1. Cognitive Elements of Communication I

2. “The fundamental problem of communication is that of reproducing at one point either exactly or approximately a message selected at another point.”
Claude Shannon
A Mathematical Theory of Communication
The Bell System Technical Journal,
Vol. 27, pp. 379–423, 623–656, July, October, 1948

3. The rumfrums biggled the pooba

4. The rumfrums biggled the pooba

5. The artichokes ambled the signpost

6. What is a sentence?
A grammatical unit that is syntactically independent
The American Heritage Dictionary
A sequence of words constituting a statement, question, or a command that begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop when written down
Collins Essential English Dictionary
A sentence is a complete unit of thought
Little, Brown Handbook

7. The rumfrums biggled the pooba

8. The electrons ionised the gas

9. A simple sentence
or a declarative sentence
The electrons ionised the gas
The electrons ionised the gas
The electrons ionised the gas
The electrons ionised the gas
subject
verb
object

10. Remember:
The main actor should always be the subject of the sentence

11. Scientific literature does not have to have boring qualities.
Scientific literature does not have to be boring.
Boring qualities are not always a part of scientific literature.

12. Over time, American society has come to value individuality.
Individuality in American society has over time become valued.
Over time, individuality has come to be valued by American society.

13. The focus of American philosophy is rugged individualism.
Rugged individualism is the focus of American philosophy.

14. The Passive Voice Passive: The ball was kicked by Janet
Active: Janet kicked the ball

15. Passive: The gas was ionised by the electrons
Active: The electrons ionised the gas

16. The pooba sab biggled osi the rumfrums
The gas was ionised by the electrons

17. Exercise

18. Sample answers
1. The emergence of swine flu occurred in the US in 1998 and hog farms across North America have since found it to be endemic

19. Sample answers
1.Swine flu emerged in the US in 1998 and has since become endemic in hog farms across North America.

20. Sample answers
2. Equipped with a suite of pig, bird and human genes, the evolution of swine virus has been happening rapidly.

21. Sample answers
Swine virus has been evolving rapidly, equipped with a suite of pig, bird and human genes.

22. Sample answers
3.Many animals are known to become infected with flu, including waterfowl, pigs and humans.

23. Sample answers
Flu infects many animals, including waterfowl, pigs and humans.

24. Sample answers
4. Were a pig to catch two kinds of flu at once, it could start to act as a mixing vessel, and it is possible for hybrids to emerge with genes from both viruses.

25. Sample answers
When a pig suffers from two kinds of flu, hybrid viruses can emerge with genes from both.

26. Sample answers
5. Few fossil traces were left by the very first animals.

27. Sample answers
The very first animals left few fossil traces.

28. Sample answers
6. A sketch of our great-to-the-nth grandmother is slowly being pieced together by evolutionary detectives by comparing the genes of living organisms and painstakingly working out family trees.

29. Sample answers
Evolutionary detectives are slowly piecing together a sketch of our great-to-the-nth- grandmother by comparing the genes of living organisms and painstakingly working out family trees.

30. Sample answers
7. The confirmation of this close kinship comes from DNA sequence comparisons.

31. Sample answers
DNA sequence comparisons confirm this close kinship

32. Remember:
Make the main actor in your thoughts the subject of your sentences

33. Paragraphs Make your writing easy for the reader:
Set up expectations... and then meet them
Introduce ourselves, describe our general aim: to teach how to write more
effective scientific papers, effective meaning clear. Youve all had the
frustrating experience of not being able to understand a paper that
seemed like it might be saying something interesting.
Give example of really bad writing on following slide – what you want to avoid
At end we hope youll be able to produce well writte
papers that avoid that problem.

34. A puzzle:
A bat and ball together cost $1.10,
and the bat costs $1 more than the ball.
How much is the ball?

35. A puzzle:
A bat and ball together cost $1.10,
and the bat costs $1 more than the ball.
How much is the ball?
Answer: 10 cents?

36. A puzzle:
A bat and ball together cost $1.10,
and the bat costs $1 more than the ball.
How much is the ball?
Answer: 10 cents?
no cents!!
(Shane Frederick, 2002)

37. A different puzzle:
A bat and ball together cost $1.10,
and the bat costs $1.05.
How much is the ball?

38. (Daniel Kahneman, Princeton University)‏
“Framing Effects”
(Daniel Kahneman, Princeton University)‏
Nobel Prize, 2002
The human mind comes to information with
preconceptions and expectations; it easily
falls into error or mis-interpretation
It is not only the content of the information
that matters; structure matters as well

39. Paragraphs Make your writing easy for the reader:
Set up expectations... and then meet them
Introduce ourselves, describe our general aim: to teach how to write more
effective scientific papers, effective meaning clear. Youve all had the
frustrating experience of not being able to understand a paper that
seemed like it might be saying something interesting.
Give example of really bad writing on following slide – what you want to avoid
At end we hope youll be able to produce well writte
papers that avoid that problem.

40. A simple technique: topic sentences
A) make a claim, and then
B) back it with evidence
Each paragraph should:
One sentence of a paragraph should state the
main point or claim; this is called the “topic sentence”
and is usually the first sentence.
Other sentences in the paragraph support or explore
the point made by this topic sentence.

41. Paul Krugman, New York Times
Making Banking Boring
Paul Krugman, New York Times
First paragraph
Thirty-plus years ago, everyone knew that banking
was, well, boring. When I was a graduate student
in economics, only the least ambitious of my classmates
sought careers in the financial world. Even then,
investment banks paid more than teaching or public
service — but not that much more.

