Scientific Research Writing for Non-Native Speakers of English: Style

1. Scientific Research Writing for Non-Native Speakers of English: Style Writing Workshop December 1, 2010 Martha Montello, Ph.D. Director, Writing Consult Center

2. Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret of style. Matthew Arnold

3. Write clearly. Aim for transparency.

4. There is now no effective mechanism for introducing into the initiation and development stages of reporting requirements information on existing reporting and guidance on how to minimize burden associations with new requirements.

5. 1st principle of clear writing State who’s doing what in the subject of your sentence, and state what that “who” is doing in your verb.

6. Which is clear? • Our lack of pertinent data prevented determination of committee action effectiveness in fund targeting to areas of greatest assistance need. • Because we lacked pertinent data, we could not determine whether the committee had targeted funds to areas that needed assistance the most.

7. 2nd sentence names who acts in the subject of each clause, and tells in specific verbs what those actors do. • we lacked • we could not determine • the committee targeted • areas needed

8. Readable, Transparent Writing

9. 5 Targetswith exercises • Nominalizations • Closing the core • Point of view • Verbosity • Sentence length

10. Nominalizations Verbs changed to another part of speech, particularly a noun.

11. Nominalizations Verb Nominalization investigate investigation discover discovery perform performance impair impairment respond response deny denial

12. Typical Patterns of NominalizationsSubject + Empty Verb + Object The data are proof of the thesis. There was agreement in the committee. Analysis of the issue was done by the author.

13. Returning Nominalizations to Verbs The data are proof of the thesis. The data prove the thesis. There was agreement in the committee. The committee agreed. Analysis of the issue was done by the author. The author analyzed the issue.

14. Nominalizations garble up sentences, fog the meaning. Cure: Change the nominalization back to a verb.

15. There will be a suspension of these programs by the dean until his reevaluation of their progress has occurred.

16. The dean will suspend these programs until he re-evaluates their progress. .

17. We conducted an investigation of the matter.

18. We investigated the matter.

19. A review was done of the relevant regulations.

20. We reviewed the relevant regulations.

21. There has been the exercise of effective staff information dissemination control on the part of the secretary.

22. The secretary has effectively controlled the way the staff disseminates information.

23. Closing the Core Word order in English Subject – Verb - Object

24. Long sentences &how to make them clear A. This surprising recovery in the face of an abrupt slowing of retail sales in the consumer durable goods sector with the consequent near panic of inventory reductions among manufacturers continued into the fourth quarter.

25. B. This surprising recovery continued into the fourth quarter in the face of an abrupt slowing of retail sales in the consumer durable goods sector with the consequent near panic of inventory reductions among manufacturers.

26. Subject / Verb “Core” Readers want SUBJECT and VERB to be close together and early in the sentence. A closed core.

27. core violation A. This surprising recovery in the face of an abrupt slowing of retail sales in the consumer durable goods sector with the consequent near panic of inventory reductions among manufacturers continued into the fourth quarter.

28. closed core B. This surprising recovery continued into the fourth quarter in the face of an abrupt slowing of retain sales in the consumer durable goods sector with the consequent near panic of inventory reductions among manufacturers.

29. Core violations & the Language of Expertise Features to support consolidated management of Exchange Server computers (e.g. the Active Directory Connector (ADC) for Exchange 5.x, and the use of Active Directory by the next release of Exchange, code-named “platinum,” instead of a separate directory) will also become available.

30. Core violations& the Language of Expertise Knowledge of institutional patterns of decision making, of political alliances both past and present, and of the relationship of the institution to its community, for example, clarifies our understanding of organizational behaviors.

31. Core violations& the Language of Expertise The recent raising of the question of the impact of the radical swing toward the recognition of the rhetorical dimensions of knowledge on the educational stances of those bulwarks of both secular and traditional religious faiths that are busy registering this new insight and bringing about often substantial changes in our contemporary academies’ attitudes toward the Jewish and Christian faiths is a subject to which, I think, we should pay careful attention.

32. Core violations& the 10-second edit A. The member firms’ individuals or groups designated to choose an exchange as the destination for retail orders are our targets in this phase.

33. Core violations& the 10-second edit B. Using a standard data collection form, information regarding the patient’s age, diagnosis, prognosis, cause of death, DNR status, and limitation of treatment status will be obtained.

34. Point of view Personal or impersonal?

35. First person in scientific writing • Tradition is changing. • First person is often shorter, simpler, and less pompous. Eg. “The authors wish to thank…, or “The authors are prepared to argue….”

36. First person can be less confusing.Who did what? Whose results are whose? Confusing: This result was elucidated by Smith (1990) and Jones (1991). In these studies, the authors found inconsistencies in the results. It was found that the data differed slightly. Better: Smith (1990) was the first to explain this result; Jones (1991) expanded upon the idea. Our research uncovered minor inconsistencies in the data given in both of their studies.

37. Use first person consistently and correctly.Avoid illogical shifts in point of view. Inconsistent: We have reached the point where one should do further experiments.

38. Better: We have reached the point where we should do further experiments.

39. Correct the point of view • The laboratory technician will find that the new procedure is an improvement; you will not need to sterilize the skin.

40. Correct the point of view Jones and colleagues showed that some bacteria do not emit molecular oxygen but the authors herein contend that they still photosynthesize.

41. Verbosity Wordiness makes your writing less readable.

42. Simplify. Simplify. It takes a long time to make it short.

43. “Sorry to write such a long letter, but I didn’t have time to make it short.”

44. “That” and “which” clauses are often overused-- and can garble up your sentences.

45. Wordy: The organism that Chu (1993) found was a guppy that laid eggs. Better: The organism Chu (1993) found was an egg-laying guppy.

46. Question all prepositional phrases and clauses. Do you need them? Wordy: The dog with dysorexia was referred to a clinic in the neighborhood.

47. Better: The dysorexic dog was referred to a neighborhood clinic.

48. Wordy: Group One includes a number of plants of the genus Coleus.

49. Better: Group one includes Coleus plants.

50. Wordy: The kitten which was the sole offspring of the calico was devoid of hair that was orange in color.