Methodology - Vocabulary 77 the words and phrases that you think could be used in the seven areas above. A full list of useful language can be found on the next pages. This includes all the appropriate words and phrases you highlighted along with some other common ones. Read through them and check the meaning of any you don't know in the dictionary. This list will be useful for many years. 2.4.2 Vocabulary for the Methodology section 1. PROVIDE A GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF THE MATERIALS/METHODS and GIVE THE SOURCE OF MATERIALS/ EQUIPMENT USED Some of the vocabulary you need for this is in the Introduction vocabulary list; for example, many of the verbs that describe what you did/used can be found there. These verbs fall into three categories: the first includes general verbs related to academic research, such as attempt, consider, conduct, determine, investigate, report, suggest, verify, and most of these can be found in the Introduction vocabulary list. The second category contains verbs that specify what you did, such as calculate, extract, isolate, formulate, incorporate, modify, plot, simulate, and these can be found in the vocabulary list below. The third category includes verbs which are specific to your field and your research, but which are not useful in other fields, for example clone, dissect, isotype, infuse. Also try: all (of) (the) tests is/are commercially available both (of) (the) samples was/were acquired (from/by) each (of) (the) trials was/were carried out many (of) (the) experiments was/were chosen most (of) (the) equipment was/were conducted the majority(of) (the) chemicals was/were collected (the) models was/were devised (the) instruments was/were found in (the) materials was/were generated (by) was/were modified was/were obtained (from/by) 78 Science Research Writing was/were performed (by/in) was/were provided (by) was/were purchased (from) was/were supplied (by) was/were used as supplied was/were investigated Here are some examples of how these are used: • The impact tests used in this work were a modified version of... • All reactions were performed in a 27 ml glass reactor... • All cell lines were generated as previously described in... • In the majority of the tests, buffers with a pH of 8 were used in order to... • Both experiments were performed in a greenhouse so that... • The substrate was obtained from the Mushroom Research Centre... • SSCE glass structures were used in this study to perform... • The cylindrical lens was obtained from Newport USA and is shown in Fig. 3. • The material investigated was a standard aluminium alloy; all melts were modified with sodium. • Topographical examination was carried out using a 3-D stylus instrument. • The experiments were conducted at a temperature of 0.5°C. 2. SUPPLY ESSENTIAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION As well as describing standard procedures and techniques you may need to describe the equipment/apparatus or instrument you used or constructed. In order to do this accurately you need good control over the language of spatial location. Make sure you know how to use the words/phrases below. If you are not sure, write down the dictionary definition and use a concordance sampler (which you can find on the Internet) to see how they are used. Methodology - Vocabulary 79 opposite facing out of range (of) within range (of) below under underneath above over on top (of) parallel (to/with) perpendicular (to) adjacent (to) on the right/left to the right/left (to) bisect (to) converge (to) intersect near side/end far side/end side edge tip end downstream (of) upstream (of) boundary margin border on the front/back at the front/back in the front/back in front (of) higher/lower upper/lower inner/outer horizontal vertical lateral circular rectangular conical equidistant equally spaced on either side on both sides on each side is placed is situated is located occupies is mounted (on) is coupled (onto) is fastened (to) is positioned is aligned (with) is connected (to) is fixed (to) is embedded extends is surrounded (by) is fitted (with) is encased (in) is attached to is covered with/by is joined (to) Here are some examples of how these are used: • Porosity was measured at the near end and at the far end of the polished surface. • The compression axis is aligned with the rolling direction... • The source light was polarised horizontally and the sample beam can be scanned laterally. • The mirrors are positioned near the focal plane. • Electrodes comprised a 4 mm diam disk of substrate material embedded in a Teflon disk of 15 mm diam. 80 Science Research Writing • The intercooler was mounted on top of the engine... • The concentration of barium decreases towards the edge... • Similar loads were applied to the front and side of the box... • A laminar flow element was located downstream of the test section of the wind tunnel... In which sentence(s) below was the table closest to the wall? The table was placed against the wall. The table was placed next to the wall. The table was placed flush with the wall. The table was placed in contact with the wall. The table was placed right against the wall. The table was placed alongside the wall. In which sentence(s) below was the clock closest to the door? The clock was located just above the door. The clock was located slightly