My daughter is a graduate student at the University of Alberta, pursuing her Ph.D in Chemical Biology. Not only does she need to be on her game in terms of laboratory work and research, she needs to take all of her findings and translate them into legible, clear and thorough research papers. She forwarded this article to me in January. It's a funny, clever spin on how to do just the opposite - write a terrible paper!
The author of this article is Dr. Royce W. Murray, Editor of Analytical Chemistry Magazine. He has published more than 435 research papers, 4 books and was one of the most highly cited chemists worldwide from 1981 to 1999. He knows his stuff! While a lot of us are not writing scientific research papers, we can all gain some insight on how to present our thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively. The seven tips he provides point out ways to daze and confuse any reader.
Skillful writing of an awful research paper:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/ac2000169
