Academic Writing

1. Academic Writing Instructor: Zhu Yaoyun @ Shandong University

2. 1. Abstract writing 2. Notes and bibliographies 3. Paper writing Contents Company Name

3. The IMRaD article (Weissberg and Buker 1990) • Abstract • Introduction • Materials and Methods • Results • Discussion This is a conceptual diagram: It is the width and shape of the boxes that is important, not their depth (i.e. no reference is intended to the length of the section) The whole structure is governed by the Results box. Introduction begins much ‘broader’, making firm contact with the selected audience, at the logical contact point for that audience ---more slides following Company Name

4. 1. Abstract Writing Company Name

5. You will learn: • What is an abstract? • the categorization of abstracts • Structure of an abstract • Language points: a. Verb tenses b. Voices: passive vs. active c. Use simple language • Qualities of a good abstract • Steps for Writing Effective Abstracts • Sentence templates Company Name

6. 1. What is an Abstract? • A mini paper----One paragraph (-- a condensed version of a full scientific paper; a very concise statement of the major elements of your research project. ) • Describes what you are going to discuss, present or write about • Gives reader and overview of the facts --Source of new ideas --- Gets reader interested Company Name

7. 2. Types of Abstract Company Name

8. Omits descriptive-abstract phrasing. • Instead, the informativeabstract presents the details of those conclusions and recommendations. Company Name

9. 3. Structure of an abstract (Worksheet for Drafting an Abstract) • Introduction/General Purpose (what is the research about? Why is important or interesting and to whom?) ________________________________________________________ • Research question/Hypothesis (What exactly were you thing to find out?) ________________________________________________________ • Methods/Materials (What did you do? How did you do it?) --note: this includes analysis of the data. ________________________________________________________ • Results/Findings (What did you find out?) ________________________________________________________ Discussion (How do the findings related to your original question/hypothesis?) ________________________________________________________ • Conclusion (What do you think it means? Why is this important / interesting?) ________________________________________________________ Company Name

10. 3. Structure of an abstract • Each section is usually one sentence (althoughthere is room for creativity) • Sections may be merged Now analyze the sample in the Ex. of our textbook Company Name

11. 4.Language points-a. Verb tenses • Re-Read the three samples in the text. What verb tenses are employed, and why? Rules of using different verb tenses <Ex.> 《英语科技论文与会议简报.pdf》 Company Name

12. More practice: Which tenses and why? 1A total of 53 samples examine . 2Direct microscopic examination of the samples show 20 different fungal strains, which isolate by culture and identify to the level of genus and/or species (Table 1). 3These findings show that fungi tolerate adverse environmental changes in the vegetative form. 4Table 2 show the results of the tests applied to the isolates. 5None of the fungi strains be able to grow in culture media with 500 to 5000 mg L-1 of anionic surfactant. 6An inhibitory effect on fungal growth and activity be expected from the anionic surfactant level found in the ponds. (cited in Weissberg and Buker 1990) Company Name

13. More practice: Which tenses and why? 1A total of 53 samples were examined. 2Direct microscopic examination of the samples showed 20 different fungal strains, which were isolated by culture and identified to the level of genus and/or species (Table 1). 3These findings show that fungi can tolerate adverse environmental changes in the vegetative form. 4Table 2 shows the results of the tests applied to the isolates. 5None of the fungi strains was able to grow in culture media with 500 to 5000 mg L-1 of anionic surfactant. 6An inhibitory effect on fungal growth and activity might be expected from the anionic surfactant level found in the ponds. (cited in Weissberg and Buker 1990) Company Name

14. 4.Language points-b. Use the active voice The passive voice is “respectable” but it DEADENS your paper. Avoid it at all costs. “We” = you and the reader “We” = the authors “You” = the reader Company Name

15. 4.Language points-C. Use simple, direct language A special case: noun/noun phrases e.g. ‘salt marsh succession’ . This phrase means – succession in salt marshes (盐泽,盐沼,盐碱滩 ) • To shorten the phrase, it is very common in scientific English for the second part (in salt marshes) to be moved in front of the headword (succession) • When this happens, the part that moves is always written in its SINGULAR form (salt marsh) and the preposition is omitted • A good way to remember this construction: ‘food for dogs’ is ‘dog food’ Company Name

16. 4.Language points-C. Use Use simple, direct language Company Name

17. 英文摘要的人称及词类 近些年来，摘要的首句多用第三人称This paper…等开头， 现在倾向于采用更简洁的被动语态、不定式或分词短语开头。 例如：To describe…，To study…，To investigate…， To assess…，To determine …，…are developed， Based on…， 行文时最好不用第一人称，以方便文摘刊物的编辑刊用。 4.Language points-C. Use Use simple, direct language To- do structure Company Name

