英文论文写作指南

The Most Common Habits from more than 200 English Papers written byGraduate Chinese Engineering Students—By Felicia Brittman

This paper presents some of the most common Chinese-English habits observed from over two hundred English technical papers by Chinese writers. The habits are explained and in most cases, example text from an actual paper is given along with preferred text. An attempt is made to explain how to correct and prevent such mistakes. In some cases a possible explanation of why the habit occurs is also given. This paper can serve as an individual guide to editing technical papers especially when a native English-speaking editor is unavailable.

本文介绍了从200多篇中国作家的英文技术论文中观察到的一些最常见的汉英习惯。习惯解释，在大多数情况下，从实际论文的例子文本和首选文本一起给出。本文试图解释如何纠正和防止这类错误。在某些情况下，对这种习惯发生的原因也给出了可能的解释。这篇论文可以作为编辑技术论文的个人指南，特别是在没有英语母语编辑的情况下。

Introduction

Most Chinese universities require their doctoral and master candidates in technical and scientific fields to publish at least one English paper in an international journal as a degree requirement. However, many factors make this task difficult to accomplish. First, previous English studies may not have focused enough on writing, let alone technical writing.Current studies may not include English, causing the writers English fluency level to decline. Second, most writers have never lived in an Englishspeaking country. Third, due to the special aspects of technical writing, even native English-speaking engineering students have a technical writing course as part of their study.

大多数中国高校要求其技术和科学领域的博士和硕士候选人在国际期刊上发表至少一篇英文论文作为学位要求。然而，许多因素使这项任务难以完成。首先，以前的英语学习可能没有足够关注写作，更不用说技术写作了。目前的研究可能不包括英语，导致作者的英语流利程度下降。其次，大多数作家从未在英语国家生活过。第三，由于技术写作的特殊性，即使是母语为英语的工程专业学生也有技术写作课程作为他们学习的一部分。

Too often, students’ papers are returned unaccepted because of poor English. If available, students may have their papers edited by a native English speaker. However, this can get expensive for a department that has many students with each paper typically needing to be edited twice. Hiring someone to edit papers is difficult, costly and only puts a patch over the problem. A native English speaker can do a good job at getting rid of most of the grammatical mistakes. However, if this person does not have a technical background, particularly in the area of the papers he is editing, he is unable to get rid of all of the mistakes and make sure that the meaning is clear. He cannot recognize the incorrect translation of technical terms for which there is a standard word. Such mistakes will not be picked up by the processor’s spelling and grammar checker. In addition, if they are not familiar with the topic or field, they may not grasp the meaning of the entire article and fail to make critical edits.

很多时候，学生的论文因为英语不好而被退回。如果条件允许，学生可以让以英语为母语的人编辑他们的论文。然而，对于一个有很多学生的院系来说，这可能会很昂贵，每篇论文通常需要编辑两次。雇人编辑论文是困难的，昂贵的，而且只是解决问题的一个补丁。以英语为母语的人可以很好地消除大多数语法错误。然而，如果这个人没有技术背景，特别是在他正在编辑的论文领域，他就无法消除所有的错误，并确保意思清楚。他不能识别有标准词的专业术语的错误翻译。这样的错误不会被处理器的拼写和语法检查器发现。此外，如果他们不熟悉主题或领域，他们可能无法掌握整篇文章的含义，无法进行批判性编辑。

Hiring a person with a technical background similar to that of the papers being edited is a better option. Nevertheless, while a person with a technical background may be able to edit the paper sufficiently, he may not be able to explain to the writer how to prevent such mistakes in the future. Besides, it is difficult for most Chinese universities to hire such staff simply for editing. Universities may consider inviting a visiting scholar who will edit papers in addition to doing research or teaching as part of an exchange.

聘请具有与被编辑论文相似的技术背景的人是一个更好的选择。然而，虽然一个有技术背景的人可能能够充分地编辑论文，但他可能无法向作者解释如何防止将来出现这样的错误。此外，对于大多数中国大学来说，仅仅为了编辑而雇佣这样的员工是很困难的。大学可以考虑邀请一名访问学者，作为交流的一部分，他除了做研究或教学外，还会编辑论文。

Although editing may be the fastest way to publish papers, it does little in the way of teaching the writers how to prevent common mistakes and colloquial habits that prevent a clear understanding of the writer’s ideas. Writers who have already obtained an impressing command of the English language can only truly benefit if they are made aware of their common mistakes and colloquial habits and how to prevent them.

