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The Craft of Scientific Writingby Michael Alley

Presented byMarta T. Magiera

RET 2007University of Illinois at Chicago

July 12, 2007

Chapters 6-9

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Power of language: the way we use words

Fluid

Precise

Clear

Forthright

Familiar

Concise

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Fluid

Precise

Clear

Forthright

Familiar

Concise

Forthright

Controlling tone of writing

Selecting strong nouns and verbs

Keeping readers moving forward

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Per your request I am facilitating this part of presentation.

Avoid pretentious words Avoid arrogant phrases

Controlling tone of writing

leading to obvious result as shown above

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Choosing Strong Nouns

Concrete vs. Abstract nouns

Should evoke senses

– “The existing nature of Mount St. Helens’ volcanic ash spewage was handled through the applied use of computer modeling capabilities.”

– “With Cray computers, we modeled how much ash spewed from Mount St. Helens.”

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Choosing Strong Verbs

Allow verbs to push paper forward

Use active verbs – eliminate “is” or “to be”

Passive voice usually is unnatural

– “ The feed through was composed of a sapphire optical fiber which was pressed against the pyrotechnic that was used to confine the charge“

– “The feed through contained a sapphire optical fiber, which pressed against the pyrotechnic that contained the charge”

Use first person

“In this paper the author assumed that …”

Keep emphasis on work

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Mount St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980. A cloud of hot

rock and gas surged northward from its collapsing slope.

The cloud devastated more than 500 square kilometers of

forests and lakes. The effects of Mount St. Helens were well

documented with geophysical instruments. The origin of the

eruption is not well understood. Volcanic explosions are

driven by a rapid expansion of steam. Some scientists

believe the steam comes from groundwater heated by the

magma.

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FamiliarFluid

Precise

Clear

Forthright

Familiar

ConciseEvery field has a tendency to create it’s own language: specific terms to describe specific ideas

In scientific writing, the writer is responsible bridging the language gap

Introducing an unfamiliar term, requires defining or explaining its meaning

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Defining Terms

To inform your audience, you have to use language that they understand.

Define the term in the sentence.

Use analogy

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transcendental number is a real or complex number which is not algebraic that is, not a solution of a non-zero polynomial equation, with rational coefficients

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If you were standing at arm's length from someone andyou had one percent more electrons than protons, therepelling force would be incredible. How great? Enoughto lift the Empire State Building? No. To lift MountEverest? No. The repulsion would be enoughto lift a weight equal to that of the entire earth.

Numerical analogies make writing unique.

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Concise

Eliminating redundancies

Eliminating writing zeros

Reducing sentences to

simplest form

Cutting waste

Fluid

Precise

Clear

Forthright

Familiar

Concise

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Eliminating Redundancies

• Redundancies are needless repetition of words in a sentence

- repeat the meaning of an earlier expression or else makes implicit a point that has already been stated

• Adjectives often redundant

The aluminum metal cathode became pitted during the glow discharge.

• Adverbs also redundant

• Common examples in Scientific Writing

- (already) existing - (alternative) choices at

- (the) present (time) - (basic) fundamentals

- (completely) eliminate - (continue to) remain

- (currently) being - (currently) underway

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Eliminating Writing Zeros

Zeros are phrases that have no meaning at all.These type of phrases do not offer any information

It is interesting to note that over 90 incidents of satellitefragmentations have produced over 36,000 kilograms of spacedebris.

Vibration measurements made in the course of the missile's flight

Test program were complicated by the presence of intense highfrequency excitation of the vehicle shell structure during the reentry

phase of the flight.”

Common Zero Phrasesas a matter of fact I might add that it is noteworthy that it is significant that it should be pointed out thatthe fact that the presence of

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Reducing sentences to simplest form

Use only the necessary words in whatever sentence structure you choose (simple,

compound, or complex) Many reductions occur within phrases

at this point in time now at that point in time then has the ability to can in light of the fact that because in the event that if

Other ways to reduce to simpler sentence Do not overuse adjectives Do not use a lot of adverbs (ex. very, somewhat) Avoid using the passive voice (makes writing more

efficient)

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Vibration measurements made in the course of the Titan flight test program were complicated by the presence of intense high-frequency excitation of the vehicle shell structure during the re-entry phaseof the flight.

Vibration measurements made in the Titan flight were complicated by intense high-frequency excitation of the vehicle shell during re-entry.

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Eliminating Waste

Looks to eliminate needless paragraphs and sections.

Make sure you consider the target audience.

Keep in mind the purpose for writing

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Fluid

The greatest possible merit of

style is, of course, to make the

words absolutely disappear

into the thought.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Fluid

Precise

Clear

Forthright

Familiar

Concise

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Varying sentence rhythm

Varying sentence and paragraph length

Making transitions between ideas

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– Rhythm helps determine the energy of the paper; if every sentence begins the same way, the writing becomes dull. Imagine a song with only 2 or 3 different notes. Dull and monotonous, right?

– How do you vary rhythm? Change the positions of the subject and verb, the way sentences begin and end, the lengths of sentences, and/or the lengths of paragraphs.

– Choose transition words, such as , “moreover”, “however”, or “therefore” to begin sentences.

Varying Sentence Rhythm

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Length measured by the number of lines readersees on the page. Many writers go no more than two-thirdsdown a page without displaying a visual break. Generally, aparagraph is between 7 to 14 lines with an occasional longparagraph. Overall paragraph length depends on theformat.

Varying paragraph lengths

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Paragraph Dilemma

We identified 4 reasons that can explain differences between these results

Argument 1

Argument 2

Argument 3

Argument 3

cont.

Argument 4

This argument is further supported by the prevalence of ….

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Use Equations

Electrical conductivity is defined as function ofmaterial's ability to carry electrical current and ismeasured as a product of the reciprocal resistanceto the flow of electricity in a length L of material divided by the cross-sectional area A of the material.

1 L

R A

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Power of languageFluid

Precise

Clear

Forthright

Familiar

Concise

Thank you