writing in science 2012/science writing course... · writing in science ... •brand names: xerox,...

Writing in Science

There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. - Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith

PLS: Post Lunch Syndrome

UrbanDictionary.com: A condition where one is sleepy after a meal, normally not a problem at home where you can sleep. However this condition is a danger at school or at work. Under this condition, a person feels tired, not able to think too clearly, and wants to sleep on the spot.

Cartoon: http://www.cripplingdepression.com/index/289

Scientific study: Denis Burdakov, Lise T. Jensen, Haris Alexopoulos, Rhiannan H. Williams, Ian M. Fearon, Ita O'Kelly, Oleg Gerasimenko, Lars Fugger, Alexei Verkhratsky, Tandem-Pore K+ Channels Mediate Inhibition of Orexin Neurons by Glucose, Neuron, Volume 50, Issue 5, 1 June 2006, Pages 711-722, ISSN 0896-6273, DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2006.04.032.

It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous.

- Robert Benchley

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•Cave Painting

•Chaldean Account of Floods - 4000 BC

•Papyrus Rolls - 2000 BC

•Parchment/Animal skin - 190 BC

•Paper - 105 AD

•Printing Press - 1100 AD, Reinvention 16th century

•First "Science" Journals - 1665 (J. des Scavans, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal

Society of London)

•More than 70000 journals - Today

History of written communication 4

Types of technical writers

Technical Writers

Business

Legal

Medical

Engineering

Science

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Types of science writers

Journalist

Scientist

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Types of science writers

Scientist Journalist

Generates information Reports information

Peer reviewed Not peer reviewed

Specific audience General audience

Usually not paid to write Paid to write

No need for linguistic skills beyond basics

Must have excellent language skills

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Types of scientific documents 8

Basic Requirements

Ethics Knowledge Skill

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Basic Requirements

Ethics - Plagiarism = STEALING

Idea Theft

Copy Paste Theft

Full Plagiarism - single source. incompetence, laziness

Partial Plagiarism - various sources. cheating

Source citing - paraphrasing. Quotes. Reference.

Self Plagiarism - Fraud

Honesty is the best policy

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Basic Requirements

Knowledge

•Speaking to your advisor/supervisor

•Speaking to other researchers working in the same or related fields.

•Speaking to researchers from other disciplines who can give you interesting

perspectives which might not be available within your own discipline.

•Searching journals that relate to your topic.

•Using subject indexes and abstracts.

•Looking closely at the reference sections of key books and articles relating to your

topic.

•Searching the Internet for relevant information.

I never know what I think about something until I read what I've written on it. -William Faulkner

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Basic Requirements

Skill

Commitment: Focus, goals, sincerity Organization: Good book-keeping, filing, planning Talent: Good grammatical skills

Skill is 99% practice, 1% talent

“We Learn To Write By Reading, But Writing Can Make You Smarter,” - Dr. Stephen Krashen

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Basic Essentials

Scholarly Peer Review Refereed objectively by experts for content Single blind review Double blind peer review Open peer review Intellectual Property The ownership of an idea or document Copyright Patent License

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Components of writing 14

•Word construction •Sentence construction •Paragraphing

Micro Design 15

Words - Guidelines 16

•The first word of every sentence. •The first-person singular pronoun, I. “i wll tlk 2 u ltr” •Proper nouns. Including your name. Especially your name. My name. The name of your teacher. The name of your pet dog. ALL NAMES are proper nouns. •Capitalize the person's title when it follows the name on the address or signature line. Example: “M. Ramanan, Chairperson” • Specific geographical locations: Chennai, Timbuktu , Antarctica, Snake Park, Lake Manasarovar, South India. • Do not capitalize compass directions – e.g. I live in the south of India. Not South of India. •When we combine proper nouns, we capitalize attributive words when they precede place-names, as in Mount Himalaya, but the opposite happens when the order is reversed: the Himlayan mountain •Names of celestial bodies: Mars, Saturn, the Milky Way. Do not, however, capitalize earth, moon, sun, except when those names appear in a context in which other (capitalized) celestial bodies are mentioned. "I like it here on earth," but "It is further from Earth to Mars than it is from Mercury to the Sun.

