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Workshop in technical writing for new PhD candidates at IME Stewart Clark Rector’s Office Education Norwegian University of Science and Technology [email protected] tel. +47 73 59 52 45 Contents Characteristics of academic writing 2 Readability, word order, nominalization 10 Web resources 27 Stylistic issues 35 Abstract writing 50 Theme 1: Characteristics of academic writing Use appropriate language Use formal register • The government needs to get rid of the deficit. (no) • The government needs to eliminate the deficit. (yes) Avoid phrasal verbs, use the defining word instead Use formal English: "Formal" words of classical origin arrange dinner by coincidence calculate collect someone commence work consider construct donation we will endeavour enquire finalize a contract determine the results inspect make a reservation position review the problems settle matters settle the account "Informal" native words lay on dinner by chance work out pick up start work weigh up build a gift we will try ask tie up a contract fix the results look over book a theatre ticket job look at the problems sort out matters pay the bill Formal and informal English – phrasal verbs: two or more words added to a verb such as: stick at stick by Phrasal verbs are often informal stick at stick by stick out The single word equivalent is usually more formal (see defining sentences) continue loyal noticeable Phrasal verbs in the ‘Oxford’: Phrasal verbs are two or more words added to a verb such as: These are often informal stick around stick by stick out A single word equivalent is usually more formal wait loyal protrude sting someone borrow s comare common in informal English these words/expressions so that the most formal one is 1, the next most formal is 2 and so on 1. big, large, substantial, huge, enormous, considerable 2. 3. 4. 5. short of money, skint, hard up, in difficulties, red-letter day, vital concern, big deal, no joke, a skill, expertise, mastery, ace, gifted, wizardry, intellectual, smart ass, egg head, highbrow, insolvent, cleaned out matter of life and death, important matter competence guru, boffin Formal and informal English: Number these words/expressions so that the most formal one is 1, the next most formal is 2 and so on 1. 2. 3. 4. big, large, substantial, huge, enormous, considerable short of money, skint, hard up, in difficulties, insolvent, cleaned out red-letter day, vital concern, big deal, no joke, a matter of life and death, important matter skill, expertise, mastery, ace, gifted, wizardry, competence Use academic vocabulary Useful nouns • Notion, concept, theory, idea, hypothesis, principle, rationale Useful verbs • Indicate, illustrate, point out, present, embody, state, establish, formulate, accept, reject, support Avoid: thing, tell, say and sh… Study: Academic Word List (see Theme 3 in the compendium) IEEE - style • For spelling, IEEE uses Webster’s College Dictionary, 4th Edition. • For guidance on grammar and usage, consult The Chicago Manual of Style • Write good continuous prose • Abstracts are stand alone texts • ‘By nature, Abstracts shall not contain numbered mathematical equations or numbered references’ (IEEE Style Manual) http://www.ieee.org/portal/cms_docs_iportals/iportals/publications/authors/trans jnl/stylemanual.pdf APA – style (6th edition) Reference lists • ‘Books: In U.S. need city and state abbreviation. Internationally, include city and country • Journals: Use of DOI for identification rather than database name’ See: http://www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/what-is-doi.aspx Details about digital object identification (example, doi:10.1000/182, available at http://www.doi.org/hb.html) No contractions ("I'm...won't...") = informal style Contractions (also called short forms) are to be avoided in serious mails/letters, reports and scientific writing. Typical contractions: aren't, can't, don't, I'm, isn't, it's are used in informal, conversational writing and speech In formal English, the expected forms are: are not, cannot (usually one word), do not, I am, is not, it is. Using contractions in the wrong context looks sloppy and leads to mistakes such as it's (it is) when you mean its ("the cat hurt its tail"). Contractions cause confusion • Contractions are typical of informal speech and are only correctly used in academic writing to report speech. • Soundalikes that are often confused: contraction it's possessive its contraction they're possessive their, adv. there contraction you're possessive your contraction who's possessive whose ! exclamation mark for emergencies only, not otherwise. “Fire!”, he screamed • All