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“THE SCIENCE OF SCIENTIFIC WRITING” George D. Gopen and Judith A. Swan

“THE SCIENCE OF SCIENTIFIC WRITING” George D. Gopen and Judith A. Swan. Technical Writing ENGL 3153 Scott Hale. Scientific Writing. Remember: The goal is to communicate. Accurate information is useless if the reader cannot understand it. When presenting data in a table. Time Degrees

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“THE SCIENCE OF SCIENTIFIC WRITING” George D. Gopen and Judith A. Swan

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  1. “THE SCIENCE OF SCIENTIFIC WRITING”George D. Gopen and Judith A. Swan Technical Writing ENGL 3153 Scott Hale

  2. Scientific Writing Remember: The goal is to communicate. Accurate information is useless if the reader cannot understand it.

  3. When presenting data in a table Time Degrees 0 min 25 3 min 27 6 min 29 Give context before data. The information which is familiar (time increments) comes before the “new” data.

  4. Reader Expectations • Readers expect information from left to right and top to bottom in chronological (or other standard order of) sequence. • Example: • If the headings in your resume are top to bottom, and your content moves from left to right, don’t put a heading to the left/right of another (horizontally) or provide any content arranged vertically.

  5. Reader Expectations: cont’d • Readers expect the writer to follow generic considerations (Introduction, Experimental Methods, Results and Discussion) • Example: • A cover letter should announce the position being applied for before the writer begins to talk about his/her qualifications.

  6. Improving Accessibility • First, grammatical subjects should be followed as soon as possible by their verbs. • Avoid: • I would, because of many reasons--the first of which is location, the second of which is challenge, the third of which is independence--like to remain my own boss.

  7. Accessibility--Con’t • Second, every unit of discourse, no matter the size, should serve a single function or make a single point. • Avoid: • I have received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma and, since I live nearby, can come in to interview at any time.

  8. Accessibility--Con’t • Third, information intended to be emphasized should appear at points of syntactic closure. • Syntactic closure occurs at the end of a clause or sentence. • Syntactic closure comes HERE, but it can also come HERE.

  9. "Put in the topic position the old information that links backward; put in the stress position the new information you want the reader to emphasize.” 1. The backward-linking old information can appear in the topic position. • Example • While doing this experiment, a problem with the calibration was observed. This problem will have to be corrected before we can move on. • NOT • Before we can move on, we must correct this.

  10. Emphasis--Con’t 2. The person, thing or concept whose story it is can appear in the topic position. • Example: • The asphalt was heated, then cooled, over 100 times in rapid succession. Only minor cracking occured. • NOT • Our highly-skilled engineers tested the asphalt. They heated and cooled it, and they found only minor cracking occured.

  11. Emphasis --Con’t 3. The new, emphasis-worthy information can appear in the stress position. • Example: • We are pleased to report that we have had success. • NOT: • This report of our success, which we are pleased to provide, follows.

  12. Look for Logical Gaps Explanations should be step-by-step, and should not omit a step--assuming the reader can supply specialized knowledge. Treat descriptions of processes like mathematical proofs--supply all steps.

  13. Make the Central “Action” Clear Whether you are proving a hypothesis, making a recommendation (even of yourself), or reporting difficulties, make certain that this action is performed in your document (make it apparent and stress it).

  14. Summary • Follow a grammatical subject as soon as possible with its verb. • Place in the stress position the "new information" you want the reader to emphasize.

  15. Summary--Con’t • Place the person or thing whose "story" a sentence is telling at the beginning of the sentence, in the topic position.

  16. Summary--Con’t • Place appropriate "old information" (material already stated in the discourse) in the topic position for linkage backward and contextualization forward.

  17. Summary--Con’t • Articulate the action of every clause or sentence in its verb. • In general, provide context for your reader before asking that reader to consider anything new.

  18. Summary--Conclusion • In general, try to ensure that the relative emphases of the substance coincide with the relative expectations for emphasis raised by the structure.

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