The Mechanics of Scientific Writing

The Mechanics of Scientific Writing

W.S. Warner, Ph.D.

Day 1 Analysis and Structure Day 2 IMRAD and Argue

Day 3 Tables, Figures, Citation, Punctuation Day 4 Clarity and Cohesion

Day 5 Concision & Precision

Writing for your field of study

• Each disciple has its own

– Language – Style

– Manuscript format

• Humanities

• Social Sciences

• Physical, Natural, Medical Sciences

Humanities

• Concerned with quality of ideas

• Present tense: issue remains

• Discussion of theory supported by literature

• MLA (Modern Language Assoc.) style

Organ and tissue donation is the gift of life. Each year many people confront health problems due to disease or congenital birth defects. Tom Taddonia explains that tissues such as skin, veins and valves can be used to correct congenital defects (34).

Social Sciences

• Minimal quotations

• Past tense reference to source material

• Scientific plan for examining a research question

• Indicate purpose/plan for empirical research

• APA style (American Psychological Assoc.)

Organ donation has been a social problem in developing countries, because people are reluctant to donate. This problem has been identified by Taddonia (2010).

Physical Sciences

• Objective approach

• Reluctance to quote sources

• Passive voice and past tense verbs

• CSE (Council of Science Editors) citation style

Taddonia (1) has shown than human tissue can be used to correct many defects. Barnill (2) showed that more than 400 people receive corneal transplants each months. Yet the

health profession needs more donors.

Writing plan

critical thinking 60% style Research Outline Write

structure

restructure

brainstorm

edit

rewrite

draft

Program

Day 1

Analysis –critical thinking from note taking to brainstorming

Structure –outlining: analytical, comparison & contrast, argumentative Day 2

IMRAD – standard components of a publishable research manuscript Argue – how to persuade the reader and develop a thesis statement Day 3

Tables and Figures – how to make your writing understood Citation –how to reference your sources.

Punctuation – how to make your writing accurate Day 4

Clarity – six principles of clear writing

Cohesion – how to make your writing fluid Day 5

Concision & Precision – how to make your writing tight and right Review

Analysis

“A kind of laziness pulls me back into my old ways…

this will be hard work”

R. Descartes (1641)

Read & Reflect

1. Favorable elements of an analytical paper 2. How to analyze your literature

3. How to get started

Scholars

• Read:

• Reflect:

• Outline:

• Write:

Read Reflect

Outline Write

What annoys

academics about student papers?

1. Failing to answer the question 2. Poor language

3. Too much description, too little analysis

Greasley, P. and Cassidy, A- (2010). When it Comes Round to Marking

Assignments: How to Impress and How to ‘Distress’ Lecturers. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education 35: 173-189

Analysis

• Process of constructing an stance.

• Interpret evidence to support a claim.

Chief claim is the thesis.

Without evidence a thesis is merely opinion.

Your stance

• Focus on the topic

– Question should have an answer – Keep question visible

– Answer it logically

• Strong papers take a strong stance

• A strong stance is critical

Critical = Vital

• Not criticizing

• Creative solutions

• Academics want

– Your ideas, based upon research – Not uninformed speculation

– Not reproduced lectures

Critical Activities

• Interpret and analyze your reading

• Debate supported with scholarly literature

• Comment on the literature

– “Author A takes this view in contrast to author B”

– “What they both fail to account for fully is…”

– “Author C does not account for the problem of…”

Critical Scholarship

•Manage time

•Detail logically

•Structure thoughts

• Draft

• Revise

• Edit

•Think contextually

•Make connections

• Map ideas

• Analyze

• Evaluate

• Critique

Read

Outline Write

Critical Errors

Meditations on First Philosophy in which are

demonstrated the Existence of God and the distinction between the Human Soul and the Body (1641)

Errors of Understanding

Failing to

– Doubt everything

– Examine other people’s ideas – Critique your own ideas

Errors of Academic Writing

Failing to

– share your ideas – revise your thoughts – edit your writing

– see beyond the surface level

Critical Overview

• Search

– Select a suitable topic for the article – Locate scholarly sources

– Evaluate your sources

• Plan

– Understand your task – do not assume – Develop your own timescale

– Completion versus Perfection

• Write

– Critique your own work – Revise, revise, revise – Work with others

What kind of sources?