style guides in English agree that exclamation marks should be avoided in formal and academic English. "These should not be used in scholarly writing" (Modern Humanities Research Association Style Book, 1995). • It signals a forceful utterance that gives a warning, indicates astonishment and surprise …”absurdity, command, contempt, disgust, emotion, enthusiasm, pain, sorrow, a wish…” (Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors) What is said about !! Do you wear underpants on your head? ”The exclamation mark is the punk in the school of punctuation. Favoured by advertisers, immature writers and writers of ransom notes…” In Guardian Style (2007), editor David Marsh exclaims simply, "do not use!" About multiple exclamation marks, novelist Terry Pratchett calls them a "sure sign of someone who wears his underpants on his head.” If you still find them being used: Google the phrase ”avoid the exclamation mark” Avoid etc. a. Indirectly, they also include the impact of industry, business strategy, market, and the economic environment etc. b. The proposed model considers only risks, while in real life, managers make decisions regarding other important aspects, such as strategy, cost reduction, and service quality etc. c. Measures in hedging risks may be to keep management in house and use spot contracts when contracting carriers etc. Politeness - Acknowledgements Be formal : - I wish to thank my supervisor Professor Arne Olsen at the Department of Computer and Information Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology for his invaluable assistance. - I would also like to thank… - I appreciate the assistance from… - Special mention is given to to… - Gratitude is also given to… - I am grateful for the help from Anne Olsen, research technician and other departmental staff. - Finally, I acknowledge the generous financial support from the Research Council of Norway (See Words a User’s Guide p. 424) Theme 2: What makes texts readable? Online readability tools Link words Word order Nominalization The Lix readability index "LIX" is a measure of how hard a text is to read. It is defined as the percentage of words longer than six letters plus the average number of words per sentence. Enter the text in the box and analyse it. • LIX < 20: Very easy reading • LIX < 30 - 40: Popular reading • LIX < 40 - 50: Normal for newspapers • LIX < 50 - 60: Normal for academic texts • LIX < 60 and higher: Heavy to read, should be revised Lix works in most western European languages Doggerland before and after the Storegga megatsunami Left: about 12 000 years ago Right: about 7000 years ago http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doggerland Test – the end of Doggerland v.1 Comment on this text: Ancient Britain was a large peninsula until a large tsunami flooded its land-links to Europe some 8000 years ago, this was when a large landslide off Norway - the Storegga Slide triggered one of the largest tsunamis ever recorded on Earth and a large landlocked sea in the Norwegian trench burst its banks. LIX – readability index – gives this text 80 (Scores of 60 or more = Very heavy language http://www.lix.se/index.php Test – the end of Doggerland v.2 Ancient Britain was an extensive peninsula until a megatsunami flooded its land-links to Europe some 8000 years ago. This was when a substantial landslide off Norway - the Storegga Slide triggered one of the greatest tsunamis ever recorded on Earth. As a result, a vast landlocked sea in the Norwegian trench burst its banks. LIX – readability index – gives this text 46 (40 – 50 Average difficulty, normal for journals) http://www.lix.se/index.php Analysis of the changes in v.2 Ancient Britain was an extensive peninsula until a large megatsunami flooded its land-links to Europe some 8000 years ago. This was when substantial landslides in Norway - the Storegga Slide - triggered one of the greatest tsunamis ever recorded on Earth. As a result, a large vast landlocked sea in the Norwegian trench burst its banks. Consider the blessing of punctuation, linguistic variation and early Norwegian influence on the UK Check how many sentences start with ‘the’ The last 20 years has seen overall growth. The international business community was shaken by the financial crisis in 2008. The banking sector was in trouble. The calls for better regulation resulted in… (Four sentences). The Lix readability score is 36. (Popularized text, easy reading) Check how many sentences start with ‘the’ – revised version Although the last 20 years has seen overall growth, the international business community was shaken by the financial crisis in 2008. In particular, the banking sector was in trouble