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Science Research Writing - Methodology

Science Research Writing for Non-Native Speakers of English by (Glasman-Deal, 2009) takes all the credit for images and examples.

Structure

Information Flow

srw_methodology

A Model for Methodology

A useful writing model can be transferred, but don’t expect a perfect model.

All models are wrong, but some are useful. The famous quote about statistical models by George E.P. Box also applies to writing models.

Four Basic Components

Model Components
Part I
Provide a general introduction/overview of the materials/methods
Restate the purpose of the work
Give the source of materials/equipment used
Supply essential background information
Part II
Provide specific and precise details about materials and methods
Justify choices made
Indicate that appropriate care was taken
Part III
Relate materials/methods to other studies
Part IV
Indicate where problems occurred

Train of Thoughts

In this section, the message that you’d like to send to your readers is:

This is exactly what I did, I did it carefully and I had good reasons for doing it in this way.

A good writing model for the Methodology/Experiments section should answer the following questions:

  • How do writers normally start the Methodology/Experiments?
  • What type of information should it contain, and in what order?
  • How do writers normally end the Methodology/Experiments?

Miscellaneous

  • In some cases, writers begin immediately with a description of the procedure or the materials. This is appropriate where the research focus is very narrow and all those who are likely to read it are carrying out similar research.

  • Your aim is to make sure that your readers accept the conclusions at the end of the paper. You have to make sure your readers accept the methodology before they accept your results. Therefore, this section also has a strong persuasive and communicative element. You need to communicate not only This is exactly what I did/used but also I had good reasons for those decisions. Try to use words that can communicate reliability and answer possible criticism or doubts about your choices.

  • If you’re not certain that all readers are familiar with the precise details of your methodology, it is better to give slightly too much information than too little. You should include every specification and detail for other researchers to be able to reproduce your work.

  • It is sometimes appropriate/necessary to mention the effects of the procedures you used. However, it is not a good idea to discuss them or comment at this stage. It’s common to provide further details about the methodology in the Results section.

    …; the resulting precipitate can be washed and stored easily.

  • Sometimes you do need to mention results in this section, but only if the preliminary results were used to modify or develop the design of the main experiments/simulations.

  • Write up the research and acknowledge the problems or difficulties you encountered. Mention problems in this section to indicate that you are aware of them, which is far more professional than not mentioning them. It’s not only considered acceptable to mention them in this section, it’s much better to do it here rather than wait until the end. It isn’t considered appropriate to mention limitations or imperfections for the first time when you are discussing suggestions for future work in the Discussion/Conclusion. Use vocabulary that

    • minimizes the problem
    • minimizes your responsibility
    • maximizes the good aspects
    • suggests a solution

Grammar and Writing Skills

Passive and Tense Pairs

  • Check with the Guide for Authors in your target journal to decide whether this part should be written in the active or passive form.

  • Using the active is not usually appropriate for a Ph.D. thesis because it’s not normally written up in the first person singular.

In most cases, the procedure used is described in the passive, either in the Present Simple Passive or in the Past Simple Passive. In formal academic writing, always use the agentless passive.

A common need is to distinguish between standard procedures and methods used in the present research. It’s conventional to use the agentless passive for both, and the only way to separate them is the correct tense. Therefore, it’s clearer to use the Present Simple passive for standard procedures and the Past Simple passive for methods used in the present research whenever possible (remember to check your target journal first).

Make sure the readers can identify the contributions of the present work!

There are several ways to make sure that the previously mentioned differences are clear and easy to identify:

  • Move to the active.
  • Mark it with words, such as In (this/our/their) (procedure/study/experiment/model).
  • Use a dummy subject, such as This study/experiment/model.
  • When a reference is needed for standard procedures, use phrases such as as in.

The Use of A and The

General Rules

  1. Singular countable nouns need a determiner.
  2. Use The if/when you and your readers both know which thing/person you mean.
  3. Use The if there is only one possible referent.
  4. Use A/An if it doesn’t matter/you or your readers don’t know which thing/person you are referring to.

Train of Thoughts

Rule 1

No. 1 - A determiner is a word like the, a/an, my, this one, some, etc.

Deciding which nouns are countable nouns and which aren’t isn’t as easy as it looks. Many nouns that are often considered uncountable can actually be used countably (Here is a list of such nouns). When using a word of this kind, stop and think if it’s being used to mean something in general (uncountable) or something particular (countable).

Rule 2

Use a the first time you talk about something, and use the when referring to it again.

I had a cheese sandwich and an apple for lunch. The sandwich was fine but the apple had a worm in it.

No. 2 - Use The if/when you and your readers both know which thing/person you mean.

In the following examples, the context made both the speaker and listener know about the thing they are talking about.

