科技写作中的“动作”
Highlights from Chapter 8 in <<Writing Science>> by Joshua Schimel
1.
Action makes up the main body of the story and includes everything between the challenge and the resolution. In a paper, this includes the Materials and Methods, the Results, and most of the Discussion.
In writing the action, the critical message is to remember the last S in SUCCES — story . You are not just presenting your results, you are telling a story.
2.
The action sections of a paper can be separated into two distinct parts: describing what you did (Materials and Methods) and what came of it (Results and discussion).
3.
Methods：
To serve the needs of all possible readers, the best way to describe a method is use a lead/development (LD) structure, providing an initial overview for all and then the details for those who need them.
Using LD structure and tapping into established schemas, you can make your methods easier for both novices and experts, allowing them to get the information they need at whichever level they choose.
4.
Results and Discussion：
The Introduction and Methods comprise the first half of the paper, where you justify and explain what you did. The second half is where you describe the outcome: your findings and interpretations. You have flexibility in structuring this part of a paper to best present your contributions.
There are three types of material in a paper:
1) Data: Your actual results.
2) Inference: These are the clear and robust interpretations of the data that almost any practitioner in the field would draw; these are sometimes so obvious that we treat them as data themselves.
3) Interpretation: Your thoughts, hypotheses, and speculation about what the results may mean for the larger problem you identified.
5.
Presenting data：
To make it easy for the reader to understand your results, you need give us more than the raw data. You need to synthesize them into a pattern and fit them into the larger story to provide context. You do this by telling a short story about each data set with a clear opening to introduce and frame the presentation.
Most results call for an LD structure: first frame the major point or pattern, then flesh out the detail. Don’t present all the details and then synopsize them, or worse, present them without synopsizing or synthesizing at all. Without a framework, readers struggle with details.
6.
Statistics and Stories：
Although statistics are essential for establishing the credibility of your conclusions, remember that the story is not in the statistics — it is in the data themselves. When you tell the story through the lens of the statistics, by focusing on the statistical analysis rather than on the data, you steal both clarity and power from the story.
By focusing on the data and making the statistics supporting information, you can tell a story that says more about nature and is more engaging without forgoing rigor.
By focusing on the data, being concrete, and showing the whole story, you effectively and honestly present your results and allow the reader to evaluate them, fulfilling core principles of both writing and science.
7.
Discussion：
Discussion is where you present your thoughts and interpretations, where you answer the questions you posed in the challenge, and where you show your contribution to the larger problem framed in the opening.
Writing a good Discussion is the critical act of creativity in science that no book can teach.