Welcome to Writing Theses and Articles in English!

300531 SE      Winter Semester 2023-24

 

Course Moodle page: 

 

Instructor:    

Dr. Brian Metscher

Dept. of Evolutionary, University of Vienna

Tel. 1 4277 56704

brian.metscher@univie.ac.at

http://homepage.univie.ac.at/brian.metscher 

Class will meet on Wednesday afternoons 13:15-14:45. 

The first class meeting is on Wednesday, 4 October 13:15 s.t. in Seminarraum 1.5, UBB, Djerassiplatz 1, Ebene 1 1.012. 

The first class meeting will be in person. Some class meetings may be online through Moodle. If you are not already registered for the class, you can attend the first class meeting, and if there is still space, I can add you. 

The purpose of this course is to improve your thesis, dissertation, article, or proposal, and to improve your English-language writing skills in general. Students at any stage of their academic work are welcome to participate (even if you are not yet writing a thesis).  

As much as possible, the class will consist of interactive work on your own writing projects. Along with this, there will be weekly homework assignments, some of which will include a written assignment to be collected in class or to be part of an in-class exercise.

Evaluation is based on attendance and participation (2/3) and completion of homework assignments (1/3). Attendance is required: two absences (excused or unexcused) will be allowed before your grade is affected, and you must attend at least 7 class meetings in order to earn a passing grade. Evaluation is continuous (prüfungsimmanent) - i.e. no exams.

If you are enrolled but cannot attend the first class, you must send me an email about this before the first class. Include your registered name and Matrikelnr. 

 

Resources for scientific writing

This list is available as a PDF at 

https://homepage.univie.ac.at/brian.metscher/Resources_for_Scientific_Writing.pdf 

Some Resources for Scientific Writing in English

Where to find relevant scientific literature:

1) The reference lists in recent papers on your topic, especially review articles

2) Colleagues with experience in your field

3) PubMed ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed )

4) Web of Science  ( http://apps.webofknowledge.com ), Scopus ( http://www.scopus.com/home.url ), available if you are connecting through UniVie

5) Google Scholar ( https://scholar.google.at/ ) is very broad and general, and sometimes links to full-text articles

6) The UniVie Library system ( http://bibliothek.univie.ac.at/eressourcen.html ) includes access to

BIOSIS Previews ( = Biological Abstracts); Zoological Record; 

Science Citation Index (also ISI, which includes social sciences and humanities);

ProQuest for doctoral dissertations; Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek (EZB);

and about 1000 other databases

7) Get a reference manager program you like and start using it

e.g. Zotero (free), Mendeley (free), EndNote (avail. through ZID)

How to learn scientific writing:

1) Read good science writing, and pay attention to how it is presented.

2) Co-author papers with someone who writes well.

3) Peer-review articles for journals.

4) A Short Guide To Writing About Biology, by J. Pechenik gives helpful advice and examples.

5) Writing Science, by Josh Schimel (available online through u:search) is very good, and his blog at http://schimelwritingscience.wordpress.com/ is worth a look.  

6) Science Research Writing for Non-Native Speakers of English, by Hilary Glasmann-Deal has some helpful lessons (also available online through u:search).

7) A helpful guide: https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Elements_of_Style.pdf

 

Citing sources and avoiding plagiarism:

Always ask the advice of someone with more experience in scientific writing.

One helpful page is at  http://www.northwestern.edu/uacc/plagiar.html

For writing grant proposals:

The Art of Grantsmanship, by Jacob Kraicer   http://www.hfsp.org/funding/art-grantsmanship

English language references:

A good paperback dictionary with usage notes, e.g. Webster's,  American Heritage, or one of the Oxford dictionaries, or a good dictionary app

Oxford English Dictionary online: http://www.oed.com

Oxford Reference Online, including OED http://www.oxfordreference.com

Webster's online: http://www.m-w.com/

The essential guide to writing in English is The Elements of Style by W. Strunk & E.B. White.

You can download the full (bootleg) text at

http://www.jlakes.org/ch/web/The-elements-of-style.pdf 

The original guide by Strunk, without White's additions, is free at http://www.bartleby.com/141/

All other English style manuals are just extended footnotes to Strunk & White.

German-English (and other languages) translation:

A German-English (or English) dictionary with usage examples: I like the printed dictionaries from Langenscheidt and Harper-Collins. 

The Mac Dictionary app works well and there are plugins for good translation and other dictionaries. 

LEO http://dict.leo.org/

For the main European languages, DeepL is new and seems good: https://www.deepl.com/translator  

Google translate ( https://translate.google.com/ ) is better than older translators, but it's not C3PO.

For 14 Oct: Literature searching and article summary

Searching the scientific literature:

Try using some literature searching tools to locate scientific papers in a field of interest to you.
Bring questions to class!

1) Choose a few keywords in your field of interest, and try searching for articles in at least two different databases - e.g. Pubmed, Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar (links below). Try different combinations of keywords, and maybe author names, and see what you find.

2) Choose one article from the lists of results.
Is an abstract available?
Is the full text available online?
Can you find the journal's website easily from the information and links in the database you are using?
How many times has this article been cited by other articles in this database?


Some links:
http://scholar.google.at/
http://www.scopus.com/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?db=pubmed
http://apps.webofknowledge.com/UA_GeneralSearch_input.do?product=UA&search_mode=GeneralSearch
These and others are at the UniVie library site - click on "Datenbanken"
http://bibliothek.univie.ac.at/eressourcen.html

Also check out some reference management programs, such as Mendeley, Zotero, EndNote, JabRef, and any others you might know about. 

