Writing scientific articles in English

Instructor: Dr. Adrian Wallwork

Duration: 15 hours

Period: March 20 - May 5, 2006

Place: Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione: Elettronica, Informatica, Telecomunicazioni, via G. Caruso, meeting room, ground floor

Credits: 4


Aim

The lectures will teach students how to:

  • structure a scientific paper
  • write clearly, concisely and accurately
  • use an English style of writing
  • avoid typical grammar and vocabulary mistakes
  • write emails to correspond with foreign colleagues, referees and editors

The sessions will be as interactive as possible in order to give participants some practical experience

Contents

Writing style

  • fundamental differences between English and Italian
  • choosing the right title (avoiding: ambiguity, strings of nouns, redundancy)
  • structuring the paper (Abstract, Introduction etc)
  • typical phrases used in various parts of a paper
  • use of numbers, acronyms, abbreviations, bullets, captions, references etc
  • word order (struttura della frase)
  • avoiding ambiguity and redundancy
  • punctuation
  • linking sentences
  • English preference for verbs rather than nouns

Grammar

  • tenses used in various parts of the paper (ie present simple, past simple and present perfect)
  • active vs passive, modals (eg can vs may)
  • gerund vs infinitive
  • that vs which
  • definite article, determiners
  • countable vs uncountable
  • conditionals

Vocabulary

  • typical mistakes (eg like vs as, consistent vs substantial, also vs too, independently vs irrespectively)
  • false friends

Email

  • formal vs informal
  • initial and final salutations
  • typical phrases
  • typical mistakes
  • letters to the editor, reporting changes made after referee’s reports etc.