PDF《Reader Interpretations》

Boston ? Shanghai The following material was used by Accdon LLC during an oral presentation and discussion.

Without the accompanying oral comments, the text is incomplete as a record of the presentation. This document contains information and methodology descriptions intended solely for the use of client personnel. No part of it may be circulated, quoted, or reproduced for distribution outside this client without the prior written approval of Accdon LLC. NOTICE: Proprietary and Confidential Copyright ?

2013 Accdon LLC, All Rights Reserved The Science of Scientific &

Technical Writing: How to Achieve Greater Control of Reader Interpretations www.letpub.com

2 Agenda ? Write with the Reader in Mind ? Reader Expectations for the Structure of Scientific Writing ? Subject-Verb Separation ? The Topic Position ? The Stress Position ? Avoid the No.

1 Problem in Scientific Writing ? How to Perceive Logical Gaps ? Locating the Action ? Writing and the Scientific Process www.letpub.com

3 Write with the Reader in Mind www.letpub.com

4 Write with the Reader in Mind ? People assume reading science is hard ? Readers do not simply read;

they interpret ? Readers must accurately perceive what the author had in mind ? We need to know how readers go about reading ? I will demonstrate rhetorical principles that produce clarity in communication without oversimplifying scientific concepts www.letpub.com

5 Write with the Reader in Mind ? Any piece of text may have

10 (or more) different meanings to

10 different readers ? Readers make interpretive decisions based on clues they receive from the structure of text ? Let'

s look an example… www.letpub.com

6 Write with the Reader in Mind For example: t(time)=15'

, T(temperature)=32? , t=0'

, T=25? ;

t=6'

, T=29? ;

t=3'

, T=27? ;

t=12'

, T=32? ;

t=9'

;

T=31? or time (min) temperature(? C)

0 25

3 27

6 29

9 31

12 32

15 32 www.letpub.com

7 Write with the Reader in Mind ? Info is interpreted more easily when in places where readers expect to find it ? The needs of the reader affect the interpretation not only of tables but also of the text itself ? Readers have fixed expectations about where in the structure of text they encounter items of substance ? You can therefore learn how to have better control over which data is emphasized www.letpub.com

8 Write with the Reader in Mind ? Readers have certain expectations for each unit of discourse ? When these units are confused, readers are confused;

readers search for info in certain places ? If these structural expectations are violated, readers are forced to divert energy to unraveling structure ? As the complexity of the context increases so does the possibility of misinterpretation www.letpub.com

9 Reader Expectations for the Structure of Scientific Writing www.letpub.com

10 Reader Expectations for the Structure of Scientific Writing Here is our first example of scientific prose, in its original form: The smallest of the URF'

s (URFA6L), a 207-nucleotide (nt) reading frame overlapping out of phase the NH2-terminal portion of the adenosinetriphosphatase (ATPase) subunit

6 gene has been identified as the animal equivalent of the recently discovered yeast H+-ATPase subunit

8 gene. The functional significance of the other URF'

s has been, on the contrary, elusive. Recently, however, immunoprecipitation experiments with antibodies to purified, rotenone-sensitive NADH- ubiquinone oxido-reductase from bovine heart, as well as enzyme fractionation studies, have indicated that six human URF'