Advanced Academic Writing 3 rd lecture

1. Public Lecture for Engineering Graduate School Winter Semester, 2016 3799-027 Advanced Academic Writing3rdlecture 16:50-18:35, Wednesday Eng. 2nd bldg. Room 211 Instructor: Kumiko Morimura, Ph.D. Yolanda Alberto, Ph.D. Global Ware Project Global Center for Innovation in Engineering Education, IIIEE The University of Tokyo ees.seut@gmail.com

2. How to write a good paper • Preparations before starting • Construction of an article • Technical details Advanced Academic Writing

3. General structure of a full article • Title, authors, abstract, keywords • Main text (IMRAD) • Introduction • Methods • Results and • Discussion (Conclusion) • References, acknowledgements and annexes Completeness, coherence and cohesion Advanced Academic Writing

4. In what order is written Personal process depends on your own research Usually in engineering… In general Advanced Academic Writing

5. Abstract Write what you did and what were your findings • This is the first thing people will see before reading your paper, it has to be concise and attractive. • Keep it as short as possible (100-300 words) • Focus on the results, not the means • A good practice is to write the abstract three times: before, during and after the paper is finished • Do not make references to bibliography or figures/tables in the abstract Advanced Academic Writing

6. Abstract - Poor example Write clear and simple sentences: “The effects of various design and operating parameters on the performance of the proposed reactor were investigated using a detailed model-based analysis” • What design and operating parameters? • What was the model? • What was the actual effect? Advanced Academic Writing

7. Abstract - Good example Rewriting that text: “Selectivity decreased by 20% while increasing temperature from 700° to 1000°C at constantpressure. Selectivityincreasedby 10% withincreasingpressurefrom 1 bar to 5 bar. A redoxkineticmodelaccountedfor 87% of thevariance in the data.” Advanced Academic Writing

8. Abstractformat • Format and writingstyledependonthejournal • Do NOT use symbols, special characters, or math in the title or abstract. (Reason: titles and abstracts go into databases all over the web and most databases can only handle ASCII characters) Advanced Academic Writing

9. Differences in abstractstyle Advanced Academic Writing

10. Grammar/Writing • Verb tense Advanced Academic Writing

11. Grammar/Writing • Verb tense Advanced Academic Writing

12. Grammar/Writing • Language • Employkeywords and phrasescommon in yourresearcharea, but use languageslightlylesstechnicalthan in themainbody to attract a wideraudience Glasman-Deal, 2010 Advanced Academic Writing

13. Writeyourabstract • Sentence 1. State the background (gap/problem) • Sentence 2. State the general and specific objectives of the research • Sentence 3 and 4. Describe succinctly the methodology • Sentence 5. Indicate the results of the study • Sentence 6. The writer presents the implications of the study (scope and application) Advanced Academic Writing

14. Introduction • Do notrepeatwhatiswritten in theabstract • Statetheobjective, scope of thework and background (earlierstudies, literaturereview) • Yourintroductionmustindicatewhatisthe gap in yourarea of research and whatisthescientificinterest • Be specificonwhat do youexpect to achieve • Do not mix thissectionwithresults, discussionorconclusion Advanced Academic Writing

15. Introduction in 6 steps • State the relevance of your research • Provide some background • Be specific about the problem you are trying to solve and the current research focus of the field • Literature review on the general problem • Mention important research specifically done on this topic and then, explain the gap you are trying to fill • Describe the contents of your paper and some details regarding the methodology Advanced Academic Writing

16. Example 1 C E F D A B C E Advanced Academic Writing

17. Example 2 2 C D A 3 B E F 3 2 Advanced Academic Writing

18. Literature review • You should write a couple of sentences for each reference relevant to your topic • If several articles discuss the same subject, they can be referenced simultaneously (e.g. Seed et al., 1983; Robertson 1999; Chang et al., 2010) • Suggestion: Use a software to organize your references Advanced Academic Writing

19. Literature review • Some examples are: https://www.mendeley.com/ https://www.zotero.org/ http://www.citeulike.org/ http://www.qiqqa.com/ • How to start using one? • Ask what people in your research group use • Check if the software is compatible with your operating system and your word processor • Check the websites to see how easy is to use • Look for tutorials and comments Advanced Academic Writing

20. Mendeley Advanced Academic Writing

21. Grammar/writing • TENSES • Present simple isused to statefacts and truthswellknown in science “Effective stress iscalculateddirectlyfrom…” “Riskdependsonvulnerability and …” • Use past simple to refer to eventsthathappened (literaturereview) “Scott (1985) provedthat…” “In theirexperimentstheyfound a…” • Use presentperfectforsentencesthat are more relevant to thecurrentsituation in yourresearch “Recentstudieshavesuggestedthat…” “Little attention has beenpaid to theselection of…” Advanced Academic Writing

22. Grammar/writing • SENTENCE CONNECTION (Cohesion) • Use of pronounsor pro-forms (it, they, this, these) • Relativeclauses (that, which) • As a tip, avoidthe use of semicolon to joinsentences • Overlapping “… isdifferent in climatechange. Actually, in climatechange…” Advanced Academic Writing

