1. Communicating in Science - Writing and Publishing
Sixuan Zhong 钟似璇
11/22/2018
武汉大学

2. The Process of Building a Database of Scientific Knowledge
We have been doing this for more than 120 years.
How do we do it?
Collect, categorize, and disseminate engineering information.
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武汉大学

3. Ei收录情况及Ei在中国的收录情况 Ei收录5,100多个刊 中国期刊260 2,600核心刊 2,500非核心刊 17%会议论文
175学科
中国期刊260
140核心刊
120非核心刊
for more information
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武汉大学

4. Ei in China – 在中国的发展 1998年在清华大学建立中国镜像点 1998年11月中国大学集团成立
至今已有近200多用户, 包括130多所高校
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武汉大学

5. Communicating in Science
Publish is the goal of scientific research
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武汉大学

6. Importance of Scientific Writing
The Space Shuttle Challenger Accident
Katrina Damages to the New Orleans Area
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7. Scholarly Communication
By publication
Reports
Articles
Proposals
Web pages
By Speech
Conferences
Lectures
Meetings
Optimally do so in English
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武汉大学

8. Scientific writing differs from other kinds of writing
To inform
To persuade
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9. Publication Writing a Scientific Paper
“The goal of scientific research is publication.” - Robert A. Day
Structure and protocol
Language
Clarity
Precision
Objectivity
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10. Structure: the Strategy of Style Ending Middle Beginning
If a man can group his ideas, then he is a writer. Robert Louis Stevenson
Ending
On these notes pages, the page and chapter numbers refer to The Craft of Scientific Writing, 3rd edition (Springer-Verlag, 1996). Also referred to is the “Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students,” which can be found at the following address:
At that page, you will find links to the “Writing Exercises for Engineers and Scientists” and to the “Handbook for Instructors.” If you would like a 60-day evaluation copy of The Craft of Scientific Writing, please go to the following web page:
This first slide is a title slide for a discussion about the structure for a general document. Note that structure comprises not only organization, which students have studied in other writing courses, but also emphasis, depth, and transition between sections (aspects they have probably not studied). Corresponding discussions of these definitions are in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3.
Middle
Beginning
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11. The organization of a scientific document can be viewed as a beginning, middle, and ending
Conclusions
Back Matter
Ending
Middle Sections
This slide maps a discussion of organization for a general scientific document that is to follow. In this discussion, a general scientific document is considered. Other discussions exist for the stylistic peculiarities of specific scientific documents, such as proposals, lab reports, and correspondence.
Middle
Title
Summary
Introduction
Beginning
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武汉大学

12. Beginnings prepare readers for understanding the work
Title
orients readers to
document
Summary
tells readers what
happens in document
This slide presents the major parts to the beginning of a scientific document: titles, summaries, and introductions.Note that you might have other elements in a document’s beginning: table of contents, acknowledgments, and definitions of key abbreviations. These you might want to mention on this slide. The three presented here are ones that present significant writing challenges to the students because there are several different approaches for each.
Introduction
prepares readers
for the middle
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武汉大学

13. of Electron Avalanches in Electrical Gas Discharges
A strong title orients readers to
your area of work
Effects of Humidity
on the Growth
of Electron Avalanches
in Electrical Gas Discharges
Effects of Humidity
on the Growth
of Avalanches
When presenting this slide and the next, I ask the students to critique the title on the left. Often I ask what type of avalanche is the writer discussing. Most students, after prodding, will assume that it’s a snow or rock avalanche which makes the point that the title does not identify the area of work. Then I advance the animation to bring in the revision. (Pages 17-18)
11/22/2018
武汉大学