  • I arrived at Heathrow Airport but the check-in was closed.
  • I bought a new computer but the keyboard was faulty.
  • He lit a match but the flame went out.
  • Did she get the job? (the job we both know she wanted)
  • I’ll meet you in the library later. (the library we normally use)
Rule 3

No. 3 - Use The if there is only one possible referent.

  • We removed the softest layer of the membrane.
  • Cairo is the capital of Egypt.
  • The opening was located in the center of each mesh.
  • Government policy is committed to protecting the environment.
  • The sun’s altitude is used to determine latitude.
Rule 4

No. 4 - Use A/An if it doesn’t matter/you or your readers don’t know which thing/person you are referring to.

  • A 35 ml brown glass bottle was used to store the liquid. (It doesn’t matter which 35 ml brown glass bottle was used.)
  • The subject then spoke to an interviewer. (It doesn’t matter which interviewer/I know which one but you don’t.)
  • It works on the same principle as a combustion engine. (It doesn’t matter which combustion engine.)
Miscellaneous

The choice of a/the/\(\varnothing\) sometimes changes the meaning of the sentence.

  • This effect may hide a connection between the two. (There may possibly be a connection.)
  • This effect may hide the connection between the two. (There is definitely a connection.)
  • The nodes should be attached to \(\varnothing\) two adjacent receptor sites. (There are many receptor sites and any two adjacent ones will do.)
  • The nodes should be attached to the two adjacent receptor sites. (There are only two receptor sites.)

They can all be used to express a general truth.

  • The electroencephalograph is a machine for measuring brain waves.
  • An electroencephalograph is a machine for measuring brain waves.
  • Electroencephalographs are machines for measuring brain waves.

A is used before consonant sounds, while an is used before vowel sounds.

Adverbs and Adverb Location

A proofreader or editor will notice an obvious grammatical error and correct it, but if the sentence is written in grammatically correct English the error is not visible to proofreaders and editors. Here are some common hidden errors:

  • the use of a and the
  • whether or not to use a comma before the word which in relative clauses
  • adverb location errors

Adverbs needing prepositions can be ambiguous.

Reading with one eye. (It can either mean using one eye or having one eye.)

Be careful where you put your adverb, and be especially careful if you are using more than one adverb in a sentence.

The patient was discharged from the hospital after being shot in the back with a 9 mm gun. (Did the doctors shoot her?) He gave a lecture about liver cancer at the hospital last January. (Did the lecture refer to cancer cases occurring in January or did the lecture itself occur in January?)

Consider putting adverbs that relate to the whole sentence at the front of the sentence.

Last January, he gave a lecture about liver cancer at the hospital.

If you are still left with ambiguous adverb clusters, break the sentence into units, each with its own adverb.

Last January, he gave a lecture at the hospital; his subject was liver cancer.

Vocabulary

General Introduction and Source of Information

General VerbsSpecify Procedures 1Specify Procedures 2
attemptall(be) commercially available
considerboth(be) acquired
conducteach(be) carried out
determinemany(be) chosen
investigatemost(be) conducted
reportmajority(be) collected
suggest (be) devised
verifytests(be) found
samples(be) generated
Introduction Vocabularytrials(be) modified
 experiments(be) obtained
 chemicals(be) performed
 models(be) provided
 instruments(be) purchased
 materials(be) supplied
  (be) investigated

*There is also a vocabulary list for each research filed which should be built by yourself.

Essential Background Information

Col 1Col 2Col 3
aboveinner/outeroccupies
adjacentintersecton both sides
at the front/back(be) alignedon each side
below(be) attachedon either side
bisect(be) connectedon the front/back
border(be) coupledon the right/left
boundary(be) covered with/byon top
circular(be) embeddedopposite
conical(be) encasedout of range
converge(be) fastenedover
downstream(be) fittedparallel (to/with)
edge(be) fixedperpendicular
end(be) joinedrectangular
equally spaced(be) locatedside
equidistant(be) mountedtip
extends(be) placedto the right/left
facing(be) positionedunder
far side/end(be) situatedunderneath
higher/lower(be) surroundedupper/lower
horizontallateralupstream
in frontmarginvertical
in the front/backnear side/endwithin range

Specific and Precise Details

Col 1Col 2Col 3
was adaptedwas dividedwas operated
was addedwas eliminatedwas optimised
was adjustedwas employedwas plotted
was adoptedwas estimatedwas positioned
was appliedwas exposedwas prepared
was arrangedwas extractedwas quantifi ed
was assembledwas fi lteredwas recorded
was assumedwas formulatedwas regulated
was attachedwas generatedwas removed
was calculatedwas immersedwas repeated
was calibratedwas includedwas restricted
was carried outwas incorporatedwas retained
was characterisedwas inhibitedwas sampled
was collectedwas insertedwas scored
was combinedwas installedwas selected
was computedwas invertedwas separated
was consolidatedwas isolatedwas simulated
was constructedwas locatedwas stabilised
was controlledwas maintainedwas substituted
was convertedwas maximisedwas tracked
was createdwas measuredwas transferred
was derivedwas minimizedwas treated
was designedwas modifiedwas utilised
was discardedwas normalizedwas varied
was distributedwas obtained 