Words – Rules – Capital letters 17

•Names of newspapers and journals. Do not capitalize the word the, even when it is part of the newspaper's title: the Indian Express, the Hindu. •Days of the week, months, holidays: Thursday, February, Deepavali, New Year •No capitalization for names of seasons (spring, summer, fall, autumn, winter). "Next summer, we're traveling " •Historical events: Seapoy Mutiny, Freedom Struggle , Renaissance, Crusades. •Races, nationalities, languages: Indian, Tamil, American, Jewish, French, Native American •Names of religions and religious terms: God, Christ, Allah, Buddha, Christianity, Christians, Judaism, Jews, Islam, Muslims, Advaita. •Brand names: Xerox, Maggi, Godrej The words “e-mail” and online are not capitalised when not in the beginning of a sentence.

Words – Rules – Capital letters 18

• Two, to, and too

• Coarse and course

• Principal and principle

• Loose and lose

• Plane and plain

• Their and there

• See and sea

• Affect and effect

• Brake and break

Spellbound by Janet Minor

I have a spelling checker. It came with my PC. It plane lee marks four my revue. Miss steaks aye can knot see. Eye ran this poem threw it. Your sure real glad two no. Its very polished in its weigh. My checker tolled me sew.

Words – Spelling 19

Full stop/period:

• End of sentence. • Single full stop, not “…”. • If the last word in the sentence ends in a period, do not follow it with another

period. E.g. Perform synthesis, characterization etc. (no need for another full stop)

Comma • Listing : Characterisation was performed by SEM, TEM, XRD, and TGA. • To separate two adjectives : “A red, crystalline precipitate was formed. • To set off expressions that interrupt sentence flow. E.g. The precipitate, which

was red, was crystalline in nature. • Before AND after words such as therefore and however when they are used as

interrupters. E.g. The precipitate was, therefore, discarded.

Semi-colon • In place of a full stop to separate two sentences where the conjunction has been

left out. E.g. The precipitate was red; it was discarded. • To separate units of a series when one or more of the units contain commas. E,g,

This conference has people who have come from Chennai, India; Beijing, China; and Washington, USA.

Punctuations 20

Apostrophe

• To show possession: Rama’s precipitate, Krishna’s machine, John’s paper • Never use an apostrophe with possessive pronouns: his, hers, its, theirs, ours,

yours, whose. “It’s” is different from “its”. “It’s” is an abbreviation of “It is”. • Short forms – AVOID IF POSSIBLE e,g, don’t, can’t, you’re – AVOID. Use “do

not”, “cannot” and “you are”.

Exclamation marks: DO NOT USE. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own jokes. —F. Scott Fitzgerald. ABSOLUTELY NO SMILEYS

Quotation marks: To quote someone else verbatim

Brackets •Curved Brackets or Parentheses (…) : most commonly used. •Square Brackets […] used to include additional information from an outside source (e.g. references). •Curly Brackets {…} used to designate a list of equal choices. Avoid in science communication. •Angle Brackets <…> used to enclose and illustrate highlighted information. Avoid in science communication.

Punctuations 21

Dash: Hyphen, n-dash and m-dash

• Hyphen: “minus sign” (-) Used for compound words. E.g. half-

hearted, self-appointed, ex-boss, hyper-acidic, mid-IR etc.

• N-dash is a small dash ( ), obtained by using “ctrl and minus sign in

number pad” in MS Word. Used for range. E.g. The average age of

18 20 was studied.

• M-dash: ( ) Used instead of brackets. E.g. The precipitate the red

one was discarded. Alt-Ctrl-minus on number keyboard

Punctuations 22

•Number •Tense •Voice •Style

Sentence construction 23

A verb must agree in number with its subject. A dog barks Five dogs bark Even in complicated sentences A dog tied to the tree inside an empty compound, barks Five dogs tied to the tree inside an empty compound, bark Even in terribly complicated sentences The output of three wear testers, the block-on-ring, the ball-on-plane, and the microtribometer is directed to the computer. Metallography of failed balls and races is a key aspect of failure analysis.

Sentence construction - Number 24

Groups are singular •A range of data was acquired •A group of scientists is present •A school of fishes is swimming •A flock of birds is flying •A series of numbers is generated •The committee decides the date •My family is big Same word for singular and plural Data, Information, Literature, News Singular nouns each one, either, neither, everyone, everybody, anybody, anyone, nobody, somebody, someone, and no one are singular •Each of these precipitates was dried •Everybody agrees with me. •Either is correct.

Sentence construction - Number 25

Tense Purpose Example

Simple Present Act done Now (Fact) Research is conducted

Present Progressive/Continuous Act being done now (Act) Research is being conducted

Present Perfect Act started sometime back and still being done

Research has been conducted

Simple past Act done, Past (Fact) Research was conducted

Past Progressive Act that was being done during observation

Research was being conducted.