14. Effects of Rhodamine-B on the Electrodeposition
A strong title also separates your
work from everyone else's work
Effects of Rhodamine-B
on the Electrodeposition
of Lead on Copper
Studies on the
Electrodeposition
of Lead on Copper
This slide presents another “before” and “after” example of a title. Note that although the ideal title separates one’s work from everyone else’s, such a title is often not possible to create in only three or four details. As the book points out, titles with too many details are difficult to understand. For that reason, engineers and scientists often have to balance precision with conciseness. (Pages 18-19)
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15. Several names for summaries exist
Summary
Technical
Abstract
Informative
Abstract
Abstract
Descriptive
Abstract
Executive
Summary
This slide presents names for the many varieties of summaries that exist. The “Writing Guidelines” discusses some of the differences, and the textbook discusses the two main approaches. You will probably have your students write summaries of the type that you see most often in your discipline. This slide then is a starting point for that discussion. (Pages 20-27)
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武汉大学

16. Although several names exist for summaries,
there are essentially two approaches
This paper describes a new inertial navigation system for mapping oil and gas wells. In this paper, we will compare the mapping accuracy and speed for this new system against the accuracy and speed for conventional systems.
Descriptive
This paper describes a new inertial navigation system that will increase the mapping accuracy of oil wells by a factor of ten. The new system uses three-axis navigation that protects sensors from high-spin rates. The system also processes its information by Kalman filtering (a statistical sampling technique) in an on-site computer. Test results show the three-dimensional location accuracy is within 0.1 meters for every 100 meters of well depth, an accuracy ten times greater than conventional systems.
Informative
This slide shows examples of two common approaches for writing summaries. Consider using these two approaches as a springboard to describe the type of summary that you desire for documents in your course. (Pages 20-27)
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武汉大学

17. A document's introduction prepares readers for the discussion
Topic?
Importance?
Background?
Arrangement?
This slide shows the questions that should be answered for the readers once they finish reading the “Introduction.” In showing this slide, I begin by asking the students what questions they have about a topic when they are first introduced to it. The analogy I use is that an introduction section is like a car or bus ride to a place where the readers will learn something. I ask the students to imagine that I am leading them out the door to a parked car or bus that will take them someplace where they will learn something. I then ask what questions they have as they are walking out the door. The students will guess the first two questions right off (“what topic are we going to learn about?” and “why is that topic important?”) and after prodding will get the fourth one (“how long will this trip take?” or “will we come back in time for our next class?”). Although they rarely guess the third question (“what information do I need to know to understand this subject?”), the third question makes sense to them because they usually associate “background” with “introduction.” I usually remind them that in this section, the document is referred to in the present tense (“This report presents…”). (Pages 27-33)
Introduction
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18. The introduction defines the scope and limitations of the work
Other effects,
such as exercise,
not considered
Medical histories
Women may not
experience the
same effects
scope
Proposed Study
on Effects of Alcohol
on Life Expectancy
Ten-year study
Three classes of drinkers:
non-drinkers
moderate drinkers
heavy drinkers
Page 28.
Men surveyed
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limitations

19. Many journal articles follow a set organization named IMRaD
Materials and Methods
Introduction
Discussion
Results
In the biological sciences, most journal articles follow a set organization for the headings and subheadings: Introduction, Materials and Methods, and Results and Discussion.
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武汉大学

20. In a strong ending, you analyze results and give a future perspective
Conclusions
Analysis of Results
Analyze results from overall perspective
Future Perspective
Several options:
Make recommendations
Discuss future work
Repeat limitations
This slide is a springboard for a discussion of conclusion sections. It is difficult to characterize what conclusion sections do for all reports and say something specific enough to benefit all the students. The first part, analyzing results from an overall perspective, holds true for most documents, but the second part, providing a future perspective, occurs in several forms: making recommendations, discussing future work, and raising questions about the subject. The conclusion section is one of the most difficult sections for the students to write because it contains the most analysis. The students also have to evaluate which details (or results) are more important and emphasize those details (or results).
On this slide, I usually point out to the students that in this conclusion section, the document is referred to in a different tense (“This report has shown…”) from how the document is referred to in the “Introduction” and “Summary” where the writer should use the present tense (“This report presents…”). (Pages 40-45)
11/22/2018
武汉大学

