Writing a Paper in Earth Sciences:common problems for (Chinese) authors
Bor-ming Jahn (江博明)
Dept. Geological Sciences, NationalTaiwan University
北京大学地球与空间科学学院
Course description 要轻松
This course is mainly designed to help students in scientific writing. It includes a brief review of English grammar, analysis of common errors in pronunciation and scientific writing, presentation of essential ingredients for effective scientific paper writing, exercise in two-way translation on current issues in science, particularly in earth sciences, practice in writing acurriculum vitae, etc. Based on a topic approach students will improve their skill of English expression in scientific reading and writing, as well as in oral communication.
Suggested references
Youngs,Robert L. & 王秀華, 2005, Scientific Writing inEnglish for Chinese Authors, 308 pp. (ISBN 9571138800). Available at Eslite (诚品).
Langosch,Sydney L., 1999, Writing American Style, Barron’s, 200 pp. (available atCostco, NT$ 305)
Kirkman,John, Good style writing for science and technology. E & FN Spon, London,221 pp. (ISBN 0419171908)
Yang JenTsi, An outline of scientific writing. World Scientific, Singapore, New Jersey,London, Hong Kong, 160 pp. (ISBN 9810224664, pbk)
CNNListening, Live ABC, BBC World
科技英语- 论文报告写作。主编：唐国全，何小玲。2004。北京航空航天出版社。定价：18 元。
Whateveryou can find in the internet.
Analysis of common Chinese problems in English expression
– pronunciation
– grammatical error
– syntax error
Test: alphabet pronunciation
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q rs t u v w x y z
c ≠希，西, but = s ex. center, sense, century, season, cell, sell, mouse. mice
g ≠居，句, but = j; ex. giuliani (Italian), jeologi(Turkish); Gerard, Jerry
(“ ü ” or “玉” does not exist inEnglish)
z ≠ j howdo you pronounce “measure” or “measurement”? “pleasure”?
i = y = j Ian = Yan = Yann = John = Johan
漢語拼音中：希= xi ≠shi, 奇 = qi ≠chi,
• English pronunciation = no easy rules
the alphabet: c (xi), g (jü), j, l, r
– ow : we bow before the king; you wear a bow-tie; a bowl ofrice; bowling; cow, a queen dowager, how, low, now, know-how.
– ou : loud, have a bout with someone, cough-couch, double, doubt,mouse.
– au : author, caught, caution, daughter, fault, gauge, laugh, taught,drought, draught (= draft beer).
– o : move, woman, women, hot, top, ton, tone, gone, tomb, tome, bomb
– h : hand, hear, hint, horn, hurt, hungry-angry, (muet): hour
– talk-walk, work-walk; word-world; pseudo, psychology-psychiatry
– idea, determine, olivine; folk-fork
– indicted war criminals;
– receive, reception, receipt
– short debts make long friends; deeply indebted to you for...
– iron, iron oxide; ion, cation, anion
– g : never “jü” like in “jü-ma-pao”.
• «Chinese» problems in English oral expression:
– Difficult sounds
Ex: thickening (sickening), measure(not major), measurement
– Placement of accent (sometimes, butnot so often as the French)
Ex: interpret - interpretation, contribute -contribution, image -imagine, attribute (v in second, n in first) -attribution, even -event, …
– Frequent cut-off of vowel or consonant (very severe problem in Taiwan and China)
Vowel cut-off
icetop (isotope), ecgite (eclogite),omfcite (omphacite), aptite (appetite, apatite, uptight)
Consonant cut-off (Cantonese style)
not at all, good luck, outside,inside-out, call-in, etc.
– Confusion of « l » and« r » (terriblefor the Chinese and even worse for the Japanese)
Ex: Clinton, clay minerals, plate tectonics,flattening, flight-fright, apply-application, flesh-fresh, please,player-prayer, close-cross, class-classic (Japanese: I rike to show, I rike toeat lice, …)
Introduction - Why should you write?
Two main reasons why you should learn how to writegood reports of your science projects.
by putting your work into words, you will gain a better understanding of your project.
knowing you are going to write a report of your project and what should be included in the report will help you plan and conduct the project. You will have to apply the same scientific method - the planned, orderly procedures - in your writing.
The aim of scientific writing is to transmit information accurately, quickly and economically from one person to another. However, why do so many scientists and engineers make their writing so heavily unreadable?
Obviously, their subject matter is sometimes complex and conceptually difficult; but frequently the « unreadability » stems from use of a style that makes the reader’s task much heavier than it need be.
« Style » matters - direct, effective and readable.
• What is scientific writing?
Scientific writing includes a broad array of academia writing with unique requirements and formalities, and is directed to a unique readership. This type of writing includes description of research and interpretation of the significance of results.
The general format is often referred toas “IMRAD” (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion), in addition to Title and Abstract.
Note that the language used must be clear and understandable
Points to remember:
(1) The method of writing is governed by many conditions, including the nature of the subject, the purpose of the article,the characteristics of the writer, and the interests of the probable readers.No set method or arrangement will be suited to all kinds of papers.
(2) It is important that the plan of the composition be made very clear to the reader. The main topics and their subdivisions should be plainly indicated. In this respect scientific writing differs from literary composition.
(3) A scientific paper is intended to be studied and used as reference; it is not merely to be read. The plan should beself-evident throughout the composition.
The Title
A good title will distingush your project report from all others which have to do with the same general area of study. Titles of scientific reports should convey important information rather than show off the author's cleverness.
Titles should
• Describe contents clearly and precisely
• Provide key words for indexing
Titles should NOT
• Include wasted words such as "studies on," "aninvestigation of"
• Use abbreviations and jargon
• Use "cute" language
Abstract
• The abstract is a brief condensation of the whole paper.
Abstract is asummary of the report that follows the title page (in geosciences, 300-500 wordsis rather common). This summary should include in one paragraph a statement of the purpose of the project, general methods or procedures used, and principal findings and conclusions. The purpose of an abstract is to give the reader enough information for him to decide whether or not to read the whole report.
Introduction (& background information)
This section should give the reader enough information to be able to understand the history and the importance of your problem. It will often include a review of other people's findings. If well written, this section will explain your motives for undertaking the project and will stimulate the reader. In short, this section contains:
Nature of the problem; its state at the beginning of the investigation.
Review relevant research to provide rationale.
Purpose, scope, and method of the investigation.
What solution (or step toward a solution) do you propose?
Most significant outcome of the investigation; the state of the problem at the end of the investigation. (this part is not always included)
Methods
(Experimental or analytical procedures)
Anyone who reads your report should, with the proper materials and facilities, be able to repeat your experiment or observations and obtain similar results. Therefore, you must describe in detail all of the equipment and conditions (T, P, X, t, etc.).
Photographs and drawings can be used as well as words. Every step in your procedure should be carefully explained. If you discover that some method of doing something will not work, mention it so that others will not repeat your mistake. In brief:
(a) Description of the equipment and materials employed.
(b) Description of the experiments. Explanation of the way in which the work was done. (Give sufficient detail to enable a competent worker to repeat your experiments. Emphasize the features that are new.)
Note: Use past tense to describe what you did.
Result (data) & Observations
• Presentation and description of the results.
• Numerical data such as measurements and other statistics are best presented in the form of tables and figures.
What to avoid:
• Don't simply repeat table data; select.
• Don't interpret results.
• Avoid extra words: "It is shown in Table 1 that X induced Y“
→ "X induced Y(Table 1)."
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