and consequently the calls for better regulation resulted in… (Two sentences). The Lix readability score is 51. (Normal for official texts) Readability – exercise Find a text of about 100 words on your laptop and enter it in Lix http://www.lix.se/index.php Results over 60 need revision, aim at 50. Discuss changes with your neighbour. Other readability indexes Most other readability indexes are computed using 5 steps: • Count the number of words in the document. • Count the number of syllables in the document. • Count the number of sentences in the document. • Compute the index – formula given The result is the number of years of formal education needed to understand the text Examples: http://www.online-utility.org/english/readability_test_and_improve.jsp http://www.standards-schmandards.com/exhibits/rix/ About the readability issue: http://ezinearticles.com/?Readability-Metrics:-Are-They-Getting-YourMessage?&id=351293 Link words 1 Link words to provide a structure of sentences: • link words: the subconscious structure in a text • • • link words are like signposts by the road links in a process links to orientate the reader Link words 2 1. Linear First,... Second,... Third,... Next,... Then,... Finally,... When you have you the word 'first,' – make sure there is a 'second', a 'third', and a 'finally'. Example: • First, the experiments considered the effect of heating. Second, variations in the temperature were compared at three different pressure readings (1 atm, 2 atm, and 3 atm). Third, the effect of pressure was studied as an. Finally, the … • NOT First, the effect of heating is studied. The temperature was varied and the pressure studied as an independent variable. Then, … Link words 3 2. Loop having completed ..., the next stage/step is 3. Flashback previously ..... earlier ..... 4. Simultaneously during this stage .... while .... at the same time .... 5. Conclusion finally, in the last stage, the process concludes/finishes with ... the last step is ... make sure that this is ‘finally’ Link words 4 Time and sequence link words • to begin with, at first, in the first place, first (second, third, etc.), • then, after, afterwards, next, later, previously, soon, subsequently, • meanwhile, at the same time, currently, simultaneously, for the time being, immediately, instantly, in the meantime, in time, in turn, presently, at last, finally, in conclusion, (See Words – A User’s Guide p. 431) Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater On the one hand, fibres from different wood species have properties that vary. On the other hand, each tree has a unique distribution of fibre dimensions due to variation in growth factors and genetics. Consequently, it is important to have a good quality control of the timber. However, only a few pulp mills can utilize these opportunities. Exercise: Polish this text Figure 5 shows the early-late gate bit synchronizer that is developed using the FokkerPlanck method. The Fokker-Planck method is compared with the performance of two other commonly used bit synchronizer circuit topologies. The bit synchronizer circuit topologies are shown in Figure 6. Verbiage – terms to avoid at an earlier date - Use before, previously. case - a word that can nearly always be omitted. character - Often redundant, as in "the work was demanding in character". commence, initiate - Use begin or start. due to the fact that - Use because. end result - Use result unless there is an intermediate result. fact, actual fact and true fact are redundant. Facts are true and actual. almost unique, totally unique, partially unique - Use unique or omit Verbiage - exercise Underline the terms to avoid and suggest alternatives: Wordiness problem 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. This is an actual fact Work of an experimental nature At this point in time We have the expectation that this work… We will make the decision next month Intensifier problem 1. This is rather/very interesting 2. The results are extremely promising Unnecessary ‘to be’ or ‘being’ 1. The software is considered to be effective 2. As the signal is being transmitted 3. The experiments were being repeated Verbiage - exercise Underline the terms to avoid and suggest alternatives: Doubling problem 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The results give several future prospects Let us reconsider again PIN number; HIV virus; RSVP, please reply The meeting started at 3 p.m. in the afternoon, The cuttings were red in colour. Both twins are ambidextrous and write well with both hands Overused relatives such as ‘who’, ‘which’, ‘that’ 1. Researchers who may be regarded as innovators 2. Results which are generally