Historical Development
• The first scientific journals appeared in A.D. 16651665
Journal des Sçavans
Philosophical Transactions ofTransactions of
the Royal SocietySociety
Standard Structure (I)
• Journal space is preciousd i f b i d f d d• Reduction of verbosity and of redundancy
• Organization of manuscripts in a standard form
• The historical development resulted in today’s standard structure:standard structure:
The Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion (IMRAD) format
Standard Structure (II)
• Introductionh i hi ll b ? h hi k d ? h• What is this all about? Why was this work done? Why
do you write this paper?
• Materials and Methods• How was the evidence obtained?How was the evidence obtained?
• Results• What are the facts? What was found?
• Discussion and Conclusion• What do your findings mean?
Homework
• “nodus”• noun; plural: nodi• noun; plural: nodi• a complicated situation or problem• a prominent cross vein near the center of the leading edge• a prominent cross‐vein near the center of the leading edge of a wing in Odonata
• from Latin “nodus” (knot)from Latin nodus (knot)
• “compurgator”• compurgator• noun• one who under oath vouches for the character or conduct• one who under oath vouches for the character or conduct of an accused person
• Deutsch: EideshelferDeutsch: Eideshelfer
Purpose of the Title
• What is the paper about?
• Properties• Interestingg
• Concise
• Informative• Informative
• Many, if not most, readers will read the title only and decide on the paper’s relevance for their research on the title alone
Length and Style of the Title
• The title should be briefi ll l h 00 h• Typically less than 100 characters
• Typically less than 10 to 12 words
• Choose words with great care
• Avoid two part or series titles• Avoid two part or series titles• Example for a bad title:
Heteropoly Compounds. IV. The Basicities of Some Heteropoly Tungstic and Molybdic Acids and the Charge of Their Anions
J. R. Matthews, J. M. Bowen, R. W. Matthews, Successful scientific writing, 2nd Ed., p. 66;example from: E. Matijević, M. Kerker, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1959, 81(21), 5560–5566.
Hints for Selecting a Title
• Avoid trivial phrases“ ”• “Notes on …”
• “A study of …”
• “Studies on …”
• “Investigations on ”Investigations on …
• “Observations on …”
l h b• Avoid articles at the beginning• “A …”
• “An …”
• “The ”• The …J. R. Matthews, J. M. Bowen, R. W. Matthews, Successful scientific writing, 2nd Ed., p. 66;
R. A. Day, B. Gastel, How to write and publish a scientific paper, 6th Ed., p. 40.
Hints for Selecting a Title
• Do not use uncommon abbreviations
• Do not make claims about your findings, be neutral• Do not write “A and B are correlated”, use “Correlation of A and B” insteadCorrelation of A and B instead
• Do not try to put “a short abstract” into the title
When to write the Title?
• When starting your research you have a rough “ orking title”“working title”
• During writing the paper, collect a number of alternative titles
• Finally select the most appropriate title for the• Finally, select the most appropriate title for the final manuscript
Purpose of the Abstract
• Provides an abbreviated but accurate representation of the contents of the entirerepresentation of the contents of the entire article• “Summary of the information in a document”
• Informative for people who never read the articleInformative for people who never read the article
• Used by secondary sources (e.g. Chemical Abstracts)
Types of Abstracts
• “Informative” abstractS h bl h h d h i i l d• States the problem, the methods, the principal data and conclusions
• A substitute for the paper, “the paper condensed”
• For primary research papers!p y p p
• “Indicative” or “descriptive” abstractM lik t bl f t t• More like a table of contents
• Cannot serve as a substitute of the paper
• Use for reviews only!
Length and Style of an Abstract
• Typical length: 250 wordsOf h d li i b h j l• Often a hard limit set by the journal
• If you can tell your story in 100 words, do not use 200.
Je n'ai fait celle ci plus longue parce que jeJe n ai fait celle‐ci plus longue parce que je n'ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.
I write the present [letter] only longer, because I have no leisure/time to make it shorter.
Blaise PascalQuotation: B. Pascal, Lettres provinciales, Letter XVI, Dec 4, 1656; French text: http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k205164n;
figure: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Blaise_pascal.jpg (public domain).
Structured Abstracts
• Use one paragraph only, unless the journal uses “structured” abstracts“structured” abstracts
Example of a structured abstract: S. Böcker et al., BMC Bioinf., 2009, 10(Suppl. 1), S61.
Hints on the Abstract
• Never put something into the abstract that is not contained in the articlecontained in the article
• The abstract must be self‐contained, often it is published by itself• Do not cite references in the abstractDo not cite references in the abstract
• Do not refer to tables or figures
bb• Do not use uncommon acronyms or abbreviations. Do not use any abbreviation at all, unless you need it
l h bseveral times in the abstract
When to write the Abstract?
• The abstract should be the last part of the paper o riteyou write
• Complete everything else; rewrite everything else. Then, at the very end: write the abstract
Plural Forms of Nouns (I)
• In general (regular plural)dd ‘ ’ h• Add an ‘‐s’ to the noun
table tables, tree trees
• If the noun ends in a sibilant sound, i.e., with ‘‐s’, ‘‐ss’ ‘‐sh’ ‘‐ch’ or ‘‐x’ss , sh , ch , or x• Add ‘‐es’ to the noun
class classes, fax faxes
Sources: J. Crump, English irregular plural nouns, http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/egw/crump.htm;K. M. Mallory, Irregular nouns list, http://www.english‐zone.com/spelling/plurals.html; and others.
