Technical Writing 英語科学論文の基礎
Dr. DeMar Taylor 生命環境科学研究科
Most communications in science involve the process of writing clearly and correctly to inform
readers. The same basic rules also apply to communication through presentations. The main purposes
of these types of communication are to present information to the reader or audience so that they will
understand and remember that information. Let’s consider general techniques for effectively preparing,
organizing and delivering papers and presentations to communicate technical information.
I.
Preparing papers and presentations
1. Analyzing your audience
You should start preparing for your paper or presentation by looking at your future audience.
Get as much information about your audience as you can. This information will help you
prepare a paper or presentation that is relevant and interesting to your audience.
1. Age: What is the age range of your audience?
2. Sex: What is the sex distribution of your audience?
3. Occupation: Is the audience students or people with occupations? Do they have
occupations in common or different?
4. Educational background: Are they college graduates, general public, etc?
5. General background: It is also important to know something about your audience’s
general background, attitudes and interests.
2. Selecting a subject/topic
Your first question may be what shall I write or talk about? There is an easy way to select a
topic. Pick a topic that you know a great deal about or that really interests you! Try to write or
talk about something you have had some experience with.
3. Narrowing your subject/topic
Next the topic must be narrowed. If you write or talk about something you have knowledge
about and are very interested in you will tend to want to include everything you know. There
are two main problems with this.
a. You most likely have limited space and time and can’t sufficiently explain everything in the
space or time limitation.
b. If you try to present too much it will be too general and your audience will not remember
details or much information about your paper or presentation. You must limit your topic so
your audience will understand and remember. There are three things to guide you in
narrowing your topic.
1.
The topic should be specific.
This means to know the specific purpose of your writing or presentation. The topic
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“Environmental Pollution” is much too broad. The topic “Dioxin Levels Increasing
in Japan because of the Burning of Plastics” would be much more appropriate.
2.
3.
The topic should contain one idea
This means to have just one purpose. A topic that covers two or more topics becomes
confusing. The topic “Agriculture and Forestry in Developing Countries” has two
ideas. The topic “The Effects of Agriculture on Forestry of Developing Countries”
would be better. Focus on just one idea.
The topic should be achievable
This means that your audience must actually be able to do something or understand
and remember specific information after reading your paper or hearing your
presentation. This is particularly important when preparing presentations. The topic
“Building a Computer” is not achievable as a presentation because the audience
wouldn’t be able to build a computer just by listening to your explanation. The topic
“The Use of Computers in Education” is better because your audience could learn
valuable information about the importance of computers.
4. Gathering information
Now that you have selected and narrowed your topic, you need to gather information so you can
prepare the actual paper or presentation. There are two main places to look for information.
1. Look within yourself for information. Write down what you already know about your topic.
This will also help you prepare to more effectively collect the necessary information and plan
the collection of information from other sources.
2. Look outside of yourself for information. This means talking to other people who know about
the topic, and gathering information from the internet, books, magazines, questionnaires,
experiments, etc.
Your goal should be to find more information about your topic that you can use! This will make
you even more knowledgeable about your topic. You will then have a choice about what
information to use and what to ignore.
5. Preparing visual aids
After gathering the information you need you should then prepare the figures, tables and diagrams
you will use in your paper or the slides you will use in your presentation. All charts, maps,
graphs, diagrams, models, pictures, etc. will help make the explanations easier to understand and
more interesting. They should be kept simple and sufficiently explained for both papers and
presentations. Visual aids are especially important for presentations. The following guidelines
are especially relevant to visual aids for presentations.
1. Make your visual aids large enough for everyone to see
2. Do not pass objects or papers during your speech. People will look at the objects
or read the papers and not listen to what you are saying.
3. Keep visual aids simple. Don’t try to show too many details in one visual aid.
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Keep sentences on the slides simple by including only key words and phrases.
4. Look at the audience not the visual aids when you are giving the presentation.
5. When you are finished explaining a visual aid put it away or change to another
visual aid. Don’t leave a visual aid on the screen that you aren’t talking about.
Show what you explain and explain what you show.
II.