21. Language: the Way We Use Words
Concise
Familiar
Clear
Fluid
Precise
Forthright
wordwordwordword
word
wordword
word word
Language: the Way We Use Words
Short words are the best, and short words when old are best of all.
Winston Churchill
On these notes pages, the page and chapter numbers refer to The Craft of Scientific Writing, 3rd edition (Springer-Verlag, 1996). Also referred to is the “Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students,” which can be found at the following address:
At that page, you will find links to the “Writing Exercises for Engineers and Scientists” and to the “Handbook for Instructors.” If you would like a 60-day evaluation copy of The Craft of Scientific Writing, please go to the following web page:
This slide introduces a second perspective to style, language (pages 11-13). This perspective examines writing at the sentence and paragraph level. Rather than present rules, which would not hold given the variety of situations in which engineers and scientists write, the slides in this section present goals or attributes that strong scientific writing has. Each goal or attribute is anchored with an example. Chapters 4 through 9 present many more of these examples.
The examples shown in the following have been shown to hundreds of engineers, scientists, and engineering students. For each of them I try to set up the situation (the audience and the occasion). Every so often, I receive questions that deal with tangential issues. Why was a comma placed here? Why was a number written out there? On these notes pages, I try to warn you about the tangential questions I’ve received in the past.
11/22/2018
武汉大学

22. For precise language, you should avoid over-specifying details
The number of particular hydrocarbon
combinations in our study is enormous.
For example, the number of possible
C20H42 is 366,319 and the number for
C40H82 is 62,491,178,805,831.
The number of hydrocarbon combinations
in our study is enormous. For example, the
number of possible C40H82 is more than 62 trillion.
This slide presents another “before” and “after” example of being precise. This example comes from the introduction of a journal article. The two numbers, particularly the second one, are so long that they stand out more than any piece of typography on the page. Given that all the chemist intended was to show that his work was challenging, dealing with so many combinations, the size of the numbers is important, but the accuracy is not. Moreover, the first number is unnecessary in this case. On another day, 350,000 is a large number, but today, when we have 62 trillion in the sentence, then 350,000 is insignificant and raises questions about the purpose of this sentence. (Pages 80-81)
On this slide, students often ask questions about when to write out numbers in words and when to use numerals (actual digits). A discussion is given on pages
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武汉大学

23. For precision, you must choose the appropriate level of detail
Operations at the plant stopped momentarily
because the thermal storage charging system
desuperheater attemperator valve was replaced.
Operations at the plant stopped for 1.5 hours
so that a valve in the thermal storage system
could be replaced.
This slide presents one of my favorite examples about language. This example demonstrates that engineers and scientists have to consider the situation (the audience and subject matter) when deciding upon the level of detail. In this example, written to the Department of Energy in a progress report, the depth is too much for one detail (the exact valve), but not enough for another detail (the time the plant was down). (Page 81)
Notice that if the sentence had been in a memo to technicians at the plant, this depth might have been appropriate—the technicians might have needed to know the exact valve that failed in case that valve was giving the plant particular problems. Although the depth would have been acceptable, the way that the detail was included in a long noun string would not. A discussion about noun strings can be found on
When showing this example, I like to hide the revision and ask the students to comment on the level of detail. My question to them is, “Given that the audience is the Department of Energy responsible for that $40 million field of mirrors, which details would you challenge?” They usually pick the noun string right off, but take a while to notice the detail about time that is too general.
11/22/2018
武汉大学

24. Stacking adjectives before nouns swallows the ideas
Solar One is a 10 megawatt solar
thermal electric central receiver
Barstow power pilot plant.
This slide shows another example of needless complexity. Another way that engineers and scientists make the writing needlessly complex is by stacking too many adjectives into phrases. The example above, which was the first sentence of a proposal, is an extreme case. Notice that the revision costs a few more words; however, those words earn their keep because they help the reader sort the details. (Pages 85-86)
Solar One is a solar-powered pilot
plant located near Barstow, California. Solar One
produces 10 megawatts of electricity by capturing
solar energy in a central receiver design.
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武汉大学