18. 4.Language points-C. Use Use simple, direct languageUse of –ing and -ed • 尽量采用-ing分词和-ed分词作定语， 少用关系代词which ，who等引导的定语从句。 -----使用关系代词引导的定语从句不但会使句式变得复杂，而且易造成时态混乱（因为定语和它所修饰的主语、宾语之间有时存在一定的“时间差”。用-ing 分词和-ed分词作定语，简化语句的同时，还可以减少时态判定失误 Company Name

19. 4.Language points-C. Use Use simple, direct language A special case:noun/noun phrases e.g. ‘salt marsh succession’ This phrase means – succession in salt marshes • To shorten the phrase, it is very common in scientific English for the second part (in salt marshes) to be moved in front of the headword (succession) • When this happens, the part that moves is always written in its SINGULAR form (salt marsh) and the preposition is omitted • A good way to remember this construction: ‘food for dogs’ is ‘dog food’ Company Name

20. 5. Qualities of a Good Abstract An effective abstract has the following qualities: • uses one or more well developed paragraphs: these are unified, coherent, concise, and able to stand alone. • uses an introduction/body/conclusion structure which presents the article, paper, or report's purpose, results, conclusions, and recommendations in that order. • follows strictly the chronology of the article, paper, or report. • provides logical connections (or transitions) between the information included. • adds no new information, but simply summarizes the report. • is understandable to a wide audience. • oftentimes uses passive verbs to downplay the author and emphasize the information. Company Name From http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/bizwrite/abstracts.html

21. 6. Steps for Writing Effective Abstracts To write an effective abstract, follow these steps: 1. Reread the article, paper, or report with the goal of abstracting in mind. • Look specifically for these main parts of the article, paper, or report: purpose, methods, scope, results, conclusions, and recommendation. • Use the headings, outline heads, and table of contents as a guide to writing your abstract. • If you're writing an abstract about another person's article, paper, or report, the introduction and the summary are good places to begin. These areas generally cover what the article emphasizes. Company Name

22. 6. Steps for Writing Effective Abstracts 2. After you've finished rereading the article, paper, or report, write a rough draft without looking back at what you're abstracting. • Don't merely copy key sentences from the article, paper, or report: you'll put in too much or too little information. • Don't rely on the way material was phrased in the article, paper, or report: summarize information in a new way. Company Name

23. 6. Steps for Writing Effective Abstracts 3. Revise your rough draft to • correct weaknesses in organization. • improvetransitions from point to point. • drop unnecessary information. • add important information you left out. • eliminate wordiness. • fix errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. 4. Print your final copy and read it again to catch any glitches that you find. Company Name

24. 6.2 Steps for Writing Effective Abstracts summary writing isan exercise in compression: ----omit the details ---reduce the examples. ---simplify the descriptions. ---eliminate all repetitions. --compress wordy sentences and change phrases to words. Or make phrases do the work of clauses or sentences: ---use the shortest possible transitions. E.g. but, then, yet, and for vs.on the contrary, at that time, in this way, at the present time和for the purpose of. Company Name

25. 6.2 Steps for Writing Effective Abstracts Ex1.His courage in battle might without exaggeration be called lion-like. Ex2 The account the witness gave of the incident made everyone that heard it laugh. Ex3.Beautiful mountains like Mount Tai, Lushan Mountain, and Yellow Mountain, were visited by only a few people in the past. Today, better wages, holidays with pay, new hotels on those mountains, and better train and bus services, have brought them within reach of many who never thought of visiting them ten years ago. ---use general words instead of specific words. Ex4.She brought home several Chinese and English novels, a few copies of Time and Newsweek, and some textbooks. She intended to read all of them during the winter vacation. Company Name

26. 6. Databanks • The purpose of this paper is to examine-- • The paper is divided into /falls into five partsconcerning the five aspects of ----- respectively. • Part I covers ------ • Part II describes ------ • Part III introduces ------ • Part IV considers ----- • Part V establishes ------- • The paper shows that ------ • Results are obtained concerning ------ Recommendations of ------ are provided. Company Name

27. 6. Databanks • This paper investigates the relationship between three different views of ----- • We show that -------- • We argue that ------ • We also discuss that---- -- • We find that------ • This report presents an analysis of ------ • A comparison between X and Y is made. • It concludes that ------ • In this paper, ------ is treated, ------ are defined. ------ are derived. It is shown that ------ • This paper examines data from an ongoing project which analyzes------ The data are -- --- • We analyze----- Also, we analyze --- • Our data show that ------ Company Name