Something About Writing Technical Papers in English

1. Something About Writing Technical Papers in English HOU Lisong Laboratory for High Density Optical Storage

2. Outlines • 1.Introduction • 2. Structure and style • 3. Grammar: binder • 4. Words: raw material • 5. Frequent mistakes • 6. Where is the way?

3. Native vs Foreign Language • Mother tongue: • understanding, speaking, reading, writing • Foreign language: • reading, understanding, speaking, writing

4. Chinese vs English • I don’t think you are right. (I think you are not right. ) • You are not looking very cheerful. (You are looking not ----) • All are not gold that glitters. (Not all are gold that glitters) • All wines are not sweet. • (Not all wines are sweet.)

5. 结 构

6. From words to paper • Word • Sentence • Paragraph • Section • Paper

7. Structure • Title • Abstract • Introduction • Experimental / Theoretical • Results and discussion • Conclusion (s) • Acknowledgement • References

8. 标 题 • 紧扣主题 （straightforward） • 不可太长 （15字左右），避免广告词式标题 • 尽量少用缩略词 • 不用The, And, An和A开头 • 避免以下开头： • Some thoughts on…, A few observation on…, • Study of…, Investigation of…, A Complete Investigation of…, Research on….., A Final • report on…,

9. A study ofthe effect of the heat-treatment temperature on the optical properties of CdS thin films • Effect of heat-treatment temperature on the optical properties of CdS thin films • Dependence of the optical properties of CdS thin films on heat-treatment temperature • Temperature dependence of the optical properties of CdS thin films

10. The scattering light detection of the information pit of the diskon waveguide multiplayer optical discs • Detection of scattered light from the information pits in a waveguide multiplayer optical disc

11. 不同厚度对CuPc薄膜性能的影响研究 • A study on the effect of different thickness on the copper phthalocyanine film grown by vacuum evaporation • 膜厚对真空蒸发酞菁铜薄膜性能的影响 • Effect of the thickness of copper phthalocyanine films prepared by vacuum evaporation on their properties • Effect of film thickness on the properties of copper phthalocyanine films prepared by vacuum evaporation

12. 摘 要 • Information Abstracts Should be specific to the purposes, experimental materials, techniques, most important results, and most important conclusions of the research reported in the paper. • 四要素：目的、方法(材料和技术)、结果、结论。 • 简明、准确、完整地反映文章的主要内容。

13. General rules a) Don’t usethetitle,or“This report contains…”, “This is a report on…” as the first sentence. b) Insimple declarativesentences. （plain English） c)Noacronyms, equations, references , figures, and citations.

14. A study ofthe effect of the heat-treatment temperature on the optical properties of CdS thin films • Effect of heat-treatment temperature on the optical properties of CdS thin films • Dependence of the optical properties of CdS thin films on heat-treatment temperature • Temperature dependence of the optical properties of CdS thin films

15. Example 1 • The effect of the heat-treatment temperatures on the optical properties of CdS thin films were studied. The purpose of this work was to establish the dependence of the optical properties on heat-treatment temperatures. Optical constants of the thin films are measured with ellipsometry at various annealing temperature. …… The experiment results show that……We concluded that…… . The mechanismwas also discussed.

16. Example 2 • 不同厚度对CuPc薄膜性能的影响研究 • 酞菁铜是一种重要的有机光电半导体材料, 其优异的稳定性和良好的光电性能, 越来越受到人们的重视. 本文对真空蒸发法制备的酞菁铜薄膜进行了XRD, Raman光谱，紫外可见光谱，以研究该薄膜的结构及光学性能，并对肖特基型太阳能电池 ITO/CuPc/Al 进行了研究，通过改变CuPc的厚度，讨论其对该太阳能电池电学性能的影响。

17. 不同厚度对CuPc薄膜性能的影响研究 • A study on the effect of different thickness on the copper phthalocyanine film grown by vacuum evaporation • 膜厚对真空蒸发酞菁铜薄膜性能的影响 • Effect of the thickness of copper phthalocyanine films prepared by vacuum evaporation on their properties • Effect of film thickness on the properties of copper phthalocyanine films prepared by vacuum evaporation

18. A study on the effect of different thickness on the copper phthalocyanine film grown by vacuum evaporation • Abstract: Copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) is a important versatile organic material. It has attracted more and more attention owing to its unusualstability and photoelectric properties. Copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) films, grown by vacuum sublimation, are chracterized with X ray diffraction (XRD), Raman and ultra violet ? visible spectrometry. Copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) / Aluminum (Al) Schottky solar cells has been also studied by changing the thickness of the CuPc layer.

