Grammer Buzz
CONTENTS PART I WRITING SKILLS 1 PLANNING AND PREPARATION 3 1 1 WHAT S THE BUZZ 4 1 2 WHY SHOULD I PUBLISH HOW DO I KNOW WHETHER MY RESEARCH IS WORTH PUBLISHING 5 1 3 WHICH JOURNAL SHOULD I CHOOSE 6 1 4 HOW CAN I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THE EDITOR IS LOOKING FOR 7 1 5 WHAT PREPARATION DO I NEED TO DO 7 1 6 HOW CAN I CREATE A TEMPLATE 9 1 7 IN WHAT ORDER SHOULD I WRITE THE VARIOUS SECTIONS 9 1 8 SHOULD I WRITE THE INITIAL DRAFT IN MY OWN LANGUAGE BEFORE WRITING IT IN ENGLISH 10 1 9 HOW DO I KNOW WHAT STYLE AND STRUCTURE TO USE 11 1 10 HOW CAN I HIGHLIGHT MY KEY NDINGS 12 1 11 WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY IS IT TO ENSURE MY PAPER IS UNDERSTOOD MINE OR MY READERS 13 1 12 HOW DO I KEEP THE REFEREES HAPPY 13 1 13 WHAT ROLE DO SEARCH ENGINES PLAY IN MAKING A PAPER ACCESSIBLE TO OTHERS 15 1 14 SUMMARY 16 2 STRUCTURING A SENTENCE WORD ORDER 17 2 1 WHAT S THE BUZZ 18 2 2 BASIC WORD ORDER IN ENGLISH SUBJECT VERB OBJECT INDIRECT OBJECT 19 2 3 PLACE THE VARIOUS ELEMENTS IN YOUR SENTENCE IN THE MOST LOGICAL ORDER POSSIBLE DON T FORCE THE READER TO HAVE TO CHANGE THEIR PERSPECTIVE 20 2 4 PLACE THE SUBJECT BEFORE THE VERB 21 2 5 DON T DELAY THE SUBJECT 22 2 6 KEEP THE SUBJECT AND VERB CLOSE TO EACH OTHER 23 2 7 AVOID INSERTING PARENTHETICAL INFORMATION BETWEEN THE SUBJECT AND THE VERB 24 2 8 DON T SEPARATE THE VERB FROM ITS DIRECT OBJECT 25 2 9 PUT THE DIRECT OBJECT BEFORE THE INDIRECT OBJECT 26 2 10 DON T USE A PRONOUN IT THEY BEFORE YOU INTRODUCE THE NOUN THAT THE PRONOUN REFERS TO 26 2 11 LOCATE NEGATIONS NEAR THE BEGINNING OF THE SENTENCE 27 2 12 LOCATE NEGATIONS BEFORE THE MAIN VERB BUT AFTER AUXILIARY AND MODAL VERBS 28 2 13 STATE YOUR AIM BEFORE GIVING THE REASONS FOR IT 28 2 14 DECIDING WHERE TO LOCATE AN ADVERB 29 2 15 PUT ADJECTIVES BEFORE THE NOUN THEY DESCRIBE OR USE A RELATIVE CLAUSE 29 2 16 DO NOT PUT AN ADJECTIVE BEFORE THE WRONG NOUN OR BETWEEN TWO NOUNS 30 2 17 AVOID CREATING STRINGS OF NOUNS THAT DESCRIBE OTHER NOUNS 30 2 18 SUMMARY 31 3 STRUCTURING PARAGRAPHS 33 3 1 WHAT S THE BUZZ 34 3 2 FIRST PARAGRAPH OF A NEW SECTION BEGIN WITH A MINI SUMMARY PLUS AN INDICATION OF THE STRUCTURE 35 3 3 FIRST PARAGRAPH OF A NEW SECTION GO DIRECTLY TO THE POINT 36 3 4 CHOOSE THE MOST RELEVANT SUBJECT TO PUT IT AT THE BEGINNING OF A SENTENCE THAT OPENS A NEW PARAGRAPH 37 3 5 DECIDING WHERE TO PUT NEW AND OLD INFORMATION WITHIN A SENTENCE 38 3 6 DECIDING WHERE TO PUT NEW AND OLD INFORMATION WITHIN A PARAGRAPH 40 3 7 USE GENERIC SPECI C CONSTRUCTIONS WITH CAUTION 42 3 8 TRY TO BE AS CONCRETE AS POSSIBLE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE 43 3 9 LINK EACH SENTENCE BY MOVING FROM GENERAL CONCEPTS TO INCREASINGLY MORE SPECI C CONCEPTS 44 3 10 DON T FORCE READERS TO HOLD A LOT OF PRELIMINARY INFORMATION IN THEIR HEAD BEFORE GIVING THEM THE MAIN INFORMATION 45 3 11 PRESENT AND EXPLAIN IDEAS IN THE SAME LOGICAL SEQUENCE 46 3 12 USE A CONSISTENT NUMBERING SYSTEM TO LIST PHASES STATES PARTS