23. Grammar/writing • Use sentenceconnectors Advanced Academic Writing

24. Grammar/writing • Voice: passiveor active • Be consistentthroughoutallthepaper • Sometimespassivevoicemay lead to longorawkwardsentences, try to write short sentences • In passivevoice, itmight be difficult to identifythe “doer” so you can use a dummysubject “Thispaper describes…” “Thispaperpresents…” Advanced Academic Writing

25. Mainbody of yourpaper People should understand everything about your experiment by reading the paper. -Materials, methods and procedures -The results obtainedunderthoseconditions -Degree of accuracy of data and errors. -Choose appropriate tables and figures (do not repeat data on both of them) Advanced Academic Writing

26. Methodology • Name all the materials (chemicals and devices) used in the experiment. List standard tests (e.g., ASTM, JGS) if you used them. • Write the procedures so that anybody can reproduce the result • Write common details briefly so you can focus on the novelty of your research • Include schematic diagrams and summarize the tests conditions in tables • “This is exactly what I did, I did it carefully and I had good reasons for doing it this way” (Glasman-Deal, 2010) Advanced Academic Writing

27. Grammar/writing • Try to avoid as much as possible the verbs do, perform, make, use. They deviate the attention from the actual action. Avoid: “When using the infrared camera, the calibration was done between -20°C to 120°C” Instead, use: “The infrared camera was calibrated from -20°C to 120°C” Advanced Academic Writing

28. Grammar/writing • Misleading adverbs Advanced Academic Writing

29. Results • This is the main part of your paper • You must summarize the data in graphs and tables and discuss the trends in the text • You should be able to present your results talking about: • Sequence • Frequency • Quantity • Causality Advanced Academic Writing

30. Results/Discussion Keeping hard facts and personal interpretations separated is very important in academia. Results: (What you did and)what were the results Discussion: What the results mean - Depending on the structure of your paper you may want to have different sections for these two parts. Advanced Academic Writing

31. Charts Pie chart Bar graph Fig. 1. A pie chart looks like a pie. The pie chart has 3 "sectors" ("slices" or "shares"). The purple sector makes up 50% of the total. Flow chart Scatter plot Fig 3 A scatter plot shows a series of measurement points. It is similar to a line graph, but in a scatter plot there can be multiple y values for one x value. Figure 4 Flowcharts are often used to explain an algorithm or a process, or to visualize a flow of data or materials in a schematic way. Advanced Academic Writing

32. Charts • Your graphs must show good quality, different data should be easily distinguished • Write all the information necessary to understand the graph by itself (axes labels, data label, conditions) • Even if your paper is printed in black and white, all lines and points should be easy to read Advanced Academic Writing

33. Examples Advanced Academic Writing

34. More charts and graphs • http://snowballs.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp Advanced Academic Writing

35. Advanced Academic Writing

36. Grammar/writing • Adjectives and the properties • Avoid the word not (not sensitive – insensitive, not sufficient, insufficient, not necessary, unnecessary) • After writing, if some parts can be removed without changing the meaning, remove them Advanced Academic Writing

37. Grammar/writing • When talking about your results, use past simple, except for describing graphs, figures and tables • Don’t forget to use connectors Advanced Academic Writing

38. Discussion • Developyour view from the results in an accurate logic. You should interpret the data • Assess your result in relation to the other’s results. If your results are inconsistent with previous research, highlight the differences and explain the reason • Find the problem of your study • Mention how your study will be proceeded in the future • Has to have a logical assertion • Explain the significance of this new invention and how it contributes to the existing knowledge • Be critical on your study Advanced Academic Writing

39. Describe Compare Conclude Evaluate Criticize • Describe In the motorcycle industry, it is an important process used to join parts. • Compare In comparison with …. • Evaluate In our study , … was observed… • Criticize …. remains questionable …… • Conclude It was concluded that …… Advanced Academic Writing

40. Conclusion • Write the most important result • Itemize the results • Rephrase the hypothesis • Mention what you should do next Paragraph Paper Topic sentence = Introduction(hypothesis) Supporting sentences Experiment(supporting) Concluding sentence Conclusion Advanced Academic Writing

41. Correct these sentences. Wordiness • It has been found that CO2 and H2O formation has been reduced at high temperatures • Conversion over 90% was achieved with a residence time of 20 minutes • A campus rally was attended by more than a thousand students. Five students were arrested by campus police for disorderly conduct, while several others are charged by campus administrators with organizing a public meeting without being issued a permit to do so. • In the not too distant future, college freshmen must all become aware of the fact that there is a need for them to make contact with an academic adviser concerning the matter of a major. • In our company there are wide-open opportunities for professional growth with a company that enjoys an enviable record for stability in the dynamic atmosphere of aerospace technology. • Some people believe in capital punishment, while other people are against it; there are many opinions on this subject. Advanced Academic Writing

42. Combine these sentences into one concise sentence • 1. The cliff dropped to reefs seventy-five feet below. The reefs below the steep cliff were barely visible through the fog.2. Their car is gassed up. It is ready for the long drive. The drive will take all night.3. Sometimes Stan went running with Blanche. She was a good athlete. She was on the track team at school.4. Taylor brought some candy back from Europe. It wasn't shaped like American candy. The candy tasted kind of strange to him.5. Government leaders like to mention the creation of new jobs. They claim that these new jobs indicate a strong economy. They don't mention that low-wage jobs without benefits and security have replaced many good jobs. Advanced Academic Writing