Communicating Scientific and Technical Information

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Communicating Scientific and Technical
Information

• Writing Scientific English
• Miao Desui
• University of Kansas

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Charles Darwin

• A naturalists life would be a happy one if he
  had only to observe and never to write.

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PAMELA J. HINES, BRAD WIBLE, MELISSA MCCARTNEY
(Science, p.447,April 23, 2010)

• Science is about generating and interpreting
  data. But it is also about communicating facts,
  ideas, and hypotheses. Scientists write, speak,
  debate, visualize, listen, and read about their
  specialties daily. For students unfamiliar with
  the language or style of science, the deceptively
  simple act of communication can be a barrier to
  understanding or becoming involved with the
  science.

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Organization of a Scientific Paper

• Title describe the content of the paper with the
  fewest possible words.
• Authorship who wrote the paper?
• Abstract a summary of information in it.
• Introduction what was the problem?
• Materials and Methods how did you study it?
• Results what did you find?
• Discussion what do these findings mean?
• Acknowledgments a thank-you note.
• References Cited on the shoulders of the others.

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Christopher Marlowe

• Who ever loved,
• That loved not at first sight?

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Title

• Describe the contents of the paper in as few
  words as possible correct, complete,
  comprehensible, concise.
• Provide the key words that aid indexing,
  abstracting, and computer searching clear,
  specific, informative, self-explanatory.

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Use the specific word, the familiar word, the
short word

• Deadwood in titles
• An investigation of the effects of using
  fertilizer on lawns
• Standard title
• The effects of the use of fertilizer on lawns
• Rejuvenated title
• Fertilizer helps lawns grow.

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Edmund Burk

• Passion for fame a passion which is the
  instinct of all great souls.

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Names of Authors

• Ideally, the order of the authors should reflect
  the relative contributions to the paper, and thus
  alphabetical order is inappropriate.
• It is best to establish the order of the authors
  as early as possible in a project.
• It is gracious for the established senior
  scientist to give first author to a younger
  colleague or graduate student.

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Euripides

• A bad beginning makes a bad ending.

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Introduction

• Tells the reader what is in the paper, why it is
  an interesting, worthwhile issue.
• Introduces what is known, and what remains to be
  known.
• Develops the context of the results to be
  reported how and why a certain question or
  questions arose.
• Ends by saying what you did to answer the new
  questions.

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Alfred N. Whitehead

• The greatest invention of the 19th century was
  the invention of the method of invention.

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Materials and Methods

• Explains just how you did the work.
• Should be as simple and transparent as possible,
  and yet detailed enough so that the procedures
  can be duplicated exactly and hence confirmed.
• For materials, include the exact technical
  specifications and quantities and source or
  method of preparation.
• For methods, use chronological order.

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Winston Churchill

• I pass with relief from the tossing sea of
  Cause and Theory to the firm ground of Result and
  Fact.

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Results

• Reports the facts revealed by the work.
• Gives an overall description of the experiments,
  providing the big picture.
• Presents the data, in both words and tables
  graphics.
• Must be simply and clearly stated, and avoid
  redundancy.

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Thomas Barbington

• Men are never so likely to settle a question
  rightly as when they discuss it freely.

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Discussion

• Answers the question(s) posed in Introduction.
• Examines the meaning of the results presented in
  Results.
• Compares with the results of others.
• Discusses the consequences of those comparisons.
• Ends with a high note on some of the fundamental
  implications or significance of the paper.

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Kenneth K. Landes

• The abstract is of utmost importance, for it
  is read by 10 to 500 times more people than hear
  or read the entire article. It should not be a
  mere recital of the subjects covered. Expressions
  such as is discussed and is described should
  never be included! The abstract should be a
  condensation and concentration of the essential
  information in the paper.

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Abstract

• States the main objectives and scope of the
  research.
• Describes the methods used.
• Summarizes the results.
• States the principal conclusions.
• Thus, abstract is a mini-paper, and should be
  concise, specific, non-evaluative,
  self-contained, and informative.

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• Widespread nowadays in freshwater and coastal
  seas of the cold and temporal zones, lampreys are
  a jawless vertebrate group that has lived on
  earth for over 300 million years but left a
  meagre fossil record. Only two fossil lamprey
  species, i.e., Mayomyzon pieckoensis1, 2 and
  Hardistiella montanensis3-5, have been recognized
  with certainty from North American Carboniferous
  marine deposits6. Here we report the first
  freshwater lamprey from the Lower Cretaceous (ca.
  125 million years ago) of Inner Mongolia, China.

