Basic Scientific Writing in English Lecture 3.ppt

Basic Scientific Writing in English Lecture 3 Professor Ralph Kirby Faculty of Life Sciences Extension 7323 Room B322 Write the paper in English It is much harder to translate directly into English without making many errors unless you have a lot of practice Use the vocabulary that you have. Use Simplified English with its limited vocabulary. You can make it read better later Use the papers that you have from your literature search to help you If you are using the same method, for example, refer directly in your paper If you have modified the method, keep the same wording and add the changes Use the introductions from papers to give you the content and style you want for your introduction Do not plagiarize, but science does allow you to say things in the same way as others, unlike many other subjects Write the paper in stages Do an outline, in Chinese if you want, of what you want the paper to say. Decide on the journal Get the Instructions to Authors and a hardcopy of a recent paper on a similar subject Create a structure for the paper, also in Chinese if you want, for each section of the paper Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion Start writing one section, say the Material and Methods When you have a 1st draft, start on a 2nd section, the Results perhaps Then the Introduction and finally the Discussion Now put all these 1st drafts together Now get the model paper and check that you have the format correct and that you have the heading as they should be Look at the Instructions to Authors and decide what is missing How about a title page. You might have wanted to invent a title earlier. That’s OK. But the title is not the only thing needed on the title page. The Instructions will tell you You will need an abstract and this usually has a word limit You will need references You will need Tables and Figures The Introduction This should tell why the work was done Keep it relatively short Explain the general field including what is already know