Interlude: Taking Action, Acknowledging AI, and Word Associations
I often get asked for book recommendations—and I love that question. Books have shaped so much of how I think about writing and communication. They offer new perspectives, challenge our thinking, and give us helpful frameworks and strategies to draw from.
But reading alone doesn't change our writing—or us. Insight without action tends to fade. The real transformation happens when you apply what you learn, test it out, and make it your own.
Books are a wonderful source of knowledge and inspiration. But action is the source of transformation.
So keep reading books, and also keep taking action. Choose one small thing that you've learned recently in a book, and put it into practice this week. That's how transformation begins.
Now onto this week's round-up...
Round-up
From My Desk
How to Disclose AI Use in Publications (and Why It Matters)
If you’re using AI tools to help with your manuscripts, you need to know how to disclose that use correctly in your publications. In this video, you’ll learn why disclosure matters, what you should (and don’t have to) disclose, and where to include this information in your manuscripts.
Reading
Comprehensive bibliometric analysis of characteristics, patterns, and causes of retractions in pediatric literature
“Articles with four authors showed the highest retraction rate, and the retraction rate generally decreased as the number of authors increased. . . Additionally, time to retraction was positively correlated with the journal’s impact factor (r = 0.106, p = 0.015) and the citation count (r = 0.213, p < 0.001) but showed no significant correlation with time to acceptance (r = − 0.019, p = 0.675).”
Linguistic Framing in “Cancer” and “Cancer”-Adjacent Terms
“Our findings support the hypothesis that the term “cancer” elicits stronger negative emotions and more severe associations than its synonyms or related terms. It is a clear instance for which the concept of linguistic framing is useful for differentiating meaningfully between terms that might be thought of as semantically equivalent, or synonymous, even to the general public.”
Tools
OZDIC Dictionary
A friend recently introduced me to OZDIC, a collocation dictionary that provides frequently used word combinations and idiomatic expressions. This dictionary can help you learn words that are commonly combined so you can write and speak more natural-sounding English.
Quote
"Communication is not about saying what we think. Communication is about ensuring others hear what we mean." – Simon Sinek
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