Past Perfect Act started sometime back and finished sometime back

Research had been conducted

Simple future Act will be done (fact) Research will be conducted

Do not mix tenses “Solution A was added drop wise in inert atmosphere. Stirring is continued overnight.” “UHF signals in the range of 300-3000 MHZ are excited. These propagated throughout the transformer.”

Sentence construction - Tense 26

1. Scientific communication focuses on the action and not the actor. “I performed the experiment” Focus on “I” (Active voice) “The experiment was performed” Focus on “experiment”. (Passive voice)

“In this article, we report facile deagglomeration of nanoparticles using ultrasound” “In this article, the authors report facile deagglomeration of nanoparticles using ultrasound” “This article reports the facile deagglomerization of nanoparticles by ultrasound” “Facile deagglomeration of nanoparticles by ultrasound has been reported in this paper”

Sentence construction – Voice

Passive

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Focus

ACTIVE

PASSIVE

Focus

Do not start with a dependent clause or phrase Because the precipitate was red, it was discarded - wrong The precipitate was discarded because it was red At the beginning of the experiment, the solvents were purified - wrong The solvents were purified at the beginning of the experiments Do not start with a conjunction But it was seen that the precipitate was red. The precipitate was, however, red. And the solvent was added to it. The solvent was then added to it. Start with the noun Traveling to the western tank farm, he met three lab members near building 318. He met three lab members near building 318 when he was traveling to the western tank farm.

Sentence construction - Style 28

• Useful for skimming

• Provide logical breaks in subject matter.

• Break a composition into observable units.

• Logical progression of thought and idea

Sentence construction – Paragraphs

Skimming process

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•Structure / format •Appearance / aesthetics

Meso Design 30

Structure of a scientific document

AIMRAD Structure Abstract Introduction Method Result And Discussion

“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.” - E. L. Doctorow

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Tip 1: Working from the basic skeleton, plan an enlarged body for your document Tip 2: Work out your own headings for the central part of the document -What does the reader have to know NOT how should I present it -Writing from the writer’s point of view can complicate it

Use outline mode if using MS-Word Use \section \subsection tags if using Tex

Structure of a scientific document - tips 32

Title How would YOU look for this kind of information? •Declarative “Herbivore-infested plants selectively attract parasitoids” •Non-declarative “Attraction of parasitoids to Herbivore-infested plants” •Question “Does the southern dominance of solar activity really exist in solar cycle 21?” •Series title “Small-scale topology of solar atmosphere dynamics. IV. On the relation of oscillations to meso-scale flows.” •Abbreviations in title – No, unless, it is common knowledge •Running title

E.g. Full title: Separation and identification of growth hormone variants with high-performance liquid chromatography techniques. Running title: HPLC separation of GH variants

•A new methodology? State in title. E.g. A new method for detoxification of mycotoxin-contaminated food

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Title

•Creates a positive impression and stimulates reader interest

•Is retrievable in standard indexes and abstracts using appropriate key words.

•Uses current nomenclature of the field

•Indicates subject and scope with some accuracy

•Limited to 15 to 20 substantive words

•Does not include "study of," "analysis of“ or similar constructions so that every

word is absolutely necessary

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Authors/Affiliation

-Inclusion

•Originator of the idea •People who contributed to the idea •The technician may be acknowledged and not included. •Consultants may be acknowledged and not included.

-Order

•The originator of the idea •The person who analysed the work •The person who did the work •The person who wrote the paper

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Introduction

•Scope of work

•Importance of work in current setting

•Literature review

•Your approach

•Provide explicit definitions for key concepts •Terms don't always have single meanings understood in the same way by all •Don't under- or overestimate your readers •Don't provide mechanistic dictionary definitions of all terms

A bad beginning makes a bad ending - Euripides

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Introduction – Literature Survey

- Provides a conceptual framework for the research - Provides an integrated overview of the field of study - Helps establish a need for the research - May help clarify the research problem - Helps to demonstrate researcher's familiarity with the area under consideration (theory and / or methods)

•Surveying a comprehensive range of existing material and sources in the general areas

of your study

•Selecting those that will be most relevant and significant for your particular project

•Understanding and analyzing the central findings and arguments

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Structuring the introduction 38

Methodology

•Objectives

•Technical Approach

•Data needs

•Analytic techniques

•Expected results

•Timeline

•Plan for interpreting results

•Ensures reproducibility

•Materials- common names, source,

properties

•Sampling/Experimental protocol - clear

and concise

•Measurement instruments - including

brand name and settings

•Data collection procedures

•Data analysis - software? protocol?