19. Abstracts can be drafted at the beginning and finalized at the end when the paper is completed.

20. 引 言 • What do you want to do and why? • Pay a review of the literature • （研究发展、现状） • Describe what you have read and its relevance to your subject. • Do you agree or disagree with the author’s point of view? • Where do the problems lie? • Your purpose, idea, and research work.

21. Don’t use statements like“I hope to …”, “The facts may show….”, “It is possible that…” • Be bold to say “I will…”, “The facts will show…..”, “It is clear that….”

22. 实 验 / 理论 部 分 • How did you do it? • (Experimental methods, techniques and materials ) • Describe preparation of samples and appropriate treatmentsto the samples． • Give accurate compositions through proper analysis (batch compositions is not good practice when different compositions are compared).

23. 结果与讨论 • What results did you get ? • How to explain the results ? • The Discussion Section should be supported • well by the results presented, but should not • be too speculative and too long. • Cut drastically the following: May be, Possible.

24. Figure captions • effect of A on B, • dependence of B on (upon) A, • A dependence of B • Variation of A with B, • A as a function of B, • Variation of A as a function of B ???

25. 结 论 • What conclusions had you drawn? • State your conclusions in simple declarative sentences. It must be supported by the information (results) you have given. • Avoid using phrases like In conclusion . • But in a one-section communication report • In conclusion (summary) may be used at the beginning of the last paragraph. • Inaconclusion (summary), ……

26. 结论比研究结果和分析要推进一步， 切忌用罗列研究结果代替结论。

27. 文 风

28. 短 而 达 • 我们应该研究一下文章怎样写得短些，写的精粹些。 －－毛泽东 • 写完后至少看两遍，竭力将可有可无的字句段删去，毫不可惜。 －－鲁 迅 • Words are like leaves, and where they most abound much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found. －－Alexander Pope

29. General rules • Precise, clear, and straightforward. • Don’t confuse using a lot of big words • Avoid overusing traditional and concluding phrases. • And therefore we can see…, That is why…… • a) subject and verb agree. a and b are…; a or b is….. • b) pronouns agree in number and form with the nouns • they replace. • Each worker is entitled to his or her own work.

30. General rules (continued) • c) Comparisons must be like in form. • The living expenses in shanghai are 4 times greater • than those in Harbin. • d) Any modifying words and phrases should be as • close to the words and phrases they modify as • possible. • Passing by the classroom, john heard the voice of • Beijing radio. • e) Don’t use contractions. • wouldn’t (would not), couldn’t (could not), ……

31. 准 确 • He has producea report on what the current status and development trend of lasers are. (written) • This paper is concerned with the optical properties of non-linear materials. (describes) • After acomprehensive valuationof facts, we have suggested a plan of action. (study) • Please expedite action on our proposal. (speed up)

32. 简 练 • She has prepared this report in a not too technicalstyle which should be of a simple enough nature to be understood by the averagelaymen in the street. • Prices rise to a higher level. • A fresh pepper lasts (for) a period of about three weeks. • Due to the fact that… (because…) • At the present time (at present, now) • She made contact (ed) withhim by telephone.

33. 精 炼 The experiments which had been carried out in our lab reveled that… • The results which were obtained in our lab show that…. • It is of interest that… / interestingly… • It would appear that… / apparently…. • Thecoating of the disc took 2 hours • All of the discs prepared in the lab were labeled A . • The results are inconclusive owing to the fact that (because)…… • Production of optical discs in many cases ( often ) requires expensive equipment.

