INGL 3105: Skills for Communication in the Sciences

 

2^nd Partial Exam Practice  #1

Prepared by Dr. W. Rybarkiewicz

 

 

1.  How does an outline of a review differ from the standard outline of a scientific paper? (6 points):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.  To which stage of scientific writing belong the following activities: improving grammar, checking and correcting mechanics, brainstorming, working on the contents, writing an abstract?  Put them in the proper order.  (5 points):

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.  An important feature of writing in sciences should be simplicity and conciseness.  Keeping this in mind, rewrite and improve or delete the following phrases and, finally, rewrite and improve the passage (14 points):

 

as already stated                                                                  disappear from sight

 

 

this particular instance                                                        it goes without saying

 

 

completely finish                                                                  in my opinion

 

 

large in size                                                                           past experience

 

 

it is relevant to mention                                                      and so on and so forth

 

 

The general feeling of the meeting was that within the basic framework of the experiments a great amount was definitely accomplished and cognitively learned by all participants, and the very unique system has achieved virtually all of our objectives with regard to our experiments.

INGL 3105: Skills for Communication in the Sciences

 

2^nd Partial Exam Practice  #2

Prepared by Dr. W. Rybarkiewicz

 

1.  What is a stacked modifier?  Give an example.  (3 points)

 

 

 

2.  What is a dangling modifier?  Does the following sentence have one?  If yes, then correct it; if no, then give your own example of one.  (3 points):

 

While he was looking through his binoculars, the bird flew away.

 

 

 

 

3.  Give an example of a doublespeak and discuss why people use this kind of expression.  (3 points)

 

 

 

4.  Find a better expression for the following (6 points):

 

per diem                                                                                 have an influence on

 

make a determination                                                           ab initio

 

et al.                                                                                        not many

 

5.  Enumerate five elements of grammar and style that make a text into a cohesive unit (5 points):

 

 

 

 

6.  Suggest ten changes that would adapt the following professional text for a more general audience.  Use the reverse of this page.  (10 points)

 

Potassium channel proteins are quite similar in overall structure to sodium and calcium channels, which also have been cloned and isolated biochemically in other animals.  Examination of the genes and corresponding amino acid sequences of these three kinds of ion channel molecules indicate that they are all closely related or belong to the same family of proteins.  As implied by the word family , these contemporary channel molecules are thought to derive from a common ancestral gene that duplicated and diverged during evolution into the contemporary family of voltage-gated ion channels.