Organizing papers and presentations
After you have gathered the necessary information and prepared your visual aids, it is now time to
organize and write your paper or presentation. There are many different types of writing from
very short essays to textbooks. However, the basic organization of all types of writing such as
essays, newspaper articles, scientific manuscripts, chapters to books, books and textbooks all
include three basic parts in different styles. Presentations are also composed of these three basic
parts. They are introduction, main body and conclusion.
1. Preparing the Introduction
The introduction is the beginning of the paper or presentation and prepares the audience for the
main ideas and detail that is included in the main body. In order to prepare the audience there
are three main parts of the introduction.
1. Attention-getting beginning – The title of the paper or presentation is also important for
getting the audience interested in reading or listening to the information being
communicated. However, the first few sentences of the paper and the first thing you
state will also help the audience become interested in your paper. This becomes very
important in giving presentations. There are several ways to prepare an attention-getting
beginning.
1)
Make your audience curious. Ask a question. They will immediately be
interested in knowing the answer.
2)
Begin with a story. People like stories. They want to find out what it is about.
3)
Begin with a well-known quotation or general information the audience is
interested in.
4)
Begin with a startling or shocking fact.
2. Background – Presents general information about the topic that is necessary for the reader
or listener to understand the main body. This will differ in the different types of writing
that you do. For scientific manuscripts it will include a review of the literature pertinent
to your topic. In longer papers such as chapters it gives a general to specific background
of the topic of the chapter. In a book the introduction is often a whole chapter that
presents the necessary general information leading up to the topic of the book. In essays
and presentations it will be shorter only providing the main setting. In any case it
prepares the audience for the main ideas and substantiates to the audience you have
knowledge about the topic.
3. Statement of Purpose/Thesis Statement – The last two or three sentences of the
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introduction outline the content of the main body for the audience so they can more easily
understand the purpose of the paper or presentation. A thesis statement that only
announces the topic is not complete. It must include the supporting ideas also in the
same order as they are presented in the main body. The thesis statement gives the reader
a clear idea of what the paper or presentation is about and the supporting ideas
substantiate what you present. The purpose statement often begins with “In this study I
will…., In this paper I will….., In this presentation I will….”.
Example: This chapter will present a literature review of vitellogenesis and its
regulation in argasid and ixodid ticks. First, the gonotrophic cycle of argasid,
metastriate ixodid and prostriate ixodid ticks will be presented to set the stage for
understanding the reproductive processes. Next, the general scheme of vitellogenesis,
properties and processing of vitellogenin (Vg), site of Vg synthesis and finally the
hormonal regulation of vitellogenesis in these three groups of ticks will be discussed.
2. Preparing the Main Body
Now the audience knows exactly what you are going to talk about, it is time to present the
detailed information. The main body must present the ideas in the exact same order you said
you would present them in the purpose statement. The main body must explain the main ideas
in enough detail as to answer all of the readers/listeners questions. This also includes support of
those ideas so as to clear any doubts from the readers/listeners mind that what you say is correct
or valuable. Each idea must be separated into paragraphs that contain only one idea in each
paragraph.
3. Preparing the Conclusion
You can think of the conclusion as opposite the introduction in form and function. Functionally,
a conclusion prepares the reader for the end of the paper or presentation. A good conclusion
makes the reader feel that you have said all you set out to say in your thesis, and that you have
done this in a coherent and convincing way. In terms of form, the most common type of
conclusion is just the opposite of the introduction. In other words, it begins with a specific
restatement of the thesis and summary of the main ideas, moves onto a slightly more general
statement about the topic, and ends with a very general thought on the topic as a whole. Some
conclusions will briefly introduce some new information on the topic after restating the thesis and
summary of the main body. The conclusion can be thought of as having three main parts,
namely summary, conclusion and memorable ending.
1. Summary – The summary should restate the thesis and concisely review all the main
ideas presented in each paragraph of the main body.
2. Conclusion – The conclusion should include conclusions about the specific information
presented in the main body and then generalize these conclusions to a broader view of the
field reported. New information may be added and the importance and future needs of
this topic discussed.
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3. Memorable Ending – The memorable ending may just be the conclusion of the specific
idea with a slight generalization or it may emphasize the new information, applications,
needs etc. of the topic, but it should be presented in a strong concise sentence that the
reader/listener can remember. Many of the same styles can be used here as was used in
the attention-getting beginning, including questions, stories, shocking facts, etc.
