George Gopon and Judith Swan

Part I: Introduction.

If the reader wants to understand the author's meaning, the author must understand what the reader needs.

This paper holds that the main purpose of scientific papers is not to express information, but to communicate with readers. The point is not how willing the author is to convey the sentences and paragraphs of the article, but that the reader can accurately perceive the author's thoughts. So in order to improve writing better, we must know how readers read. This is the core concept of the method described in this paper: [Reader's Expectation].

The second part: the main idea of the article.

Main idea of the article: put readers in mind, readers' expectations and context.

Readers perceive the writing content on the basis of the structure of the article, so the interaction between content and structure is an important part of the article. Look at a small example to track the temperature of a liquid over a period of time. Look at the first expression first:

It's ugly, so it's natural to think of using tables.

This kind of table is normal (upper side), which we can expect. In the table, we naturally notice the increasing trend of the time column on the left, while the interesting findings on the right are in a less obvious position, which is the focus of this paper. However, if we change the form (lower side), it will be difficult for us to understand, because people's perception habits are from left to right, and the content on the left is easier for us to be familiar with, while the content on the right will put some new and important information by default. On the other hand, it will be contrary to readers' expectations and affect readers' understanding of the content.

Just like the structure of the whole article, we have an expected structure for each paper unit. If these structural expectations are constantly broken, readers' energy will be forced to shift from reading the content of the article to mining the structure of the article.

Part III: Three principles of readers' expectation.

Three main expectations of readers on the structure of the paper

(A) the first point: subject-verb separation (subject-verb separation)

Verbs immediately after the subject, otherwise the content between them will be regarded as a kind of interference. Sometimes reversal is not necessarily a good thing. If the subject is too long, it is best to use the active form.

(2) the second point: every discussion until a point is made.

Every paper unit, no matter how big or small, should elaborate an idea.

(3) The third point: the stress position.

It is common sense in linguistics to put the emphasized content after the sentence, and this important content must be marked in a specific place. Therefore, this important material must be consistent with this important position, and the wrong position or multiple important materials will confuse readers. Usually, the second important position can be separated by semicolons or colons.

Part four: Three elements of article writing.

(1) Topic location

The core of l space. The important things come first. The information at the beginning of the sentence gives the reader an angle to examine this paper unit, and then the reader will expect the next content to be about this topic. For example, "bees disperse voting" and "pollen is dispersed by bees" are completely different. The first sentence is about bees. The second sentence is about pollen, and the next story is about division So if you want to talk about something next, it should be the passive voice before.

L connect the front with the bottom. Linkage (looking backward) and context (looking forward) Therefore, each top content should be a review of the previous sentence, and at the same time open the next new content, which is a link between the preceding and the following.

L consistent theme. If the theme of a paragraph keeps changing, readers will be confused and don't know what you are talking about, so you need to focus on one point and tell a complete story.

L verbs are coherent. The key content of the old and new paragraphs should be properly positioned, and there should be cohesion between the first sentence and the second sentence. The first sentence is to pave the way for the second sentence.

Perceptual logic gap (perceptual logic gap)

L old and new convergence. The location arrangement of old and new information can reveal the relationship between the author and the key content. After the first sentence is finished, you can't put it down. We should continue to interpret this sentence in depth.

Positional verbs (positioning actions)

L When we read a sentence, the first thing we do is to look at the position of the topic to perceive the primary focus, and then we need the corresponding verbs, so the number of words in the middle should not be too much, otherwise it will affect the readers' expectations. At the same time, actions should have practical significance, not some function words, and be prepared for expression.

The fifth part: content summary.

Content summary:

Part VI: Excerpts from key sentences.

If information is placed where most readers expect to find it, it will be interpreted more easily and consistently.

Starting with exciting materials and ending with a lack of luster often disappoints us and destroys our sense of motivation.

We can't even succeed in making a sentence mean only one thing; We can only increase the possibility that most readers tend to interpret our words according to our intentions.

According to our experience, the dislocation of old and new information is the problem 1 in American professional writing today.

Place backward linked old information in the subject position; Put the new information you want readers to emphasize in the emphasis position.

As critical science readers, we will focus on whether the experiment proves the hypothesis.

Obviously, scientific literature is incomplete without the author's explanation; It may not be so obvious that a document cannot "exist" without every reader's explanation.