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“Multi-tasking” refers to doing several tasks at the same time, and the word “while” is a useful word to connect these tasks. In this case, “while” has a temporal meaning and emphasizes the efficient use of time.
Example:
While the file is being downloaded, you can complete the survey.
You could save time if you record the number of flowers on each plant while inspecting the plants for symptoms of the disease.
Another use of “while” is to indicate acceptance, acknowledgement, or concession, similar to “although.”
Example:
While the fundamental theory remains the same, the practical implications of this finding are enormous.
While you may remind a journal to have your paper reviewed soon, you must not submit the paper to another journal during that time.
Lastly, “while” can be used to alert the reader to a contrast, similar to “whereas.” [1] This contrastive usage is especially helpful when a conversational tone is desired.
Example:
While antibiotics act quickly, they are often harmful to beneficial bacteria in the gut.
While coal is abundant and cheap, it is also polluting.
Although some people insist that “while” should not be used to indicate contrast, the Copyeditor’s Handbook maintains that the usage is fine so long as it does not introduce ambiguity [2]. If there is any scope for confusion, then use “whereas” instead of “while” to highlight the contrast.
The slightly archaic “whilst” is a more formal alternative to “while” and is found mostly in British English.
[1] University of Chicago Press. 2010. The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edn, pp. 299-300. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1026 pp.
[2] Einsohn A. 2006. The Copyeditor's Handbook, 2nd edn, p. 374. Berkeley: University of California Press. 560 pp.
["Publish and prosper" is a series of posts about tips for researchers whose first language is not English but who submit papers to journals published in English. The series touches upon not only writing (spelling, grammar, punctuation, usage, and style) but everything else relevant to publishing research papers that journal editors wish their authors knew.]
Transitional words and phrases such as also, whereas, and therefore are used to show how two ideas are connected. Such words as also, moreover, and besides are transitions that indicate agreement; they tell readers or listeners that what is coming next is "more of the same", as in "Air pollutants can make it difficult to breathe. They can also make your eyes water." Transitionals can signal disagreement, cause, sequence, emphasis, and so on. This post concerns two words that signal contrast or disagreement.
But signals a clear-cut contrast; however, on the other hand, softens the contrast and even suggests how the difference or the gap can be bridged. In the following sentences, but is used for emphasizing the difference: "Gene xyz can make plants tolerant to extreme cold but not to water-logging" or "Laziness can be forgiven but not dishonesty."
Compare the above sentences with the following examples. "Gene xyz cannot make plants tolerant to water-logging; however, it can make them tolerant to cold" or "Dishonesty cannot be forgiven. However, in punishing somebody for dishonesty, one should consider the circumstances."
Note also how the part following but need not be a complete sentence. In contrast, when however is used, a full and complete sentence should follow.
["Publish and prosper" is a series of posts about tips for researchers whose first language is not English but who submit papers to journals published in English. The series touches upon not only writing (spelling, grammar, punctuation, usage, and style) but everything else relevant to publishing research papers that journal editors wish their authors knew.]
Comparisons are common in research papers: one treatment may be compared with another, several treatments may be compared with one another or with a control, and so on. In discussing the results of such comparisons, be careful to avoid such redundant expressions as:
A was comparatively better than B.
The words "relatively" and "comparatively" themselves imply comparison and should not be followed by the comparative form of an adjective or an adverb. The above two sentences, therefore, should simply appear as "A was better than B."
The word "relatively" is better used as a synonym for "fairly" or "somewhat," as in "A was relatively expensive" [1].
[1] Allen R (ed.). 1999. Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage, p. 506. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 623 pp.
["Publish and prosper" is a series of posts about tips for researchers whose first language is not English but who submit papers to journals published in English. The series touches upon not only writing (spelling, grammar, punctuation, usage, and style) but everything else relevant to publishing research papers that journal editors wish their authors knew.]
Compare the sentences "This is a well-known fact" and "This fact is well known." Why does the first sentence contain a hyphen but the second one does not? It is because in the first sentence, well and known together modify the noun fact. In another example, instead of writing "bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics," you may prefer to write "antibiotic-resistant bacteria," again using the hyphen to indicate that both antibiotic and resistant apply to the noun bacteria.
In grammar, such pairs are known as compound modifiers, and hyphens are employed to emphasize that the two modifiers are together modifying the noun following them. The same convention applies even when a noun is modified by more than two words, typically seen in phrases such as "three-week-old plants" and "black-and-white prints."