Summarizing a research article:

3) Read this short article on how to read a scientific paper:

https://medium.com/elysium-health/how-to-read-a-scientific-paper-695188037080

Note that this was written for non-scientists, but the ideas (mostly) apply to us as well. We will discuss this article in class. 

(Here is a pdf of the article: https://homepage.univie.ac.at/brian.metscher/Guide_to_Reading_and_Understanding_a_Scientific_Paper.pdf )

4) Read a primary research article in your field or a field of interest to you, and be prepared to give the class (or a breakout group) a very short oral summary of its main points. 

Please also write your summary (just a few sentences) and submit it through Moodle.

Cover the points that are most relevant or important to you about this article. Especially consider:

What question, problem, or hypothesis does the research address?

What was the approach or method used?

What did the authors find out: what is the most important result reported in this paper?

What is the overall importance or interest of this work?

19 Nov.: Writing abstracts

Here is the link to the web resource on integrity in scientific writing, which I mentioned in class:
https://ori.hhs.gov/avoiding-plagiarism-self-plagiarism-and-other-questionable-writing-practices-guide-ethical-writing

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For Tuesday 19 November, read one of these four articles and write an abstract for it. Make it in a form that someone else can read, but not necessarily to turn in (printed, legibly handwritten, or
on digital device).

Landfill restoration and biodiversity: A case of study in Northern Italy

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5palfxrjgfqc922/Camarini_Landfilling_ohne.pdf?dl=0

Whales originated from aquatic artiodactyls in the Eocene epoch of India

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7a5dtzrmcltc3to/Thewissen07_ohne.pdf?dl=0

Coevolution of Deadly Toxins and Predator Resistance: Self-Assessment of Resistance by Garter Snakes Leads to Behavioral Rejection of Toxic Newt Prey 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p14zmg6t9un2vfv/Williams03_toxicnewts_NoAbs.pdf?dl=0

Environmental implications of soil remediation using the Fenton process

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7cor70q5e0qjf37/Villa08_SoilRemediation_ohne.pdf?dl=0

----
An abstract must contain the essential elements of the report: it must tell the readers what problem was addressed and the most important results that are being reported. Usually it also indicates something about the importance of the work, such as what it contributes to a long-standing area of research. It may also tell which methods were used, but usually not in detail (unless a new method is part of the report).

A useful formula for constructing abstracts is 1) an opening sentence that indicates what the general area of research is, often as a general statement of an important process or problem; 2) a second sentence that shows where within that area the present report belongs; and 3) something like "Here we present..." or "We have measured/tested..." or "To test this hypothesis, we...". This is followed by an outline of the main results and then a concluding sentence saying why this is so important.

Here are two examples:

Covariation between human pelvis shape, stature, and head size alleviates the obstetric dilemma
B. Fischer and P. Mitteroecker 
2015: PNAS 112:5655-5660.

Compared with other primates, childbirth is remarkably difficult in humans because the head of a human neonate is large relative to the birth-relevant dimensions of the maternal pelvis. It seems puzzling that females have not evolved wider pelvises despite the high maternal mortality and morbidity risk connected to child- birth. Despite this seeming lack of change in average pelvic morphology, we show that humans have evolved a complex link between pelvis shape, stature, and head circumference that was not recognized before. The identified covariance patterns contribute to ameliorate the “obstetric dilemma.” Females with a large head, who are likely to give birth to neonates with a large head, possess birth canals that are shaped to better accommodate large-headed neonates. Short females with an increased risk of cephalopelvic mismatch possess a rounder inlet, which is beneficial for obstetrics. We suggest that these covariances have evolved by the strong correlational selection resulting from childbirth. Although males are not subject to obstetric selection, they also show part of these association patterns, indicating a genetic–developmental origin of integration.

On the Origin of Species by Natural and Sexual Selection 
GS van Doorn, P Edelaar, and FJ Weissing 
2009: Science 326:1704-1707.

Ecological speciation is considered an adaptive response to selection for local adaptation. However, besides suitable ecological conditions, the process requires assortative mating to protect the nascent species from homogenization by gene flow. By means of a simple model, we demonstrate that disruptive ecological selection favors the evolution of sexual preferences for ornaments that signal local adaptation. Such preferences induce assortative mating with respect to ecological characters and enhance the strength of disruptive selection. Natural and sexual selection thus work in concert to achieve local adaptation and reproductive isolation, even in the presence of substantial gene flow. The resulting speciation process ensues without the divergence of mating preferences, avoiding problems that have plagued previous models of speciation by sexual selection.

22 Oct.: The story in a scientific report

***Next class meeting is 22 Oct. - I am away on 15 Oct.***

Find the book Writing Science by Joshua Schimel on u:search. You can get the full text online bu clicking on "Online-Zugriff" under the entry for the book, and then click on "EBSCOhost eBooks" under "Online Zugriff." You may have to log on with your UniVie account. 

Read chapter 4, "Story Structure."

Next, find two primary research articles of interest to you, in two different journals, and identify the story elements in each article: Opening, Challenge, Action, and Resolution

For one of your articles (or both if you feel like it), write a short outline of the story in complete sentences, in terms of Schimel's OCAR (or ABCDE).

What is good or bad about the titles of these articles? Can you think of ways to improve the titles?

Finally, compose a title for an article or proposal that you might like to write. Make one title that is compose two titles for a report or proposal you are writing or might like to write. One title should be more technical, as for a specialized journal, and the other more general and catchy, as for a presentation to a broader audience.

Optional: Look for a particularly bad article title, and bring it to share with the class.

In case you are interested, there is a series of videos with Josh Schimel:
https://vimeo.com/17432903