Paragraph Structure
Review
•Removal of potassium perchlorate was achieved by centrifugation of the supernatant liquid at 1400 X g for 10 min.
•D1-like receptors exert a permissive or enabling regulation of D2-like receptors.
•The patients were instructed to eat regular meals, that they should drink plenty of water, and they should take adequate exercise. •The mechanical response of heart muscles depends on both the absolute osmolal increase and on the species studied.
•Total microsphere losses were greater at 34, 64, and 124 min when compared to 4 min.
•Losses of apolipoprotein A-I during other isolation methods were smaller in comparison to ultracentrifugation.
•Title: “Blood-Brain Barrier CSF pH Regulation” (CSF=cerebrospinal fluid)
•Factors influencing primary liver cancer resection survival rate
Grammar Mistakes
•The esophagus, stomach, and duodenum of each rabbit was examined.
•The tissue was minced and the samples incubated. •Blood flow was allowed to return to baseline before proceeding with the next occlusion.
Paragraph Structure
•Even if a paper has perfect word choice and perfect sentence structure, it can be difficult to understand if the
paragraphs are not clearly constructed.
•Each paragraph must be constructed to tell a story. •Readers should be able to recognize the
message and follow the story of each
paragraph whether or not they
understand the science.
Three Aspects
•For a paragraph to tell a clear story,
–The ideas in the paragraph must be organized.
–The continuity, that is, the relationship between ideas, must be clear.
–Important ideas must be emphasized.
–Paragraph development
–Continuity
–Emphasis
Paragraph Development
•先概要，后细节
•Topic sentence first, then supporting sentence. •Create a expectation, and then fulfill the expectation.
Patterns of the organization •Least to most importance
•Most to least importance
•Announced order
•Chronological order
•Problem-solution
•Funnel
•Pro-con
Continuity
•Continuity is the smooth flow of ideas from sentence to sentence (and from paragraph to paragraph).
•The essence of continuity is a clear relationship between every sentence and the sentence before it.
Continuity: five skills
1. Repeat the key terms exactly and early
2. use transitions
3. keep a consistent order
4. keep a consistent point of view
5. signal subtopics within a paragraph
Repeat the key terms
•Key terms are terms that name important ideas in a paper. •Key terms can be technical terms, such as “G-protein” or “mitogenesis,” or nontechnical terms such as “increase” or “function.”
•Repeating key terms from sentence to sentence (and from paragraph to paragraph) is the strongest technique for
providing continuity.
•Digitalis increases the contractility of the mammalian heart. This change in inotropic state is a result of changes in calcium flux through the muscle cell membrane. •Digitalis increases the contractility of the mammalian heart. Changes in the in calcium flux through the muscle
cell membrane cause this increased contractility. •Digitalis increases the contractility of the mammalian heart. This increased contractility is a result of changes in calcium flux through the muscle cell membrane.
Q : Compare the three sentences and decide which is the best. PS: Digitalis 洋地黄，用于治疗心力衰竭
inotropic 肌肉收缩力的
calcium flux 钙通量
Repeat Key Terms Exactly
•The best advice for clear continuity is to repeat key terms exactly. If a key term is not repeated exactly and instead
another term is used, a mental manipulation is needed to
see the relationship between the two terms. Readers
familiar with the field can usually see the relationship; those less familiar may not.
Repeat the Key Terms Early •Continuity is clearest if the key term is repeated early in the sentence. If the key term is delayed until the end of the
sentence, the continuity is broken and the reader is kept in suspense temporarily.
•The more delayed the repetition of the key term, the less obvious the continuity. The reason is that more and more
new key terms are added before the relationship between the two sentences is clear.
Repeat Key Terms Exactly
•to Avoid “Noise”
•?? You are taught not to repeat the same word twice in a sentence, a paragraph, or some other limit. ??
(1) In humans, apo-B100, mainly synthesized in the liver, and apo-B48,
mainly synthesized in the intestine, are the products of a single apo-B gene (ref). (2) The production of apo-48 in the human intestine is the result of an RNA-editing process that changes a glutamine codon of the mRNA for
apo-B100 into a translational stop codon. (3) This apo-B mRNA-editing process does not occur in human livers, so apo-B48 is not synthesized in human livers. (4) However, the mRNA-editing process, and thus apo-B48 formation, occurs in mouse and rat livers.
Link the Key Terms •specific term & category term
•(A) The v-erbB gene is related to the neu oncogene. Both oncogenes have…
•(B) The v-erbB gene, an oncogene of the avian
erythroblastosis virus, is related to the neu oncogene. Both oncogenes have…
Link the Key Terms
•How to link:
•Place the definition either right after or right before the term to be defined.
•Set off the item in the “after” position by commas. •Check that the definition repeats a key term from the previous sentence or prepares for a key term in the next
sentence.
•The family of TGF-signaling molecules play inductive roles in various developmental contexts. One member of this
family, Drosophila Decapentaplegic (Dpp), serves as a
morphogen that patterns both the embryo and adult.
Use Transitions
•Use transitions to indicate relationship •Transition word (Conjunctions: furthermore, however, nevertheless ……)
•Transition phrase
•Transition clause
Exercise
•Direction：Below are three versions of two sentences from a Methods section. For each version, state (1) what the logical relationship of the second sentence to the first sentence is and (2) how you know what the relationship is.
