Writing in the Sciences Week 2

动词的使用

使用主动语态

Agent of the action：doing the action
Recipient of the action：receive the action

Passive：The activation of Ca++ channels is induced by the depletion of endoplasmic reticulum Ca++ stores.
Active：Depleting Ca++ from the endoplasmic reticulum activates Ca++ channels.

为什么会使用被动语态？因为可以去掉“谁应该对此负责”。
那么主动语态的好处是什么呢？

1. 强调了作者的责任
2. 增强了可读性
3. 减少了模棱两可的含义

有的时候也可以使用被动语态；使用的时候最好有个好的理由！比如说在method section里，what was done？在这种情况下，谁做的没有那么重要，强调的是做了什么。√

哈哈哈哈哈这里讨论了一个问题，“我们到底能不能在论文里使用人称代词，像是we”

答案是：yea，在这里可以使用人称代词；

!!! 有人会说，不用这些人称代词，比如说we，能够让你的论文看上去更加的主观，这种说法真的很荒诞。
Taking yourself out of the paper doesn’t in any way make your science more objective.
因为这是你的论文，你需要为你的观点负责任，把we从一句话中删减掉，并不能让这句话更加的“客观”。

After all, human agents are responsible for designing experiments, and they are present in the laboratory; writing awkward phrases to avoid admitting their respoonsibility and their presence is an odd way of being objective.

除此之外：
很多的期刊的写作要求，也推荐让大家去使用主动语态，因为这样更加容易去理解。

动词的使用

• 使用强动词（strong verbs）
• 避免将动词变成名词：读者在等待谓语动词（predicate），知道了动词，才知道这句话要表明什么，动词不要隔得太远
• 不要隐藏主动次（main verbs）

选择更加恰当的动词
report approximately = estimate
estimates about something about the future = project

After rejecting path with poor signal-to-noise ratios, we were left with 678 velocity measurements of waves with 7.5 seconds period and 891 measurements of 15 second waves.

Rejecting path with poor signal-to-noise ratios left us with 678 velocity measurements of 7.5 seconds waves and 891 of 15 seconds waves.

It is suspected that the importance of temperature has more to do with impacting rates of other reactions than being a mechanism of disinfection itself sine ponds are rarely hot enough for temperature alone to cause disinfection.

Ponds are rarely hot enough for temperature alone to cause disinfection; thus, the effect of temperature is likely mediated through its impact on the rates of other reactions.

一些语法tips

• Data本身就是复数了，除非你在指一个特定的数据，a datum.
• 注意affect和effect之间的区别。
  Affect：（Verb）to influence
  Effect：（Noun）the influence
• compare to 和 compare with
  Compare to：指出不同事物之间的相似性（Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?）
  Compare with：指出类似事物之间的相似性（通常在科学写作里使用）
• 限制性定语从句和非限制性定语从句
  “That” is the restrictive (defining) pronoun.
  “Which” is the nonrestrictive (non-defining) pronoun.（有逗号）
  判断的依据：如果这个从句，重要到不能被删掉，那么就是that；如果这个从句没有那么重要，删除之后也不改变句子的含义，那么就用which。
• 单数先行词（antecedent）
  当主语是单数的时候，不要使用“they”或者是“their”，为了避免选择特定的性别，使用负数。
  Each student worries about their grade.×
  Each student worries about her grade.×
  Better：All students worries about their grades.