40 Science Research Writing 4. THE PRESENT WORK (to) facilitate (to) illustrate (to) improve (to) manage to (to) minimise (to) off er (to) outline (to) predict (to) present (to) propose (to) provide (to) reveal (to) succeed (this) work begin by/with close attention is paid to here overview simple straightforward successful valuable aim goal intention objective purpose Here are some examples of how these are used: • Th is paper focuses on... • Th e purpose of this study is to describe and examine... • In order to investigate the biological signifi cance... • In this paper we present... • New correlations were developed with excellent results... • In the present study we performed... • Th is paper introduces a scheme which solves these problems. • Th e approach we have used in this study aims to... • Th is study investigated the use of... • In this report we test the hypothesis that... • Th is paper is organised as follows:... Note: In a thesis or a very long research paper, you use these to say what each chapter or section will do. Don't rely on one-size-fi ts-all verbs such as discuss; some chapters/sections do not 'discuss' anything, and even if they do, their main purpose may be to compare things, analyse things or describe things rather than to discuss them.
Introduction — Writing an Introduction 41 1.5 Writing an Introduction In the next task, you will bring together and use all the information in this unit. You will write an Introduction according to the model, using the grammar and vocabulary you have learned, so make sure that you have the model (Section 1.3.3) and the vocabulary (Section 1.4) in front of you. Th roughout this unit you have seen that conventional science writing is easier to learn, easier to write and easier for others to read than direct translations from your own language or more creative writing strategies. You have learned the conventional model of an Introduction and collected the vocabulary conventionally used. Your sentence patterns should also be conventional; use the sentences you have read in your target articles and in the Introductions printed here as models for the sentence patterns in your writing, and adapt them for the task. Follow the model exactly this time. Aft er you have practiced it once or twice you can vary it to suit your needs. However, you should use it to check Introductions you have written so that you can be sure that the information is in an appropriate order and that you have done what your readers expect you to do in an Introduction. Although a model answer is provided in the Key, you should try to have your own answer checked by a native speaker of English if possible, to make sure that you are using the vocabulary correctly. 1.5.1 Write an Introduction Imagine that you have just completed a research project to design a bicycle cover which can protect the cyclist from injury, pollution, or just from rain. Perhaps you provided a computer simulation of its use, or modelled the ventilation system. Perhaps you were involved in the aerodynamics, or the polymer construction of the material for the cover — or any other aspect of the project. Write the Introduction of your research paper, to be published in the Journal of Pedal-Powered Vehicles (Vol. 3). Th e title of your research paper is A COVER FOR THE SPPPV (Single-Person Pedal-Powered Vehicle) and your Introduction should be between 200– 400 words. You can lie as much as you like, and of course you will have to create fake research references. Follow the model as closely as possible;