The Science Of Scientific Writing Set D Introduction Multi-part Sentences The End of the Sentence Exercise 1 The Start of the Sentence The Middle of the Sentence Sentence, Paragraph compared Mapping Multi-part Sentences Exercise 2 Types of Sentence Part Exercise X Advanced Sentence Stories Final Page .
OVERVIEW: The way to well-written science
PART I: Paragraphs and Sentences
SET A: Paragraphs: The Maps Behind Them
SET B: Paragraphs: Using Maps to Meet Readers' Expectations
SET C: Paragraph Coherence and Cohesion
SET D: Sentences
SET E: Scientific Sections (including Methods)
SET F: Scientific Sections: The Discussion
SET G : Scientific Sections: The Introduction
SET H : The Paper as a Whole
Sentence Strategy #1: as with paragraphs, you can exploit the reader's expectation of where different types of information will be located
Part III: The Middle of the Sentence
The middle parts of a multi-part sentence can play many roles. We have already seen one in a previous example: a middle part may provide frame-of-reference information additional to that provided by the first part. Here is one more example of this:
The second most important factor in animal speciation is geographical isolation, a powerful generator of genetic variation, and a phenomenon that explains many divergences in the evolution of snakes.
The middle part appears to be non-core content that provides further information about the mechanism by which geographical isolation leads to speciation.
In other cases a middle part may be a core part of a developing argument or explanation:
The mammalian identity of the platypus is supported by it having mammal-like fur, which is itself supported by the similarities in fine structure beween the hair of the platypus and the typical placental mammal.
The role played by the middle part/s of a sentence is thus not as sharply defined as that of the initial and final parts, but when thinking about how to compose a multipart sentence we can neverthless still use our "Guiding Principle" - Familiar First - to arrange the sentence parts in the best possible sequence.
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