Chapter 8 Part 3在线视频

The fifth tip is Verb Tense

The Methods section is mainly written in the past tense

because it is a description of completed actions

Exceptions

The first exception will be the verb used

in the hypothesis of the topic sentence

at the beginning of the study design

The verb used in the hypothesis will be in present tense

as it was in the introduction

The second exception

will be the verb used in the data presentation

The verb used in the data analysis or presentations

would be in present tense.

The sixth tip is Use of Parentheses

Parentheses are frequently seen in the Methods section

Parentheses should be used for details

that would otherwise break up the flow of the narrative

By using parentheses

these details are placed in the background

so that they do not distract from the main message

The types of details

that are often placed in parentheses include

manufacturers’ names model numbers

weights doses and concentrations

Also remember

NO parentheses will be used

if details are written before the noun

The seventh tip is Point of View and Voice

In the Methods section

the point of view can be either that of the experiment

or that of the experimenter “we”

In the sentence

“Blood samples were drawn”

Actually

The sentence is written from the point of the experiment

With blood samples being the subject of the sentence

And we change the sentence to

We drew blood samples

And this sentence is written

from the point of the experiment

"we"

And it is written in the active voice

We as the subject

Both points of view have their own advantages and disadvantages

thus it is your own careful consideration

that determines the most appropriate way

of using point of view

in certain sentences and paragraphs

At the simplest level

you can choose to write the entire Methods section

from only one point of view

that you are more comfortable with

At a higher level

you can write some subsections from one point of view

and other subsections from another point of view

Subsections that are difficult to write from

one point of view can be written from the other

At the most advanced level

you can choose one point of view

for a given subsection

but write some sentences from another point of view

when you have a specific and obvious reason

You can use “we” for sentences

that move the story forward

and the point of view of the experiment

for sentences that do not

When we handling point of view of the experiment

Now let's talk about how to handle

the point of view

First

Let's talk about handling point of view of the experiment

The point of view of the experiment

has the advantage of making the topic

the subject of the sentence

thus emphasizing what is important

The disadvantage is that

most sentences will be in passive voice

That would be dull

to some extent

But since we read the Methods section

to get precise information

this disadvantage of dullness can be

outweighed by its advantage of making the topic the subject

In academic writing

making the topic the subject

is a common way to make precise information

prominent in the sentence

And then let's look at how to handle

point of view of experimenter

Different from the point of view of the experiment

he point of view of the experimenter“we”

is more lively

because it usually requires the use of active voice

However

it sacrifices making the topic the subject of the sentence

Also

using“we”is inappropriate

if someone other than the authors for example a technician

actually did the work

Nevertheless

if we can well handle“we”

choosing to write

from the point of view of the experimenter

is also defensible

and can make your writing smooth and clear

If want to use “we” more effectively

Here are some tips

The general principle is

avoid beginning many sentences with “we”

And the seccond is

put all steps of a single procedure in one sentence

We can follow this sentence pattern

We did A, did B, and did C

Please note that

here involves 3 different action verbs

The third tip is

begin some sentences with a transition word

or phrase indicating time sequence

We can follow those

sentence patterns like

After 30s, we did A

Then we did A as before

The fourth tip

is begin some sentences with the purpose

like in this sentence pattern

To do B, we did A

The fifth tip is Begin some sentences with a reason

We can follow this sentence pattern

Because …we did A

The last tip

is begin some sentences

with a phrase subordinating the first step of a procedure

Like in a sentence pattern

After doing A, we did B

Briefly

when you choose points of view

you should avoid changing back

and forth from one point of view to another

several times within one short paragraph

for no apparent reason

The eighth tip

is length

You may ask

How long should we write the last section

The Methods section should be as long as necessary

to describe fully and accurately what was used

what was done and how it was done

Meanwhile

this section should also be written

in “the fewest words possible”

and should not contain “fussy detail”

Fussy detail is hard to define

but it usually depends on

what the readers of the journal

to which you submit your paper

can be expected to know

Based on the type of study and the target audience

you need to maintain a balance

As a rule of thumb

the details of the procedures

should be included

if the study would not be replicated without them

All that readers need to understand

is how the key findings in this paper were derived

Authors need to ask themselves

“would a researcher be able to reproduce the study

with the information provided in the method section”

Using this question

the authors would be reassured

that all the critical information has been included

and unnecessary and redundant data

have been excluded from this section

this self-reflective process

is useful to keep the paper's storyline

The nineth tip is Units of Measurement

The International System of Units should be used

you can refer to some technical manuals

Foe example

Recommendations for the Conduct Reporting Editing

and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals

And else you can refer to articles

in journals and online guidelines