1 Semana Siete Introducción a la Escritura Científica Estas notas tienen la intención de ayudarle en la redacción y desarrollo de trabajos científicos. Las gráficas son de The Craft of Scientific Writing (3rd ed., Springer-Verlag). On these notes pages, the page and chapter numbers refer to The Craft of Scientific Writing, 3rd edition (Springer-Verlag, 1996). Also referred to is the “Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students,” which can be found at the following address: http://filebox.vt.edu/eng/mech/writing/csw.html At that page, you will find links to the “Writing Exercises for Engineers and Scientists” and to the “Handbook for Instructors.” Note that students can easily return to their course syllabus by clicking on the “Writing Courses” link on any page in the “Writing Guidelines” and then finding their course in the alphabetical listing.
Transcript
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Semana SieteIntroducción a la EscrituraCientífica
Estas notas tienen la intención de ayudarle enla redacción y desarrollo de trabajos científicos. Lasgráficas son de The Craft of Scientific Writing (3rd ed.,Springer-Verlag).
On these notes pages, the page and chapter numbers refer to The Craft ofScientific Writing, 3rd edition (Springer-Verlag, 1996). Also referred to is the“Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students,” which can befound at the following address:
http://filebox.vt.edu/eng/mech/writing/csw.html
At that page, you will find links to the “Writing Exercises for Engineers andScientists” and to the “Handbook for Instructors.” Note that students can easilyreturn to their course syllabus by clicking on the “Writing Courses” link on anypage in the “Writing Guidelines” and then finding their course in thealphabetical listing.
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Introducción ala EscrituraCientífica
Pero en la ciencia el crédito va al hombre que convence al mundo,no a aquél que se le ocurre laidea primero.
Sir Francis Darwin
This visual is a title visual for an introductory lecture about writing inengineering and science. Here you have the opportunity to give your testimonyas to the importance of writing in engineering and science. This visual is alsoan opportunity for you to give an overview of the kind of writing that studentswill do in your course.
Note that these visuals use the term “scientific writing” to encompass thewriting done by engineers and scientists and the term “scientific documents” toencompass the documents written by engineers and scientists. Why not use“technical writing” and “technical documents”? I chose not to because theselatter two terms have come to include many different kinds of writing that arenot written by engineers and scientists—a police report being one example. Ifyou prefer the more general term “technical,” you can use the Replacecommand to replace “scientific” with “technical” throughout. Likewise, if youdesire a term more specific than “scientific,” you can use the same commandto insert your preferred term (“engineering” or “biological” would be twoexamples). Note that all future references to chapters and pages are for TheCraft of Scientific Writing (3rd edition).
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Vd ha estudiado mucho sobre escrituraporqué estudiar escritura científica?
Primariafonéticaortografíaescritura de oraciones
Secundariagrámaticapuntuaciónescritura de párrafos
Preparatoriaanálisis de literaturaescritura de ensayosescritura creativa
Primeros semestresescritura de agumentosescritura informativa
Universidad y posgrado??????????????????
Many students in engineering and science feel as if the study of writing isunnecessary for them. Writing is a freshman subject, they might say. With thisslide, I try to have them realize that writing is a craft with many skills that theycontinually improve upon. In fact, the process of learning to write does not endwith this course, but continues through their professional careers.
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Muchos aspectos diferencian la escrituracientífica de otros tipos de escritura
• Complejidad de temas de ingeniería y ciencias matemáticas importancia en detallesimágenes complejas número de variables
• Propósitos de la escritura científicainformarpersuadir
• Limitaciones de ingenierios y científicosaudiencia mecánicas procesos, fechasformatos políticas formalidad
• Estilo en escritura científicaestructuralenguajeilustración
With this slide, I impress upon the students the differences between scientificwriting and other types of writing that they have studied. While the studentswill draw upon many of the things that they have learned in other writingcourses, students have to be critical thinkers as far as taking advice that maypertain to literary writing or journalism and applying it to scientific writing.For instance, in scientific writing, the most important goal of language isprecision--a goal that poets sometimes subordinate for the sake of rhythm.(pages 1-2)
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Para empezar un documento científicoVd deberá analizar primero sus limitaciones
Políticas
Ética
Documento
AudienciaQuiénes son?Qué saben?Por qué están leyendo?Cómo lo leerán?
FormatoDiseño?Tipografía?