Sometimes, you may wish to use two compound modifiers with a single noun, as in "two- and three-step processes" and "inter- and intra-specific competition." Such hyphens are referred to as "suspended," "hanging," or "dangling" hyphens.
Note that adverbs ending in ly are never followed by a hyphen, as in "a practically impossible idea" and "a negatively charged ion."
[1] The Mineralogical Record www.minrec.org/editing.asp
["Publish and prosper" is a series of posts about tips for researchers whose first language is not English but who submit papers to journals published in English. The series touches upon not only writing (spelling, grammar, punctuation, usage, and style) but everything else relevant to publishing research papers that journal editors wish their authors knew.]
Novice researchers are often discouraged from using the first person pronouns I and we in their writing, and the most common reason given for avoiding the use of the first person is that readers may regard such writing as being subjective, whereas science is all about objectivity. However, there is no universal rule against the use of the first person in scientific writing.
Dr. David Schultz, the author of the book Eloquent Science [1], set about finding out whether it is ok to use the first person in scientific writing. He looked up a number of books on writing research papers. He found that several guides on writing academic papers actually advocate the use of the first person in scientific writing.
For example, in How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, Robert Day and Barbara Gastel say:
Because of this [avoiding first-person pronouns], the scientist commonly uses verbose (and imprecise) statements such as “It was found that” in preference to the short, unambiguous “I found.” Young scientists should renounce the false modesty of their predecessors. Do not be afraid to name the agent of the action in a sentence, even when it is “I” or “we.”
Many of the world’s most renowned scientists have used the first person, as explained in The Craft of Scientific Writing:
Einstein occasionally used the first person.... Feynman also used the first person on occasion, as did Curie, Darwin, Lyell, and Freud. As long as the emphasis remains on your work and not you, there is nothing wrong with judicious use of the first person.
Perhaps one of the best reasons for using the first person while writing is given in The Science Editor’s Soapbox:
“It is thought that…” is a meaningless phrase and unnecessary exercise in modesty. The reader wants to know who did the thinking or assuming, the author, or some other expert.
On the other hand, The Scientist’s Handbook for Writing Papers and Dissertations argues that in using the third person, the writer conveys that anyone else considering the same evidence would come to the same conclusion. The first person should be reserved for stating personal opinions.
Good Style: Writing for Science and Technology [2] is also against use of the first person, explaining that “readers of scientific papers are interested primarily in scientific facts, not in who established them.” However, this book also points out that there are points in scientific papers where it is necessary to indicate who carried out a specific action.
In Eloquent Science, Dr. Shultz concludes that “first-person pronouns in scientific writing are acceptable if used in a limited fashion and to enhance clarity.” In other words, don’t pepper your paper with I’s and We’s. But you don’t have to rigidly avoid the first person either. For example, use it when stating a nonstandard assumption (“Unlike Day and Gastel, I assumed that…”). Or use it when explaining a personal action or observation (“We decided not to include…”). Finally, follow the conventions in your field, and particularly check that the journal you intend to submit your paper to does not specifically ban the use of the first person (as a handful of journals do).
[1] Schultz D M. 2009. Eloquent Science, p. 412. Boston, Massachusetts: American Meteorological Society. <http://eloquentscience.com>
[2] Kirkman J. 2005. Good Style: Writing for Science and Technology, 2nd edn, p. 49. London: Routledge. 160 pp.
[Publish and prosper" is a series of posts about tips for researchers whose first language is not English but who submit papers to journals published in English. The series touches upon not only writing (spelling, grammar, punctuation, usage, and style) but everything else relevant to publishing research papers that journal editors wish their authors knew.]
A proven way to be a better writer is to read extensively. Exposure to correct language through extensive reading in some ways mimics the way you learnt your native language: by unconsciously extracting correct patterns and thus absorbing the grammar of your native language. Then, in school, you learnt to read by working your way through a series of texts of increasing complexity, from a few simple words and simple sentences to a wider vocabulary, longer sentences, and more complex constructions.
If your current reading in English is limited only to research papers and similar technical literature, you are unlikely to make progress in writing better English. A couple of earlier posts – Read any good books lately and The Best American Science Writing series - recommended some books related to science. This post is about more elementary books that are specifically aimed at making you a more competent reader. Two useful series, both published in Britain, are Quick Reads and the Oxford Bookworms Library.
Quick Reads are books by established writers. They are especially written for emergent or reluctant readers and cover both fiction and non-fiction. The books are short (about 130 pages each, no more than 20,000 words) and written in a simple style: they consist of short paragraphs (no more than 10 lines), short sentences (average length is 15 words), and short words (no more than two syllables).