虽然编辑可能是发表论文最快的方式，但它在教会作者如何避免常见错误和口语化习惯方面做得很少，这些错误和口语化习惯阻碍了对作者思想的清晰理解。已经熟练掌握英语的作家只有了解自己的常见错误和口语习惯，并知道如何避免，才能真正受益。

Purpose

The purpose of this report is to introduce the most common habits in Chinese English writing as noted from the over two hundred papers I have edited.The habits include grammar mistakes, colloquialisms, and formatting problems and in most cases prevent a clear understanding of the writer’s ideas. A few of the habits, such as writing extremely long sentences, can be corrected with careful use of the MS Word grammar and style checker. However, most habits, such as missing articles, go unnoticed by automatic grammar checking devices. Still, Chinese-English colloquial habits are not recognized by such software tools.

这篇报告的目的是介绍我编辑过的两百多篇论文中最常见的中英文写作习惯。这些习惯包括语法错误、口语化和格式问题，在大多数情况下，它们阻碍了对作者思想的清晰理解。一些习惯，比如写非常长的句子，可以通过仔细使用MS Word语法和风格检查器来纠正。然而，大多数习惯，比如遗漏冠词，都不会被自动语法检查设备注意到。然而，这些软件工具无法识别汉英口语习惯。

Structure

The common habits are presented in two sections. The first section lists the habits that, in my opinion, need the most attention. These habits interrupt the flow of the paper making it difficult to understand and occur most frequently. In this section, the habits are explained, example sentences from actual papers are given to show the habits, and the sentences are rewritten to show the correct way to write them. In the case of missing articles, a flow chart is also given to aid in choosing the correct articles.

常见的习惯分为两部分。第一部分列出了我认为最需要注意的习惯。这些习惯会打断文章的流畅性，使其难以理解，并且经常发生。在这一部分中，习惯被解释，从实际论文中给出例句来展示习惯，并且句子被改写以展示正确的写法。在缺少文章的情况下，还会给出流程图来帮助选择正确的文章。

In the second section, an additional list of habits is given. In some cases, example sentences are given. In other cases, advice is given. The second section is very useful in becoming familiar with small nuances.

在第二部分，给出了一个额外的习惯列表。在某些情况下，给出了例句。在其他情况下，会给出建议。第二部分对于熟悉细微差别非常有用。

Not all of the common habits I observed are presented mainly because they can only be dealt with on an individual basis. For example, writers had difficulty titling their papers and naming new technical ideas to express their contents and functions concisely. This problem frequently occurred but it can only be addressed individually. Once writers are aware of their habits, they would be able to write better technical English articles.

并不是所有我观察到的常见习惯都在这里，主要是因为它们只能在个人的基础上处理。例如，作者很难为他们的论文命名和命名新的技术思想，以简洁地表达他们的内容和功能。这个问题经常发生，但它只能单独解决。一旦作者意识到自己的习惯，他们就能写出更好的技术英语文章。

Section 1

“a, an, the”

The single most common habit is the omission of articles a, an, and the. This occurs because Mandarin has no direct equivalent of articles and the rules for using them are somewhat complicated for a non-native speakers.

Articles signal that a noun will follow and that any modifiers between the article and the noun refer to that noun (a big blue bicycle/ the first award). A and an are indefinite articles; the is a definite article. Every time a singular noncount noun, a common noun that names one countable item, is used the noun requires some kind of determiner.

最常见的一个习惯是省略冠词a、an和The。这是因为汉语中没有冠词的直接对应词，而且对于非母语人士来说，冠词的使用规则有些复杂。

冠词表示后面跟着一个名词，冠词和名词之间的修饰语都指的是那个名词(a big blue bicycle/ the first award)。A和an是不定冠词；the是定冠词。当面对单数不可数名词、可数名词的时候，就需要类似的冠词作为限定词。

Mistake: The, a, and an are 1) omitted where they are required, 2) used where they are not needed or contribute to wordiness 3) used wrongly in place of the correct article.

常见错误：1.不该省略冠词的时候省略；2.不需要用冠词的时候用了；3.用错冠词了。

Definitions:

Articles—Also called determiners or noun markers, articles are the words a, an, and the. A and an are indefinite articles, and the is a definite article. Articles signal that a noun will follow and that any modifiers between the article and the noun refer to that noun. ( a cold , metal chair/ the lightning-fast computer).

Determiners—A word or word group, traditionally identified as an adjective, that limits a noun by telling how much or how many about it. (expression of quantity, limiting adjective, marker) They tell whether a noun is general (a tree) or specific (the tree). The is a definite article. Before a noun, the conveys that the known refers to a specific item(the plan). A and an are indefinite articles. They convey that a noun refers to an item in a nonspecific or general way (a plan).