FormalidadOrtografía?Puntuación?Uso de la formalidad?
ProcesoFecha límite?Colaboración?
This visual is perhaps the most important visual of the set because it showswhat constraints students are under as they begin writing a scientificdocument. In other words, this visual tells students where they should beginthe writing process (an assumption here is that the students understand thecontent of their document and now must communicate that content). Theconstraints of audience, politics, and format are discussed in Chapter 1.Format is also discussed in Chapter 16 and in the “Writing Guidelines forEngineering and Science Students.”
The constraint of process refers to how the student actually puts words ontopaper. Will the student write as an individual or part of a group? Does thestudent have a fixed deadline? Chapter 17 discusses this constraint in moredetail. Formality refers to the expectations that the audience has as far asmechanics, which is also discussed in Chapter 1, Appendix A, and AppendixB. Interactive exercises for mechanics can be found in the “Writing Exercisesfor Engineers and Scientists.”
On this visual, you should make it clear to the students that no simple recipesexist for the challenging documents that they will have to write. Studentsshould assess the audience, format, formality, and other constraints of thesituation before committing words to paper. The visuals that follow elaborateon each of the constraints.
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Ingenieros, científicos, y profesionales técnicosfrecuentemente escriben para diversas audiencias
Fuerza Áerea
Ingenieros en dinámica
Ingenieros en materiales
Quién es la audiencia?
Qué saben del tema?
Por qué están leyendoeste documento?
Cómo leerán eldocumento?
Often in scientific writing, engineers and scientists write to more than one typeof audience. The picture above from a the design of a new parachute for the F-111 fighter jet illustrates this case. The engineers at Sandia National Labs whodesigned the new parachute had three distinct audiences given on the slide.(pages 3-6)
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tipo de letra
espacios en blanco
espaciamiento
alineación
longitud de línea
tamaño de letra
Formato, otra limitante, es el arreglo de su escritura
Information about the constraint on format in scientific writing can be foundon pages 6-7 and Chapter 16.
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Times New Romanabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890
Serif fontDiseñado para periódicos
Usos: grandes cantidades de texto y encabezados
Arialabcdefghijklmnopqrstuwxyz1234567890
Sans serif fontTipo de letra popular
Usos: encabezados, visuales, posters
Existen dos tipos de letra:serif y sans serif
Information about selecting typefaces in scientific writing can be found onpages 222-226. I discuss this aspect early in courses because it is so practicaland applies to every assignment that the students submit.
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Con el formato, evite párrafos con letra mayúscula
TYPE IS TO READ Type is to read
PALABRAS, TODAS ENMAYÚSCULAS, UTILIZANUN ESPACIOSIGNIFICATIVAMENTEMAYOR – HASTA EL 35 PORCIENTO – QUE EL MISMOESCRITO EN LETRASMINÚSCULAS.
Palabras, todas enmayúsculas, utilizan unespacio significativamentemayor – hasta el 35 porciento – que el mismo escritoen letras minúsculas.
Information about avoiding all capitals in scientific writing can be found onpages 225-226. When showing this slide, I tell the students how much morespace the paragraph on the left takes up as opposed to the paragraph on theright, which has the same number of words. I also ask them to think aboutpresentations they have seen in which the presenter has used slides with allcapitals--how tiring those presentations often were because the audience had toread each letter on the presentation visuals. I also mention to students howmuch faster it is to read words set in lowercase because we can recognize themby the ascenders and descenders, rather than having to read every letter.
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48 point
36 point
24 point
18 point
14 point
12 point
10 point
8 point
posters
visuales
títulos
texto
pies de página
Elija un tamaño que sea fácil de leer
Information about lettering size in scientific writing can be found on pages224-225. When showing this slide, I tell the students the story of a symposiumin which one person in the large lecture hall became so disgruntled with thepresenters, who simply photocopied their 12-point papers onto overheadtransparencies, that the person stood up in the middle of one presentation,pulled out a pair of binoculars, and focused on the screen. The audience, whocould not see what was on the screen, soon noticed this person and beganlaughing. Given the commotion, the presenter just turned off the overheadprojector and began speaking without transparencies. I have no sympathy forthis presenter--showing transparencies that the audience cannot read isimpolite.
