186 Science Research Writing • What type of information should be in this section, and in what order? • How do I end this section? 4.4 Vocabulary In order to complete the information you need to write this section of your paper you now need to find appropriate vocabulary for each part of the model. The vocabulary in this section is taken from over 600 research articles in different fields, all of which were written by native speakers and published in science journals. Only words/phrases which appear frequently have been included; this means that the vocabulary lists contain words and phrases which are considered normal and acceptable by both writers and editors. In the next section we will look at vocabulary for the following areas of the model, apart from: 1. REVISITING PREVIOUS SECTIONS 2. SUMMARISING/REVISITING KEY RESULTS 3. REFINING THE IMPLICATION/S Since most of the vocabulary you need for these can be found in previous sections, there is no need here for additional vocabulary input; you can refer back to the vocabulary sections in the units on Introductions, Materials/ Methods and Results to find the appropriate language. When you are REFINING THE IMPLICATIONS, use the appropriate language from the IMPLICATIONS vocabulary in the Results section and avoid conclusions and implications which are not fully supported by your data. 4. MAPPING (RELATIONSHIP TO EXISTING RESEARCH) This includes ways to show the reader where your contribution fits into the general research picture. Phrases like consistent with and provides support for are common here. 5. ACHIEVEMENT/CONTRIBUTION Your achievement/contribution is often stated in the Present Perfect, especially when you refer to it in the Conclusion. Sentences which begin We have demonstrated/described/investigated/developed/shown/studied/ focused on etc. are common here. Discussion/Conclusion - Vocabulary 187 6. LIMITATIONS/CURRENT AND FUTURE WORK These often occur very close to each other (sometimes even in the same sentence) because the limitations of the present work provide directions and suggestions for future work. Vocabulary to describe LIMITATIONS can be found in previous sections; vocabulary for FUTURE WORK includes phrases such as should be replicated and further work is needed. 7. APPLICATIONS Your work may not have any direct or even indirect applications, but if it does, they are mentioned here. Relevant phrases include have potential and may eventually lead to. Including APPLICATIONS lets you show the value of your work beyond the narrow aims of your specific research questions. Both APPLICATIONS and FUTURE WORK provide an interface between your research article and the rest of the world and are therefore conventional ways of ending the research article. 4.4.1 Vocabulary task Look through the Discussions/Conclusions in this unit and in your target articles. Underline or highlight all 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 following pages. This includes all the 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. 4.4.2 Vocabulary for the Discussion/Conclusion 1. REVISITING PREVIOUS SECTIONS 2. SUMMARISING/REVISITING KEY RESULTS 3. REFINING THE IMPLICATIONS When you revisit these sections, don't change the words in the sentences unnecessarily; your aim is to create an 'echo' that will remind the reader of what you said before, so repeating the same words and phrases is advantageous. If you begin by revisiting the Materials/Methods or the Introduction, you will probably also want to summarise or revisit important results in 188 Science Research Writing the Discussion/Conclusion. Your results are the key evidence in support of your conclusions, and it is helpful to keep these results clearly in your readers view. 4. MAPPING (RELATIONSHIP TO EXISTING RESEARCH) The selection of names and studies appearing in the Discussion/Conclusion is very significant to your reader; they need to be able to group research projects together and understand how your study relates to and is different from existing research. You should identify your 'product' in terms of the research 'market'. You may also compare the work/approach of other researchers with yours in order to validate your work — or discredit theirs. This/Our study/method/result/ This/Our study: approach is: broadens analogous to challenges comparable to compares well (with) compatible with confirms consistent with contradicts identical (to) corresponds to in contradiction to corroborates in contrast to differs (from) in good agreement (with) extends in line with expands significantly different (to/from) goes against the first of its kind lends support to (very/remarkably) similar (to) mirrors unlike modifies proves provides insight into provides support for refutes supports tends to refute verify Discussion/Conclusion - Vocabulary 189 Note: Don't forget that a simple comparative (e.g. stronger/more accurate/ quicker etc.) is an effective way to highlight the difference between your work and other relevant work. Here are some examples of how these are used: • To the knowledge of the authors, the data in Figs. 4-6 is the first of its kind. • The results of this simulation therefore challenge Laskay's assumption that percentage porosity increases with increasing Mg levels. • The GMD method provides results that are comparable to existing clay hydration processes. • Similar films on gold nanoparticles have also been found to be liquid-like. • Using this multi-grid solver, load information is propagated faster through the mesh. • Our results are in general agreement with previous morphometric and DNA incorporation studies in the rat [2.6]. • Our current findings expand prior work.5 • The system described in this paper is far less sensitive to vibration or mechanical path changes than previous systems. • Unlike McGowan, we did not identify 9-cis RA in the mouse lung. 5. ACHIEVEMENT/CONTRIBUTION As you know, science writing does not generally permit the use of the exclamation mark (!), but the vocabulary used to state your achievement or contribution can still communicate that the achievement is exciting. The vocabulary list has therefore been divided into two sections; the first is a list of!