Writing-a-scientific-paper-V-–-Language

EditorialWritingascientificpaperV–LanguageManyofyouknowthatmyyear-roundhobbyisgardening.InthelatewinterIuseaspadetodigandpreparetheground.AfterdiggingIusearaketobreakupthesoiltomakeitsuit-ableforsowingseeds.InthespringIsowtheseeds,andwaitafewdaystoseeyoungplantsappearing.Duringthefollowingweekstheygrowintomatureplants.Ascientistwritingthismightsay:‘‘InthelatewinterIem-ployaspadetocultivateandpreparetheground.Afterdig-gingIutilizearaketorupturethesoilintomicroparticles,makingitsuitableforsowingsmallseeds.InthespringIdis-tributeseedsinthepreparedpulverizedsoil,andafewdayslaterIseeyoungplants,insitu,exhibitingsignsofgrowthcomingthroughtheground.Inthefollowingweeksthereisanenhancementofdimensionsandtheybecomematureplants’’.Scientistshardlyever‘‘use’’something!Theyeither‘‘uti-lize’’or‘‘employ’’(howmuchdotheypay?)oreven‘‘attri-bute’’.TheyloveLatinphrases,eventhoughtheyoftenhavenoideawhattheymean.Nothingshowsanincrease,orgrows;it‘‘exhibitsenhancements’’!Experimentsdonot‘‘show’’anything,buttheyrather‘‘demonstrate,exhibitorevidence’’!Partofthereasonisthatsomepeoplearetaughtthatitisbadtousethesamewordmorethanonce,sotheysitdownwithathesaurusandgothroughallthewords:‘‘weused...thenweemployed...andutilized...andapplied...etc.’’.Iam,ofcourse,exaggeratingtomakeapoint.WhenIwasveryyoungIwastaughtnevertousealong,complexwordorphrasewhenasimpleonewoulddo.Thisisastruetodayasitalwayswas,especiallywhencommunicatingwithpeopleofmanydifferentlanguages,whichiswhatwearedoinginascientificpaper.Buttoday’sscientistsappeartowanttoavoidsimplelanguage.‘‘Thisisacomplexsubjectanditneedscom-plexlanguagetodescribeit’’.Howpretentious!WhiletheworldwidelanguageofscienceisEnglish,mostreadersandwritersofscientificpapersarenotnativeEng-lish-speakers.Itisthereforeimportantthatwekeepourlan-guageassimpleaspossible,withoutdestroyingthemeaning,andthatwemakesureourlanguagegivesaclearandunam-biguousmessage.Thisisespeciallytruefortitlesandab-stractsthatmaydeterminewhetherapotentialreaderwillpaytodownloadamanuscriptfromthejournalwebsite.ThefollowingareexamplesofsomeofthemostcommondifficultiesanderrorsthatIhaveencounteredinrecentyears.Itrusttheywillbeuseful.FindingthecorrectwordThisisamajorproblemfacedbypeoplewhosenativelan-guageisnotEnglish.DuringmyyearsasEditormyvocabularyhasincreasedbecauseofwordsusedinpapersthatIdonotunderstand.Arecentpaperonthedispersionofcarbonnano-tubesinapolymerdescribedthemas‘‘boscage-like’’.Wheredidtheauthorfindthisword?Ifoundfromthedictionarythataboscageisa‘‘massoftreesorshrubs’’,somethingwemightcalla‘‘thicket’’.Theauthorwastryingtosaythatthenano-tubeswereassembledintotangledmasses.SometimesIcomeacrosswordsthatmakenosense.Acar-bonmaterialwasoncedescribedas‘‘caducous’’,abotanicaltermthatmeansthatsomethingis‘‘easilyshedatanearlystage’’.MonthslaterIamstillpuzzledbyhowtheauthorfoundthewordandwhathewastryingtoconveybyusingtheterm.Ishallprobablyneverknowwhatanauthormeantwhenhedescribedhiscarbonas‘‘homogametic’’.Perhapsthespell-checksystemisoccasionallytoblame.EarlierIwascheckingamanuscriptthatcontainedtheword‘‘chirality’’.Thespell-checksuggestedthatIchangeitto‘‘chairlady’’!IcanunderstandthedifficultyanauthorhaswhensearchingadictionaryforanEnglishwordtotranslateonefromhisnativelanguage,andbeingpresentedwitharangeofchoices.Myadviceistopicktheonethatyouknow,andifnonefitthiscriterion,lookforusesofthewordandtheircontextbeforeusingit.Describingporosityas‘‘helminth-like’’wouldcertainlyhavebeenchangedto‘‘wormhole-like’’iftheauthorhadcheckedotherusesofhelminthanditspossiblealternatives!Anothertangleofnanotubeswasdescribedasa‘‘clew’’.Ihadtogotothedic-tionarytofindthemeaning.Iwillleaveyoutodothesame,butIdoubtthatitwillhelp!LongadjectivalphrasesWhydoesnormalspeechoftenvanishwhenwritingthetitleforapaper?Imightbedescribing‘‘Theuseofmicroporouscarbonspheresdopedwithcarbonnanotubesforthemanu-factureofhigh-performancesupercapacitorswithlowseriesresistance’’.Butthetitlebecomes‘‘High-Performancecarbonnanotube-implantedmesoporouscarbonspheresforsup-ercapacitorswithlowseriesresistance’’.Thetitleprovidedbytheauthorsiscertainlyalittleshorter,butisambiguous.CARBON49(2011)4957–4960Availableat‘‘high-performance’’?Thecarbonnanotubes,orthecarbonspheres,orthesupercapacitors?Thetitlebeginswithalongadjectivalphrase‘‘High-Performancecarbonnanotube-implantedmesoporous’’thatshoulddescribethecarbonspheres.But‘‘high-performance’’describesthesupercapaci-tors.Ifyouwereverballyexplainingwhatyouhaddonetoafellowscientistoveracupofcoffeeyoucertainlywouldnotusetheexpressioninthesubmittedtitle.Anotherpapertitlerefersto‘‘agelatindispersedmulti-walledcarbonnanotubecompositefilm’’.Ahyphenbetween‘‘gelatin’’and‘‘dispersed’’makesthingsclearer,butsurely‘‘acompositefilmofmultiwallcarbonnanotubesdispersedingelatin’’isevenbetter.Yetanotherrecentexampleofapoortitleis‘‘Vertically-alignedcarbonnanotubearraysembeddedbismuthtelluridebasedthermoelectriccomposites’’.Canyoufigureoutwhatitmeans?Idoubtit!Icannotexplainthistrendofwantingtoaba