34. 朴 素 • stress / accentuate, fit / accommodation, • do / accomplish, improve / ameliorate, • suitable / appropriate, begin / commence, • see / discern, show / demonstrate, • foresee / envisage, ease / facilitate, • carry out / implement, start / initiate, • buy / purchase, try / endevour, • study / investigate, house / residence, • end / terminate, live / dwell,

35. 语 法

36. 句 型 • 长短适当。 • 多样化: 避免连续使用单调句型。 • 突出主要内容。 • 简单句，并列（主从）复合句， 问句，感叹句。 • 词序： 主语开始，片语开始，从句开始。 • 忌过多使用 and, but. • 正式书面文体中很少用so作连词。 • (so 多用于口语中）

37. 强 调 主 语 XRD was used to examine the structure of the crystal The structure of the crystal was examined using XRD. • 用重要的事实开头，避免用辅助从句开头 • From data obtained experimentally, power consumption of telephone switching systems was determined. • Power consumption of telephone switching systems was determined from data obtained experimentally

38. 动词靠近主语 • The decolouration in solutions of the pigment in dioxane , which were exposed to 10 h of UV irradiation, was no longer reversible. • When the pigment was dissolved in dioxane, decolouration was irreversible after 10 h of UV irradiation.

39. 人 称 • Don’t use Itoo frequently. • I found that the situation was much worse than I had anticipated. • The investigation showed that the situation was much worse than was anticipated. • Don’t use the pronoun you. • One / it is more acceptable for academic writing.

40. “数” 的一致 • Gold and silverare noble metals. • Neith gold nor silveris gas. • Neith his classmates nor himself was ill. • Neith himself nor his classmates were ill. • The committee has agreed to the plan. • The committee were at odds over the plan. • The number of absents is small. • A number of students are absent. • 50 dollars is too much for a dinner. • The last two years has been a period of recovery.

41. 时 态（Tense） • 一般真理：现在时 • 图表说明：现在时 • 实验过程叙述：过去时 • 结果和讨论： • 根据内容可使用过去时或现在时 • 叙述论文研究开始之前所进行的工作： • 过去完成时 • 计划要做的工作和预期结果：将来时

42. When Present Perfect? • A new material hasbeen successfully synthesized in our Lab.

43. Example ( From an abstract ) • Study of the spectrum characterization of ZrO2 films • ….is investigated, …is detected, …..are measured. (was / were) • …have been prepared by the … method. (were); • A possible correlation between….and … has been presented on the basis of…. (is)

44. 语 态 “A exceed B” ／ "B is exceeded by A“ • The tables show… / It will be seen from the tables… • Our experiments established that the reaction take place when… / the reaction has been shown to take place when… • The task was given to my brother./ My brother was given the task.

45. 语 态 (continued) • The deep coloration in the solution suggested the presence of new compound. • our reason for suspecting the presence of a new compound was that a deep coloration in the solution was observed. • Gravitation was discovered by Newton . Newton discovered gravitation. • This thesis is divided into / contains 4 parts.

46. 词 序 • We can apply to affairs of state the attitude of science: holding to what works, and discarding what does not. • We take as our first objective the problem of productivity. • The improvement of communications will also render obsolete the city’s historic role as a meeting place for minds and a center of social intercourse. • We should integrate into our education system the incredible technological advances of recent years such as……

47. 词 序 • If this is the case , It poses great problems for the teachers who…. • If this is the case , It poses for the teachers great problems which…. • Politicians are people who resolve through linguistic processconflictsthat would otherwise have to be solved by force. • Immediately after being repaired, the machine operated slowly. (The machine operated slowly immediately after being repaired).

48. 名词的修饰 • 避免使用长系列形容词或名词来修饰名词。 • 可用连字符断开名词词组 • The cholorine-containing propylene-based polymer of high meld index. • The cholorine containing high melt index propylene based polymer. • 恰当使用介词短语 • New, more discriminating nature type apparatus • New apparatus of a more discriminating nature

49. 否 定 • People here are not poor because they have large families. Quite the contrary, they have large families because they are poor. • Many of them donot choose leave because they want to fulfill themselves, but……. • You are not looking very cheerful. • All are not gold that glitters. • All wines are not sweet. • The answer to none of these issues in clear.

50. 段 落 承 启 • a) using contrasting words. However, but, …… • b) giving specific samples. for example, for instance, e.g., such as, as illustrated by, … • c) giving the cause (s) of the previous paragraph. Because, the reason for.., • d) giving the effects of the previous paragraph. • Therefore, consequently, thus,…. • e) Giving more information about the previous • paragraph. • In addition, furthermore, moreover, finally,…