科技英语写作unit6

1、 unit 6textual development topical highlights: 1. 1. description:description: objective description, subjective description, general requirements for research description.2. logical development:logical development: developing by chronological sequence, developing by investigation procedures, develop

2、ing the research from abstract to concrete, developing the research from concrete to abstract, developing by using other logical sequencingn3. reasoning (persuasion)3. reasoning (persuasion)n4. special attention:4. special attention: sentence structure (2) - short form sentences led byas; present, p

3、ast and present perfect tenses, passive voice, subjunctive mood, etc. nno professional paper is purely theoretical or experimental. in fact, there is no clear demarcation(distinction) between the two types of research papers. however, there do exist different emphases and distinctive features in pap

4、ers of theoretical nature and these of experimental nature. in this unit and the unit that follows, the two different types of papers will be discussed separately. theme presentation1. 1. descriptiondescription n1) objective descriptionnin most cases, when a professional author writes his research p

5、apers, he has to take an objective approach instead of a subjective one, because in his professional research, he has to focus on the object he is portraying rather than on his personal reactions to it. all the related situations require a precise description of the conditions or processes his resea

6、rch involves. and in such cases his goal is to supply information - to build up as accurate a picture as he can for his readers. nof course, objectivity is an ideal that scientists, engineers or technologists aim at but never achieve fully. anyhow, they have to select desirable details and eliminate

7、 others, though they can hardly be completely objective. nin the following passage, n. m. pearsall et al. have given an objective description of uk and us city centers in terms of the factors of most influence on the potential generation of electricity by photo voltaic modules installed on building

8、roofs or walls. the passage reads (page 76)nfrom the above excerpt, it can be seen that the authors describe the two sites objectively by comparing them from their general climatic, geographical, and locational features to the height of buildings and their wall and roof styles and the suns direction

9、s at any given time. the authors also give an analysis of the influence of climate, latitude, road layout and the building types on the total solar input and on the optimum surface orientation. such a kind of objective description is typical for professional research papers. 2) subjective descriptio

10、n nin contrast to objective description is subjective or impressionistic description, which shows the authors impressions of or responses to what they see. in such descriptions, the author does not only want to describe the object itself but also express directly or indirectly his impressions or opi

11、nions of what he is describing. and therefore, as a rule, a subjective or impressionistic description aims not only at conveying the actual record of sights and sounds, but also the authors attitudes and bias on what he is describing. nthis is shown in the passage from james o. berger & donald a

12、 berrys article statistical analysis and the illusions of objectivity: (page 78)nthe above passage can be used as an example to show the authors attitude towards subjective analysis of statistical data in scientific research. needless to say, it mirrors the authors subjective inclinations or intenti

13、ons in the topic of their discussion. therefore, it would be unrealistic to say that in science and scientific research everything should be cold and objective. nneither of the two approaches to description exists independently. objective description is always the product of a subjective selection o

14、f details, while subjective description captures reaction to an objective reality. a skillful professional writer, however, should adjust the balance between objectivity and subjectivity to suit the topic, thesis, purpose, and audience of a paper. 3) general requirements for research description nwh

15、en giving a research description, different researchers may have different methods or individualities. in professional research, however, freedom of individuality is somehow limited. some general writing requirements can be customary or professional regulations. 1.presenting a picture of the object

16、na research description, as we have often seen, is intended to present a picture of the appearance of an object or the details or process of an investigation. thus it must include information about the factors with which the research topic is involved. some of such factors may be visible while other

17、s may be invisible. and the emphasis is constantly oriented to the ways and manners in which the factors concerned function. na number of words that list or classify facts are usually used for the purpose, such as group, set, class, kind, variety, be numbered among, be included in, be grouped with,

18、exclude, except, include, comprise, contain, take in, excluding, excepting, also, in addition, likewise, subdivision, subgroup, subset, similarly, etc. 2. illustrating the object in artificial language na research description is often accompanied by one or more figures, graphs, pictures or tables. a

19、ll the information and data should be presented as figuratively and obviously as possible. details or origins of such data and information, if necessary, may appear in the description itself or may be postponed till the end of the paper in the form of notes or references. nthe following are some wor

20、ds for illustration and analogy: for example, for instance, a case in point is, such as, be analogous to, comparable, similar, correspondingly, in the same way, by the same token, can/could be compared to, to make a comparison, between x and y to draw an analogy between x and y similarly, etc. 3.mak

21、ing necessary comparison n it is often possible to make the description clearer by means of comparing an object or a process, say, an experiment, with something that the reader is familiar with. for example, a telescope an inventor is intended to innovate can be made to compare with something of the

22、 existing types with similar functions. when describing shapes or forms of something under discussion, some authors would customarily compare it to the shape of letters, as seen in phrases l-shaped, s-shaped, shaped like an h, somewhat resembling an inverted u, or having an zigzag path. nthe followi

