Methods and Techniques

1. The experiments were performed at....

2. The experimental set-up included....

3. The measurements... were conducted using....

4. The main experimental configuration is presented in Fig. 1.

5. The simulation starts with....

6. All the experiments were carried out using a...

7. The velocity distribution in the... is obtained numerically using the finite element method.

8. The direct problem is solved using... method

9. The following procedure is used to determine....

10. Fig. 3 summarizes the direct model and inverse approach.

11. The device was similar in concept to that described by...

12. The probe itself consisted of...

13.... was recorded by the computer for a set sampling rate and time.

14.... under steady state conditions.

Results

1. Results indicated that....

2. A schematic diagram of the system is shown in Fig. 1.

3. From Fig. 10 it is estimated that....

4. Charts/Tables/Figures show....

5. From the graph it can be seen that there is good agreement be­tween experiment and theory for....

6. The data cover a wide range of... dimensions and operating condi­tions.

7. When the same data in Fig.... were compared to....

8. The present correlation is in good agreement with most data.

9. We can make several observations.

10. Prior to applying the inverse procedure to experimental results....

11. Two observations can be made from these plots.

12. Fig. 6 shows a scatter plot of....

13. Table 4 summarizes the results....

14. Results of the... are presented in....

15. Similar observations can be made about the behavior of the mean errors.

16. On the basis of these results it can be observed that....

* * *

To describe results use tentative verbs and modals:

It appears/seems/is likely/that....

These results suggest....

It is possible that....

Use past tense.

TASK 1: How long did it take you to write the body of your paper? What was the most difficult thing about it?

TASK 2: Read the list of phrases and choose the most appropriate ones to finish your paper.

List of phrases used in writing the discussion/conclusion:

1. This research has attempted to....

2. The original assumption was that....

3. The findings of... suggest that... is appropriate to....

4. Analogous results hold for....

5. One reason could be that....

6. These results could be explained by assuming that....

7. It is unlikely that....

8. These findings suggest/imply/provide evidence that....

9. Detailed understanding of... is still lacking....

10. The method becomes even more efficient for the... case.

11. From a computational viewpoint....

12. In this context, these results are the same as those obtained from the... method.

13. The methods described here have more general application...

14. The principal results and findings are as follows....

15. Analyses of experimental data obtained during... demonstrate that the inverse procedure is capable of accurately predicting measured... over significant periods of time.

16. The results from... were compared with results from....

17. The model will be useful in the analysis of... processes.

18. A significant advantage of this theory is that....

19. It should be noted that the results recorded here are very prelimi­nary.

20. Finally, an important conclusion follows from....

21. It is a logical consequence of the fact that....

22. It would be interesting to...

23. Much further research is needed in the area of....

TASK: Read the following recommendations and notice how to write the "Discussion of Results", "Conclusions" and "Acknowledgements" parts of a research paper.

PROOFREADING THE PAPER

If you write your paper by hand, always type the final manuscript, paying special attention to the format and layout of your paper (mar­gins, spacing, arrangement of the text, etc.) and then proofread it. Read the paper several times to detect and correct all possible types of errors. A computer can be very helpful with checking the spelling, grammar, and style.

Double-check in-text citations to be certain that each one is cor­rect and that each source is listed in the "Works Cited" or "References" page at the end of the paper.

TASK: Proofread your paper and ask your fellow-students to do the same. What errors have you/your fellow-students no­ticed? What techniques did you use?

ACKNOWLEDGING SOURCES

After writing your paper, you should list your reference materials to give credit to those sources, and to enable readers to consult the sources for further information. You can label this page "Works/Sources Cited", "Bibliography", or "References" depending on the character of items included – all works related to the subject or only those quoted; printed works as well as nonprint items, e.g., speeches. Although there is no universally agreed-upon system for acknowledging sources, first, write down name of author, next, title of publication, and then publication source, date, and page. Alphabetize the entries according to the author's last name.

AN ABSTRACT

An abstract is a brief description of the paper. It summarizes the basic ideas developed in the paper. The abstract, as well as the title, helps readers decide to read or to skip the paper. Therefore, it should be accurate, concise, specific, objective and self-contained.

As a rule, the abstract is placed at the beginning of the paper, below the title. It is writtenlast, when the final version of the paper is pro­duced.

Providing an abstract in English will give your work a much higher profile outside your own country and make it much more accessible to international workers in the same field.

There are two types of abstracts: informational and descriptive.

Informational Abstracts, which usually follow a similar order to a scientific paper:

1. Provide communicative contents of reports.

2. Include purpose, methods, scope, results, conclusions, and recom­mendations.

3. Highlight essential points.

4. Are short – from a paragraph to a page, depending upon the length of the report (10 % or less of the report).

5. Allow readers to decide whether they want to read the report.

Descriptive Abstracts, which describe the publication itself (e.g. surveys, review articles, book chapters, etc.), rather than report particular findings:

1. Tell what the report contains.

2. Include purpose, methods, scope, but NOT results, conclusions, and recommendations.

3. Are always very short – usually less than 100 words.

4. Introduce subject to the readers, who must then read the report to

5. learn/study results.

Whichever type of abstract you write, follow the suggestions given below:

Do not repeat the information given in the title.

Do not include in the abstract any facts or ideas that are not in the text; eliminate unnecessary background information.

Decide the degree of detail you include (especially for informa­tional abstracts).

Use direct, straightforward English; reduce wordy phrases; avoid jargon.

Use the past tense when describing what was done.

Finally, revise the opening statement to emphasize the new infor­mation contained in the paper.

TASK: Read the paper you have written. Choose the most appro­priate strategies, words and phrases given above to write an abstract of your paper. Was it easy to do? Explain why or why not?

This is an excerpt from the lecture by Prof. Ernest Rovinovits of MIT. It is entitled: How to Write a Scientific Report. Below you will find the tasks for each section of it.

The Title

TASKS

Read the part of the lecture describing the importance of a title for a report and answer the questions:

Why is the title so important?

What are the typical mistakes that people make in titles?

Read the lecture again and eliminate the redundant words from the title “A Preliminary Report on an Experimental Investigation of the Refractive Index of Martini”. Now answer the questions:

Why does the speaker think that these words are redundant?

Do you share his opinion?

Abstract Writing

TASKS

Read a part of a lecture about abstract writing and answer the following questions:

How long can an abstract be?

What is the purpose of an abstract?

Write down a list of recommendations of what you should and shouldn't do when writing an abstract.

C Read the first part of the lecture on abstract writing and fill in the gaps in the following:

Now, an abstract, as you know, is something that's about anywhere, between say 1) words long, a description of the work, really to 2), the title in telling people whether this is some­thing that they ought to by pursuing further. One 3) that people often make is they don't 4)____. They'll tell what was done 5)____was carried out to measure this, that and the other and 6)_____some theory – but they'll never mention whether in fact the theory 7)____. So always 8)_____ that your abstract does include 9)_____that you've actually________.

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