•Version 1:The microspheres were prepared for injection as previously described. They were then suspended in 1 ml of dextran solution in a glass injection vial that was connected to the appropriate catheter and to a syringe containing 4 ml of saline.
•Version 2: The microspheres were prepared for injection as previously described. In brief, they were suspended in 1 ml of dextran solution in
a glass injection vial that was connected to the appropriate catheter
and to a syringe containing 4 ml of saline. •Relationship:
•How You Know:
Transition phrase
•Two types:
•Prepositional phrase
•Infinitive phrase
Prepositional phrase
(1) Our aim was to assess the mechanisms involved in the beneficial effects of hydralazine on ventricular function in
patients who have chronic aortic insufficiency. (2) For this assessment, we did a radionuclide study of ventricular function in 15 patients at rest and during supine exercise.
Infinitive phrase
(1) The effects of intra-arterial pressure gradients on
steady-state circumflex pressure-flow relations derived during long diastoles were examined in five dogs. (2) To obtain each pressure-flow point, we first set mean circumflex pressure to the desired level and then arrested the heart by turning off the peace-maker.
Transition phrase
•Transition phrase connects the sentences in three ways: •First, the preposition/ infinitive itself indicates a logical relationship.
•Second, the object of the preposition/infinitive completes the logic（for what? in what? To do what?）•Finally, the object of the preposition/infinitive repeats a key term, thus further connecting the two sentences.
Transition clause
•Transition clauses, like transition phrases, keep the story of
a paragraph going by stating the logical relationship
between two sentences.
•The only difference is in the form: a transition clause uses a subject and verb to indicate the logical relationship
between ideas, whereas a transition phrase uses a
preposition or an infinitive and an object. The subject in the transition clause, like the object in a transition phrase, is
usually a repeated key term.
(1) Our findings demonstrate that in patients with clinically moderate to severe congestive heart failure and left ventricular dysfunction, the arteriolar vasodilator hydralazine produces significant hemodynamic benefits independent of the presence or absence of mitral regurgitation. (2) The benefits we found
were significant increase in cardiac index, stroke volume index, and stroke work index, and significant decreases in systemic vascular resistance in all patients.
The Placement of Transitions •Continuity is strongest and the story in a paragraph is clearest when transition words, phrases, and clauses are placed at the beginning of a sentence.
Keep a Consistent Order
•If you list two or more items in a topic sentence and then go on to describe or explain them in supporting sentences,
keep the same order:
•if the items in the topic sentence are A, B, C, the supporting sentences should explain first A, then B, and last C. •Furthermore, the supporting sentences should include all the items mentioned in the topic sentence and should not
add any items not mentioned in the topic sentence.
Keep a Consistent Point of View •Having the same subject in two or more sentences that deal with the same topic is called keeping a consistent point of view.
•Specifically, the point of view is consistent when the same term, or the same category of term, is the subject of
successive sentences that deal with the same topic. •The point of view is inconsistent when the topic is the same but the subjects of the sentences are different. An
inconsistent point of view is disorienting to the reader, making similarities and differences difficult to see.
Keep a Consistent Point of View •Point of view: the perspective of the narration or argumentation
•在论著写作中，视角就是叙述问题的角度，也就是表达句子主题的主语的类型。
主语类型不同，叙述角度就不同。
•医学论著中，最常见的两类视角：•Independent variable (自变量) •Dependent variable (因变量)
•Cause & effect
•Same term, same category of term
Exercise 1
(1) Propranolo had variable effects on the hypoxemia-induced changes in regional blood flow. (2) In the cerebrum, the increase in blood flow caused by hypoxemia was not significantly altered by propranolol. (3) However, in other organs, such as the gut and the kidneys, and in the peripheral circulation, propranolol caused a more severe decrease in blood flow than did hypoxemia alone.
Exercise 2
(1) Mortality in this series of patients was 90%. (2) Generally, survival in clinical series has been less than 20%. (3) The only exception to this is the experience of Boley (2), who reported a mortality of 46%.
Signal Subtopics Within a Paragraph
•视觉标记：句子的开始位置
•语言标记：关键词或者连接用语
• A new topic is signaled visually by a new paragraph and verbally by a topic sentence.
• A new subtopic within a paragraph is signaled visually by a new sentence and verbally by putting the name of the
subtopic in a key term at the beginning of the sentence.
Emphasis
•Not all the information in a paragraph, or in a paper, is equally important. Thus, the reader needs to know what is important.
•To help the reader find the important information, emphasize the important information and de-emphasize
less important information.
Six Techniques
1. Condensing or omitting less important info.
2. Subordinate less important info.
3. Placing important info. in a power position
4. Labeling important info.
5. Repeating important info.
6. Stating rather than implying important info.
Subordinate Less Important Info.
•He went out to play football after he had finished his homework.
Placing Important Info. in a Power Position •Where is the most powerful position in a paragraph? The second most powerful position, and the least powerful one?
Labeling Important Info.
•The most important finding of this study is ……•One of the most striking findings of our investigations was ……
•There were no important changes in ……
Stating Rather Than Implying Important Info. •Important information should be stated, not left for the reader to figure out.
•The most important information in a paragraph is usually the message, so the message should always be stated, not merely implied.。