23、ng words and phrases are usually used in showing similarities or differences: close/marked resemblance, similar, not unlike, the same, identical, connected with, resembling, difference, distinction, different from, dissimilar, unlike, opposed, on the contrary, resemble, appear/seem like, put one in

24、mind of, correspond to, compare to, correspondingly, in the same way, likewise, differ from, distinguish, make a distinction between, conversely in contrast, on the other hand, bear no resemblance to, similarity (resemblance, correspondence), etc. 4.sizing the object specially nin describing size, a

25、n experienced professional writer usually tries to avoid such general words as “large”, “small” or quite big. instead, he prefers to say 3 cm2 squared, or 10 meters high. (refer to special attention in unit eleven).5. locating the object correctly nthe positions of various parts of an object or a pl

26、ace must be indicated with care unless the figure or picture itself already shows the position of each part clearly. in doing so, it is usually suggested that the writer use locating words, such as above, below, at the front, at the back, front, back, rear, upside down, inverted, inside, within, out

27、side, to the right, to the left, on the right hand side, on the left hand side, in the middle, near, close to apart, away., some distance from, upper, over, underneath, bottom of, beside, alongside, on one side, on the other side, shaped like, attached to leading to, supporting, fitting into, coveri

28、ng, on top of, at the foot/base of, etc. 6. generalizing/systematizing the observation carefully na research description has also to indicate how the new observations and ideas being advanced may require a change - by further generalization or systematization - in the conceptual structure of a given

29、 scientific field. in order for his readers and his colleagues to share his experience, a writer often explains his own understanding of the process of his discovery or invention, its significance or promising functions. discussions of such nature are usually done in a tentative manner for the resea

30、rch itself is new for the author himself as well as for his colleagues. nwords and phrases usually used in stating the property, function, classification, definition, etc. include: to take (a word) to mean, this word means/signifies, the meaning of this word, in another sense, alternatively, disting

31、uishing features, main features, is to be/must be distinguished from, essentially, really, the essence of the word, in the true/real sense of the word, this is, namely, in other words, by., i do not mean, not to be confused with, etc. 2. logical development nthere are many ways of logical developmen

32、t, and in fact, most professional writers have developed their own ways. the following approaches are regarded as general devices for logical development. 1) developing by chronological sequence ntracing the development of the topic from its origin and its stage-by-stage development, the writer then

33、 makes his description through his observation of the change of the topic with time. take the following general comment as example: nduring the last 200 years there has been a rapid increase in the number of scientific journals published. in 1750 there were only ten in existence, whereas two hundred

34、 years later 30,000 were being published: a rise of 300,000 percent. from 1750 to 1900, the number of journals increases approximately ten times for each fifty-year period. although the rate of increase has slowed down since then, the number is still rising rapidly. 2) developing by investigation pr

35、ocedures the description of investigation procedure can be taken as a useful clue for logical development. restoring the bald eagle by ted simons et al. in american scientist, is an article on a national program to restore the southern bald eagle (american national symbol). p823) developing the rese

36、arch from abstract to concrete nby from abstract to concrete we mean the approach of providing conclusive statements first and specific supporting materials second. this device is also called the deductive method. 4) developing the research from concrete to abstract ndeveloping the research from con

37、crete to abstract is an approach of logical development that just opposite to the previous pattern. this approach is featured by providing supporting materials first and the conclusive statements come after them. so it is also called the inductive method. 5) developing by using other logical sequenc

38、ing nin the process of logical development, the following arrangements also prove useful in practical writing. look at the following section taken from the paper entitled design policies in local plan, by john punter and mattoon carmona, published in town planning review, vol. 68, no. 2, april 1997.

39、 (page 84)nlogical development can also be achieved through other approaches, such as by modifying the arrangements of subjects, by following the clue of parameters, etc. it is true that, as we often say, all roads lead to rome. 3. reasoning (persuasion) nthe task of reasoning is to justify the writ

40、ers inference and try to persuade the readers of the proposals offered by the writer. this task involves heavily the analysis of his reasons. analysis, as viewed in the context of research paper writing, consists of the process of examining what he says in his research description, calculation and i

41、nference to distinguish its constituent parts or elements either separately or in their relation to the whole. nsituations in which it is necessary to analyze his task and present the results in writing are likely to confront anyone in a position where his writing is called for. it would be impossib

42、le to name everything for those who may take interest in his writing, but the list should include conditions, causes, results, trends, and problems of every kind. nin order to make successful analysis or reason things out, it is also necessary to recall the research descriptions that we have previously discussed. here are also two approaches to analysis: subjective and objective. persuasion is useful for professional research, though it is objective in nature: the following points are to be born in mind: n(1) a brief introduction is usually sufficient to cover, so far as circu