4. Where do you begin to write the presentation or paper.
After you have selected your subject, decided the purpose, gathered the information and
prepared your visual aids you must organize the presentation or paper. As explained above,
every presentation and paper has three parts, introduction, body and conclusion. Which part
of the paper or speech do you write first?
Step One: Writing the Body.
1. List the main headings or subtopics related to your subject. Write them as you think
of them. Just concentrate on writing all the ideas you can think of that relate to the
purpose of your presentation or paper.
2. Narrow down your list of main headings. Review your list carefully and choose
three or four main headings that will develop the purpose of your speech.
3. Order the main headings logically. Organize the main headings so that each major
point leads naturally into the next.
4. Develop your main headings. The main headings are your skeleton so now you need
to explain and support the main points. Remember you must answer all the
audience’s questions and doubts about the main points have decided to present. If
the main ideas are properly supported by factual information, logical proof, and
visual aids, the audience will understand and remember.
Step Two: Writing the Conclusion.
After you have completed the main body you can more easily write a summary of
the main ideas you have presented. A good summary reminds your audience about
what you said and prepares them to understand your conclusions. After a summary,
you can make your conclusions and final statements that you want the audience to
remember.
Step Three: Writing the Introduction
Now you can more easily prepare your introduction because you know the content
of the main body and conclusion. The introduction must get the interest of the
audience and prepare them to understand the content of your presentation or paper.
It will also help them decide if it is going to be interesting and worth hearing or
reading. Get your audiences attention, give them any necessary background they
need to understand what you will explain in the body and outline the purpose and
organization of your main body. All this is now easier because you have the main
body completed in front of you.
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III.
Suggestions for delivering a presentation
A presentation is more than just the words you use. How you say something is just as
important as what you say. Practice is necessary to deliver a presentation well. Remember to be
yourself and speak the way you do in everyday conversation with your friends. The following
basic techniques will help you improve your public speaking.
1. Stage Fright – Most people even people with much experience are nervous about
speaking in front of an audience. Nervousness can be beneficial because it makes you
more alert and excited about your presentation. The best way to reduce nervousness is
to be very well prepared and practice giving presentations. Think positive about stage
fright.
2. STAY CALM! Begin slowly to allow the audience to become accustomed to your
voice. The audience is not expecting a perfect speech, because they know how hard it
is to speak in front of an audience.
3. Have Good Posture – Stand up straight but stand naturally. Do not lean on the lectern.
If there is not lectern stand in a place where everyone can see you. Be casual but not
sloppy.
4. Dress to not distract – The clothes you choose to wear for your presentation can
influence the attitude of the audience. Dress appropriately for the occasion and
audience. Avoid wearing shirts, blouses, ties, etc that will take the audiences attention
off you and on your clothes. For example, tee shirts with something written or
drawn on them will distract the audience because they will try to read or determine
what the design is. Remove any hats or overcoats that make it appear you are ready to
leave at anytime. Be sensible in your attire.
5. Facial Expressions: Smile before you start your speech to make the audience think
you are not nervous and help ease their concerns. Make the smile natural. During the
presentation try to change your facial expressions to convey emotions appropriate to
the content of your speech.
6. Movement and Gestures – Appropriate movements and gestures can help your
audience but some movements and gestures are distracting. If you are nervous take a
few small steps right or left to help you relax. When you point at your slides, be sure
to use the hand nearest the screen so you don’t turn your back on the audience. Be
careful to not make unconscious movements and gestures such as pulling your hair,
tapping on the lectern, stamping your feet, etc. Such movements can be very
distracting.
7. Eye Contact – Look at the audience not at your paper or visual aids. This will give the
impression that you are talking to each person in the audience and help you determine
if they are listening and understanding what you are talking about. Causally move
your eyes from one section of the audience to another, center to right to center to left,
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etc. If it is hard to look at their eyes because you are nervous, look at the tops of their
heads.
8. Speak with Enthusiasm – Enthusiasm means being lively and showing interest in your
subject and your audience. Your voice should be strong to show you want to
communicate. If you are truly interested in your subject enthusiasm will come
naturally.
