张希院士《科技写作体会》-2011-5-21博士生论坛

ScientificWritingandBeyond科技写作及其它张希清华大学化学系清华大学273期博士生论坛（一）科技写作的一点体会参考文献（1）HowtoWriteaScientificPaperByGeorgeM.WhitesidesDepartmentofChemistryandChemicalBiologyHarvardUniversity,Cambridge,MA02138,USA（2）WritinginEnglish-AsimpleGuideforChemistsAndChemicalandProcessEngineersByKathleenAhonen,Helsinki1998Whatisascientificpaper?Apaperisanorganizeddescriptionofhypotheses,dataandconclusions,intendedtoinstructthereader.Papersareacentralpartofresearch.Ifyourresearchdoesnotgeneratepapers,itmightjustaswellnothavebeendone.“Interestingandunpublished”isequivalentto“non-existent.”什么是科技论文？科技论文是集假说、数据和结论为一体的有组织的描述，以此说服读者。论文是研究工作的中心部分。如果你的研究没有写成论文，也就等同于没有做研究。有意义但没有发表，等同于不存在。Thereasonforoutlines.Iemphasizethecentralplaceofanoutlineinwritingpapers,preparingseminars,andplanningresearch.Iespeciallybelievethatforyou,andforme,itismostefficienttowritepapersfromoutlines.Anoutlineisawrittenplanoftheorganizationofapaper,includingthedataonwhichitrests.Youshould,infact,thinkofanoutlineasacarefullyorganizedandpresentedsetofdata,withattendantobjectives,hypothesesandconclusions,ratherthananoutlineoftext.为什么要写提纲？我在这里要强调提纲在论文写作，准备报告以及研究计划中的重要作用。我尤其相信按照提纲进行写作对我们大家都是最有效的方法。提纲是一篇论文的行文计划，应该包括论文所依靠的数据。事实上，提纲不仅仅是列出各段的内容，而是按照目的、假说、结论来精心组织数据。FastversusSlowIfyouandIcanagreeonthedetailsoftheoutline(thatis,onthedataandorganization),thesupportingtextcanbeassembledfairlyeasily.Ifwedonotagreeontheoutline,anytextisuseless.Muchofthetimeinwritingapapergoesintothetext;mostofthethoughtgoesintotheorganizationofthedataandintotheanalysis.Itcanberelativelyefficienttogothroughseveral(evenmany)cyclesofanoutlinebeforebeginningtowritetext;writingmanyversionsofthefulltextofapaperisslow.如果大家都同意提纲中的细节部分，那么正文组织起来就更容易。在我们就提纲达成一致以前，写正文是没有意义的。写文章时，大部份时间花在写正文上；而大部份思考是用在整理和分析数据。在动笔前，详细讨论几遍写作提纲会提高写作效率；写很多遍正文反倒很慢。Howshouldyouconstructanoutline?Theclassicalapproachistostartwithablankpieceofpaper,andwritedown,inanyorder,allimportantideasthatoccurtoyouconcerningthepaper.Askyourselftheobviousquestions:“WhydidIdothiswork?”“Whatdoesitmean?”“WhathypothesisdidImeantotest?”“WhatonesdidIactuallytest?”“Whatweretheresults?”“Didtheworkyieldanewmethodorcompound?What?”“WhatmeasurementsdidImake?”“Whatcompounds?Howweretheycharacterized?”你应该如何起草你的提要？最经典的方法就是找一页空白的纸，以任何顺序，写下与这篇文章有关的所有重要观点。自问一些显而易见的问题。A)IntroductionWhydidIdothework?Whatwerethecentralmotivationsandhypotheses?为什么我要做这件工作?主要的目的和假设是什么？B)ResultsandDiscussionWhatweretheresults?Howwerecompoundsmadeandcharacterized?Whatwasmeasured?结果和讨论结果是什么？化合物是怎样合成与表征的？测试方法是什么？