scientific writing skills presented by prof. leon de stadler us writing centre
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Scientific Writing Scientific Writing SkillsSkills
Presented byPresented by
Prof. Leon de StadlerProf. Leon de Stadler
US Writing CentreUS Writing Centre
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But in science the credit goes to the man (or woman) who convinces the world, not to the man (or woman) to whom the idea first occurs
Sir Francis Darwin
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Topics for Topics for discussiondiscussion
The writing task and the writing process
What makes it “scientific”? Scientific writing = Structured writing Kinds of structure
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Topics for Topics for discussiondiscussion
Problem statements and hypotheses Coherence Scientific style The US Writing Centre
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Task vs. processTask vs. process
How do you go about the writing task?
Why the process is important It is about organisation, avoiding
frustration, finding your focus, productive writing and …
… a final product to be proud of
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Steps in the processSteps in the process
Invention: Coming up with a topic and a clear focus on the topic
Collecting the data Organising the document: the outline Drafting - writing, writing and
writing again ...
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Steps in the processSteps in the process
Revising: Focusing on higher-order concerns
Proofreading: Focusing on the lower-order concerns
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Scientific WritingScientific Writing
… is as much about science as it is about writing ...
… but for some reason we tend to forget about the latter
That’s why our goal should be
to change the mindset about writing
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““Scientific”?Scientific”?
Contributing to the world of knowledge
Originality
Critical thinking and insight
A clear focus … but on what?
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““Scientific”?Scientific”?
Insights, theories, assumptions, jargon, etc. of the field
No unnecessary baggage
Relevant ...
… to the defense of a view point
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““Scientific”?Scientific”?
Coherent
Structured
Scientific style
No mistakes
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Scientific = StructuredScientific = Structured
Content structure External structure
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Content structureContent structure Content organisation Content hierarchy The role of a good introduction A clear topic A well-focused problem statement Well-defined hypotheses Clear aims and objectives
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Writing an Writing an introductionintroduction
An important structuring mechanism Anouncing the topic Motivation to undertake the study Most important findings in the
published literature Research problem and hypotheses Brief review of following chapters
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Problem statementProblem statement
Specific Highly focused, clear As concrete as possible Preferably one problem statement;
may be broken up into a number of subproblems
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Problem statementProblem statement
Discussion of the problem statement in the example text:
Can you find a single sentence denoting the problem statement?
Where exactly is the focal element in the section?
Another example on the overhead ...
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HypothesisHypothesis
The answer to your problem statement
Should be refutable Should not be negative
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Other componentsOther components
Theoretical framework Literature review Research design:
Problem statement(s), hypotheses,pilot study, sample taking, sample size, measuring instruments, statistical techniques, etc.
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Other componentsOther components
Presentation of findings Discussion of findings Conclusions
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External structureExternal structure
The so-called “entry structures” for the reader
Divisions into chapters, sections and paragraphs
The importance of headings
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CoherenceCoherence
Logical build-up of ideas Paragraph structure Coherence relationships Markers of coherence Problems with coherence
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Paragraph structureParagraph structure
A unit of thought One (sub)theme described in the
theme sentence Supported by other sentences
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Paragraph problemsParagraph problems
Paragraphs that do not link properly Too long: more than one theme Too short: one theme dealt with in
more than one paragraph
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CoherenceCoherence
Between paragraphs and between sentences
Logical flow of thought One thought following from or
building upon another: conceptual links; relevance
Different kinds of relationships
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Markers of coherenceMarkers of coherence
Words and frases that signal the existence of a coherence relationship
Pronouns, conjunctions, repeated thematic elements, related words, etc.
Examples in the example text
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Scientific styleScientific style
Formality: creating distance between writer and reader
Goal: objectivity But style and formulation should not
make the reading task impossible In this section: a few problems
related to style and formulation
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Style: ProblemsStyle: Problems
Passive voice Referring to the writer? Difficult sentences Short sentences Nominalisations Dangling constructions
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Style: ProblemsStyle: Problems
Unnecessary qualifiers Pronouns and their antecedents
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Visit the US Writing Visit the US Writing Centre!Centre!
http://www.sun.ac.za/sagus/USWritingCentre.htm
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Thank you for your attention!
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