Scholarly

• Books

• Peer-reviewed journals

• Research studies

Govt/NGO reports

Newspaper/Trade journal Personal communication

Where to begin?

Search

• Where would be a likely place to look?

– Libraries? The Internet?

– Academic periodicals? Government records?

• Search & Write http://sokogskriv.no/english/

• Pre-focus exploration

– Google scholar http://scholar.google.no/

– Library

• http://ask.bibsys.no

• Publication archives (NORA, ForskDok, Frida)

• Journal databases

Keywords

• Keywords that work well in one database might not in another database – Library databases: general keywords

– Journal databases: more specific keywords – News databases: popular versions of keywords

• British English and American English have different spellings

• Do your keywords have synonyms?

How to Read

• Challenge the printed word

– Author of every text has an agenda.

– Do you agree with the author?

– Do the authors adequately defend their arguments?

• Take notes

– Highlight for memorizing — not critical reading – Put the author's ideas in your own words

– Search hidden agendas for effective arguments

How to Analyze

• Evaluate: previewing sources

– Skim for topic: abstract, intro, conclusion, topic sentences – Scan for relevance: data, statistics, facts

• To support your stance

• Need to have a goal

• Critique: rejecting sources

– Badly presented material, not complex arguments – Persevere with well-written challenging text

Read

De Omnibus Dubitandum

• Connections

– What is your topic influenced by?

– How or why does it influence?

• Contextual

– Explain your topic:

• What are the components?

• How is the topic like/unlike similar topics?

– Trace events:

• What events have impacted your subject?

• How or why has it changed over time?

Reflect

Analysis

But how?

Two problems

1. Too little information

– Feeling ‘blank’

– Lacking inspiration – Anxiety about a topic

2. Too much information

– Lost in the facts

– Overwhelmed by themes – Confused by relationships

Four solutions 1. Free-writing 2. Brainstorming 3. Clustering

4. Cubing

1. Free-writing

• Don’t worry about quality or style

• Set limit (10-15 minutes)

• Review for insights

2. Brainstorming

• Note terms and topics

• Group the items

– Label groups

– Now you have a topic with possible development – Write a sentence about the group

• Arrange the groups in a logical flow of thought.

3. Clustering (Mind-Mapping)

• Put topic in the center of a page. Circle it.

• Move outward and write phrases associated with nearby words

• When finished

– link words into a map/web

– or identify clusters, forming groups

4. Cubing

1. Describe the topic of your paper

2. Compare your topic to other topics.

3. What associations surface? What does it make you think of?

4. How do the parts relate?

5. How can your topic be used? What can it clarify?

6. What arguments can be made for and against your topic?

Look at your topic from six perspectives

Causes of world hunger and

possible solutions

Specific topics lead to deep analysis

4 Steps to help your thinking

1. Look at your question(s) – Are they clear?

– What is the idea, issue or problem?

– Writing it down forces clarity

– Set a fixed time (10-15 minutes)

2. Remain open-minded – Look for contradiction 3. Clarify your thinking: Can you…

– express an idea in a different way – elaborate on the point

– illustrate or give an example

4. Stick to the point – Is this relevant?

Cracking Creativity

Collaborate

• Koinonia (fellowship)

– Dialogue “talk through” vs.

Discuss “dash to pieces”

– Exchange ideas, don’t change minds

– Listen before arguing

• Check assumptions

• Suspend judgment Think what others don’t

• Build novel combinations

– Cognito “shake together”

– Intelligo “select among”

• Failure leads to success

– Creative accident – Serendipity

• Connect the unconnected

– Observe genious – Thought walk

Imagination is more important than knowledge

Think Hard before Working Hard

• The narrower your focus

– the more you can go into depth,

– the more likely you are to come up with ideas – that no-one else has discovered

• Vital to critical thinking

– Perceive connections

– Capacity to reflect

– Time management