Transcript Masumeh Anvari Laleh

Masumeh Anvari Laleh
Islamic Azad University
South branch
Chapter 3
writing clearly
And concisely
Words are a lens to focus 
one’s mind.
- Ayn Rand
In this chapter we are going to
consider:
1. Organization
2. Writing style
3. Reducing bias in language
Length
 Try to summaries as much as you
can. Shorten the paper by stating
the points clearly and directly.
Eliminate repetition. Write in active
voice.
Organizing a manuscript with
headings:
 Headings help the readers to anticipate
key points.
All topics of equal importance have the
same level of headings.
Avoid having only one subsection.
Levels of heading
Method
Samples and participant selection
Assessment and measures
Q_sort measures of inhibition.
Life hostory calendar.
Do not label headings with numbers of
letters(the headings in this book are
numbered to permit indexing and cross
referencing)
The number of levels of heading
needed for your article will depend on
its length and complexity.
seriation
 It helps the reader to understand the order of key
points in sections,paragraphs,and sentences.
 Separate paragraphs in a series, such as steps in a
procedure, are identified by Arabic numeral
followed by a period.
 1.Individuals who….[paragraph continues]
 2.Nondepressed persons exposed
to…..[paragraph continues]
If you use numbers it might connote unwanted
ordinal position such as importance or priority. If you
want to eliminate such implication, items should be
identified by bullets such as square ,circles.
Within a paragraph or sentence, identify elements by
lower case letters in parentheses
The participant’s three choices were(a)working
with
another participant(b)working with a team, and(c)
working alone.
Within a sentence use
Commas :to separate items that do
not have internal commas.
Semicolons: to separate items that
have internal commas
we tested three groups:(a)low scores, who
scored fewer than 20 points;(b)moderate scores,
who scored between 20 and 50;and(c)high
scores, who scored more than 50
Writing style
Continuity in presentation of ideas
Readers better understand your ideas if you have
continuity in words , concepts from the opening
statement to the conclusion.
You can achieve it in two ways:
1. Punctuation
2. Transitional words
Transitions help to maintain the flow of thoughts
especially when the text is complex. transitions avoid
repetition
Time links
Then, next ,after , while , since
Cause effect links
Therefore, consequently, as a result
Additional links
In addition ,moreover, furthermore
Contrast links
But ,conversely, nevertheless, however
Smoothness of expression
when writing a scientific prose , avoid
ambiguity ; inserted the unexpected ;omitting
the expected ; and suddenly shifting the topic ,
sense, or person.
Because you have been very close to your
paper , you may not see certain problems so it
is better to:
 Ask a colleague to read it
 Put it aside and read it later
 Read the paper aloud
If you see your writing is abrupt introducing
more transitions can be helpful.
You can have smooth expression by using verb
tenses consistently.
Stay with the chosen tense.
Use past tense or
Present perfect
Review of literature
Past tense
The results
e.g. anxiety decreased
significantly.
Present tense
Conclusion or implication of
results
e.g. the results of experiment
indicate.
Noun strings
Putting several nouns together to modify the final noun can
be confusing.
*hyphenation can clarify the relationships between words
for example:
Don’t say: commonly used investigative expanded issue
control question technique.
Say: a control-question technique that is commonly used to
expand issues in investigation.
One way to untangle noun strings
 Move the last word to the beginning and fill in with verbs
and prepositions
don’t say : early childhood thought disorder misdiagnosis.
Say :misdiagnosis of thoughts disorders in early childhood.
 To achieve smoothness use synonyms but be careful
(subtle differences)
 Use pronouns to avoid monotonous repetitions of terms.
Tone
Scientific writing differs from literary writing
but it must not be dull use interesting style and
tone that shows your involvement with the
problem.
Say: Richards and Rogers did not address…..
Don’t say: Richards and Rogers completely
overlooked…..
One way to achieve the right tone is to
imagine the specific reader whom you
want to educate.
Economy of expression
Try to be frugal with words so the chance of
publication will increase.
You can tighten long papers by : eliminating
redundancy , wordiness , jargon , overuse of the
passive voice , circumlocution.
Short sentences are easy to comprehend.
wordiness
Don’t say
say
Based on the fact that
because
At the present time
now
For the purpose of
for
The present study
This study
Redundancy
Don’t use more words than are necessary to
convey your meaning.
They were both alike
Four different group saw
A total of 68 participants
In close participants
Completely unanimous
Small in size
Just exactly
The reason is because
Unit length
 varied sentence length helps readers
maintain interest
 Don’t use too simple or too long
sentences.