•Time Frame - if required.

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Methodology 40

Important aspects in results

1. Discussion 2. Graphs 3. Tables 4. Images/photos

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Results

Results and Discussion in separate sections Results and Discussion in same section •Results should be presented in same order as methods/experimental •Past tense to be used •Passive voice •Judicious about amount of data included •Illustrations when required •Discussion should follow same order as methods •Passive voice •Not just restating results – state principles, relationships and generalizations •Discuss all illustrations •State strongest conclusions and arguments first. State discrepancies later

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Pictorial representation of results

As can be seen in the figure, the two curves are very similar

As can be seen in the figure, the two curves are very different,

Results do not speak for themselves. Describing a figure does not comprise discussion

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Tables Are they necessary? Bad science to regurgitate all data Repetitive data? Avoid Tables

Temp (C) No. of Experiments

Aeration Growth (Optical density)

24 5 Yes 78

24 5 No 0

Table: Growth of Streptomyces coelicolor

At 24 C, no growth was seen in unaerated culture as measured by the optical density (0 Klett unit), whereas substantial growth was seen in aerated samples,(78 Klett units)

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Temp (C) Growth in 48 hours

-40 0

-30 0

-20 0

-10 0

0 0

10 0

20 7

30 8

40 1

50 0

60 0

70 0

80 0

Table: Effect of temp on growth of oak seeds

The oak seeds grew at temperatures between 20 and 40 C, but no measurable growth occurred below 20 and above 40 C.

Tables

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Tables – top down preferable

125 + 4528+ 4862 + 521 + 8 +35 = ?

125 + 4528 + 4862 + 521 + 8 + 35 ________________

Determination S. Fluricolor S. griseus S coelicolor S. nocolor

Growth temp -10 C 24 C 28 C 92 C

Color Tan Gray Red Purple

Antibiotic Fluorocilimycin Streptomycin Rholmondelay Nomycin

Organism Growth temp (C) Color Antibiotic

S. Fluricolor -10 Tan Fluorocilimycin

S. Griseus 24 Gray Streptomycin

S. Coelicolor 28 Red Rholmondelay

S. Nocolor 92 Purple Nomycin

• Use captions • Include units at the header and not within the data

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Treatment Percentage of negative culture at

2 week 4 week 6 week 8 week

Streptomycin 5 10 15 20

Isoniazid 8 12 15 15

Streptomycin + isoiazid

30 60 80 100

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Graph

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Grey scale rendering of colour graph.


Graph

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Clear differentiation even in B/W

Clear Legend

Axes Labels With units


Graph

50

Font size too small


Graph

51


Images

52

Font size mismatch

Reverse of introduction Start with restating your aim, and approach and your results in past tense, passive voice State findings , theories, relationships from your results in present tense. State how it applies to the broad field in present or future tense.

Two concepts were developed to generate a cladded surface with an incorporated texture. The aim was to replace, within economically reasonable limitations, the two-step process of coating and consequent removal by machining or etching. Both concepts proved to be applicable. A special software was developed to preprocess the bitmap information, and control the CNC and the scanner. Suitable flatbed nozzles were developed to feed the powder in one line. The gas jet concept showed limitations in the process window. The scanner concept could be handled much better. To qualify the differences between both concepts, a pin-on-disc wear test was conducted. This wear test shows that the scanner approach is better than gas jet approach to generate a cladded surface. There is a potential for using a harder cladding material on a softer base material, to increase wear protection. Another possibility is to make a smooth metallic surface rougher by adding a textured layer.

Conclusion 53

References

•Citation essential to prevent plagiarism issues and copyright violations

•Predominantly peer-reviewed published research papers

•Internet links, verbal communication with someone etc. should be avoided

unless absolutely essential.

•Many styles of listing

Alphabetical

Citation order

Could have various types of information included

Software help available

•Many styles of citing

Name, year

Number as appearing in bibliography

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Abstract

•10% of Length of the Document

•Informative. Not Descriptive.

•5-10 Sentences

•What-Why-How-So_what

•Keywords

•Your work in past Tense

•Avoid use of abbreviations

•Write After Document is Complete

•Sentence 1: Describe the important unsolved

problem.

•Sentence 2: Emphasize the need for research(For

grants and certain papers, this is the selling point)

•Sentence 3: Describe the opportunity presented.

•Sentences 4-6: Briefly summarize the methods.

