Language for science – day 2: introducing your work part 2
Free PreviewLanguage to introduce your work is commonly used in the abstract and introduction. These words and phrases are also useful when presenting your work at conferences or discussing it with interested parties.
Which tense?
It is common for writers to use the present simple tense or the present perfect tense when discussing their work in an abstract.
Describing typical factors
| X is a hallmark of Y | A decline in mobility is a hallmark of ageing. |
| X plays a key role in Y | Parental behaviour plays a key role in levels of security. |
| X is a ubiquitous feature of Y
· Pronunciation: /juːˈbɪkwɪtəs/ |
Sand is a ubiquitous feature of the desert. |
Discussing current or previous thinking
| Existing theories/hypotheses on X centre on… | Existing hypotheses on species decline centre on loss of habitat. |
| One of the most widely invoked explanations/causes of X is Y. | One of the most widely invoked causes of climate change is deforestation. |
| The key intuition is that… | The key intuition is that the plants are pollinated by insects and animals moving through the area. |
| Despite its/their importance, little is known about… | Despite its importance, little is known about the origin of this particular subspecies. |
| Thus, it is often argued that… | Thus, it is often argued that settlers and visitors inadvertently brought invasive species with them on their clothes and footwear. |
| The significance of X has been debated for… | The significance of the relationship between these two species has been debated for many years. |
Elaborating on your methods and findings
| Expanding on a previously employed model… | Expanding on a previously employed statistical model, we aim to provide a more detailed analysis. |
| Our findings provide a framework for… | Our findings provide a framework for further investigation. |
| We provide novel/unprecedented information/data on… | We provide novel data on migration habits of these birds. |
Examples of this language in use
The extract from the article below show how some of this language can be used.
Abstract
Behavioural individuality is a hallmark of animal life, with major consequences for fitness, ecology, and evolution. One of the most widely invoked explanations for this variation is that feedback loops between an animal’s behaviour and its state (e.g. physiology, informational state, social rank, etc.) trigger and shape the development of individuality. Despite their often-cited importance, however, little is known about the ultimate causes of such feedbacks. Expanding on a previously employed model of adaptive behavioural development under uncertainty, we find that (i) behaviour-state feedbacks emerge as a direct consequence of adaptive behavioural development in particular selective environments and (ii) that the sign of these feedbacks, and thus the consequences for the development of behavioural individuality, can be directly predicted by the shape of the fitness function, with increasing fitness benefits giving rise to positive feedbacks and trait divergence and decreasing fitness benefits leading to negative feedbacks and trait convergence. Our findings provide a testable explanatory framework for the emergence of developmental feedbacks driving individuality and suggest that such feedbacks and their associated patterns of behavioural diversity are a direct consequence of adaptive behavioural development in particular selective environments.
- Introduction
Behavioural individuality is a ubiquitous feature of animal populations [1–4], and feedback loops between behaviour and state (e.g. physiology, energetic state, informational state, social rank) are considered to be one of the key factors triggering and shaping the development of individuality [5–7]. The key intuition is that, during development, differential expression of behaviour between individuals causes differences in state which, in turn, favour behavioural responses that stabilize or even increase initial behavioural differences (positive feedbacks) or result in behavioural convergence (negative feedbacks) among individuals. Thus, it is often argued that (i) in the presence of positive feedbacks, even small initial differences between individuals may give rise to long-lasting and substantially enhanced among-individual differences and (ii) in the presence of negative feedbacks, behavioural differences tend to be transitory, converging to a common value.
This extract is taken from: Ehlman Sean M., Scherer Ulrike and Wolf Max, 2022Developmental feedbacks and the emergence of individuality R. Soc. open sci. 922118. 9221189. http://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221189
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