C)ConclusionsWhatdoesitallmean?Whathypotheseswereprovedordisproved?WhatdidIlearn?Whydoesitmakeadifference?结论所有这一切意味着什么？证实或否定了什么假设？我学到了什么？结果为什么与众不同？Figures,Tables,andSchemesNext,takeeachofthesesections,andorganizeitonyetfinerscale.Concentrateonorganizingthedata.Constructfigures,tables,andschemestopresentthedataasclearlyandcompactlyaspossible.Thisprocesscanbeslow-Imaysketchafigure5-10timesindifferentways,tryingtodecidehowitismostclear(andlooksbestaesthetically).接下来，把每一部分再仔细组织。尤其是要集中整理数据。要尽可能把数据以清晰、紧凑的图表来展示。这个过程也许会慢些。我可能要用5-10次，而且是以不同的方式，来构思一张图，以便决定怎样它才最清楚（而且看上去更加美观）。图表图表图表要尽可能把数据以清晰、紧凑的图表来展示。反复多次以不同的方式，来构思一张图，以便决定怎样它如何表示才最清楚，看上去更加美观。Note：Onepictureisequalto1000words.表1：高分子材料的表征PolymerMnMwPDITg#11001122002242.089.34°C#222345366861.641863.45°C#32.3x1033.67x1031.59675.88°CPolymerMnaPDITg(°C)b11.00x1052.0089.322.23x1041.6463.532.30x1031.6075.9aMeasuredbySECwithpolystyrenestandards.bMeasuredbyDSCataheatingrateof10°C/min..表1：高分子材料的表征Figure1.Temperaturevariationasafunctionoftimeforthepolymersamplesheatedinafurnace.0246810121405101520253035404550Temperature(oC)Time/sPolymer1Polymer2Polymer3036912150918273645Temperature(oC)Time(s)Polymer1Polymer2Polymer3Figure1.Temperaturevariationasafunctionoftimeforthepolymersamplesheatedinanoven.Theearlier,thebetter.Noprojectisevercomplete,anditsavesenormouseffortandmuchtimetoproposeaplausiblepaperandoutlineassoonasyouseethebasicstructureofaproject.Evenifwedecidetodosignificantadditionalworkbeforeseriouslyorganizingapaper,theeffortofwritinganoutlinewillhavehelpedtoguidetheresearch.研究是永无止境的。当你看到你的结果初具雏形时，就要立即开始准备构思文章和提纲，这将节省你很多的精力和时间。即便在认真组织成文前，我们已经决定补做重要的其他实验，试着写一个提纲也一定对研究有指导意义。你可以计划你的实验，并不一定可以预测研究结果！Oftentheobjectivesofapaperwhenitisfinishedaredifferentfromthoseusedtojustifystartingthework.Muchofgoodscienceisopportunisticandrevisionist.时常，当一篇文章完成时，它的目的和开始时是不同的。许多好的科学来自机遇和反复修正。基本原则GoldfirstOrganizeinorderofimportance,NOTinchronologicalorderAnimportantdetailinwritingpaperconcernstheweighttobegiventotopics.Startwiththemostimportantresults,andputthesecondaryresultslater,ifatall.Thereaderusuallydoesnotcarehowyouarrivedatyourbigresults,onlywhattheyare.Shorterpapersareeasiertoreadthanlongerones.不是按照时间顺序,而应按重要性来整理。论文写作的一个重要细节是要考虑各部分的权重。应该从最重要的结果写起，然后是较重要的结果。读者们通常不关心你是怎么得到的结果，而只关心结果是什么。短文章比长文章更易读。论文的题目AnEnzyme-ResponsivePolymericSuperamphiphilesChaoWangetalAngew.Chem.Int.Ed.2010,49,8612DualRedoxResponsiveAssembliesFormedfromDiselenideBlockCopolymersNingMaetalJACS2010,132,442论文的题目TuningtheAmphiphilicityofBuildingBlocks:ControlledSelf-assemblyandDisassemblyforFunctiona