25. One measure for the complexity of the writing is the Gunning Fog Index
In the index, the complexity
of the writing depends on
(1) the lengths of sentences
(2) the lengths of words
Desired index values for
scientific writing are 10-12:
New York Times (11)
Scientific American (12)
Fi = 0.4 ((Nw / Ns )+ Plw )
Nw = number of words in a typical paragraph
Ns = number of sentences in the paragraph
Plw = percentage of long words in the paragraph
This slide presents one common way to measure of writing: the Gunning Fog Index, which is named after Robert Gunning. Many word processors calculate this index. One quick way to perform the calculation is to take a typical paragraph in a document and do the following:
(1) count the number of words;
(2) count the number of sentences;
(3) calculate the percentage of long words (3 syllables or more).
Exceptions to (3) include first words of sentences, proper names, compound words such as “bookkeeper,” and words that have become three syllables because of a verb ending (“attempted,” for example). Then use the equation on the slide.
In class, I like to have the students calculate the fog index for the Bohr paragraph (page 89), which comes out to be 25 or so, and the Einstein paragraph on page 116, which comes out to be about 12. A good score would be between 9 and 13.
Note that students can get carried away with this index. Just because writing falls within the range does not mean it succeeds. There are other goals, such as precision, that have to be addressed. However, it is a good argument against a piece of writing that is needlessly complex.
11/22/2018
武汉大学

26. Ambiguities occur for many reasons
The proposed schedule is discussed below for the next four years.
?????????
???????
As light hydrocarbons evaporate the oil
vapor pressure falls.
This slide presents three interesting examples of ambiguities (sentences or phrases that can have more than one meaning). Poets make their living off ambiguities; engineers and scientists, however, spawn lawsuits when ambiguities appear in their writing.
The first ambiguity arises because of the placement of the prepositional phrase “for the next four years.” That is how many ambiguities arise—improper placement of modifying words or phrases. The second ambiguity arises because of a missing comma. Did the hydrocarbons evaporate the oil or did the oil vapor pressure drop when the light hydrocarbons evaporated? The third ambiguity arises because of an ambiguous pronoun reference (the second “its”). The way this sentence is written, the engineers didn’t realize the reasons for Titanic’s severe damage until the iceberg was discovered some seventy years later.
Note that the readers could figure out the meaning of these ambiguities; the point is, though, that the reader has to stop and interpret the sentence. This needless pause means that the writing is inefficient. (Pages 90-96)
Although engineers realized the design flaws in the Titanic soon after its sinking in 1912, the reasons for the severe damage inflicted by the iceberg remained a mystery until its discovery in 1985.
????
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武汉大学

27. Pretentious diction often causes problems with tone
about
cause; bring about
carry out
individual
can operate
use
approximately
facilitate
implement
individualized
operationability
utilization
This slide presents some simple substitutions for pretentious words that are often used in scientific writing (note that a word such as “approximately” is fine in some situations (“approximately 2.53 cm”), but pretentious in others (“approximately eight people”).
Some students balk at the idea of using simpler wording, even when precision allows. Perhaps they don’t understand the effect that needlessly complex words have on the ability of the audience to understand the message. As was stated a few slides ago, these choices are not a problem individually, but become a problem when the writer continues to choose them in place of simpler words that have the same precision. Note that the point is not to get students to agree on the same set of pretentious words, but to instill in students the desire to seek words that are simpler. Winston Churchill’s quotation at the beginning of Chapter 6 applies well here. (Pages 97-99)
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28. Conclusion
Communication skill is essential for scientists and engineers
Publication is the goal of research
Learn to inform and to persuade effectively
Learn to convey your idea clearly
Scientific research is not complete until the results have been published
The education of a scientist is not complete until the ability to publish has been established
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武汉大学

29. Thank you! www.ei.org.cn Sixuan Zhong – 钟似璇 Ei中国全权代表 s.zhong@ei.org
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