difficult to reproduce (See Words – A User’s Guide pp. 372-373 and more examples: http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/style-and-editing/wordiness Word order RULE Normal order: S V O M P T Subject + Verb + Object + Manner + Place + Time (Adverbials in alphabetic order) S V O He + loved + his wife M passionately + P T + RULE: Alternative order, if the time is important: T S V O M P Time + Subject + Verb + Object + Manner + Place T S V 0 In 2013, the world population reached 7.2 billion M P causing problems in many parts of the world. A few exceptions to SVOMPT and TSVOMP -Long adverbs of manner: We generally/easily/probably/possibly spend too much -some adverbs of time: He always/often/rarely/sometimes laughs -adverbs that modify a whole sentence: However, Generally, Usually, Mr Oxford-Smith was there. Verbs drive on the left in English: Example: From these data the noise level along the profile is calculated > The noise level along the profile is calculated S V from these data O Exercise: 1. At the last student festival in 2013, more than 100 countries were represented. 2. In Bergen at a meeting, the Norwegian Animal Research Authority carefully discussed the report in December 2012. How to drive on the left 1a. Two confocal laser scanning microscopes (CLSM) and two CLSM for fast image acquisition, as well as a two-photon microscope are included in the instrumentation. 1b. The instrumentation includes two confocal laser scanning microscopes (CLSM) and two CLSM for fast image acquisition, as well as a two-photon microscope. 2a. By performing intracellular recordings and staining, the logic of olfactory coding mechanisms is studied. 2b. The logic of olfactory coding mechanisms is studied by performing intracellular recordings and staining. Exercise: correct these to left-hand drive verbs, but remember SVO 1. To follow the maintenance programme, engineers from the airline are sent to Seattle. 2. To be included in the sample, the SMEs had to meet two main conditions. 3. Inserting two new actions, the algorithm then finds quantity assignments. Using the same order Comment on these: a. ‘This paper considers onshore and offshore pipelaying. The offshore challenges are …’ b. ‘Most developing nations differ from the developed nations in a number of ways. The developed nations enjoy a high standard of living, whereas developing nations are…’ c. ‘First we consider female and male students, the boys were found to be more immature than the girls. The men were more confident; however, the women students worked harder and got better grades.’ Using the same order When you have established an order – stick to it. Example: • This report will consider water temperature, acid content, and bacterial properties. • WT + AC + BP is the order. Use this order in the 'introduction’, ‘methods' and other sections. Avoid dangling modifiers One morning I shot an elephant in my pyjamas. How he got into my pyjamas I'll never know. – Groucho Marx Dangling modifiers What the writer meant ≠ what the reader understands 1. Being in a dilapidated condition, I was able to buy the house very cheap. 2. Walking down the hill, the trees were very beautiful. Note the word order and the present participles (-ing) Strategies to revise these sentences: SVO: I was able to buy the house very cheap as it was in a dilapidated condition. SVO + subject: I was walking down the hill and noticed the trees were very beautiful. Avoiding nominalization Which of these texts is easiest to understand? Why? 1. The company’s conclusion from the analysis was that increased flexibility in attendance hours for workers has resulted in a reduction in absenteeism. 2. The company analysed the report and concluded that greater flexibility in attendance hours for workers has reduced absentee rates. Avoiding nominalization a) The development of a new technique for the measurement of muscular tension by St. Olavs Hospital has made different treatments possible. b) Now that St. Olavs Hospital has developed a new technique to measure muscular tension, it offers different treatments. Analysis: a) 2 verbs ‘has, made’, 6 nouns, (21 words) b) 4 verbs ‘has, developed, measure, offers’, 4 nouns, (18 words) Try to state the central actions in verbs Avoiding nominalization - exercise Replace some of the nouns with suitable verbs: In some countries today there is a requirement that there is conformity in the population to some standard. This requirement can lead to similarities in speech and in beliefs. If one or more groups in the population have different ideas, the general opinion is that they are odd. Collocation - exercise – natural word partnerships Some words belong