Language for Scientific Articles Ahmad Saudi Samosir ahmad

Language for Scientific Articles Ahmad Saudi Samosir ahmad. saudi@eng. unila. ac. id

WHY IS LANGUAGE IMPORTANT? �Poor langguage quality can delay or block publication. �It is important to take seriously the presentation of your manuscript, especially the language you use to communicate results. �Clarity in writing reflects on clarity in thought. �Written communication is key to transmitting knowledge and rendering an impact on the field. �Without clear and proper language, readers will not understand the full message or impact of your work. �Even though the findings you report might be cutting edge, poor language quality could delay publication or reject the paper.

INFORTANT RULE �Most readers have little time to penetrate the full contents of an article. �Readers will feel bored when faced with poor writing which causes the reader fatigue and frustration. �Readers interpret text more easily if information is placed where they expect it. �The author is responsible for: v making sure that the reader see the important points in the text. v helping the reader get the correct interpretation of the research.

SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL ARTICLES �Research Output (finding). �How to write the manuscript? �What should I do? �From where should I start?

START FROM YOUR RESEARCH FOCUS WHAT IS THE FOCUS OFMY RESEARCH?

THE THESIS STATEMENT �A statement of theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved. �One central idea controlling your essay. �An expression of an idea/opinion/attitude about a topic. �A complete sentence. �Located in the introduction, after a statement of research gap and before methods. Example: �Cows produce milk. ✖ �The milk cows produce is not always fit for human consumption. ✔

CLARITY Avoid wordy sentences Students living in close proximity in the dorms need to cooperate together if they want to live in harmony.

COMMON PRACTICES

DEVELOP YOUR PARAPHRASING SKILLS

EXAMPLE �Original sentence: The airport is closed because of the bad weather conditions. �Inappropriate paraphrase: The airport is closed because of the bad weather. �Appropriate paraphrase: Since the weather is terrible, the airport is not open.

DRAFTING A QUANTITATIVE STATEMENT Mall visitors were more likely to be satisfied with the taste of the food in the food court, compared to the food’s costs. Eighty-five percent (85%) of visitors were satisfied with the taste of the food, with 45% reporting they were extremely satisfied. This is in contrast with compared to only 65 percent of female visitors. However, only 42 percent of visitors were satisfied with the costs of the food, with only 20% being very satisfied.

SOME POINTERS: HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR LANGUAGE Instead of Use give consideration to consider is of the opinion believes information which is of a confidential nature confidential information the writer I, me before, after prior to, subsequent to do perform say indicate

IMPORTANT! �Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials. To be safe: use quotation marks. �Protection of Human Subjects �Be honest, with your words. Don’t plagiarize.

IMPORTANT POINTS IN THE INTRODUCTION OF THE ESSAY: �Write an opening sentence that stimulates interest. �Specify the problem that leads to the study. �Indicate why the problem is important. �Focus on the problem statement. �Consider numeric information for impact with reference. �Place study within larger context.

THE CONCLUSION �briefly describes the overall implications of the main finding.

COMMON MISTAKES IN WRITING THE CONCLUSION �Not related to the results. �A list with numbers. �Vague and general issues unrelated to the main finding. �Continues to speculate on the results. �Makes general comments that should be in the introduction. �A long and meandering discussion that has no clear theme and obscures the innovative finding. �Introduces bibliographic references.

WHAT’S NEXT?