-substitutes, which can be used when the achievement is very exciting, and the second is a list of slightly 'cooler' — but still positive — language. (-substitutions compelling overwhelming crucial perfect dramatic powerful excellent remarkable exceptional striking exciting surprising 190 Science Research Writing extraordinary undeniable ideal unique invaluable unusual outstanding unprecedented vital Positive language accurate Useful verbs: advantage appropriate assist attractive compare well with beneficial confirm better could lead to clear enable comprehensive enhance convenient ensure convincing facilitate correct help to cost-effective improve easy is able to effective offer an understanding of efficient outperform encouraging prove evident provide a framework exact provide insight into feasible provide the first evidence flexible remove the need for important represent a new approach to low-cost reveal novel rule out productive solve realistic succeed in relevant support robust yield Discussion/Conclusion - Vocabulary 191 simple stable straightforward strong successful superior undeniable useful valid valuable Here are some examples of how these are used: • The presence of such high levels is a novel finding. • We identify dramatically different profiles in adult lungs. • Our results provide compelling evidence that this facilitated infection. • These preliminary results demonstrate the feasibility of using hologram-based RI detectors. • Our data rule out the possibility that this behaviour was a result of neurological abnormality. • The system presented here is a cost-effective detection protocol. • A straightforward analysis procedure was presented which enables the accurate prediction of column behaviour. • Our study provides the framework for future studies to assess the performance characteristics. • We have made the surprising observation that Brol-GFP focus accumulation is also pH-dependent. • We have derived exact analytic expressions for the percolation threshold. • Our results provide a clear distinction between the functions of the pathway proteins. 6. LIMITATIONS/CURRENT AND FUTURE RESEARCH You will normally outline the limitations of your own work, but this is not expressed as a problem with your work, rather it provides suggestions for 192 Science Research Writing future work. This invitation to the research community improves the status of your work by communicating that there is much research to be done in this area. Note that using will or the Present Continuous (e.g. we will integrate/we are integrating this technique with the FEM implementations) communicates your own intentions or work in progress; should is used to invite research from others (This technique should be integrated with the FEM implementations). a/the need for possible direction at present promising encouraging recommend fruitful remain to be (identified) further investigations research opportunities further work is needed should be explored further work is planned should be replicated future work/studies should should be validated future work/studies will should be verified in future, care should be taken starting point in future, it is advised that... the next stage holds promise urgent interesting worthwhile it would be beneficial/useful Here are some examples of how these are used: • Our results are encouraging and should be validated in a larger cohort of women. • However, the neural mechanisms underlying these effects remain to be determined. • This finding is promising and should be explored with other eukaryotes. • Future work should focus on the efficacy of ligands synthesised in the Long group. • An important question for future studies is to determine the antidepressant effects of such drugs. Discussion/Conclusion - Writing a Discussion/Conclusion 193 7. APPLICATIONS/APPLICABILITY/IMPLEMENTATION Research work does not always have a clear application. However, in some cases it is clear how the work can be used, particularly if your project has resulted in a device or product of some kind. In such cases, you should indicate possible applications or applicability, and in many cases this can be derived from points made earlier in the Introduction. Don't forget to use modal verbs such as could, should and may. eventually apply in future have potential soon implement possible lead to produce use utilise Here are some examples of how these are used: • Our technique can be applied to a wide range of simulation applications. • The PARSEX reactor therefore could be used for the realistic testing of a wide range of control algorithms. • It should be possible, therefore, to integrate the HOE onto a microchip. • This approach has potential in areas such as fluid density measurement. • The solution method could be applied without difficulty to irregularly-shaped slabs. • Our results mean that in dipping reservoirs, compositional gradients can now be produced very quickly. • This could eventually lead to the identification of novel biomarkers. 4.5 Writing a Discussion/Conclusion In the next task, you will bring together and use all the information in this unit. You will write a Discussion/Conclusion according to the model, using the grammar and vocabulary you have learned, so make sure that you have 194 Science Research Writing both the model (Section 4.3.3) and the vocabulary (Section 4.4) in front of you. In this unit you have seen the conventional model of the Discussion/ Conclusion and the vocabulary conventionally used has been collected. Remember that when you write, your sentence patterns should also be conventional, so use the sentence patterns you have seen in the Discussions/ Conclusions in this unit and in your target articles as models for the sentence patterns in your writing. Follow the model exactly this time, and in future, use it to check the Discussion/Conclusion of your work 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 this section. 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. 4.5.1 Write a Discussion/Conclusion Imagine that you and your team have designed a machine which can remove chewing gum from floors and pavements by treating the gum chemically to transform it into powder and then using vacuum suction to remove it. In the Introduction, you began by saying that chewing-gum removal is a significant environmental problem. You then provided factual information about the composition of chewing gum1'2 and the way in which it sticks to the floor.6 After that, you looked at existing chewing-gum removal machines3'4 and noted that research has shown they are unable to use suction to remove gum without damaging the floor surface.10 You referred to Gumbo et a/., who claimed that it was possible to use chemicals to dissolve chewing gum.5 At the end of the Introduction you announced that you and your research team had designed a chewing gum removal machine (CGRM), which you call GumGone. GumGone sprays a nontoxic chemical onto the gum which transforms it to white powder. The machine can then remove the gum using suction without damaging the floor surface. In the Methodology you described the design and construction of the machine. You compared your CGRM, GumGone, to two existing machines, Gumsucker3 and Vacu-Gum.4 You then gave details of a set of