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Lo que puede ser dicho:límites de la propiedad de informaciónlímites de información clasificada
Lo que debe decirse:consideraciones éticas de la seguridadconsideraciones éticas de la propiedad
Limitaciones también surgen de políticas y ética
Information about politics and ethics can be found on pages 8 and 9.
FormalÚnicamente oracionescompletasReglas estrictas de comasUso formal (“demasiado”)
Formalidad también afecta la gramática,puntuación y uso del lenguaje
One confusion that students have is that they see grammatical rules broken insome situations. Students have to realize that they must be critical thinkerswhen it comes to grammatical rules. Informal situations, such as brochures,allow writers to use fragments, but in formal situations such as reports, writersare obliged to write solely in sentences.
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Las marcas de puntuación son las señales detráfico colocadas en el camino del lector … Losingenieros de tráfico no siempre están de acuerdocon qué signos deberían de usar ni dóndecolocarlos; tampoco los escritores ni los editores.
Theodore BernsteinThe Careful Writer
,
Errores comunesde Gramática,Puntuación y Usodel Lenguaje
Opening visual for discussion of grammar, punctuation, and usage. Manyteachers and students consider discussion of these topics as trivial, but it isinteresting how some of these rules change over the years and how some ofthese rules depend upon location. These changes cause all sorts of disputes,especially in engineering and science because many engineers and scientistslook for rules without exceptions. English is a language of exceptions. Alsointeresting to note is that students often complain about grammar, but Englishhas few grammatical rules compared with other languages such as German.Strictly speaking, grammar refers to the order of words to produce meaningfulsentences. What’s probably most difficult about English is usage becauseEnglish is such a hodgepodge of other languages. (Appendix A, Appendix B)
The quotation on this visual comes from Theodore Bernstein’s The CarefulWriter (Atheneum, 1969). Bernstein served for years as a consulting editor forthe New York Times.
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Como profesionistas, escribimos en oraciones – no en ideas incompletas o fragmentos
El Rubidio no tiene usos mayores, sin embargo,es más común de encontrar en la tierra que elzinc, cobre o nickel.
Incompleto
Aunque el rubidio no tiene usos mayores, es máscomún en la tierra que el zinc, cobre o nickel.
Varios sistemas pueden detectar explosivosplásticos. Por ejemplo, el sistema de activacióntérmica de neutrones.
Varios sistemas pueden detectar explosivosplásticos. Un ejemplo es el sistema deactivación térmica de neutrones.
Fragmento
With mechanics (grammar, punctuation, and usage), I have a bias as far as themost egregious error that a student can make, and that error is notunderstanding what constitutes a sentence. The sentence is the fundamentalunit of expression in professional writing. If a student does not understandwhat constitutes a sentence, then he or she is far behind as being able tocommunicate as a professional. The most common mistake as far as running ona sentence occurs in the top example. Here, the student does not recognize that“however” is an adverb, and therefore cannot join two independent clauses.
In showing this visual, I cover up the column on the right and ask the studentswhat each group of words is: a sentence, a run-on, or a fragment. A briefdiscussion of sentences and run-ons is found on pages 258-259. Also, aninteractive exercises on sentences, run-ons, and fragments can be found at the“Writing Exercises” link on the “Writing Guidelines for Engineering andScience Students” (http://www.me.vt.edu/writing/).
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Colocar un modificador en su lugar correcto estambién importante en la gramática
El primer paso es encontrar una impresiónlatente. Después de ser detectado, debe empolvarla impresión con talco.El primer paso es encontrar una impresiónlatente. Después de detectar la impresión, laempolva con talco.
En aguas de baja temperatura y altos niveles detoxididad de aceite, probamos qué tan bien losmicroorganismos sobrevivieron.
Probamos qué tan bien los microorganismossobrevivieron en aguas de baja temperatura yaltos niveles de toxididad.
Another common grammatical error is the misplacement of modifying phrasesor words. Termed a misplace modifier or dangling modifier, this errorcommonly occurs with introductory participial and prepositional phrases. Italso commonly occurs with the word “only.” In showing this visual, I cover upthe revisions and the X’s, and ask the students to identify where in thefollowing sentences there are errors as far as placement of modifiers. A briefdiscussion can be found on pages 92-93.
Moreover, an interactive web exercise on placement of modifiers (Grammar#2) can be found at the “Writing Exercises” link on the “Writing Guidelinesfor Engineering and Science Students” (http://www.me.vt.edu/writing).
