книги / How to Write a Research Paper in English

PART 5. THE LANGUAGE

OF A RESEARCH PAPER

Exercise 1. Read the text and answer the question: What are transition words and what are their aims?

USE TRANSITION WORDS TO BUILD BRIDGES

A transition is a change from one idea to another idea in writing or speaking and can be achieved using transition terms or phrases. These are most often placed at the beginning of sentences, independent clauses, and paragraphs and thus establish a specific relationship between ideas or groups of ideas. Transitions are used to create “flow” in your paper and make its logical development clearer to readers.

Transitions accomplish many different objectives. We can divide all transitions into four basic categories:

•Additive transitions signal to the reader that you are adding or referencing information.

•Adversative transitions indicate conflict or disagreement between pieces of information.

•Causal transitions point to consequences and show cause-and-effect relationships.

•Sequential transitions clarify order and sequence of information and the overall structure of the paper.

Additive Transitions

These terms signal that new information is being added (between both sentences and paragraphs); introduce or highlight information; refer to something that was just mentioned; add similar situation; or identify certain information as important.

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Adversative Transitions

These terms and phrases distinguish facts, arguments, and other information, whether by contrasting and showing differences; by conceding points or making counterarguments; by dismissing the importance of a fact or argument; or replacing and suggesting alternatives.

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Causal Transitions

These terms and phrases signal the reasons, conditions, purposes, circumstances, and cause-and-effect relationships. These transitions often come after an important point in the paper has been established or to explore hypothetical relationships or circumstances.

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Sequential Transitions

These transition terms and phrases organize your paper by numerical sequence; by showing continuation in thought or action; by referring to previously-mentioned information; by indicating digressions; and, finally, by concluding and summing up your paper. Sequential transitions are essential to creating structure and helping the reader understand the logical development through your paper’s methods, results, and analysis.

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Exercise 2. Translate the following words and word combinations.

Logical development. Accomplish. Objective.

Additive transitions. Adversative transitions. Causal transitions. Sequential transitions. To indicate conflict.

To clarify order and sequence. To point to consequences.

To show cause-and-effect relationships. To introduce / highlight information. To istinguish.

By conceding points. Counterarguments.

By dismissing the importance of a fact or argument.

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To replace / sugges alternatives.

Conceding a point.

To emphasize.

To showing cause / reason.

To explain the conditions.

To show the effects / results / purpose.

To highlight the importance of circumstances.

Exercise 3. Make up word combinations with the words: information, to highlight, arguments, purpose, to explane, importance.

Exercise 4. Give synonyms to the following words and word combinations.

A transition. To achieve. Basic.

To indicate / highlight. Similar situation. Alternatives.

To signal the reasons. Numerical sequence.

Previously-mentioned information. Essential.

Exercise 5. Translate the following sentences from Russian into English.

1.Переходы чаще всего помещаются в начале предложений, независимых предложений и абзацев и, таким образом, устанавливают определенную связь между идеями или группами идей.

2.Переходы выполняют много разнообразных задач.

3.Аддитивные (добавочные, дополнительные) переходы сигнализируют читателю, что вы добавляете или ссылаетесь на информацию.

4.Противительные (выражающие противоположное понятие) переходы указывают на конфликт или несогласие между частями информации.

5.Причинные переходы часто используются после того, как важная идея (мысль, информация) в статье была указана.

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6.Последовательные переходы необходимы для создания структуры работы

ипомогаютчитателюпонятьлогическоеразвитиеметодов, результатовианализа в вашей статье.

Exercise 6. Give Russian equivalents for the following phrases.

Pieces of information. Moreover. Particularly. Whereas.

However.

As.

Due to the fact that. Therefore.

As a consequence. For the purpose. By the way.

Exercise 7. Match the beginnings of the phrases in the left column with their counterparts from the right one.

1. A transition is a change from one idea to another idea in writing or speaking…

2. Transitions are used to create “flow” in your paper…

3. Additive Transitions signal…

4. Adversative Transitions distinguish…

5. Causal Transitions signal…

6. Sequential Transitions organize…

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Exercise 8. Read and translate the following text.

HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR TRANSITIONS

Transitions are commonplace elements in writing, but they are also powerful tools that can be abused or misapplied if one isn’t careful. Here are some ways to ensure you are using transitions effectively.

•Check for overused, awkward, or absent transitions when you are reading through and / or editing your paper. Don’t spend too much time trying to find the “perfect” transition while writing the paper.

•When you a place where a transition could connect ideas, establish relationships, and make it easier for the reader to understand your point, use the list to find a suitable transition term or phrase.

•Similarly, if you have repeat some terms again and again, find a substitute transition from the list and use that instead. This will help vary your writing and enhance communication of ideas.

•Read the beginning of each paragraph. Did you include a transition? If not, look at the information in that paragraph and of the preceding paragraph and ask yourself: “How does this information connect?” Then locate the best transition from the list.

•Check the structure of your paper ‒ are your ideas clearly laid out in order? You should be able to locate sequence terms such as “first,” “second,” “following this,” “another,” “in addition,” “finally,” “in conclusion,” etc. These terms will help outline your paper for the reader.

Exercise 9. Use transitions in your research paper.

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PART 6. GRAMMAR

IN ACADEMIC WRITING

Exercise 1. Read the text and answer the question: What is better for a research paper the active or passive voice?

USE ACTIVE OR PASSIVE VOICE

IN A RESEARCH PAPER?

One decision that gives pause to thousands of beginning researchers is whether to use the active or passive voice in their research papers. You may have been taught in school that you should always use the active voice, especially when giving speeches and when writing fiction or persuasive essays, as it emphasizes the subject and makes your sentences leaner and stronger.

While this rule generally applies to research writing, there are some definite differences in application – this accounts for why there are so many sentences in scientific journal articles using the passive voice construction. In fact, applying only one type of voice construction can make a paper awkward to read and difficult to comprehend, and it might even confuse the reader about which parts of the study or a given passage are most important. So when should an author choose the passive voice over the active voice and what is the difference between the two?

In general, the active voice emphasizes the agent of the action – that is, the person or object performing the action.

Example: “We arranged the sample groups.”

The subject pronoun “we” leads the sentence, setting off its importance in the action and leading right into the action taken against the object, “the sample groups.” Using this construction doesn’t necessarily imply that “the sample groups” is unimportant, but it does place special emphasis on the agent of the action.

The passive voice, on the other hand, emphasizes the person or object receiving the action.

Example: “Sample groups were arranged (by us/by the researchers).”

In this example, “sample groups” stands out as the most important element in the sentence, and indeed it should, since we are able to omit the agent entirely – adding “by us” or “by the researchers” seems redundant as the researchers are necessarily the ones carrying out the operations of a study. Also, note that by eliminating the agent we have also decreased the word count, which makes the passive construction leaner than the active in this case.

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