9. Vary Your Speaking Rate – You should not speak too fast or too slow. If it is too slow
it will bore the audience and if it is too fast they will not understand. Also change
your rate of speech based on the context. If you are explaining complex information
slow down or want to show excitement speed up. A monotonous speech will be like
hypnotism and put the audience to sleep.
10. Practice – This is the most important thing you can do to help overcome nervousness
and be able to consider improving your speech by allowing you to concentrate on
some of the things suggested above. Practice several days before the actual
presentation and do it in a location where you will not be distracted. Allow enough
time to rehearse from start to finish. Practice in front of a mirror, your friends or
family, record your speech and play it back to yourself. The more you practice the
better your presentation will be!
11. Begin with an attention-getting introduction but remember it should be related to your
topic. Don’t begin a speech with “My topic is ________,” or “Today I’m going to
talk about___________.”
12. Never apologize to the audience for not being prepared or when you get confused or
forget what you want to say. Stop briefly and organize your thoughts and then
continue as if nothing happened.
13. Finish your speech gracefully. Too many speakers conclude in an abrupt or nervous
way. NEVER finish with statements like “I can’t think of anything else”, “That’s it”
or other similar statements. The final words of your speech are what the audience
will remember. End with a strong restatement of the main points you want the
audience to remember.
IV.
References
Blass, L. and M. Pike-Baky. 1990. Mosaic II, A Content-Based Writing Book, 2nd Edition.
McCraw-Hill Publishing Company, New York, 234 pp.
Dale, P. and J.C. Wolf. 1988. Speech Communication for International Students.Prentice
Hall Regents, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 168 pp.
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Technical Writing –Writing Good Paragraphs
Dr. DeMar Taylor
Where should you begin the actual writing?
- Should we begin with the introduction, main body or conclusion?
- The last step of preparations for writing was to make tables, figures and other graphics.
- These graphics are usually used in the main body of a paper.
- Very seldom do introductions and conclusions contain figures and tables.
- Therefore, the main body seems like the most logical place to begin.
- The information appropriate for the main body should be organized into paragraphs.
- After we finish organizing the main ideas into paragraphs we can move to writing the conclusion.
- Then it is easier to write an introduction because now we know what information is in the main
body and easier to determine the information necessary as background to prepare the reader for
the main body.
- The best order for writing your paper is main body, conclusion and introduction.
- However, don’t hesitate to write down ideas you think of for the introduction and conclusion as
you are writing the main body.
A Good Paragraph
- Organizing the main points in the main body requires understanding how to write good
paragraphs.
- A paragraph is a group of sentences that sufficiently explains the main idea of the paper.
- Four characteristics of a good paragraph: topic sentence, unity, depth and coherence.
1. Topic sentence
- A paragraph usually begins with a sentence that expresses the main idea of the paragraph.
- This is the topic sentence.
- The topic sentence is often the first sentence of a paragraph.
- However, it can be the second sentence, in the middle or at the end of the paragraph.
- A good topic sentence should:
1) express the one idea of the paragraph,
2) clearly focus the one idea
3) tell the read what the paragraph is about.
2. Paragraph unity
- Unity is defined as the state of being one and implies oneness in spirit, aims and interests, etc.
- Unity is essential in writing.
- All the sentences must relate to and develop the topic sentence.
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- If a sentence(s) in the paragraph doesn’t relate to the topic sentence it must be removed.
Does this paragraph have unity?
Circle the topic sentence and underline any unrelated sentences.
Most schools and colleges have counseling services that help students choose the
appropriate courses for their majors and plan their careers. The services usually consist of
counselors who see students individually or in small groups. In individual or group sessions,
students, with the aid of a trained counselor, determine their academic and career goals.
These services also provide aptitude, interest, personality, and achievement tests to help
students learn more about their interests and abilities. There are also psychologists and
therapists who help students with particular difficulties such as emotional disturbances or
learning problems. In addition, health examinations as well as nursing and medical services
are available in most schools. Therefore students at most schools and colleges have many
resources to help them make important academic and career choices.
3. Paragraph depth
- In order to make your writing interesting and convincing you must develop your ideas logically
and thoroughly.
- The paragraph must also include support to substantiate your ideas.
- Develop a paragraph with sufficient depth to answering all of the reader’s questions.
