Is there a guide for scientists who can't write?

I'm a biology major and I love labs. Love them. Give me a pipette and some cells and I'm happy. But writing papers? Actual torture.

My advisor recommended "The Scientist's Guide to Writing" by Stephen Heard. Apparently the third edition just came out and it has a whole new chapter on "AI writing tools" and "the benefits and pitfalls of using LLMs" .

Has anyone used this book? Does it actually help? I need something that explains how to structure a paper without all the fluffy English major language. Give me formulas, not feelings.

Heard is great but honestly? The book that actually changed my writing was "The Craft of Research" by Booth et al. It's not biology-specific but it's amazing for understanding how to structure arguments. And it's written in plain language, not academic nonsense.

For biology-specific stuff though, Heard is probably your best bet. The Tufts review of it said he emphasizes "absolute clarity" which is exactly what we need. Also apparently he quotes Stephen King about writing being "telepathy" which is weirdly perfect for science writing — you want your reader to understand exactly what you meant, no ambiguity.

Get the new edition for the AI chapter. That's timely.