‘It took me a long time to find the right tone’

Ellen Wemmenhove often drew on her experience as a composer and violinist when she was writing her thesis. She had less time for her music while working on her doctorate, but now she is playing in an amateur symphony orchestra in Denmark, where she works.
Ellen Wemmenhove

Ellen Wemmenhove graduated with a PhD on 1 February for her study on the growth of the Listeria monocytogenes bacterium in cheese

Proposition: Writing an article is like composing music

‘The nice thing about both science and music is that you have the opportunity to develop something new. In my third year as a student, I started singing in the Wageningen Student Choir and Orchestra Association WSKOV, and two years later I took up the violin. I also write music myself. There is more to that than just talent. You can be lucky and pull something off quickly, but usually it’s a question of hard work, above all.

It is similar when you write an article. It takes a lot of time and patience to write it so that you get your message across to your audience, and have an impact. Four features of both a good scientific article and a good piece of music are rhythm, tone, creativity and perfectionism. Without them, your writing skills will be nothing to show off about.

In my publications, I see rhythm in the order and structure I give the writing. Tone has more to do with the way I put things, creativity is required for developing new ideas, and perfectionism is important for getting the message across really clearly and convincingly. It took me a lot of time to find the right rhythm and tone for a good scientific article, but once I had them, the writing went faster. Writing is a skill I have learned, and from which I think I shall benefit a lot, no matter where I work.’

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