The Oxford Bookworms Library offers more variety and includes abridged and simplified versions of well-known books. They have several types of stories in their collection, ranging from World Stories, which are short adapted stories from writers around the world, and The Collection, which are well-known classical and modern stories in their original form.
Both the series offer audio versions of the full texts, and you may find that you enjoy listening to the books more than reading them. This is also a good way of learning and assimilating the language. Another advantage is that you can listen to the audio books while driving or doing other such tasks, so you won’t need to set aside separate time for reading the books.
["Publish and prosper" is a series of posts about tips for researchers whose first language is not English but who submit papers to journals published in English. The series touches upon not only writing (spelling, grammar, punctuation, usage, and style) but everything else relevant to publishing research papers that journal editors wish their authors knew.]
Many research papers typically include one or more data tables, which present the results of an experiment or a survey. An earlier blog post [1] specifically discussed the correct alignment for columns of numbers, which make up such tables: this post offers some tips on how to make these tables, as a whole, more reader-friendly.
Highlight a relevant result while referring to a table. Make sure that each table is mentioned in the text of the paper. However, instead of simply referring to a table by its number, say something about the data in the table, as in "Supplementing the diet with iron proved the most effective in raising the haemoglobin content of blood (Table 2)" or "Of the four materials tested, fibreglass offered the least resistance to the flow of water (Table 4)."
Order rows and columns logically. Do not settle for the first arrangement that occurs to you. In particular, the order in which the data were recorded is seldom the most effective way to present the data. Consider arranging the numbers in ascending or descending order.
Eliminate repetitive matter. The moment you see a symbol, a word, or a term repeated in every row, check whether such repetitious information can be moved to the head of the column. For example, if you find that every value in a column is followed by the per cent sign (%), delete it from every cell in that column and make sure that it appears in the column heading, as in "No. of obese adults (% ofthe population)."
Use appropriate column alignment. If all the entries in a column share the same unit of measurement, the column should be right- or decimal-aligned. If all the entries do not share a common unit, the column should be left-aligned [1].
Avoid empty cells. Never leave a cell blank or empty: the reader has no means of knowing whether the cell has been left blank intentionally or accidentally. Use a consistent notation to explain such blanks. For example, write N.A. for "Not available" and the em dash (--) for "Not applicable." See an earlier post [2] for a more detailed discussion of the topic.
Avoid numbering each row. In many tables, the left-most column is a column of serial numbers: the column heading is typically "Sr. no.," and the rest ofthe column numbers each row consecutively. This column is rarely useful and can be eliminated from most of the tables. It is only when the rows are referred to by their numbers in the accompanying discussion that the column can be considered useful.
[1] http://blog.editage.com/?q=Aligning-Columns
[2] http://blog.editage.com/?q=Explaining-blank-cells-in-a-table
["Publish and prosper" is a series of posts about tips for researchers whose first language is not English but who submit papers to journals published in English. The series touches upon not only writing (spelling, grammar, punctuation, usage, and style) but everything else relevant to publishing research papers that journal editors wish their authors knew.]
Lists of bullet points are often used in technical writing. Such lists are useful in that they convey information concisely and are easy to find in a document because they are prominent.
In lists of bullet points, the most common error occurs when the items do not share a common structure, for example, when some items are written as whole sentences while other items are written as incomplete phrases. Even when all items are whole sentences, mixed structures are seen when some items are written in the active voice and some in the passive voice. Such a mix weakens the list and confuses readers.
Here is an example of a list that is not structured well.
To ensure vigorous growth of seedlings,
Compare the above list with the one that follows.
To ensure vigorous growth of seedlings,
As you can see, all the items in the second list are similar: all are short sentences in the active voice, all begin with a verb, and all are simple instructions. In other words, all the items share a parallel structure.
Using a parallel structure is equally important in "run on" lists, that is, lists in the form of a continuous sentence in which the items are not separated with bullets or numbers, for example, "Public buses are better than private cars because buses are bigger, cheaper, and safer."
["Publish and prosper" is a series of posts about tips for researchers whose first language is not English but who submit papers to journals published in English.The series touches upon not only writing (spelling, grammar, punctuation, usage, and style) but everything else relevant to publishing research papers that journal editors wish their authors knew.]
15%The most meticulous study may be rejected if the Discussion is not impressive. Learn to write a Discussion that will do justice to your research.