together naturally, others do not. Insert the opposites: • Heavy traffic/ ________traffic on the roads • He suffered from a heavy cold/_______ cold • A cup of strong coffee/________coffee • A strong/_________wind was blowing Collocations Collocations absolutely convinced (20) extremely convinced (0) (adverb + verb) slight breeze (20) light wind (25) weak wind (0) (adjective + noun) Numbers refer to hits on the British National Corpus Theme 3: Web resources English Matters portal www.ntnu.edu/english-matters/ Pronunciation help Vocabulary resources Academic Word List Online course in academic writing Self study exercises English matters English language tools for staff at NTNU www.ntnu.edu/english-matters/ Online dictionaries – EN/EN • Oxford and Longman (BE), Miriam Webster (AE), • Roget’s Thesaurus (synonyms), Slang dictionary • Dictionaries with pronunciation help Online dictionaries – EN/NO and NO/EN • Ordnett, Clue, UMB’s Green Dictionary English matters Longman online dictionary - Collocations Chance - collocations • there's a chance (that) (=it is possible that) • there's every chance (that) (=it is very likely) • some chance little chance no chance a good/fair chance (=something is likely) • a slight/slim/outside chance (=something is unlikely) • a fifty-fifty chance (=the possibility of something happening or not happening is equal) • a million to one chance/a one in a million chance (=something is extremely unlikely to happen) British National Corpus (BNC) • 100 million word collection of BE texts • Oxford UP, Longman, Chambers and British Library • Free search sampler http://sara.natcorp.ox. ac.uk/lookup.html Exercise: something that is quite likely to happen Is it a large? great? big? possibility of … or a strong/real/distinct possibility? Use Longman and BNC to find out, and which verb to use Other material on English Matters Norwegian-English terminology • Norwegian higher education institutions termbank - Translated educational terms • Norwegian legislation (UiO) • Norwegian ministries (UD) Other material on English Matters www.ntnu.edu/english-matters Skills • Emails and letters • NTNU style guide • European CV /Europass CV Vocabulary • BBC world service “Words in the news" • Vocabulary exercises from Stewart • Collocation exercises Academic Word List • Inclusion criterion: An AWL term has to occur over 100 times in the 3.5 million word Academic Corpus (28 disciplines). • The icing on a cake. • BUT do not overdo it. Too many AWL terms will be heavy to read. Other material on English Matters: Using English for Academic Purposes A Guide for Students in Academic Writing The following slides give some suggestions about on how to use this online resource Paragraph Click on Paragraph, then Signalling = link words Note all the examples • Do exercises 10 and 11. • Any contrasts? Functions • Click on functions in academic writing No.16. Introducing - note useful phrases at the bottom No. 9. Including tables - note language tips at the bottom - Click on Exercises and try Ex. 1 and 2 (Gap filling) Advice on Academic Writing Useful sections in Style and editing: Hit Parade Of Errors In Grammar, Punctuation, And Style Wordiness: Danger Signals and Ways to React Punctuation Passive voice http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/style-and-editing PhD on track Relevant for those starting PhD work http://www.phdontrack.net/ Theme 4: Stylistic issues Sources: ISO standards Standard practice in academic and scientific writing Online version (this has much more detail): www.ntnu.edu/english-matters/ Click on NTNU English Style Guide Main computer science style guide: http://www.ieee.org/documents/style_manual.pdf English style guidelines Abbreviations, acronyms Capitalization Currency codes Equations Genitives Proper names Referencing electronic documents in English Structure Tables Units Apostrophe "s", plural "s" Contractions Dates Figures Hyphenation References Spelling (BE – AE) Symbols Tone and sexist writing Punctuation Abbreviations, acronyms • An abbreviation may be formed from the initial letters in a phrase or name and is read letter-by-letter, like I,B,M or V,I,P in English. • Note no full stop in BE, but period(s) in AE: Mr Ms Dr MSc MA PhD • An acronym is a word formed from the initial letters of other words and is pronounced as a word such as SINTEF and NATO. Use of articles: A/AN RULE: THE SOUND, NOT THE SPELLING, DECIDES. A BEFORE A CONSONANT SOUND AN BEFORE A VOWEL SOUND All the letters in blue will take AN if they are alone or start an abbreviation: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z (See: Words a User’s Guide p. 395) Indefinite article use – exercise • In