloaded sentences and excessive nominalization also contribute to clarity. Word choice is a factor in stylistic clarity: use simple language wherever possible to counteract the abstract, highly specialized terms of science and technology.

Contextual clarity, in which the importance, authorization, and implications of your work are made available, also contributes to ease of understanding. Any work is supposed to have a context, and your readers want to understand what the context of the document is. What prompts the author to write? What is the purpose? Whose work precedes or has influenced the one you read? What is the organizational and intellectual context of the problem? Those questions are answered in introductions and problem statements and in the citations and other references.

The next feature is conciseness. It has a special value in technical fields. Writers are often tempted to include everything that could be relevant to their subject, rather than merely everything that is relevant to the communication task at hand. The concise document is a piece of writing that conveys only the needed material.

At the level of the whole document, conciseness is helped most by focus, the narrowing of document scope to a manageable problem and response. Preparing a clear introduction and developing a detailed outline are two strategies that give the author control over document length and scope. The material that is not necessary to support the author’s claims must be identified and eliminated. Graphics are powerful aids to conciseness because they cut down on the amount of prose necessary to describe objects and processes, summarize data, and demonstrate relationships.

Conciseness requires careful revising. The author must be familiar with the strategies for reducing wordiness, must look for ways of cutting useless words, sentences, and sections from the document.

Accuracy, which is the careful conforming to truth or fact, has three main aspects:

Document accuracy refers to the proper coverage of the topics in appropriate detail. Often an accurate document needs to focus clearly on a problem. Document accuracy is generally cultivated by a clear problem statement and by a preliminary outline. These writing tools help the author focus his writing effort by reducing the data in a way that solves a theoretical or practical problem.

Stylistic accuracy concerns the careful use of language to express meaning. Accurate language requires the careful use of paragraph and sentence structure and word choice to describe and analyze the topics effectively. The writer must be in a good command of the elements of style and know how to apply those elements to drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading. Stylistic accuracy is also a matter of using words precisely.

Technical accuracy requires stylistic accuracy but is not based solely on it. The effective document in science and technology must be grounded on a technically accurate understanding and representation of the subject. Technical accuracy depends on the writer's conceptual mastery of the subject and its vocabulary, as well as on his or her ability to analyze and shape data with a minimum of distortion. In science and technology, enormous creative energy is given to mastering this technical aspect of subject development.

Objectivity, which is the next feature we are to dwell on, is generally governed by the research topic, although obviously it is individuals who actually have to select, arrange and present their findings.

From a language point of view, objectivity and a neutral approach (impersonal style) may be achieved by using the passive voice and by avoiding ambiguous statements. Avoidance of confusing metaphoric elements, use of precise and well-established technical terms may add to effective writing and help to produce explicitness of standard academic description.

Using the passive voice in impersonal writing

Scientific writing is usually done in an impersonal style. Information and facts are more important than personal opinions or attitudes. This style is also used to put a certain distance between the writer and the arguments proposed and thus makes them more objective.

Personal / informal	Impersonal / formal
We can distinguish limits to other technical systems by …	Limits to other technical systems can be distinguished by…
In the present article I want to …	The present article is intended to contribute…
We tested thirteen SGS models …	Thirteen SGS models were tested …
I assume that …	It is assumed that…
The authors consider these results to be …	These results are considered to be…
Because we want to evaluate …	In order to evaluate…
If there aren’t any …	If there are no …

Precise references to data in tables, graphs and diagrams also lead to greater objectivity in research findings.

Academic writing follows certain rules of formality which non-native writers should not violate without very good reasons.

For example, contracted verb forms are normal in speech, but should be avoided in academic writing. It is true that nowadays contracted verb forms can be found in scientific publications as they are increasingly regarded as a way of producing informality, thus creating communication with the audience. However, as a general principle, contractions are still not acceptable in technical-scientific papers and should be written out in full.

Besides, it is normal practice to avoid using the personal pronoun “I” in scientific articles. Instead, “we” or “the team” are preferred. Some kind of switching between the different forms may nevertheless be appropriate in order to make the reader more involved in the argumentation. The switch from “we” or impersonal forms to “I” may help to establish more desirable informal relationships with the reader.

All technical writing should also be appropriate to the specific institutional context that motivated its creation. So, appropriateness is the other feature of the scientific style. The piece of writing should not only serve the writer's and the reader's purposes but also conform to the goals and conventions of the institution in which it exists.

Thus, the document should be made appropriate to the goals of writing, the audience's purpose in reading it, and the specific institutional contexts in which it is written and read.

Because a reader's knowledge or experience determines the level of comprehension of technical material, appropriateness is largely determined by the audience. For example, a fact expressed in a mathematical equation may not be effective in a report addressed to a managerial audience.

These are the basic features of the scientific style, though different researches may outline some other ones or just additional to the ones named.