above the door. The clock was located immediately above the door. The clock was located directly above the door. The clock was located right above the door. Note that half as wide (as) - half the width (of); half as heavy (as) - half the weight (of); twice as long (as) - twice the length (of) and twice as strong (as) - twice the strength (of). Also note that with/having a weight of 20 kg -weighing 20 kg and with/having a width/length of 20 cm - 20 cm wide/long. 3. PROVIDE SPECIFIC AND PRECISE DETAILS ABOUT MATERIALS AND METHODS These verbs fall into three categories: the first includes general verbs used in academic research, such as attempt, consider, conduct, determine, investigate, report, suggest, verify, and these can be found in the Introduction vocabulary list (Section 1.4). The second category contains technical verbs which are specific to your field and your research, but which are not useful Methodology - Vocabulary 81 in other fields, for example anneal, calibrate, centrifuge, dissect, fertilise, ionise, infuse. These will not be given here because they are not generally useful. The third category is a set of less technical verbs that specify what was done or used, such as calculate, extract, isolate, formulate, incorporate, modify, plot, simulate. These usually occur in the passive (was/were isolated) and can be found in the vocabulary list below. was adapted was divided was operated was added was eliminated was optimised was adopted was employed was plotted was adjusted was estimated was positioned was applied was exposed was prepared was arranged was extracted was quantified was assembled was filtered was recorded was assumed was formulated was regulated was attached was generated was removed was calculated was immersed was repeated was calibrated was inhibited was restricted was carried out was incorporated was retained was characterised was included was sampled was collected was inserted was scored was combined was installed was selected was computed was inverted was separated was consolidated was isolated was simulated was constructed was located was stabilised was controlled was maintained was substituted was converted was maximised was tracked was created was measured was transferred was designed was minimised was treated was derived was modified was varied was discarded was normalised was utilised was distributed was obtained 82 Science Research Writing 4. JUSTIFY CHOICES MADE because* provide a way of (+ -ing) by doing..., we were able to selected on the basis of... chosen for (+ noun) so as to (+ infinitive) chosen to (+ infinitive) so/such that for the purpose of (+ -ing or so (+ -ing) noun)** thereby (+ -ing) for the sake of (+ -ing or noun) therefore* in an attempt to (+ infinitive) thus (+ -ing) in order to (+ infinitive) to (+ infinitive) it was possible to (+ infinitive) to take advantage of offer a means of (+ -ing) which/this allows/allowed etc. one way to avoid... with the intention of (+ -ing) our aim was to (+ infinitive) *See Section 1.2.2 for other examples of signalling language **See box below for infinitives, -ing forms and noun forms of useful verbs. 0 indicates that a noun form is not available or is not common in this type of structure INFINITIVE -ING FORM NOUN FORM achieve achieving achievement allow allowing 0 assess assessing assessment avoid avoiding avoidance compensate for compensating for compensation for confirm confirming confirmation determine determining determination enable enabling 0 enhance enhancing enhancement ensure ensuring 0 establish establishing establishment facilitate facilitating facilitation Methodology - Vocabulary 83 guarantee guaranteeing guarantee identify identifying identification improve improving improvement include including inclusion increase increasing increase limit limiting limitation minimise minimising 0 obtain obtaining 0 overcome overcoming 0 permit permitting 0 prevent preventing prevention provide providing provision reduce reducing reduction remove removing removal validate validating validation Here are some examples of how these are used: • To validate the results from the metroscale model, samples were collected from all groups. • The method of false nearest neighbours was selected in order to determine the embedding dimension. • For the sake of simplicity only a single value was analysed. • By partitioning the array all the multipaths could be identified. • Zinc oxide was drawn into the laminate with the intention of enhancing delaminations and cracks. • The advantage of using three-dimensional analysis was that the out-of-plane stress field could be obtained. • Because FITC was used for both probes, enumeration was carried out using two different slides. • The LVDTs were unrestrained, so allowing the sample to move freely. • The cylinder was constructed from steel, which avoided problems of water absorption. 