1. Dr Pippa Goldschmidt, visiting fellow at STIS1
How to write
23 Nov 2016
Dr Pippa Goldschmidt, visiting fellow at STIS

2. Series of five workshops:
26 Oct – planning for your thesis
3 Nov – fiction writing
23 Nov – writing sentences and paragraphs
1 Feb – first draft vs editing
15 March – critiquing your own work

3. Who am I? Currently writer-in-residence at STIS
Writer of fiction, poetry, reviews, articles
I used to be:
an astronomer
a policy advisor in Govt.

4. Construction of sentences 4
Today:
Guidance on writing :
Construction of sentences
Paragraphs – different ways of structuring an argument
Some examples
Some exercises

5. What makes a good sentence:5
What makes a good sentence:
English clause/sentence construction - ‘subject verb object’
Independent clauses stand alone
Dependent clauses can’t stand alone
Clauses can be linked by transition words (e.g. which, that, however, but, although, instead, additionally)
‘Astronomers, who have observed spiral galaxies, have concluded that dark matter exists.’
‘Spiral galaxy observations have been used to conclude the
existence of dark matter.’

6. Nominalisation – turning verbs into nouns6
Nominalisation – turning verbs into nouns
‘Astronomers, who have observed spiral galaxies, have concluded that dark matter exists.’
‘Spiral galaxy observations have been used to conclude the
existence of dark matter.’

7. Nominalisation – turning verbs into nouns 7
Nominalisation – turning verbs into nouns
‘The labour market time commitment of mothers has increased in western societies.’
‘Mothers in western societies commit more time to work.’

8. Use of the passive versus active voice 8
Use of the passive versus active voice
‘Astronomers, who have observed spiral galaxies, have concluded that dark matter exists’
‘Spiral galaxy observations have been used to conclude
the existence of dark matter.’

9. Use of the passive versus active voice9
Use of the passive versus active voice
Active voice – we know who has done what. The reader has more information about how the work was done.
Passive voice – more universal. This implies that the information
is true regardless of who did the relevant work.

10. Use of synonyms
Anglo-Saxon or Latin/Old French?
use utilise
put implement
keep retain
try endeavour
end terminate

11. Wordy phrases versus shorter, simpler ones
Conduct an investigation into investigate
During the course of during
In the absence of without
At the present time now
A majority of most

12. Exercise
‘Utilisation of variable star images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope has led to an alteration in the accepted value of the Hubble constant.’

13. ‘Utilisation of variable star images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope has led to an alteration in the accepted value of the Hubble constant.’
‘Astronomers, using the Hubble Space Telescope to take images of variable stars, have agreed a change to the Hubble constant.’

14. Hedge your bets:
‘Hedging’ language may be required to convey a degree of uncertainty – especially important in qualitative analysis:
This result agrees with
This result indicates
This result may indicate
This result suggests
This result may suggest
This result seems to imply
This result is consistent with

15. Use of analogies: Analogies/similes compare one thing to another:
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Use of analogies:
Analogies/similes compare one thing to another:
‘the organisation runs like a well-oiled machine’
‘the Universe is like an expanding balloon’
Be aware of hidden analogies or metaphors:
‘DNA is code’
‘the Selfish Gene’
‘the battle against cancer’

16. Readable paragraphs:
Start with established ‘old’ information and lead to new ideas
Beginning of paragraph should introduce the topic
Expand on it – present your argument for or against
End of paragraph can summarise what you expect the
reader to remember

17. Readable paragraphs: Each paragraph should:
introduce and explain a new aspect of your thinking
advance the argument from A to B in a coherent way
Each paragraph may have:
an issue
a development
a conclusion

18. Readable paragraphs:
‘More than a century of experiments had shown light
to be a wave. Maxwell’s successful theoretical description
even identified what it was that made the waves.
Nonetheless Einstein demonstrated that when light
interacts with metals it behaves like a shower of particles.
Taken together, these experiments indicate that, in some manner
not easy to visualise, light acts in certain situations as a wave,
in others as particles.’

19. Readable paragraphs You can advance your argument in these ways:
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Readable paragraphs
You can advance your argument in these ways:
chronological
general to specific
specific to general
problem to solution
‘compare and contrast’

20. Readable paragraphs However you advance your argument, take care in
2020
Readable paragraphs
However you advance your argument, take care in
introducing new information:
‘There are different ways in which black holes can grow.
One of these is through the merging of their host galaxies.’
OR:
‘Black holes can grow in different ways.

21. Readable paragraphs need metadiscourse words:
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Readable paragraphs need metadiscourse words:
examples of transition words to link your clauses
or your sentences:
chronological ones: initially, then, another, after, finally
general to specific: for example, for instance, specifically
problem to solution: but, instead, nonetheless
compare and contrast: in contrast to, however

22. Let’s explore some examples: Why do they work, or not work?
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Let’s explore some examples:
Why do they work, or not work?
Is the language pitched at the right level?
How are abstract ideas communicated?
Does the paragraph construction work?
Is there logical flow?

23. An exercise! Write a paragraph introducing your research question.
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An exercise!
Write a paragraph introducing your research question.
Think about:
the information you’re presenting
the questions you’re raising
the flow of information
the sentence length
the choice of words to explain your ideas

24. Go to:
for links to useful info – the password is SSPS2016