ETC 47 3 13 BREAK UP LONG PARAGRAPHS 48 3 14 LOOK FOR THE MARKERS THAT INDICATE WHERE YOU COULD BEGIN A NEW SENTENCE OR NEW PARAGRAPH 50 3 15 BEGIN A NEW PARAGRAPH WHEN YOU BEGIN TO TALK ABOUT YOUR STUDY AND YOUR KEY NDINGS 51 3 16 CONCLUDING A PARAGRAPH AVOID REDUNDANCY 51 3 17 HOW TO STRUCTURE A PARAGRAPH AN EXAMPLE 52 3 18 SUMMARY 55 4 BREAKING UP LONG SENTENCES 57 4 1 WHAT S THE BUZZ 58 4 2 ANALYSE WHY AND HOW LONG SENTENCES ARE CREATED 60 4 3 USING SHORT SENTENCES WILL HELP YOUR CO AUTHORS IF THEY NEED TO MODIFY YOUR TEXT 61 4 4 USING SHORT SENTENCE OFTEN ENTAILS REPEATING THE KEY WORD THUS IMPROVING CLARITY 61 4 5 ONLY USE A SERIES OF SHORT SENTENCES TO ATTRACT THE READER S ATTENTION 62 4 6 COMBINE TWO SHORT SENTENCES INTO ONE LONGER SENTENCE IF THIS WILL AVOID REDUNDANCY 62 4 7 WHEN EXPRESSING YOUR AIMS CONSIDER DIVIDING UP A LONG SENTENCE INTO SHORTER PARTS 63 4 8 IF POSSIBLE REPLACE AND AND AS WELL AS WITH A PERIOD 64 4 9 BE CAREFUL HOW YOU USE LINK WORDS 66 4 10 AVOID WHICH AND RELATIVE CLAUSES WHEN THESE CREATE LONG SENTENCES 69 4 11 AVOID THE ING FORM TO LINK PHRASES TOGETHER 71 4 12 LIMIT THE NUMBER OF COMMAS IN THE SAME SENTENCE 72 4 13 CONSIDER NOT USING SEMICOLONS 74 4 14 ONLY USE SEMICOLONS IN LISTS 75 4 15 RESTRICT USE OF PARENTHESES TO GIVING EXAMPLES 76 4 16 FINAL GUIDELINES 77 4 17 SUMMARY 78 5 BEING CONCISE AND REMOVING REDUNDANCY 79 5 1 WHAT S THE BUZZ 80 5 2 WRITE LESS AND YOU WILL MAKE FEWER MISTAKES IN ENGLISH AND YOUR KEY POINTS WILL BE CLEARER 81 5 3 CUT INDIVIDUAL REDUNDANT WORDS 82 5 4 CONSIDER CUTTING ABSTRACT WORDS 83 5 5 AVOID GENERIC SPECI C CONSTRUCTIONS 83 5 6 WHEN DRAWING THE READER S ATTENTION TO SOMETHING USE THE LEAST NUMBER OF WORDS POSSIBLE 84 5 7 REDUCE THE NUMBER OF LINK WORDS 84 5 8 WHEN CONNECTING SENTENCES USE THE SHORTEST FORM POSSIBLE 86 5 9 CHOOSE THE SHORTEST EXPRESSIONS 86 5 10 CUT REDUNDANT ADJECTIVES 87 5 11 CUT POINTLESS INTRODUCTORY PHRASES 87 5 12 REPLACE IMPERSONAL EXPRESSIONS BEGINNING IT IS 88 5 13 PREFER VERBS TO NOUNS 89 5 14 USE ONE VERB E G ANALYZE INSTEAD OF A VERB NOUN E G MAKE AN ANALYSIS 89 5 15 REDUCE YOUR AUTHORIAL VOICE 91 5 16 BE CONCISE WHEN REFERRING TO GURES AND TABLES 91 5 17 USE THE IN NITIVE WHEN EXPRESSING AN AIM 92 5 18 REMOVE UNNECESSARY COMMONLY KNOWN OR OBVIOUS INFORMATION 92 5 19 BE CONCISE EVEN IF YOU ARE WRITING FOR AN ONLINE JOURNAL 93 5 20 CONSIDER REDUCING THE LENGTH OF YOUR PAPER 93 5 21 SUMMARY 94 6 AVOIDING AMBIGUITY REPETITION AND VAGUE LANGUAGE 95 6 1 WHAT S THE BUZZ 96 6 2 PLACE WORDS IN AN UNAMBIGUOUS ORDER 97 6 3 BEWARE OF PRONOUNS POSSIBLY THE GREATEST SOURCE OF AMBIGUITY 98 6 4 AVOID REPLACING KEY WORDS WITH SYNONYMS AND CLARIFY AMBIGUITY INTRODUCED BY GENERIC WORDS 100 6 5 RESTRICT THE USE OF SYNONYMS TO NON KEY WORDS 102 6 6 DON T USE TECHNICAL SECTOR VOCABULARY THAT YOUR READERS MAY NOT BE FAMILIAR WITH 104 6 7 BE AS PRECISE AS POSSIBLE 104 6 8 CHOOSE THE LEAST GENERIC WORD 106 6 9 USE PUNCTUATION TO SHOW HOW WORDS AND CONCEPTS ARE RELATED TO EACH OTHER 