科技文章的结构
Highlights from Chapter 10 in <<Writing Science>> by Joshua Schimel
1.
Opening-Challenge-Action-Resolution (OCAR) defines the overall structure of a story. The opening grabs your attention with characters and a setting that you care about. The challenge creates uncertainty
and curiosity. The action feeds you information and develops the story. Finally, the resolution rewards your efforts and relieves the tension.
2.
Scientific writing is successful when it creates that flow and that arc. Paper is made up of sections, each of which tells its own story and has its own arc.
3.
These major sections are built of discrete modules: subsections that describe a single method, a single data set, or a single argument. Those subsections should be written to package complete ideas — that is, form story arcs of their own.
Each subsection is built of units finer still: individual paragraphs, sentences, and clauses within a sentence. Each tells its own story and has its own structure — they should each form an arc.
Arc structure is effective as well because beginnings and endings are power positions.
4.
Effective arcs
Through the devices of subheads, paragraph breaks, and flag words such as however and consequently, successful authors guide the reader through story arcs and arguments. Individual arcs integrate to form the overall paper. Watching your arcs and ensuring they are coherent and connected gives structure and flow to your writing. Making and resolving complete story arcs makes the reader’s job easy.
5.
Arcless Writing
When writing lacks clear story arcs, it becomes an incoherent mass with no obvious direction, no internal structure, and no points of clear emphasis.
6.
To ensure that your final pieces have an effective internal structure, go over them paragraph by paragraph and section by section and ask the following questions:
- Does each unit make a single, clear point?
- When several paragraphs together form a section, are the linkages among them clear?
- Has every extraneous thought that breaks the serial arc structure been removed?
- When you introduce a topic, do you resolve that discussion before introducing a new topic?
- Is every major unit of the work defined by either a subhead or clear opening text?