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   .

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OVERVIEW: The way to well-written science

How to do the Course

 

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.

b

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.

g

 

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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