Plural Forms of Nouns (II)
• If the noun ends with ‘‐y’f h ‘ ’ f ll l• If the ‘‐y’ follows a vowel
• Or if the noun is a proper name• Simply add an ‘‐s’
• play plays• The two Germanys united in 1990.
• Elsese• ‘‐y’ changes to ‘‐ies’
• fly flies body bodiesfly flies, body bodies
Irregular Plural Nouns (I)
• Nouns that end with ‘‐f’ or ‘‐fe’l h ‘ f’/‘ f ’ b ‘ ’• For some: replace the ‘‐f’/‘‐fe’ by ‘‐ves’
half halves, self selves, wife wives
Regular: cliff cliffs, roof roofs
• Change of vowels (Old English roots)• Change of vowels (Old English roots)foot feet, (fire)man (fire)men, louse lice,
i h hmouse mice, tooth teeth, woman women
• Old English plurals forms retainedchild children, ox oxen
Irregular Plural Nouns (II)
• Nouns ending with ‘‐o’f i ’ h f• If it’s a short form
• If it’s the name of peoples
• If the word originates in another language
• If a vowel precedes the ‘‐o’If a vowel precedes the o• Simply add ‘‐s’
kilo kilos Navajo Navajos machomachos videokilo kilos, Navajo Navajos, macho machos, video videos
• Else• Else• Depending on the word, ‘‐oes’ and sometimes ‘‐os’ is correct If in doubt: use ‘‐oes’correct. If in doubt: use oes
Singular and Plural Identical
• In some words the singular and plural forms are identicalidentical• Chinese Chinese, Japanese Japanese, Swiss Swiss
• cod cod, fish fish (or (fishes), salmon salmon, perch perch, trout troutp p
• deer deer, grouse grouse, moose moose, sheep sheepsheep sheep
• offspring offspring, means means, series series species speciesseries, species species
Figures top to bottom (all public domain): Atlantic cod, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Atlantic_cod.jpg; Coho salmon, …:Oncorhynchus_keta.jpeg; European perch, …:Aborre,_Iduns_kokbok.jpg; brown trout, …:Bachforelle_Zeichnung.jpg.
Plural of Foreign Nouns (I)
• Foreign nouns retain their plural form from the other lang ageother language• Most nouns ending in ‘‐a’ become ‘‐ae’ (Latin)
alga algae, amoeba amoebae, antenna antennae (antennas also used), formula formulae ( )(formulas also used), larva larvae, nebula nebulae (nebulas also used), vertebra vertebrae
• Exception (Greece)
schema schemata stigma stigmataschema schemata, stigma stigmata
Plural of Foreign Nouns (II)
• Foreign nouns retain their plural form from the other lang ageother language• Nouns ending in ‘‐is’ become ‘‐es’
analysis analyses, axis axes, basis bases, crisis crises, diagnosis diagnoses, emphasis g g pemphases, hypothesis hypotheses, neurosis neuroses, oasis oases, parenthesis parentheses, p psynopsis synopses, thesis theses
Plural of Foreign Nouns (III)
• Foreign nouns retain their plural form from the other lang ageother language• Nouns ending in ‘‐o’ become ‘‐i’ (Italian)
graffito graffiti, libretto libretti, tempo tempi, virtuoso virtuosi
• Nouns ending in ‘‐on’ become ‘‐a’ (Greek/Latin)
automaton automata criterion criteriaautomaton automata, criterion criteria, phenomenon phenomena, …
Plural of Foreign Nouns (IV)
• Foreign nouns retain their plural form from the other languagethe other language• Nouns ending in ‘‐um’ become ‘‐a’
addendum addenda, bacterium bacteria, curriculum curricula (curriculums also used), datum data, erratum errata, medium media, memorandum memoranda (memorandums also used), ovum ova, serum sera (serums also used), stratum strata, symposium symposia (symposiums also used), …
Plural of Foreign Nouns (V)
• Foreign nouns retain their plural form from the other lang ageother language• Most nouns ending in ‘‐us’ become ‘‐i’
alumnus alumni, bacillus bacilli, cactus cacti, focus foci, fungus fungi, nucleus nuclei, g goctopus octopi, radius radii, stimulus stimuli, syllabus syllabi, terminus termini, …y y
• A few nouns have different plural forms
corpus corpora genus generacorpus corpora, genus genera
• Exception: virus viruses (regular)
Plural of Foreign Nouns (VI)
• Foreign nouns retain their plural form from the other lang ageother language• Nouns ending in ‘‐ex’ become ‘‐ices’
apex apices (also apexes), index indices (also indexes), vortex vortices)
• Nouns ending in ‘‐ix’ also become ‘‐ices’
appendix appendices (in books) but appendixes (inappendix appendices (in books) but appendixes (in the abdomen), cervix cervices, matrix matrices
Words Always in Singular
• These words are never in plural and are always combined ith a verb in singularcombined with a verb in singular• advice
• dust
• furniturefurniture
• information
k l d• knowledge
• news (although there’s an ‘‐s’ at the end!)
• progress
Words Always in Plural
• These words are never/rarely in singular and are al a s/most often combined ith a verb in pluralalways/most often combined with a verb in plural
barracks (barrack is uncommon), binoculars, briefs, clothes, congratulations, dentures, environs, glasses, goggles, goods, headquarters (use with plural verb more common), jeans, outskirts, pants, people, pliers, police, pajamas, scissors, shears, spectacles/specs, surroundings, trunks, thanks, tights, tongs, trousers, underpants
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