Equation 3-12, zt is a/an m x 1 design vector. The vector ηt has unknown variances collected in a/an r x r diagonal matrix Qt. • Unsolicited bulk email (UBE) is a/an umbrella term for spam. This is rarely used by serious corporations so a/an UBE ad from IBM is unthinkable. • The finite element method (FEM) is a common numerical technique. However, in a Flight Control Computer (FCC) application a/an FEM analysis will only give approximate solutions. This means that a/an FCC needs… • It is not enough to get a passing grade in a/an master's degree. At NTNU, only A or B grades in a/an MSc qualify the graduate for PhD study. • A/an NSA researcher was rejected when he applied to a/an NTNU research group. • He formed a/an SME as a spinoff from a/an SINTEF research group. Capitalization Capitalize the structural words in reports when they are followed by a number or letter, as in: Appendix B, Figure 6, Section 2.2 Eq. Equation Fig. Figure Sect. Section Ch. Chapter App. Appendix The same applies to Table but this is not abbreviated. “… as is indicated by Figure 4 and Figures 6 - 8. The other figures in this section will be discussed later, see Section 3.5.” Explain: Table A-5 and Equation B-32 Capitalization Capitalize proper nouns for specific location (Example: North America, East Timor, Central and Eastern Europe. Note no hyphens) Do not capitalize: email, chemical elements, names of methods or theories (apart from the proper noun part, e.g. Boolean function Do not capitalize terms that refer to a general direction or a general location (Example: northeastern areas, western society) See ‘Words’ page 425 Some currencies and their three-character ISO 4217 currency code ISO home page (http://www.iso.ch/) refers to sources of complete, updated versions of this list. AUD Australian dollar CAD Canadian dollar CNY Chinese yuan DZD Algerian dinar GBP British pound INR Indian rupee IRR Iranian rial KRW Korea won MXP Mexican peso NOK Norwegian krone PHP Philippine peso RUB Russian rouble BRL Brazilian real CHF Swiss franc DKK Danish krone EUR euro IDR Indonesian rupiah IQD Iraqi dinar JPY Japanese yen KWD Kuwaiti dinar NGN Nigerian naira NZD New Zealand dollar PKR Pakistan rupee USD American dollar Currency codes • Use ISO currency codes (EUR, NOK, GBP, USD etc.) - not "krone" or "dollar", which type? • The currency code is written first, but read last Written English EUR 15.50 Spoken English Fifteen euro fifty (cents) NOK 2 million Two million Norwegian kroner USD 25.50 Twenty-five US dollars fifty GBP 3.20 Three pounds twenty Confusions with amounts of money Consider: Wages: "The salary is NOK 387.859 per annum" (this means about NOK 388) Prices: "The price is NOK 1,675 a unit” (this means about NOK 1675) • k for kilo (1000) as in kNOK 35 may confuse. (write NOK 35 000) • Avoid MEUR 25. Write EUR 25 m or EUR 25 million • "Crowns" for monarchs, use “(Norwegian) krone" Writing amounts of money Decimal point in English (Other languages - comma 34.956 34,956) Thousand/million/billion markers - use spaces above 9999 (ISO) 34 956 Do not use a comma here in English Note nothing is written after an amount Not: 34 956,- Use: 34 956 Writing exact amounts NOK 1 000 000 avoid MNOK 1 million Abbr. (m) NOK 1 000 000 000 (Norw.: milliard) billion Abbr. (bn) NOK 1 000 000 000 000 trillion Abbr. none (Norw.: billion) Digital dates There are three main formats in use for writing dates in digital form: European (day-month-year) American (month-day-year) Military (year-month-day) This can cause problems in contracts, agreements, emails and letters Never write a date like this in English: 11/01/14 or 11.01.14 In Britain, this will be understood as 11 January 2014, whereas AE users may understand this as November 1, 2014. In China, they may understand the year to be 2011. The only internationally accepted digital format: (ISO 8601) Model: 2014-01-11(CCYY-MM-DD) Read as ”on the 11th of January 2014*”(BE) ”on January 11th 2014”(AE) * Read as ”twenty-fourteen”, now standard Formats to use with 9/11 • For all-digit dates use ISO 8601 format The model is 2001-09-11 (CCYY-MM-DD) • Otherwise, 11 September 2001 - normal BE format (Read as: ”the 11th of September 2001”) • September 11, 2001 - normal AE format (Read as: ”September the 11th, 2001”) • Note no ordinal numbers in modern written dates in English (not 1st, 2nd, 3rd) Genitive ’s or s’? • If the noun ends in “s”, add ’ - The teachers’ ideas - With the /iz/ sound, write either Charles’ ideas (most common) or Charles’s ideas • If the noun does not end in “s”, add ’s - The children’s dog - the cat’s tail - Her husband’s car • Both ’s or s’ are normal when the owner is a person/people/an animal (animate