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Hacer listas paralelas es otro aspecto importantede la gramática
Animales que entran en contacto con aceitepueden desarrollar ronchas, comezón, ypueden abandonar el área.
Animales que pueden entrar en contacto con elaceite pueden desarrollar ronchas, comezón, ydesarrollar tendencias migratorias.
O mejor aún
Animales que llegan a estar en contacto con elaceite pueden desarrollar ronchas y comezón,y pueden abandonar el área.
Another common grammatical error is faulty parallelism. This error commonlyoccurs with lists. In showing this visual, I cover up the revisions and the X’s,and ask the students to identify where in the following sentence there is aparallelism error. A brief discussion can be found on pages 37-40 and 259.
Moreover, an interactive web exercise on faulty parallelism (Grammar #2) canbe found at the “Writing Exercises” link on the “Writing Guidelines forEngineering and Science Students” (http://www.me.vt.edu/writing/).
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Refrerencias a pronombres indefinidospueden casuar ambigüedades
quién????Porque el receptor presentó el radiometro conun ambiente con alto nivel de flujo, fue montadoen un contenedor de acero inoxidable.
No existen picos en la región olefínica. Por lotanto, no existe una significativa concentración dehidrocarbonos olefínicos en aceite fresco. Estopone un límite superior a la concentración deolefines.
Aunque los errores de diseño del Titanic fueronconocidos después de su hundimiento en 1912,las razones para un daño severo causado por eliceberg permanecieron como un misterio hasta sudescubrimiento en 1985.
Ésto?????
su??????
Another common grammatical error is ambiguous pronoun reference. Thiserror commonly occurs with the pronouns “it,” “they,” and “this.” In showingthis visual, I cover up the right column and ask the students to identify wherein the following sentences there are ambiguous pronoun references. Adiscussion of pronoun references can be found on pages 93-94.
Moreover, an interactive web exercise on ambiguous pronoun references(Grammar #2) can be found at the “Writing Exercises” link on the “WritingGuidelines for Engineering and Science Students”(http://www.me.vt.edu/writing).
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Comas separan los detalles en una oración
Comas separan las frases introductorias y cláusulasDespués de enfriar los gases expelidos continuan Después de enfriar, los gases expelidos continuan
Comas separan detalles en paréntesisLa vívora de Russell, la cual es mortal requiere precaución
La vívora de Russell, la cual es mortal, requiere precuación.Comas separan los elementos de una lista
Los gases probados fueron metanol, etanol puro, metanol purocon 10 porciento de agua y entanol puro con 10 porciento deaguaLos gases probados fueron metanol, etanol puro, metanol purocon 10 porciento de agua, y entanol puro con 10 porciento deagua
Compared with other pieces of punctuation, commas probably cause the mostproblems for students. Three common comma errors are given on this visual. Adiscussion of commas can be found on pages 94-96 and 262-264.
Moreover, an interactive web exercise on commas can be found at the at the“Writing Exercises” link on the “Writing Guidelines for Engineering andScience Students” (http://www.me.vt.edu/writing).
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The criteria for assessing the environmental effects ofacid rain (are / is) given in the next section.
So far, the daily number of engineers applying (has /have) remained constant.
The goggles protect a (persons / person’s) eyes fromany damaging effects that a laser could cause.
In accordance with my (boss’ / boss’s) schedule, thefirst series of computers was replaced.
are
(En Inglés) Two common usage errors arepossessives and subject-verb disagreements
has
person’s
boss’s
This visual shows two types of common usage errors: possessive errors andsubject-verb disagreements (sometimes catalogued under grammatical errors).In showing this visual, I cover up the revisions and the X’s, and ask thestudents to identify where in the following sentences there are subject-verbdisagreements or possessive errors. Discussions of these errors can be found onpages 260-261 and 271-272.
Note that non-native speakers of English have particular problems withsubject-verb disagreements and should seek advice from an English as aSecond Language (ESL) text. Also note that these students have differentproblems depending on what their native language is. An interactive webexercise on subject-verb disagreements (Grammar #2) can be found at the“Writing Exercises” link on the “Writing Guidelines for Engineering andScience Students” (http://www.me.vt.edu/writing).
Americans of German or Scandinavian descent often have problems withpossessives. An interactive web exercise on possessives occurs at the sameweb address as given above.