42. A small portion of each paragraph makes its key point.
Second Paragraph
In the years that followed, of course, banking became
anything but boring. Wheeling and dealing flourished,
and pay scales in finance shot up, drawing in many of
the nation’s best and brightest young people (O.K., I’m
not so sure about the “best” part). And we were assured
that our supersized financial sector was the key to prosperity.
A small portion of each paragraph makes its key point.
The rest gives detail.

43. Third Paragraph Instead, however, finance turned into the monster that
ate the world economy.
Even one sentence can be an effective paragraph

44. The result of good topic sentences:
text reads as a sequence of claims, each supported by evidence
Topic sentence: making the main point or claim
[Remainder of paragraph, giving evidence for this point, illustrating with examples, etc.]
Topic sentence: making another point or claim
And so on...
Introduce ourselves, describe our general aim: to teach how to write more
effective scientific papers, effective meaning clear. Youve all had the
frustrating experience of not being able to understand a paper that
seemed like it might be saying something interesting.
Give example of really bad writing on following slide – what you want to avoid
At end we hope youll be able to produce well writte
papers that avoid that problem.
Each topic sentence sends your reader forward with expectations of what they'll hear next

45. Exercise: A less obvious example
Introduce ourselves, describe our general aim: to teach how to write more
effective scientific papers, effective meaning clear. Youve all had the
frustrating experience of not being able to understand a paper that
seemed like it might be saying something interesting.
Give example of really bad writing on following slide – what you want to avoid
At end we hope youll be able to produce well writte
papers that avoid that problem.

46. Good topic sentences bring out the logical skeleton of the argument;
they turn it into a STORY...
1. Bio-mathematics has been a runaway success
2. An exception is sympatric speciation
3. At first glance, it seems simple to understand...
4. In sexual populations, the problem is...
Introduce ourselves, describe our general aim: to teach how to write more
effective scientific papers, effective meaning clear. Youve all had the
frustrating experience of not being able to understand a paper that
seemed like it might be saying something interesting.
Give example of really bad writing on following slide – what you want to avoid
At end we hope youll be able to produce well writte
papers that avoid that problem.

47. Good topic sentences bring out the logical skeleton of the argument;
they turn it into a STORY...
1. Bio-mathematics has been a runaway success
2. An exception is sympatric speciation
3. At first glance, it seems simple to understand...
4. In sexual populations, the problem is...
terrible topic sentence!!
Introduce ourselves, describe our general aim: to teach how to write more
effective scientific papers, effective meaning clear. Youve all had the
frustrating experience of not being able to understand a paper that
seemed like it might be saying something interesting.
Give example of really bad writing on following slide – what you want to avoid
At end we hope youll be able to produce well writte
papers that avoid that problem.

48. Good topic sentences bring out the logical skeleton of the argument;
they turn it into a STORY...
1. Bio-mathematics has been a runaway success
2. An exception is sympatric speciation
3. At first glance, it seems simple to understand...
4. In fact, it is not so simple. In sexual populations, the problem is...
Introduce ourselves, describe our general aim: to teach how to write more
effective scientific papers, effective meaning clear. Youve all had the
frustrating experience of not being able to understand a paper that
seemed like it might be saying something interesting.
Give example of really bad writing on following slide – what you want to avoid
At end we hope youll be able to produce well writte
papers that avoid that problem.

49. A simple technique: topic sentences
One sentence of a paragraph should state the
main point; this is called the “topic sentence”
and is usually the first sentence.
Other sentences in the paragraph support or explore
the point made by this topic sentence.

50. Another example
.....
Give example of really bad writing on this slide – what you want to avoid
At end we hope youll be able to produce well writte
papers that avoid that problem.

51. First paragraph 1. Introduction
Recent investigations have uncovered large, consistent
deviations from the predictions of the textbook presentation
of Homo economicus. One problem appears to lie in
economists' assumption that individuals are entirely
self-interested; in addition to their own material payoffs,
many experimental subjects appear to care about fairness
and reciprocity...
.....
Give example of really bad writing on this slide – what you want to avoid
At end we hope youll be able to produce well writte
papers that avoid that problem.

52. Second paragraph Fundamental questions remain unanswered. Are the
deviations from the canonical model evidence of
universal patterns of behaviour, or do the individuals'
economic and social environments shape behaviour?...
.....
Give example of really bad writing on this slide – what you want to avoid
At end we hope youll be able to produce well writte
papers that avoid that problem.

53. Third paragraph Existing research cannot answer such questions because
virtually all subjects have been university students.
... To address the above questions, we and our collaborators
undertook a large cross-cultural study... in twelve countries
on four continents...
.....
Give example of really bad writing on this slide – what you want to avoid
At end we hope youll be able to produce well writte
papers that avoid that problem.

54. Fourth paragraph We can summarize our results as follows. First, the
canonical model is not supported in any society studied.
Second, there is considerably more behavioural
variability across groups than had been found in previous
cross-cultural research and...
.....
Give example of really bad writing on this slide – what you want to avoid
At end we hope youll be able to produce well writte
papers that avoid that problem.

55. All together...
Recent experiments suggest that people aren't as greedy as economists have always assumed (details about why)
But big questions remain unanswered (...such as..)
Here we do some experiments to answer these questions
(+ details on the experiments)
We can summarize our results as follows. (gives details)

56. Exercise on topic sentences

57. Give example of really bad writing on this slide – what you want to avoid
At end we hope youll be able to produce well writte
papers that avoid that problem.

58. The shape of stories

59. All stories consists of changes of state
The bigger the change, the more dramatic the story
The change of state is internal to the reader
Use topic sentences to signal changes of state

60. What changes of state occur in science stories?
What is the shape of science stories?
What is the shape of your story?