Justify Choices Made

Col 1Col 2
becauseprovide a way of
by doing …, we were able toselected on the basis of…
chosen forso
chosen toso as to
for the purpose ofso/such that
for the sake ofthereby
in an attempt totherefore
in order tothus
it was possible toto
off er a means ofto take advantage of
one way to avoid…which/this allows/allowed etc.
our aim was towith the intention of
Infinitive-ing FormNoun
achieveachievingachievement
allowallowing\(\varnothing\)
assessassessingassessment
avoidavoidingavoidance
compensate forcompensating forcompensation for
confi rmconfi rmingconfi rmation
determinedeterminingdetermination
enableenabling\(\varnothing\)
enhanceenhancingenhancement
ensureensuring\(\varnothing\)
establishestablishingestablishment
facilitatefacilitatingfacilitation
guaranteeguaranteeingguarantee
identifyidentifyingidentifi cation
improveimprovingimprovement
includeincludinginclusion
increaseincreasingincrease
limitlimitinglimitation
minimiseminimising\(\varnothing\)
obtainobtaining\(\varnothing\)
overcomeovercoming\(\varnothing\)
permitpermitting\(\varnothing\)
preventpreventingprevention
provideprovidingprovision
reducereducingreduction
removeremovingremoval
validatevalidatingvalidation

Indicate Appropriate Care Was Taken

Col 1Col 2Col 3Col 4
accuratelyevery/eachimmediatelyrigorously
alwaysexactlyindependentlyseparately
appropriatelyentirelyindividuallysmoothly
at leastfirmlyneversuccessfully
both/allfrequentlyonlysuitably
carefullyfreshlypreciselytightly
completelyfullyrandomlythoroughly
constantlygentlyrapidlyuniformly
correctlygoodreliablyvigorously
directlyidenticalrepeatedlywell

Exactly the same

Col 1Col 2Col 3
according toas reported by/ingiven by/in
as described by/in*as reported previouslyidentical to
as explained by/inas suggested by/inin accordance with
as incan be found inthe same as that of/in
as proposed by/indetails are given inusing the method of/in

Similar

Col 1Col 2Col 3
a (modified) version of(very) similar(to) adapt
adapted fromalmost the same(to) adjust
based in part/partly onessentially the same(to) alter
based onlargely the same(to) change
essentially identicalpractically the same(to) modify
in line withvirtually the same(to) refi ne
in principlewith some adjustments(to) revise
in essencewith some alterations(to) vary
more or less identicalwith some changes 
slightly modifiedwith some modifications 

*For words in Col 3, it may NOT be necessary to state the differences.

Significantly Different

Col 1Col 2Col 3
a novel step was …although in many ways similar(to) adapt
adapted fromalthough in some ways similar(to) adjust
based onalthough in essence similar(to) alter
in line withwith the following(to) change
loosely based onmodifi cations/changes:(to) refine
partially based on (to) revise
partly based on (to) vary
  (to) modify

*For words in Col 3, it is necessary to state the differences.

Indicate Problems

Minimize ProblemMinimize ResponsibilityMaximize Good Aspects
did not align preciselylimited byacceptable
only approximateinevitablyfairly well
it is recognized thatnecessarilyquite good
less than idealimpracticalreasonably robust
not perfectas far as possiblehowever
not identical(it was) hard tonevertheless
slightly problematic(it was) difficult to 
rather time-consumingunavoidableTalk about Solutions
minor deficitimpossiblefuture work should …
slightly disappointingnot possiblefuture work will …
negligible currently in progress
unimportant currently underway
immaterial  
a preliminary attempt  
not significant  

Countably Used Uncountable Nouns

Col 1Col 2Col 3Col 4Col 5
absenceconcernfailureorganizationstrength
advicedeathfashionpapertechnology
agedemocracyfearphilosophytime
agriculturedepressionfirepolicytrade
analysisdesignfoodpowertreatment
artdutygrowthpressuretrouble
atmosphereeconomyheatpuritytruth
beautyeducationhistoryrealityvelocity
behaviourelectricityindustrysaltvision
calculationenergylifesandwaste
cancerenvironmentlightsciencewater
capacityexistencelosssilencewind
childhoodexperienceoilspace 

Reference


  1. Glasman-Deal, H. (2009). Science research writing for non-native speakers of English. World Scientific.
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