科技论文的阅读与写作 Course -4: Structuring Paragraphs http://inpluslab.com/paperwriting 主讲：黄华威 Associate Professor 数据科学与计算机学院 学院个人主页： http://sdcs.sysu.edu.cn/content/4989
Outline of Course-4: Structuring Paragraphs 1. First paragraph of a new section – begin with a mini summary plus an indication of the structure 2. First paragraph of a new section – go directly to the point 3. Choose the most relevant subject to put it at the beginning of a sentence that opens a new paragraph 4. Try to be as concrete as possible ASAP 5. Don’t force readers to hold a lot of preliminary information in their head before giving them the main information 6. Use a consistent numbering system 7. Break up long paragraphs 8. Typical markers that indicate where you could begin a new sent. or new paragraph 9. Begin a new paragraph when you begin to talk about your study and your key findings 10. Concluding a paragraph: avoid redundancy
4.1 First paragraph of a new section – a mini summary • Begin with a mini summary plus an indication ( 指示 ) of the structure – Readers do not necessarily read the paper from beginning to end. – Start some sections, e.g., Introduction, discussion, conclusions , with a one or two-sentence summary of the main aims/findings of the paper – However, you have to check the general style of papers in the chosen journal
4.1 First paragraph of a new section – a mini summary (cont.) • Example: Mini summaries at the beginning – This section attempts to answer the question … – Our aim is to provide a simple alternative to the complex theoretical models that attempt to explain … In this section we present a simplified model, which we believe is… – This section reviews the process of … This process provides the backbone to the system that is at the core of our research.
4.1 First paragraph of a new section – a mini summary (cont.) • Some authors also briefly outline what will be contained in the rest of the section • Examples: – S1. In this section, we briefly review the broad perspectives that have shaped the direction of thinking about … – S2. In this section, the numerous advances in blockchain are described, with emphasis on the vast new area of distributed machine learning. – S3. In this section, we define our approach and how it can be used to the machine-fault detection. The next section will discuss the design details of our approach.
4.1 First paragraph of a new section – a mini summary (cont.) • Example of mini-summary:
Outline of Course-4: Structuring Paragraphs 1. First paragraph of a new section – begin with a mini summary plus an indication of the structure 2. First paragraph of a new section – go directly to the point 3. Choose the most relevant subject to put it at the beginning of a sentence that opens a new paragraph 4. Try to be as concrete as possible ASAP 5. Don’t force readers to hold a lot of preliminary information in their head before giving them the main information 6. Use a consistent numbering system 7. Break up long paragraphs 8. Typical markers that indicate where you could begin a new sent. or new paragraph 9. Begin a new paragraph when you begin to talk about your study and your key findings 10. Concluding a paragraph: avoid redundancy
4.2 First paragraph of a new section – go directly to the point In shorter papers, readers often don’t have the time or the • inclination ( 爱好 ) to read the mini summaries. You need a more direct approach. • Being direct does not require telling readers what you did, but • telling them what it means . – S1. An analysis of the number of words used in English w.r.t Italian, showed that the average sentence in English was 25 words long, whereas in Italian it was 32 words long (See Table 1). This indicates that when an Italian document is translated into English, there is … A much more direct approach is to say: • – S2. Italian tends to use more words per sentence than English, so when an Italian document translated into English, there is… – Begins with the main information, and provides implications. – Not what you did (appropriate in Methods) but just what you found.
Outline of Course-4: Structuring Paragraphs 1. First paragraph of a new section – begin with a mini summary plus an indication of the structure 2. First paragraph of a new section – go directly to the point 3. Choose the most relevant subject to put it at the beginning of a sentence that opens a new paragraph 4. Try to be as concrete as possible ASAP 5. Don’t force readers to hold a lot of preliminary information in their head before giving them the main information 6. Use a consistent numbering system 7. Break up long paragraphs 8. Typical markers that indicate where you could begin a new sent. or new paragraph 9. Begin a new paragraph when you begin to talk about your study and your key findings 10. Concluding a paragraph: avoid redundancy
4.3 Use the most relevant subject to put it at the beginning of a sent. that opens a new paragraph • Clear English requires: put the subject -> 句首 • Don’t waste the reader’s attention when they begin reading a sentence. • Best solution is to shift ``no value added” phrases to later on in the sentence, and try to reduce them to one word. • Otherwise, they skim, i.e. to read very fast. • See 4 examples, and compare them: – S1. Particularly interesting for researchers in physics is the new feature, named X, for calculating velocity. – S2. Physics now has a new feature, named X, for calculating velocity. – S3. Velocity can now be calculated with a new feature, named X, which is particularly interesting for physicists. – S4. X is a new feature for calculating velocity. It is particularly interesting for physicists.
Outline of Course-4: Structuring Paragraphs 1. First paragraph of a new section – begin with a mini summary plus an indication of the structure 2. First paragraph of a new section – go directly to the point 3. Choose the most relevant subject to put it at the beginning of a sentence that opens a new paragraph 4. Try to be as concrete as possible ASAP 5. Don’t force readers to hold a lot of preliminary information in their head before giving them the main information 6. Use a consistent numbering system 7. Break up long paragraphs 8. Typical markers that indicate where you could begin a new sent. or new paragraph 9. Begin a new paragraph when you begin to talk about your study and your key findings 10. Concluding a paragraph: avoid redundancy
4.4 Try to be as concrete as possible ASAP • Compare these two texts: – S1. Smart devices may have to manage sensitive information that, often, must be protected against unauthorized diffusion or from malicious attacks. Some notable examples of sensitive information are data concerning the health conditions of a patient or data gathered from caregivers about the status of an elderly person. – S2. Smart devices may have to manage sensitive information, for example the health conditions of a patient or data gathered from caregivers on the status of an elderly person. Clearly, such data must be protected against unauthorized diffusion or from malicious attacks.
4.4 Try to be as concrete as possible ASAP (cont.) • What do you think? – In S1, readers have to wait to understand exactly what sensitive information is and why it has to be protected. – S2 tells readers immediately what it is , and therefore enables readers to understand why it should be protected. S2 uses fewer words . • Points – I am NOT suggesting that you should always use S2 rather than S1. – Just be aware that the same information can be presented in a different order . – Your aim is to choose the most effective order .
Outline of Course-4: Structuring Paragraphs 1. First paragraph of a new section – begin with a mini summary plus an indication of the structure 2. First paragraph of a new section – go directly to the point 3. Choose the most relevant subject to put it at the beginning of a sentence that opens a new paragraph 4. Try to be as concrete as possible ASAP 5. Don’t force readers to hold a lot of preliminary information in their head before giving them the main information 6. Use a consistent numbering system 7. Break up long paragraphs 8. Typical markers that indicate where you could begin a new sent. or new paragraph 9. Begin a new paragraph when you begin to talk about your study and your key findings 10. Concluding a paragraph: avoid redundancy
Recommend
More recommend