84 Science Research Writing 5. INDICATE THAT APPROPRIATE CARE WAS TAKEN Most of the items in the box below are in adverb form, but they also occur in adjective form (e.g. accurate). accurately every/each immediately rigorously always exactly independently separately appropriately entirely individually smoothly at least firmly never successfully both/all frequently only suitably carefully freshly precisely tightly completely fully randomly thoroughly constantly gently rapidly uniformly correctly good reliably vigorously directly identical repeatedly well Here are some examples of how these are used: • A mechanical fixture was employed to hold the sonic horn firmly in place. • After being removed, the mouse lungs were frozen and thawed at least three times. • The specimen was monitored constantly for a period af 24 hours. • They were then placed on ice for immediate FACS analysis. • Frequent transducer readings were taken to update the stress conditions smoothly. • The samples were slowly and carefully sheared to failure. 6. RELATE MATERIALS/METHODS TO OTHER STUDIES There are three ways in which you might want to relate your materials/ methods to those used in other studies. Option 1: The procedure/material you used is exactly the same as the one you cite. Methodology - Vocabulary 85 according to as reported by/in given by/in as described by/in* as reported previously identical to as explained by/in as suggested by/in in accordance with as in can be found in the same as that of/in as proposed by/in details are given in using the method of/in *by and of are usually followed by the name of the researcher or research team {by Ross or using the method of Ross et al.) and in is usually followed by the work {in Ross et al. (2003)). Another option is simply to give the research reference at the appropriate place in the sentence, either in brackets or using a superscript number. Option 2: The procedure/material you used is similar to the one you cite. a (modified) version of (very) similar (to) adapt adapted from almost the same (to) adjust based in part/partly on essentially the same (to) alter based on largely the same (to) change essentially identical practically the same (to) modify in line with virtually the same (to) refine in principle with some adjustments (to) revise in essence with some alterations (to) vary more or less identical with some changes slightly modified with some modifications Option 3: The procedure/material you used is significantly different from the one you cite. a novel step was... although in many ways similar (to) adapt* adapted from* although in some ways similar (to) adjust* based on* although in essence similar (to) alter* in line with (to) change* 86 Science Research Writing loosely based on with the following (to) refine* partially based on modifications/changes: (to) revise partly based on* (to) vary* (to) modify* *as you can see, these can be used in Option 2 as well as Option 3. When you use them in Option 2 you may not need to state the differences between the procedure/material you used and the one you cite if they are not significant. In Option 3 those differences or modifications are significant and you should say what they were, especially if they were modifications which improved the procedure/material. Here are some examples of how these are used: • Developmental evaluation was carried out using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (Bayley, 1969). • The size of the Gaussians was adjusted as in (Krissian et al., 2000). • The centrifuge is a slightly modified commercially available model, the Beckman J6-HC. • The protein was overexpressed and purified as reported previously.10'12 • A revised version of the Structured Clinical Interview (4th edition)6 was used. • We modified the Du and Parker filter to address these shortcomings and we refer to this modified filter as the MaxCurve filter. • In our implementation we followed Sato et al. (1998) by using a discrete kernel size. 7. INDICATE WHERE PROBLEMS OCCURRED minimise minimise maximise problem responsibility good aspects did not align precisely limited by acceptable only approximate inevitably fairly well Methodology - Vocabulary 87 it is recognised that necessarily quite good less than ideal impractical reasonably robust not perfect as far as possible however* not identical (it was) hard to nevertheless* slightly problematic (it was) difficult to rather time-consuming unavoidable talk about a solution minor deficit impossible future work should... slightly disappointing not possible future work will.. .* negligible currently in progress unimportant currently underway immaterial a preliminary attempt not significant *There is an interesting difference between the phrase future work should and the phrase future work will. When you write future work should you are suggesting a direction for future work and inviting the research community in your field to take up the challenge and produce the research. When you write future work will you are communicating your own plans and intentions to the research community and it should be understood that these plans and intentions belong to you — you're saying 'hands off!' to the rest of the research community and describing a research plan of your own Here are some examples of how these are used: • Inevitably, considerable computation was involved. • Only a brief observation was feasible, however, given the number in the sample. • Although centrifugation could not remove all the excess solid drug, the amount remaining was negligible. • Solutions using (q= 1) differed slightly from the analytical solutions. • Continuing research will examine a string of dc-dc converters to determine if the predicted efficiencies can be achieved in practice. • While the anode layer was slightly thicker than 13 |im, this was a minor deficit.