•Sentences 7-8: Briefly summarize the results,

including a few exact numbers or findings.

•Sentence 9: Describe the specific contribution this

research makes to the field.

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General Hints

•K.I.S.S. - Keep it Simple and Sweet.

•Use Paragraphs

•Use Headings and Subheadings

Sub-sub-sub Headings can get irritating

•Every table, figure, graph, algorithm, schematic should be numbered correctly and

referenced in text

•Jargon and other mumble speak (e.g. "now" instead of "at this point of time")

56

Format

1=Serif; 2=Sans Serif 3=Monospace Serif - Good for printouts/hard copy. E.g. Garamond, Georgia, New York, Times, Times New Roman Sans Serif - Good for on-screen. E.g. Arial,Geneva, Helvetica, Lucida Sans, Trebuchet, Verdana Monospace - For computer codes, instructions etc. E.g Courier, Courier New, Lucida, Console, Monaco Font: No less than 11 pt. Fonts in figures same as font in text as would appear in final print

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Format

•Margin: 1 inch on all sides

•Line spacing: double for drafts, final, according to specications.

•Each sentence not more than two lines long.

•Captions for figures, tables, schemes etc. required.

•Reference appropriate figures etc. in text.

•Include page numbers.

58

Before you submit…

•Write the Abstract

•Spell check-Manually.

•Proof read thrice – content, language, format

•External proof read

•Add acknowledgements, index, table of contents,

keywords.

•Debug if using latex

Spellbound by Janet Minor

I have a spelling checker. It came with my PC. It plane lee marks four my revue. Miss steaks aye can knot see. Eye ran this poem threw it. Your sure real glad two no. Its very polished in its weigh. My checker tolled me sew.

I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter. ~James Michener

59

Supporting stuff

Start writing your thesis NOW.

Save all your drafts, properly dated.

BACKUP. Losing material can be frustrating

Revise constantly.

Consider professional proof reading assistance.

Remove unnecessary sentences at each review.

Get comfortable with the writing program/software.

Don't forget punctuations

I write when I'm inspired, and I see to it that I'm inspired at nine o'clock every morning”- Peter De Vries

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Supporting stuff – Cover letter/emails

Use appropriate file names. Generic proposal.doc is no good.

Use relevant information in the subject tag of the email.

Use appropriate terms of address. Sir/Madam/Dr. so-and-so/Prof. so-and-so

Do not use SMS abbreviations u, r, b4, v, thx.

Use punctuations even in emails.

61


•We got our independence on Aug 15, 1947. Let go of the Queen. And her English.

•"Respected sir", "Yours humbly", "with kind regards" etc. – old fashioned

•"Dear sir" (or madam) or "Sir" (or Madam) good . "Yours sincerely" should do.

•The three magic words are "Sorry", "Thank you" and "Please" NOT "Apologise“,

"Grateful" and "Kindly".

•"Your kind attention" etc. OUT. Attention cannot be kind.

•Use simple sentences

It is with great excitement that I am writing to you sir, for a project under your able guidance. Verbal vomit. Engineering is incomplete without proper exposure to the way things are done practically. Really? We did not know that. Spoke high of your knowledge and experience I don't need your certificate Your blessing will further enhance my knowledge. Blessings won't enhance anything. Only hard work will.

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Respected Madam, I hereby attach with this mail, my paper entitled blah blah blah for your kind perusal, as promised. I would be most obliged if you could read it and honour me with your esteemed opinion. I would consider myself fortunate if given a chance to meet you and discuss this paper further at a time convenient to you. I am eternally grateful for your time and assistance. Yours humbly, So-and-so. Dear Madam, Please find attached, my paper -blah blah blah. I look forward to your comments and suggestions. Please let me know of a good time to meet you to discuss the paper further. Thank you. Sincerely, So-and-so.

“Writing is making sense of life. You work your whole life and perhaps you've made sense of one small area.”

-Nadine Gordimer

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How to Write Publish a Scientific Paper - Robert Day ISBN 0-78774-865-4: ORYX PRESS (latest 6th edition, 2006) Conceptual Blockbusting - James L. Adams. On Writing Well - William Zinsser Steps to Writing Well with Additional Readings - Jean Wyrick Online resources - GLISC- Guidelines for the production of scientific and technical reports: how to write and distribute grey literature - The Mayeld Handbook of Technical and Scientic Writing - Purdue Online Writing Lab - James Cook University - Writing Skills Online

References 64

writing in science 2012/science writing course... · writing in science ... •brand names: xerox,...

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