“THE SCIENCE OF SCIENTIFIC WRITING” George D. Gopen and Judith A. Swan Technical Writing ENGL 3153 Scott Hale

Scientific Writing Remember: The goal is to communicate. Accurate information is useless if the reader cannot understand it. 2 2 2

When presenting data in a table Time Degrees 0 min 25 3 min 27 6 min 29 Give context before data. The information which is familiar (time increments) comes before the “new” data. 3 3 3

Reader Expectations Readers expect information from left to right and top to bottom in chronological (or other standard order of) sequence. Example: If the headings in your resume are top to bottom, and your content moves from left to right, don’t put a heading to the left/right of another (horizontally) or provide any content arranged vertically. 4 4 4

Reader Expectations: cont’d Readers expect the writer to follow generic considerations (Introduction, Experimental Methods, Results and Discussion) Example: A cover letter should announce the position being applied for before the writer begins to talk about his/her qualifications. 5

Improving Accessibility First, grammatical subjects should be followed as soon as possible by their verbs. Avoid: I would, because of many reasons--the first of which is location, the second of which is challenge, the third of which is independence--like to remain my own boss. 5 6 6

Accessibility--Con’t Second, every unit of discourse, no matter the size, should serve a single function or make a single point. Avoid: I have received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma and, since I live nearby, can come in to interview at any time. 7

Accessibility--Con’t Third, information intended to be emphasized should appear at points of syntactic closure. Syntactic closure occurs at the end of a clause or sentence. Syntactic closure comes HERE, but it can also come HERE. 8

"Put in the topic position the old information that links backward; put in the stress position the new information you want the reader to emphasize.” 1. The backward-linking old information can appear in the topic position. Example While doing this experiment, a problem with the calibration was observed. This problem will have to be corrected before we can move on. NOT Before we can move on, we must correct this. 6 9 9

Emphasis--Con’t 2. The person, thing or concept whose story it is can appear in the topic position. Example: The asphalt was heated, then cooled, over 100 times in rapid succession. Only minor cracking occured. NOT Our highly-skilled engineers tested the asphalt. They heated and cooled it, and they found only minor cracking occured. 10

Emphasis --Con’t 3. The new, emphasis-worthy information can appear in the stress position. Example: We are pleased to report that we have had success. NOT: This report of our success, which we are pleased to provide, follows. 11

Look for Logical Gaps Explanations should be step-by-step, and should not omit a step--assuming the reader can supply specialized knowledge. Treat descriptions of processes like mathematical proofs--supply all steps. 7 12 12

Make the Central “Action” Clear Whether you are proving a hypothesis, making a recommendation (even of yourself), or reporting difficulties, make certain that this action is performed in your document (make it apparent and stress it). 8 13 13

Summary Follow a grammatical subject as soon as possible with its verb. Place in the stress position the "new information" you want the reader to emphasize. 9 14 14

Summary--Con’t Place the person or thing whose "story" a sentence is telling at the beginning of the sentence, in the topic position. 10 15 15

Summary--Con’t Place appropriate "old information" (material already stated in the discourse) in the topic position for linkage backward and contextualization forward. 11 16 16

Summary--Con’t Articulate the action of every clause or sentence in its verb. In general, provide context for your reader before asking that reader to consider anything new. 12 17 17

Summary--Conclusion In general, try to ensure that the relative emphases of the substance coincide with the relative expectations for emphasis raised by the structure. 13 18 18