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Producimos una pequeña (cantidad, número( deautos este año, aún (más pocos, menos) que elaño pasado
El éxito de una compañía depende de (su, sus)empleados
El nuevo material está (compuesto, conformado)por plásctico e iodine.
Parece (como si, si) el Departamento de Energíaelegiría la tercera opción.
Númeromenos
Ciertas palabras son comunmente mal utilizadas
sus
compuesto
Como si
This visual shows common usage errors that occur in engineering and science.In showing this visual, I cover up the answers on the right, and ask the studentsto identify which word is correct in each of the sentences. Discussions of theseerrors can be found in Appendix B.
Moreover, an interactive web exercise on usage can be found at the “WritingExercises” link on the “Writing Guidelines for Engineering and ScienceStudents” (http://www.me.vt.edu/writing).
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La reducción de peso fue la (principal, primera) razónpara escoger aluminio.
La plática se centro (sobre, acerca) el (principal,principio) del trabajo virtual.
(Desgraciadamente, por desgracia), el lanzamiento fueaplazado por tormenta.
Tu no necesitas proceder (más lejos, adelante) en tuprueba.
La cerilla tiene serios (efectos, afectos).
principal
Ciertas palabras con comunmente mal utilizadas
sobreprincipio
Desgracia-damente
adelante
efectos
This visual shows more common usage errors that occur in engineering andscience. In showing this visual, I cover up the answers on the right, and ask thestudents to identify which word is correct in each of the sentences. Discussionsof these errors can be found in Appendix B.
Moreover, an interactive web exercise on usage can be found at the “WritingExercises” link on the “Writing Guidelines for Engineering and ScienceStudents” (http://www.me.vt.edu/writing).
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“No palabras”y agrupamientos sin sentidocausan problemas
Cualquier diseño que elijas (está bien, es bien)conmigo
(Sinimportar, Sin importar) la demora por la entrega, eltrabajo se detendrá por la huelga.
Aplicando ese juego de limitaciones es una forma(única, casi única, muy única) de resolver el problema.
La cerilla tiene (unmontón, un montón) de efectos.
Está bien
Sin importar
única
Un motón
This visual shows more misuses of language that occur in engineering andscience. In showing this visual, I cover up the answers on the right, and ask thestudents to identify which word is correct in each of the sentences. Discussionsof these errors can be found in Appendix B.
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Escribiendo el primer borradorEntrando en la idea
Revisar, revisar, revisar
Terminar
Podemos dividir el proceso de escrbir enetapas
Discussion of making the process of writing more efficient to perform can befound in Chapter 17. When I first started teaching, I discussed the process ofwriting towards the end of the course. Recently, I’ve begun incorporatingdiscussions of it throughout the course, particularly just before assignments aredue.
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If the constraints are what the engineer or scientist does not control in thewriting process, then style is what the engineer or scientist does control. Stylecomprises three perspectives: structure, language, and illustration (all three aredefined in Chapter 1). Students should note that unlike most terms inengineering and science, most terms in writing do not have universaldefinitions. For that reason, you and your students should agree upon a fewdefinitions so that your discussions about writing make sense. So often, I haveseen discussions about writing become unproductive because people invoketerms that others either do not understand or have different definitions for.Terms often used in discussions of writing, but not often understood bystudents, are format, style, structure, language, illustration, tone, active voice,passive voice, and the major parts of speech. These are defined in thetextbook’s glossary.
The next three sets of presentations discuss these aspects of style in scientificwriting.
Si no puede controlar las limitaciones, puede controlar el estilo
If the constraints are what the engineer or scientist does not control in thewriting process, then style is what the engineer or scientist does control. Stylecomprises three perspectives: structure, language, and illustration (all three aredefined in Chapter 1). Students should note that unlike most terms inengineering and science, most terms in writing do not have universaldefinitions. For that reason, you and your students should agree upon a fewdefinitions so that your discussions about writing make sense. So often, I haveseen discussions about writing become unproductive because people invoketerms that others either do not understand or have different definitions for.Terms often used in discussions of writing, but not often understood bystudents, are format, style, structure, language, illustration, tone, active voice,passive voice, and the major parts of speech. These are defined in thetextbook’s glossary.
The next three sets of presentations discuss these aspects of style in scientificwriting.
Se le puede pedir que escriba muchos tipos de documentos
