英文科技文献阅读及写作

Academic Writing: PhD

Chapter Six

Process and Techniques of Academic Writing

Coherence determines whether a paper makes sense. The writer must make sure that his/her sentences and paragraphs are logically coherent and presented so as to make his/her thoughts and language acceptable and identifiable to his/her readers. Here are some of the ways of achieving coherence.

I Organizing Information and Arguments Logically

A coherent paragraph is made up of a series of points that lead logically from one to the next and that all contribute to the topic sentence. Compare the following two paragraphs and make comments on them. Which one is coherent and which one is not? Why?

In my opinion, most Americans are weight conscious, because they are very concerned with the size and shape of bodies. If they are not, then there are endless

remedies such as fad diets, diet pills, and health spas to help them lose the extra weight.

They like sports and travel. They also like moving from one place to another. I believe

that even though people look and feel healthy, fashion insists that they be even thinner

and more well-proportioned than they already are. It is not at all surprising that

Americans spend millions of dollars each year on their remedies to achieve their goal.

In my opinion, most Americans are weight conscious. Thus they are very concerned with the size and shape of bodies. I believe that even though people look

and feel healthy, fashion insists that they be even thinner and more well-proportioned

than they already are. If they are not, then there are endless remedies such as fad diets,

diet pills, and health spas to help them lose the extra weight. On the whole, it is not at

all surprising that Americans spend millions of dollars each year on their remedies to

achieve their goal.

Logical organization is essential for developing a discourse coherently. In the following example, the author begins with a problem statement (containment site conditions and high-water flow rates) in the first paragraph. The next two paragraphs present data to support

his hypothesis, and the final paragraph offers a series of counter-proposals:

While several proposals have indicated that a containment pond above the proposed bridge would eliminate the potential for structural damage during high-water conditions, both the social characteristics around the containment site and the average high-water flow rate still present problems.

The soil conditions around the proposed site have failed percolator tests at over 50 percent of the test wells. Given the porous nature of the containment walls, it is unlikely that they can successfully retain high-water levels such as those encountered in the spring of 1984. It is also unlikely that adequate bonding can be provided in this earthen fill because of the incompatible granular sizing of the proposed backfill sands.