107 6 10 DE NING VS NON DE NING CLAUSES THAT VS WHICH WHO 108 6 11 CLARIFYING WHICH NOUN YOU ARE REFERRING TO WHICH THAT AND WHO 110 6 12 ING FORM VS THAT 110 6 13 ING FORM VS SUBJECT VERB 111 6 14 AVOIDING AMBIGUITY WITH THE ING FORM USE BY AND THUS 112 6 15 UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS 114 6 16 DE NITE AND INDE NITE ARTICLES 115 6 17 REFERRING BACKWARDS THE DANGERS OF THE FORMER THE LATTER 116 6 18 REFERRING BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS THE DANGERS OF ABOVE BELOW PREVIOUSLY EARLIER LATER 118 6 19 USE OF RESPECTIVELY TO DISAMBIGUATE 118 6 20 DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN BOTH AND AND EITHER OR 119 6 21 TALKING ABOUT SIMILARITIES AS LIKE UNLIKE 120 6 22 DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN FROM AND BY 120 6 23 BE CAREFUL WITH LATIN WORDS 121 6 24 FALSE FRIENDS 122 6 25 BE CAREFUL OF TYPOS 122 6 26 SUMMARY 123 7 CLARIFYING WHO DID WHAT 125 7 1 WHAT S THE BUZZ 126 7 2 CHECK YOUR JOURNAL S STYLE RST PERSON OR PASSIVE 127 7 3 HOW TO FORM THE PASSIVE AND WHEN TO USE IT 127 7 4 USE THE ACTIVE FORM WHEN THE PASSIVE MIGHT BE AMBIGUOUS 128 7 5 CONSIDER STARTING A NEW PARAGRAPH TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN YOUR WORK AND THE LITERATURE 129 7 6 ENSURE YOU USE THE RIGHT TENSES TO DIFFERENTIATE YOUR WORK FROM OTHERS PARTICULARLY WHEN YOUR JOURNAL PROHIBITS THE USE OF WE 130 7 7 FOR JOURNALS THAT ALLOW PERSONAL FORMS USE WE TO DISTINGUISH YOURSELF FROM OTHER AUTHORS 133 7 8 WHEN WE IS ACCEPTABLE EVEN WHEN YOU ARE NOT DISTINGUISHING YOURSELF FROM OTHER AUTHORS 133 7 9 MAKE GOOD USE OF REFERENCES 134 7 10 ENSURE THAT READERS UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU MEAN WHEN YOU WRITE THE AUTHORS 136 7 11 WHAT TO DO IF YOUR PAPER IS SUBJECT TO A BLIND REVIEW 136 7 12 SUMMARY 137 8 HIGHLIGHTING YOUR FINDINGS 139 8 1 WHAT S THE BUZZ 140 8 2 SHOW YOUR PAPER TO A NON EXPERT AND GET HIM HER TO UNDERLINE YOUR KEY NDINGS 140 8 3 AVOID LONG BLOCKS OF TEXT TO ENSURE THAT REFEREES AND READERS CAN ND AND UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF YOUR CONTRIBUTION 141 8 4 CONSTRUCT YOUR SENTENCES TO HELP THE READER S EYE AUTOMATICALLY FALL ON THE KEY INFORMATION 143 8 5 CONSIDER USING BULLETS AND HEADINGS 144 8 6 IN REVIEW PAPERS AND BOOK CHAPTERS USE LOTS OF HEADINGS 145 8 7 USE TABLES AND GURES TO ATTRACT ATTENTION 145 8 8 WHEN YOU HAVE SOMETHING REALLY IMPORTANT TO SAY MAKE YOUR SENTENCES SHORTER THAN NORMAL 146 8 9 PRESENT YOUR KEY NDINGS IN A VERY SHORT SENTENCE AND LIST THE IMPLICATIONS 147 8 10 REMOVE REDUNDANCY 148 8 11 THINK ABOUT THE TYPES OF WORDS THAT ATTRACT ATTENTION 148 8 12 SIGNAL TO THE READER THAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO SAY SOMETHING IMPORTANT BY USING MORE DYNAMIC LANGUAGE 149 8 13 WHEN DISCUSSING KEY NDINGS AVOID AT PHRASES 149 8 14 CONSIDER AVOIDING THE USE OF PHRASES CONTAINING NOTE AND NOTING 151 8 15 BE EXPLICIT ABOUT YOUR NDINGS SO THAT EVEN A NON EXPERT CAN UNDERSTAND THEM 151