How to write
23 Nov 2016
Dr Pippa Goldschmidt, visiting fellow at STIS
www.pippagoldschmidt.co.uk
Series of five workshops:
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26 Oct – planning for your thesis
3 Nov – fiction writing
23 Nov – writing sentences and paragraphs
1 Feb – first draft vs editing
15 March – critiquing your own work
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Who am I?
• Currently writer-in-residence at STIS
• Writer of fiction, poetry, reviews, articles
• I used to be:
an astronomer
a policy advisor in Govt.
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Today:
• Guidance on writing :
o Construction of sentences
o Paragraphs – different ways of structuring an argument
• Some examples
• Some exercises
What makes a good sentence:
• English clause/sentence construction - ‘subject verb object’
• Independent clauses stand alone
• Dependent clauses can’t stand alone
• Clauses can be linked by transition words (e.g. which, that,
however, but, although, instead, additionally)
• ‘Astronomers, who have observed spiral galaxies, have concluded
that dark matter exists.’
• ‘Spiral galaxy observations have been used to conclude the
existence of dark matter.’
Nominalisation – turning verbs into nouns
• ‘Astronomers, who have observed spiral galaxies, have concluded
that dark matter exists.’
• ‘Spiral galaxy observations have been used to conclude the
existence of dark matter.’
Nominalisation – turning verbs into nouns
‘The labour market time commitment of mothers has
increased in western societies.’
‘Mothers in western societies commit more time to work.’
Use of the passive versus active voice
• ‘Astronomers, who have observed spiral galaxies, have
concluded that dark matter exists’
• ‘Spiral galaxy observations have been used to conclude
the existence of dark matter.’
Use of the passive versus active voice
• Active voice – we know who has done what. The reader has more
information about how the work was done.
• Passive voice – more universal. This implies that the information
is true regardless of who did the relevant work.
Use of synonyms
• Anglo-Saxon or Latin/Old French?
o use
utilise
o put
implement
o keep
retain
o try
endeavour
o end
terminate
Wordy phrases versus shorter, simpler ones
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Conduct an investigation into
During the course of
In the absence of
At the present time
A majority of
investigate
during
without
now
most
Exercise
•‘Utilisation of variable star images taken with the
Hubble Space Telescope has led to an alteration in
the accepted value of the Hubble constant.’
• ‘Utilisation of variable star images taken with the
Hubble Space Telescope has led to an alteration in
the accepted value of the Hubble constant.’
• ‘Astronomers, using the Hubble Space Telescope
to take images of variable stars, have agreed a
change to the Hubble constant.’
Hedge your bets:
‘Hedging’ language may be required to convey a degree of
uncertainty – especially important in qualitative analysis:
• This result agrees with
• This result indicates
• This result may indicate
• This result suggests
• This result may suggest
• This result seems to imply
• This result is consistent with
Use of analogies:
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Analogies/similes compare one thing to another:
o ‘the organisation runs like a well-oiled machine’
o ‘the Universe is like an expanding balloon’
• Be aware of hidden analogies or metaphors:
o ‘DNA is code’
o ‘the Selfish Gene’
o ‘the battle against cancer’
Readable paragraphs:
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Start with established ‘old’ information and lead to new ideas
Beginning of paragraph should introduce the topic
Expand on it – present your argument for or against
End of paragraph can summarise what you expect the
reader to remember
Readable paragraphs:
• Each paragraph should:
o introduce and explain a new aspect of your thinking
o advance the argument from A to B in a coherent way
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Each paragraph may have:
an issue
a development
a conclusion
Readable paragraphs:
‘More than a century of experiments had shown light
to be a wave. Maxwell’s successful theoretical description
even identified what it was that made the waves.
Nonetheless Einstein demonstrated that when light
interacts with metals it behaves like a shower of particles.
Taken together, these experiments indicate that, in some manner
not easy to visualise, light acts in certain situations as a wave,
in others as particles.’
Readable paragraphs
• You can advance your argument in these ways:
o chronological
o general to specific
o specific to general
o problem to solution
o ‘compare and contrast’
Readable paragraphs
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However you advance your argument, take care in
introducing new information:
‘There are different ways in which black holes can grow.
One of these is through the merging of their host galaxies.’
OR:
‘Black holes can grow in different ways.
One of these is through the merging of their host galaxies.’
Readable paragraphs need metadiscourse words:
• examples of transition words to link your clauses
or your sentences:
chronological ones: initially, then, another, after, finally
general to specific:
for example, for instance, specifically
problem to solution: but, instead, nonetheless
compare and contrast: in contrast to, however
Let’s explore some examples:
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Why do they work, or not work?
Is the language pitched at the right level?
How are abstract ideas communicated?
Does the paragraph construction work?
Is there logical flow?
An exercise!
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Write a paragraph introducing your research question.
Think about:
1. the information you’re presenting
2. the questions you’re raising
3. the flow of information
4. the sentence length
5. the choice of words to explain your ideas
Go to:
www.pippagoldschmidt.co.uk/links/teaching
for links to useful info – the password is SSPS2016
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