 Paragraphs that are too long lose the
reader’s attention
Precision and clarity
Word choice
Make sure to use words that means exactly what you
intend to mean.
formal
informal
believe
think
feel
Say: Articles by psychologists such as Skinner and
Watson…..
Don’t say: Articles by psychologists like Skinner and
Watson…….
Colloquial expression:
Avoid colloquial expressions(e.g.)
*Quantity terms such as(quite a large part ,
practically all , very few)are interpreted
differently by readers.
Jargon:
Use of technical lexis
Monetarily felt scarcity=poverty
Jargon can grates on readers
Pronouns : they can confuse readers unless the
reference is obvious .eliminate ambiguity by writing
this test , that trial, these participants
Comparisons:
Ambiguity or illogical comparisons result from omission
of key verbs or from non-parallel structure.
Her salary was lower than a convenience store clerk.
Third person
attribution
anthropomorphism
Editorial we
 Third person : to avoid ambiguity use a
personal pronoun . don’t use third
person when describing steps
Correct: We reviewed the literature
Incorrect: The authors reviewed the
literature.
Anthropomorphism
 Do not give the human characteristics to animals or
objects.
Correct: pairs of rats were allowed to forage together.
Incorrect: rat couples were allowed to forage together.
editorial we
Restrict your use of we to refer only to yourself.
Correct: researchers usually classify……….
Incorrect: we usually classify…………
Alternatives to “we "are people ,researchers , humans
Linguistic devices
 Avoid heavy alliteration, rhyming ,poetic expressions
and clichés. don’t use metaphors .They can distract
readers.
e.g.(A theory representing one branch of a growing
body of evidence)
Strategies to improve writing style
Write from an out
-line
To have effective
communication
Put aside the draft
and read it later
Asking a colleague to
review it
Reducing bias in language
 Do not evaluate the groups being
studied on the bias of gender, sexual
orientation, racial or ethnic group or
age.
General guidelines for reducing bias
Guideline 1:describe at the appropriate level of specificity.
*don’t use man to refer to all human use women and men
*give specific age range (ages 65-83) instead of over 65
*don’t describe participants as Asian American or Hispanic
American
*describe them by their nation(e.g. Chinese, American,
Mexican American)
*when discussing sexual orientation, realize that some
people interpret gay as referring to men and women.
*gender is cultural , sex is biological
 Differences should be mention only when relevant.
 Marital status , sexual orientation ,racial identity , or
peoples disabilities should not be mentioned
gratuitously.
Guideline 2:call people what they prefer to be called.
*Broadly categorize people such as (the gays , the
elderly)or you can put the person first(people
diagnosed with schizophrenia)
*A label should NOT be pejorative you need to find
more neutral terms(the demented is not repaired by
demented group but dementia group would be
acceptable.
 Don’t use one group as standard for example citizen
of U.S.
 BE aware that the order of presentation of social
group can imply that the first mention is standard and
the latter is deviant. Men and women, white Americans
and racial minorities.
Guideline 3:acknowledge
participants
 When acknowledging people in your study use
participants or subjects rather than children or
college students
 Avoid the term failed because it can imply a personal
shortcoming
 The passive voice suggests individuals are acted on
instead of being actors (the students completed the
survey ) is preferable to(the students were given the
survey)
Reducing bias by topic
 Gender:
sexist bias can occur when
pronouns are used carelessly or when he is
used to refer to both sexes(e.g. policeman
instead of police officer can be ambiguous)
 One solution is to use plural pronouns.(e.g. A
therapist who is too much like his client)
 Say (therapists who are too much like their
clients)
 Use he or she instead of he
 Using s(he) can be distracting
Racial and ethnic identity
say
Black
African American
Asian American
Don’t say
Negro
Afro-American
oriental
Racial(ethnic)minori Minority referring to
ty
non-white racial
Disabilities
 Avoid language that objectifies a person by
her or his condition(autistic, neurotic)
 Avoid using pictorial metaphors(wheel-chair
bound or AIDS victim)
 say: people with intellectual disabilities in
contrast to the retarded.
age
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Provide age range
Don’t say :under 18 or over 65
Girls and boys=individuals under 12
Young man or male adolescent=people between 13-17
Man or woman=people 18 and above
The term older adult is preferred.
Historical and interpretive
inaccuracies
 Be careful not to misrepresent ideas of the
past in an effort to avoid language bias.
 Change in (nouns) or pronouns may result in
serious change in the author’s idea . In such
writing , it is best to retain the original
language and to comment on it in the
discussion.