The Problem: Many scientists are unclear about how to structure their reports and proposals, with the result that these become difficult to write and, eventually, to understand.
One Reason: The typical process of preparation (i.e. writing a series of drafts) requires the scientist to be simultaneously working at too many levels of text structure (e.g. overall flow, paragraph construction, grammar).
A Solution: Start the preparation process by using diagrammatic approaches that shift the focus onto issues of thought organisation, rather than language.
GIST will be open-source software that provides three diagramatic approaches to help a scientist to prepare and present a research report or proposal.The most conceptually important of these approaches will encourage the scientist to organise the report or proposal based on a mirrored set of nested questions and answers - or potential answers in the case of a proposal. I will refer to the output of this stage as a GIST diagram (see example below). A GIST diagram is expected to be both useful in itself (a new type of Abstract?), and as an intermediate framework for further elaboration. Also, beyond being an aid to writing, using a GIST diagram, and the other components of GIST, should help scientists to appreciate the deep structure of a scientific report, and scientific enquiries in general.