Common nouns	A noun that names a general group, place, person, or thing: dog,house.
Count noun	A noun that names an item or items that can be counted: radio,streets, idea, fingernails.
Noncount nouns	A noun that names a thing that cannot be counted: water, time.
Specific noun	A noun understood to be exactly and specifically referred to; uses the definite article the.
Nonspecific noun	A noun that refers to any of a number of identical items; it takes the indefinite articles a , an.

下面给出相关定义：

• 冠词：正如前面提到，a 和an是不定冠词；the 是定冠词。冠词后面是名词，名词的任何一个修辞词应该位于冠词和名词之间。
• 限定词：通常由一个词或者词组组成，可以“看成”形容词。通过限定词可以表示名词是泛指还是特指。例如The tree，强调树是特别所指的，是特定的；a tree表示一般意义上的树，不具特别的意义。
• 普通名词：人或事物的总类的名词，例如dog、house。
• 可数名词：顾名思义，可以计数的名词。例如radio、streets、idea、fingernails
• 不可数名词：无法计数的名词。例如water、time。

Very long sentences

Very long sentences are especially common in Chinese-English writing because the writers often translate directly from Chinese to English. Although, in Chinese writing it is acceptable to put several supporting ideas in on sentence to show their relationship,in English, the main idea and each supporting idea is typically written in separate sentences.

One can usually recognize a very long sentence by its length – sixty words or more. However, sentences of smaller lengths can also be too long if they contain multiple statements that confuse the main idea. Long sentences can be avoided by limiting each sentence to one or two topics. Semicolons should be used where the writer really wants to emphasize the relationship between ideas.

在中国学生特别喜欢写长句子。原因可能是先写成中文，然后翻译成英文。因为在中文写作中，一个句子表达几个论据，非常有说服力。但在英文中，主要的论点和每一个论据一般都放在单独的句子中。

识别冗长句非常简单，直接看句子长度就可以：超过60个单词。另外，如果一个句子包含很多内容，而且论点变得不清晰了，那么即使句子的单词不多，它也是长句。通过限定每一个句子只讲述一到两个话题，可以避免文章出现过长的句子。如果作者真的想强调论据之间的关系应该通过分号隔开。

Another type of super-long sentence that frequently occurs in technical papers is that of a list. The writer wants to give a large amount of data, usually parameter values,and puts this information into one long, paragraph-sized sentence. However, the best way to give such type and quantity of information is to tabulate it (put it in a bulleted list).

在技术论文中，还会经常因为列举而出现超长句。出现这种情况是作者想提供大量的数据，一般都是参数值。包含这些信息的句子，甚至都能够成为一个段落。解决办法是用列表的形式。

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Prefacing the main idea of a sentence by stating the purpose,location or reason first

首先说明目的、位置或原因引导主旨句

Chinese writers often preface the main topic of a sentence by first stating the purpose, location, reason, examples and conditions as introductory elements. However, this has the effect of demoting the importance of the main idea and making the reader think the author is indirect. Bring the main idea to the beginning of the sentence stating any locations, reasons, etc., afterwards.

中国学生通常不把主要观点放在句子开头，而是把写作目的、地点、原因、事例或现状放在主题句，作为引言。但是这将削弱主要观点的重要性，使得读者认为作者没有直接切题。因此，主要的观点一定要将其放在句子的最开始部分，其后再陈述地点、原因等。

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Tendency of placing phrases which indicate time at the beginning of a sentence

喜欢把表示时间的短语放在句首

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Place the most important subject at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis

把最重要的主语放在句子的开头来强调

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“which/ that”

The antecedent (noun or pronoun) to which which refers is not specific, causing confusion.
Antecedent—The noun or pronoun to which a pronoun refers.

which所指的先行词（名词或代词）不明确，引起混淆。
先行词：代词所指的名词或代词

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‘Respectively’ and ‘respective’

Respectively refers back to two or more persons or things only in the order they were previously designated or mentioned. If two lists are given, respectively pairs the list entries according to the order in which they are given. In this case the use of respectively is to allow the writer to give a lot of information without confusing the reader or writing several short sentences. Respectively is usually at the end of the sentence. In both cases, mentioning the order must be important to the meaning of the sentence otherwise it is not used.

Respectively指的是两个或两个以上的人或事物，且只能按照先前被指定或提到的顺序。在使用respectively时，作者可以同时给出大量信息而不会让读者感到费解，Respectively一般用在句末。无论什么情况，要用到respectively就表明信息被提及的顺序对于句子意思的表达很重要，否则就别用它。

Respective to two or more persons or things only in the order they were previously designated or mentioned.

