1. Calculating and Reporting
Wu-Lin Chen
Department of Computer Science and Information Management

2. Calculating Mathematics is the language of science.
It is inevitable to deal with calculating in the scientific writing.
The accuracy of predictions depends on the accuracy of the measurements and computations used in experimentation.

3. Using English To Calculate
Mathematical relationships can be expressed in sentences using phrase like
is equal to
is proportional to
is the product of

4. Using English To Calculate
EX: … the weight of the air at sea level is equal to 14.7 pounds per square inch.
weight = 14.7 pounds / 1 square inch
EX: The pressure inside your body equals to the pressure outside.
pressure1 = pressure2
EX: The pressure on a diver is thus equal to the weight of the atmospheric pressure plus the water pressure.
pressure on diver = atmospheric pressure + water pressure

5. Using English To Calculate
The pressure of the water is directly proportional to the depth.
water pressure ∞ depth
Mathematical relationships are expressed in the present tense because they are universals.

6. Indefinite Articles Rules for using indefinite articles (a and an)
Plural nouns never take the indefinite article.
Some nonplural nouns (countable singular nouns) take indefinite articles and some (uncountable nouns) do not.
Some nouns used frequently in scientific writing can be countable or not countable, depending on how they are used.
sound (in general) or a sound (a particular sound)
glass (the substance) or a glass (the kind we drink from)
color (in general) or a color (such as red or blue)

7. Definite Articles The definite article (the) may be used with
plural nouns
either countable or uncountable singular noun.
Common rules in scientific writing are:
to specify or refer to something that has been already mentioned
to refer to something that is unique
to refer to something specific
to express superlatives
with ordinal numbers
with a noun that is followed by an of phrase
EX: the theory of relativity

8. Writing Skills (Parallel Form)
It is preferable to write a list of items in parallel form.
EX: Ellen likes to paint, swimming, and dance. (wrong)
EX: Ellen likes painting, swimming, and dancing. (correct)
EX: Ellen likes to paint, to swim, and to dance. (correct)
EX: Ellen likes to paint, swim, dance. (correct)

9. Writing Skills (Parallel Form)
There should be some consistency and regularity in tense and person in any paragraph.
Decide the most appropriate tense (present, past, or future) and use that tense throughout.
Then, decide if you are going to write in the first person (I or we), second person (you), or third person (he, she, they, John, and son on).

10. Reporting
Modern science did not really begin until people started reporting their observations and discoveries and communicating their idea.
Today, scientists report their findings and detail their experimental methods in journals, inviting others to perform experiments to verify or disprove the results.

11. Using English to Report
Different tenses are used to report past actions. The simple past tense is the most frequently used in scientific writing.

12. Using English to Report
A completed action
This one-celled organism ate, grew, responded to its surrounding, reproduced itself, and spread throughout the oceans. (These actions have taken place a long time ago and are completed.)
Simple past tense: ate, grew, responded, reproduced, spread
Probably those first tiny organisms were not all alike. (This sentence reports a condition rather than an action.)
…their characteristics were passed onto the next generation. (The passive form is used because the action is more important than the performer of the action.)

13. Using English to Report
An uncompleted action
To date, more than 400,000 species of plants and 1,200,000 species of animals have developed. (This is an action that has taken place over a period of time, it taking place now, and will probably continue into the future.)
Present perfect tense: have developed
All life has probably evolved from that single cell … (This action is also incomplete, that is, life is still evolving.)

14. Using English to Report
An action completed before a given past time
Therefore, about 2.5 billion years had passed on the earth when life originated.
Past perfect tense: had passed

15. Sentence Pattern Reporting a completed action (Simple Past Tense)
published
announced
proposed
his theory of evolution in 1859.
Darwin

16. Sentence Pattern
Reporting an uncompleted or recent action (Present Perfect Tense)
often
already
just
seldom
sometimes
not yet
recently
still not
usually
Biologists
He/She
have
has
made
new discoveries.

17. Sentence Pattern
Reporting an action completed before a given time (Past Perfect Tense)
By the time we {arrived}, the bomb {had exploded.}
By 1957, Russia {had launched} the first Sputnik.

18. Sentence Pattern
Reporting a continuous action (Past Continuous, Present Perfect Continuous, and Past Continuous Tenses)
Darwin {was working} on his theory while in the Galapagos.
The universe {has been expanding} {for 15 billion years (since its inception)}.
Darwin {had been riding} in his carriage when the idea came to him.

19. Sentence Pattern When reporting
Adverbs of time and frequency (such as often, already, and usually) are usually used with the present perfect tense.
The continuous past tenses do not occur frequently in scientific writing.

20. Writing Skills
When you are reporting facts, which answer the questions who, what, when, where, why, and how.