科技论文的开篇
Highlights from Chapter 5 in <<Writing Science>> by Joshua Schimel
1.
The most important sentence in any article is the first one.
2.
Initial impressions are strong and lasting.
Your first words have great leverage, making the beginning of a paper a “power position.”
You must use that power to accomplish three goals: identify the problem that drives the research, introduce the characters, and target an audience.
3.
Good openings:
does it achieve the three goals?
Is it clear what the paper is about?
Does it frame the problem?
Does it introduce the critical characters?
Example: Since the late 1900s, … has been the perceived center point of … that controls …
4.
Frequently, openings require several steps to develop the issue (e.g., 2 sentences).
The first frames the focus of the story, and the second sentence picks up the idea and develops a specific focus.
Sometimes the opening needs to be longer and can include the entire first paragraph.
5.
Bad openings:
provide either misdirection or no direction.
Developing scholars are still learning the material and assimilating it into their schemas. It isn’t yet ingrained knowledge, and the process of laying out the information and arguments, step by step, is part of what ingrains it to form the schema. Many developing scholars, therefore, have a hard time jumping over this material by assuming that their readers take it for granted.
Rather, they are collecting their own thoughts and putting them down.
6.
Targeting your audience:
The way you introduce your problem and your characters affects the audience’s attitude toward the work and maybe whether they continue reading. You must know the intended audience to tailor the writing to them.
While targeting the right audience is important in papers, it can be life or death in proposals.
How we framed the problem here was critical. An effective first sentence might open the door to funding. An ineffective one could close it.
7.
Opening for a broader audience: the 2-step opening
Open with an issue that engages your target audience, but then modulate it to one you want to work with.
That requires a multistep opening in which you take time to introduce and then redefine the focus.
Example: … has been a central theme in … research for almost a century. Two questions have directed much of that research:
What causes …?
How do … change as a result of …?
8.
Changing style for different audiences:
It is a principle of effective communication that you need to adapt your language, style, and approach to deal with different media and different audiences.
Skilled writers know their audiences and think carefully about what works for them. As you gain experience, these choices become easier and require less conscious effort.
9.
How wide should your opening be?
Remember — getting published is not the ultimate goal; getting cited is.
You want people to use your work.
Ideally, therefore, you would like it to be read and valued by a wide community.
Frame your opening to promise the story you will deliver. If you err, though, it’s better to err slightly on the wide side. If you oversell in the immediate opening, you can still filter down quickly.
10.
Positioning statements:
Start a paper with a strong statement that dives in to take control of the story.
To write well, you need to learn how to use the power of the opening.