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• The new taxon, Mesomyzon mengi, displays a
  long snout, a well-developed sucking oral disk, a
  relatively long branchial apparatus showing
  branchial basket, seven gill pouches, gill arches
  and impressions of gill filaments, about 80
  myomeres and several other characters that are
  previously unknown or ambiguous. Our finding not
  only indicates Mesomyzons closer relationship to
  extant lampreys but also reveals the groups
  invasion into freshwater environment no later
  than the Early Cretaceous. The new material
  furthers our understanding of ancient lampreys,
  bridges the gap between the Carboniferous forms
  and their recent relatives, and adds to our
  knowledge of the evolutionary history of lampreys.

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Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Life is not so short but that there is always
  time enough for courtesy.

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Acknowledgements

• Give credit to those who helped in some fashion.
• Thank the reviewers.
• Acknowledge the funding agencies.
• This is NOT a place where youd thank your mom or
  your significant other who cooked you a delicious
  meal during the project. Do it somewhere elsebuy
  them flowers!

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Acknowledgements

• We thank X. Wang for providing the fossils and
  information on their provenance and stratigraphic
  horizon, Z. Zhou for discussions and reading the
  manuscript, M. Zhu for providing information and
  discussions, M. Yang for the illustrations and W.
  Gao for photographing. We also thank the
  anonymous reviewers for their well-informed and
  constructive opinions. Supported by the Chinese
  Academy of Sciences (KZCX3-SW-126 and
  KZCX3-SW-142), the National Natural Science
  Foundation of China (40121202 and 40432003), and
  the Asian-Swedish Research Partnership Program of
  the Swedish Research Council.

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Isaac Newton

• If I have seen further it is only by standing
  on the shoulders of giants.

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References Cited

• List only significant, published references.
• Check all parts of every reference against the
  original publicationNEVER cite a reference you
  have not read or from secondary sources.
• ALL citations in the manuscript must be listed in
  References Cited and ALL references must be
  cited in the text.

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Norman Maclean

• My father was very sure about certain things
  pertaining to the Universe. To him, all good
  things--trout as well as eternal salvation--come
  by grace and grace comes by art and art does not
  come easy.

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Publication manual of the American Psychological
Association

• The prime objective of scientific reporting is
  clear communication. You can achieve this by
  presenting ideas in an orderly manner and by
  expressing yourself smoothly and precisely. By
  developing ideas clearly and logically and
  leading readers smoothly from thought to thought,
  you make the task of reading an agreeable one.

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Four elements of effective communications

• Orderly presentation of ideas organization of
  the parts (??)
• Smoothness of expression paragraph structure
  (??)
• Economy of expression sentence structure (??)
• Precision and clarity word choice (??)

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Orderly presentation of ideas

• Connect paragraphs with discourse markers e.g.,
  subsequently, finally, incidentally,
  additionally, alternatively, conversely,
  moreover, furthermore, despite that, therefore,
  for example
• Link paragraphs with structural devices e.g.,
  first, second, third
• Avoid one-sentence paragraph.

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Paragraph structure

• Deal with a single idea per paragraph
• Start with a topic sentence
• Followed by one, two or more developing
  sentences
• End with a concluding sentence.
• The last sentence may also provide transition to
  from its topic to that of the next paragraph.

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An example

• Written communications are created when the
  topics are linked smoothly. In a well-structured
  piece of writing, each topic is represented by a
  paragraph and together the paragraphs form
  sections. Unfortunately, many writers do not take
  paragraph structure seriously. They write until
  they are tired and then break off for a new
  paragraph.
• By itself, the well-structured paragraph is
  like a whole paper in miniature

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Loosely connected

• The moon has always been an object of interest
  to human beings. Until the 1960s, getting there
  was only a dream. Some thought that we were not
  meant to go to the moon. In 1969, Neil Armstrong
  stepped onto the lunar surface. Moon landings
  became routine to the general public.

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More coherent

• The moon has always been an object of interest
  to human beings, but until the 1960s, getting
  there was only a dream. In fact, some thought
  that we were not meant to go to the moon.
  However, in 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the
  lunar surface. After that, moon landings became
  routine to the general public.

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A dialogue between a writing student and Annie
Dillard

• The student how can I become a writer?
• Annie Dillard do you like sentences?
• The student (puzzled) what? Oh, well
• Annie Dillard well, a painter was asked How
  can I become a painter? The painter said, Do
  you like the smell of paint? I became a painter
  because I like the smell of paint.

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Sentence structure

• The major elements Men admire women.
• The supporting elements Short men admire tall
  women.
• The service element Short men admire tall women,
  but women in general prefer tall men.
• The minor element Short men admire tall women,
  but most, if not all, women somehow prefer tall
  men.