- Do not assume a reader will know what you are talking about.
- Include sufficient support such as references to published works, examples, data or anecdotes.
- Not only use sufficient support of your ideas but also organize the ideas in a logical sequence.
4. Paragraph coherence
- Coherence is defined as stickiness, inseparableness, consistency, clarity and connection.
- All sentences and explanations should be logically arranged and connected.
- There are several ways to develop coherence in a paragraph.
- Listing signals connect ideas when describing events that occur in chronological order.
- Sentence connectors such as similarly, however, therefore, etc. develop coherence.
- Sentence connectors also indicate the function of the sentence following the connector.
1) Introduction of a new or additional idea that supports the previous sentence by words such
as similarly, in addition, furthermore, moreover, besides, likewise and in the same way.
2) A contrasting point or differences use sentence connectors such as however, on the other
hand, conversely and in contrast.
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3) For example and in fact can be used to indicate the expansion, illustration or application of
an idea.
4) Finally, we can conclude a point by beginning the sentences with sentence connectors such
as thus, therefore, in conclusion.
- Too many listing signals and sentence connectors make a paragraph simple and boring.
- Pronouns that refer to nouns already mentioned cause the reader to think back.
- However, pronouns must directly follow the sentence or sentences that contain the noun to which
they refer. If other nouns appear between the noun and the pronoun, they cause confusion.
- Repetition of key words and concepts connect the sentences in a paragraph.
- The overuse of pronouns can be overcome by repeating the key words or phrase.
- Repeating the key word or phrase can emphasize the main point.
- However, repetition used not me overused either.
- Finally, paraphrasing can reduce the use of pronouns and repetition and develop coherence.
- Paraphrases use different words and phrases with the same meaning.
Conclusion
Five steps of preparation before the actual writing include (1) analyzing the audience, (2)
choosing a topic that we are interested in and have knowledge about, (3) narrowing our topic so we can
accomplish the purposes of our writing, (4) gathering information about our narrowed topic and (5)
preparing graphics to include in our paper. After these steps, we are ready to organize and actually write
our paper. Almost all forms of writing consistent of three main parts; 1) the introduction to prepare the
reader and outline the purpose, 2) the main body for detailed explanation and support of the major points,
and 3) the conclusion to summarize and generalize the major points of the paper. When actually writing
papers we should write the main body first, conclusion second and introduction last. An important aspect
of creating a well written paper is to know where to begin and how to write good paragraphs. A good
paragraph should have (1) a topic sentence that has one idea and helps the reader predict the content of
the paragraph, (2) paragraph unity with all sentences relating to the topic sentence, (3) sufficient detail
and support of the ideas to answer all the readers questions and doubts, and (4) logical and smooth
connection between the sentences and ideas of the paragraph.
These rules can be applied to almost every type of informative writing, including essays,
manuscripts, theses, newspaper articles, chapters, books, etc. In addition, the same basic rules for
preparation and organization of papers can be applied to oral presentations. The rules for writing
discussed above are important to understand and follow but the writing process includes many cycles of
rewriting. Often times it is best to forget the rules as the thoughts flow about our topic. We can then go
back and apply the rules during the rewriting process to make sure our ideas are communicated clearly
and correctly to the readers.
Suggested Readings
Alley, M. 1996. The Craft of Scientific Writing, Third Edition. Springer, New York, USA. pp. 282.
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Alley, M. 2003. The Craft of Scientific Presentations. Springer, New York, USA. pp. 241.
Blake, G. and R.W. Bly. 1993. The Elements of Technical Writing. MacMillan, New York, USA. pp. 174.
Briscoe, M.H. 1996. Preparing Scientific Illustrations, Second Edition. Springer-Verlag, New York,
USA. pp. 204.
Hall, G.M. (Ed.). 2003. How to Write a Paper, Third Edition. BMJ Publishing Group, London, England.
pp. 176.
Olsen, L.A. and T.N. Huckin. 1991. Technical Writing and Professional Communication, Second Edition.
McGraw Hill, Inc., New York, USA. pp. 584.
Rosenberg, B.J. 2005. Technical Writing for Engineers and Scientists. Addison-Wesley, Upper Saddle
River, NJ, USA. pp. 318.
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