nouns) • ’s or s’ indicates ownership, compare: - A painting of Munch’s - A painting of Munch - a painting by Munch Genitive + of • - ‘Of genitive’ normal for inanimate and abstract nouns: The future of democracy The structure of the survey A series of experiments The origin of the universe • Avoid doubling ‘of’, compare: - The basics of the theory of information pricing - The basics of information pricing theory Genitive ’s, s’ or ‘of’? • ’s or s’ are also used with inanimate nouns - place nouns (centres of population): London’s pubs are worth visiting - collective nouns (human organizations): The IOC’s inspection methods • ‘of genitive’ could be used with both to give more formality and distance: The pubs of London are worth visiting The inspection methods of the IOC See ‘Words’ page 398 Hyphenation A. Always hyphenate 1. Compound adjective in front of a noun three-dimensional image sediment-filled streams straight-sided vessel state-of-the-art model high-energy particles low-Mg samples But turn them around and no hyphens The image is three dimensional This model is state of the art The vessel has straight sides 2. Fractions and numbers two-thirds completed one-half nth-order equation a sixteen-year-old player But no hyphenation, when old comes after the noun: Lionel Messi played for Barcelona when he was sixteen years old twenty-odd students = around 20 of them. If it is the appearance of the students, leave open (twenty odd students) Hyphenation A. Always hyphenate 3. Compounds starting with self, cross, all or half in front of a noun self-consciousness cross-sectional all-inclusive half-asleep But some are closed up such as ‘halfway’. As a noun, two words ‘a half hour passed’ 4. Single letters + noun: U-shaped tube T-shirt 5. Colours in combination red-green colour blindness (colour terms of equal importance) But if the first colour modifies the second, leave open bluish green paint light blue curve 6. Words of equal weight: wave-particle interaction east-west range noon-midnight value Hyphenation B. Do not hyphenate 1. Irregular comparatives or superlatives + nouns better known theorem less known derivation 2. Foreign phrases a priori solution in situ technique 3. Adverbs ending in -ly + noun slowly flowing stream highly complex approach 4. Chemical compounds ferric oxide layer sulfuric acid residue 5. Compounds indicating direction or placement north central Utah upper right corner Hyphenation C. Tricky issues 1. Common prefixes such as the following are generally closed up: pre post un extra semi ultra pseudo micro macro super mini maxi anti co mid But hyphenate when these are followed by a capital letter: pre-War post-War mid-West anti-American Hyphenate when distinguishing between: recover re-cover (cover again) remark re-mark (mark again) 2. Per cent, percent, percentage 50 per cent (British English), 50 percent (American English). Percentage is closed up in British and American English 3. Non- or non (closed up) Hyphenate non in British English, write as one word in American English. Thus non-linear is British and nonlinear is American English. Exercise 13: Hyphenation – insert hyphens if needed 1. Two thirds of adults in the US are overweight 2. Crude oil production statistics (or crude oil production statistics) 3. Hot and cold rolled steel 4. Occupationally damaged workers 5. A ten year old theory 6. This theory is ten years old 7. Sudan’s north south faultline 8. This is anti EU legislation 9. He asked her to resign the revised contract 10. The light blue segment in the pie chart Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition) pp. 375 to 384 gives many other examples, http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html English - who decides? • No official English language academy, national committee or body with the mandate to decide correct and incorrect English usage in the UK or US • Spelling standards in English are found in: – major dictionaries such as Oxford (BE) – Webster's (AE) British English (BE) or American English (AE)? • Latest BE dictionaries (Oxford), prefer "-ize" in "organize". Brussels & London newspapers use ”-ise”. • '- ize is the world English norm' New Penguin Dictionary . • Note verbs: advise, comprise, devise and supervise have "-ise" in BE and in AE. (See ‘Words’ page 188) • BE > less hyphenation: Cooperate, coordinate, multiphase, multidisciplinary. • Statoil, NTNU and public sector in Norway have BE as the norm on their websites and in most central publications. Thesis or Dissertation? At most universities in the UK: • thesis is used at PhD level • dissertation is used at master's or bachelor’s levels At most universities in the USA: • dissertation is used PhD level • thesis is at master's or bachelor’s levels Summary of British & American spellings -ce, -se British spellings advice (noun) advise (verb) device (noun) devise (verb) licence (noun) license (verb) practice (noun) practise (verb) defence offence American spellings =advice (noun) =advise (verb) =device (noun) =devise (verb) license (noun) =license (verb) =practice (noun) practice (verb) defense offense Summary of British & American spellings -ise, -ize (-isation, -ization) American spelling avoids -ise endings in words like organize, realize British spelling mostly uses -ise, but -ize is widely used (organise, organize / realise,realize) Oxford UP (BE) favours -ize/ -ization, this dominates internationally Many verbs only take -s- in BE and AE: advise, arise, comprise, compromise, despise, devise, exercise, revise, supervise, televise (see ‘Words’ page 188) -yse, -yze -yse is British and -yze is American. British English analyse, hydrolyse, paralyse American English analyze, hydrolyze, paralyze Summary of British & American spellings -our, -or British spellings colour harbour labour neighbour American spellings color harbor labor neighbor Note many -or spellings in both British and American English such as honorary, vigorous, laborious Summary of British & American spellings -re, -er The common difference is words ending -bre or -tre: British spellings American spellings centre center fibre fiber litre liter manoeuvre maneuver theatre theater metre meter meter Note many -er spellings in British English such as filter, number, parameter, September and sober. Summary of British & American spellings -ll, -l British English doubling for -ed, -ing, -er, -est -or British spellings American spellings cancelled canceled counsellor counselor cruellest cruelest labelled labeled modelling modeling signalling signaling travelling traveling Note controlled, controlling in both British and American English American English doubling in words such as: British spellings American spellings enrol(ment) enroll(ment) fulfil(ment) fulfill(ment) skilful skillful wilful willful Summary of British & American spellings British spellings -mme programme -m = program in computer science only American spellings -m program non- non-profit non-linear -oe- diarrhoea -ae- leukaemia -ogue- catalogue -oul- mould nonprofit nonlinear -e-e-og -ol- diarrhea leukemia catalog mold Ton or tonne? When referring to weight there are three terms: • Tonne or metric ton = 1000 kg • Short ton (USA) = 907 kg • Long ton (UK) = 1016 kg Gallons, pint and litres US gallons and US pints differ from the Imperial gallons and pints The UK ones are larger n NASA's metric confusion caused Mars orbiter loss (1999) Software produced output in pound-seconds (lbf×s) instead of newton-seconds (N×s) BE or AE? Exercise Comment on these sentences and PP automatic help: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. The specimen was colored grey and then analyzed. The modelling of the airfoil in aluminium was part of the program of study. She could not turn off the faucet and the flat was flooded. The drugstore that is open late is in the city center next to the off-licence. He asked for a one-way ticket and she replied ‘Is that a single or return?’ (See exercise in ’English Matters’ Vocabulary exercises from Stewart) Theme 5: Structure Abstract writing IMRAD structure • Abstract • Introduction (problems to be solved) • Methods • Results and Discussion (analysis of findings) • Conclusions and Recommendations for Further Research (logical results) • Appendix: Details Structure Short report or paper: • Section used for all levels. • Numbered as: 1. 1.1. 1.1.1. Thesis/dissertation or book: • Chapter is normally level 1*. • Use section for levels 2, 3 and 4 Avoid "subchapters" and "subsections". A paragraph is several lines. *Part could be level 1 in a thesis with an overview and publications. Then Chapter for level 2 and Section levels 3 & 4 • Part I: Introduction and Overview • Part II: Publications • Part III: Appendices Abstract - format (For scientific reports and theses) Summary of the information in the report • brief statement of why the work was undertaken (objectives) • brief statement of methods (methods) • clear statement of the significant facts/findings/ideas in the text (resultsrecommendations) • An abstract should be as long as is necessary to sum up the essential information (250 to 500 words as a rule of thumb) Two abstracts – exercise Which of these is the most readable – why? Do they both contain all the elements one should include in an abstract? Work in 2’s and analyse each other’s abstract. Then present one of them to the group