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Kind of Sentences

• ??(??)? (Simple declarative S.) John loves Mary.
  Or He ran.
• ??(??)? (Compound Declarative S) John is short
  Mary is tall.
• ????? (Complex Declarative S.)Because short men
  admire tall women, John loves Mary.
• ??-?????(Compound-Complex Declaratives.)A man
  who has never gone to school may steal from a
  freight car if he has a university education, he
  may steal the whole railroad. ----
  Theodore Roosevelt

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Same idea, different structures

• Clear communication, which is the prime objective
  of scientific reporting, may be achieved by
  presenting ideas in an orderly manner and by
  expressing oneself smoothly and precisely. By
  developing ideas clearly and logically, you
  invite readers to read, encourage them to
  continue, and make their task agreeable by
  leading them smoothly from thought to thought.

• The prime objective of scientific reporting is
  clear communication. You can achieve this by
  presenting ideas in an orderly manner and by
  expressing yourself smoothly and precisely. By
  developing ideas clearly and logically and
  leading readers smoothly from thought to thought,
  you make the task of reading an agreeable one.

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Mark Twain

• The difference between the right word and the
  almost right word is the difference between
  lightening and lightening bug.

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???

• ????,????????,??????????,??????,??????,??????,???
  ???,???????????,?????,???????

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Word choice

• The test of what word to use, then, is made of 3
  Qs
• 1. Do I know what this word means and suggests?
  (??)
• 2. Do I know what its quality or atmosphere is?
  (???)
• 3. Do I know what its hooks are for linking
  it with other words. (??)

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Know your words

• Jehol vertebrates had experienced significant
  radiations
• Jehol vertebrates had undergone significant
  (adaptive) radiations
• You experienced the pain of giving birth to a
  child (or the thrill of sexual climax), but you
  underwent a surgery!

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Know how to pair your words

• You do not propose an opinionyou voice one
• You do not provide a suggestionyou make one
• You do not advance a hypothesisyou propose one.

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Just for fun

• The Ancient Ship was translated from the
  Chinese by Howard Goldblatt.
• The Da Vinci Code has been translated into
  Chinese.

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An or a?

• An estimated 2,200 people died in recent Yushu
  earthquake.
• Michael Jordan is an NBA player.
• Most faults in the region run in a NE/SW
  direction.
• Poland is a EU country.

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Which is right?

• The boy is climbing up the tree.

• The boy is climbing down from the top of the tree.

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Watch your comma

• Chairman Mao said President Chiang is a
  dictator.

• Chairman Mao, said President Chiang, is a
  dictator.

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Agreement

• A writer is like a bean planthe has his little
  day, and then gets stringy.
• --E. B. White
• The Future is something which everyone reaches
  at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he
  does, whoever he is.
• --C. S. Lewis

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Subject/Verb disagreement

• Mechanical problems appears to be a major
  reason for the poor data.
• Mechanical problems with the inclinometer
  appears to be a major reason for the poor data.

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Subject/Verb disagreement

• The composition of each sample was examined
  carefully.
• The composition and texture of each sample was
  examined carefully.

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Verb/Predicate Noun disagreement

• The Wasatch Mountains are (form) a narrow,
  upfaulted range.
• Eolian strata of the Weber are (compose) the
  chief petroleum reservoir.

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Pronoun disagreement

• Large-scale volcanic eruptions in Iceland began
  in early April, 2010 this disrupted the air
  travels of many people in Europe for almost a
  week.

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Misplaced modifiers

• He told her that he wanted to marry her
  frequently.
• We saw a man on a horse with a wooden leg.
• He took a frog to biology class in a glass jar.

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Dangling modifiers

• At the age of five, his father died.
• Running through rain, his clothes got soaked.
• Preparing for the experiment, several samples
  were collected.
• Having done well on her research, the paper
  earned her an A.

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Dangling modifiers

• So incredibly thin, youll never know its
  there!

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Elliptical sentence

• John loves money more than Mary.
• John loves money more than Mary loves money.
• (John loves money more than Mary does.)
• John loves money more than he loves Mary.
• (John loves money more than he does Mary.)

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Faulty parallelism

• Writing well demands the following planning your
  time, paying attention to details, the need for
  revision, and proofreading.
• Writing well demands the following planning your
  time, paying attention to details, revising, and
  proofreading.

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Confusing references

• John told Larry that he would become a great
  scientist.
• John said to Larry, You would become a great
  scientist.
• John said to Larry, I would become a great
  scientist.

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The approach to style is by way of plainness,
simplicity, orderliness, sincerity.

• The bible for writers

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• ?????????????????,????,??????????,?????????????
  ????,?????,????,????????? (??)

• Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should
  contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no
  unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a
  drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a
  machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not
  that the writer make all his sentences short, or
  that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects
  only in outline, but that every word tell.

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Simplicity is beauty

• Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good
  rhythm depend on simplicity.
• ----Plato

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The best word play ever

• Even in rainy weather, it flows freely.
• "It never rains, but it pours."
• "When it Rains It Pours."

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Parting advice

• Words are all we have, and let us use them
  carefully, correctly, economically, wisely, and
  gracefully!

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Thank you for coming!