Respective是提及两个以上的人或者事物，并严格按照它们原来提及的顺序。

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‘In this paper’, ‘in this study’

Two errors occur when these phrases are used. The first is overuse. In some papers written by Chinese, these phrases can occur as much as twice per page. In papers written by native English writers these phrases are reserved for primarily two uses

1. In the introduction and conclusion to emphasize the content of the paper.
2. In the body of the paper, after referring to work not done by the author such as in other journal articles or in standard.

Therefore, if either phrase occurs more than three times in a paper, its use is questionable.Actually, the reader is aware that the work presented is by the author (unless the author states otherwise) so there is no reason to repeat these phrases.

中国学者在写英文论文的时候，恨不得每一页出现两次以上的“‘In this paper’和‘in this study’。以英文为母语的作者，通常只会在两种情况下，使用该短语：

1. 在引言和结论中强调文章的主体内容。
2. 在正文中，指出“前人”的不足，然后引出自己的工作。

所以，如果一篇英文论文中，出现三次以上短语，那么就有问题了。事实上，读者完全明白文章所展示的工作是由作者完成的，所以没有必要大量重复该短语。

The second error is more subtle. The two phrases are interchanged.
第二个错误更为微妙。这两个短语是互换的。

The ‘study’ is the work the author/s did. The paper is the mode to present this work and is what the reader is holding/ reading. Keep in mind the writer can also use other phrases such as ‘in this research’, and ‘this paper present’.

study是作者所做的工作，paper则是作者陈述自己工作的方式。给出两个类似的短语：in this research、this paper present。

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Numbers and Equations

Two very common errors are those concerning the presentation of Arabic numerals, and equations. Chinese writers usually write Arabic numerals instead of spelling out the word.The use of Arabic numerals, itself, is not an error however; they should never be used at the beginning of sentences.

数字和方程式两个非常常见的错误是关于阿拉伯数字和方程式的表示。中国作家通常写阿拉伯数字，而不是拼写这个单词。然而，使用阿拉伯数字本身并不是错误；它们不应该用在句子的开头。

In addition, Arabic numerals are overused. Arabic numerals should be used to give data in technical papers, however they should not be used to give general information.

此外，阿拉伯数字被过度使用。技术论文中应使用阿拉伯数字提供数据，但不应使用阿拉伯数字提供一般信息。

This probably stems from the fact that Mandarin is a symbolic language and not alphabetic. Thus, the writer will find it easier to write a symbol that expresses the idea instead of the word. This problem is even more serious when equations are used in place of words in a way that is not practiced by native English speakers. Consider the following examples.

这可能是因为普通话是一种符号语言，而不是字母语言。因此，写作者会发现用一个符号来表达思想比用文字来表达更容易。当以一种母语为英语的人不习惯的方式用方程来代替单词时，这个问题就更加严重了。考虑下面的例子。

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Equations should be introduced as much as possible, not inserted in place of words. Most journals, like the International Journal of Production Research, discourage the use of even short expressions within the text.

方程应该尽可能多使用，但是不能插入到句中代替文字表达。有些期刊，例如InternationalJournal of Production Research 期刊不鼓励在正文中使用方程表达式，即使很短的表达式也不不能用。

Format

Paragraphs

A paragraph is a group of sentences that develop one topic or thought.
段落是一组句子，用来发展一个主题或思想。

Paragraphs are separated to indicate the end of one idea or thought and the beginning of another. All English paragraphs start on a new line with an indent of about one inch or with an extra line between the two paragraphs. The latter is more typical for business writing.

段落是分开的，表示一个想法或想法的结束和另一个想法或想法的开始。所有英语段落都从另起一行开始，缩进约一英寸或用一条线把两段隔开。

Chinese students are often puzzled by separating paragraphs; the may perform one of two error. One error occurs when the writer fails to distinguish between two
paragraphs. Although the new paragraph starts on a new line, there is no indentation, therefore, the reader in is not aware of the change in paragraphs or ideas. The second error occurs when a paragraph is preceded by a single sentence on a single line. The single line is indented along with the succeeding paragraph as in example #. This commonly occurs in Chinese texts but is never done in English.

避免两类错误：第一，不能很好的分段。虽然对新段落另起一行，但是没有缩进，读者无法把握段落已经切换到下一段，或者没有意识文章到了另一个主题了。第二，一个段落之前，在单独的一行上有一个单独的句子。这一行与后面的段落一起缩进。这在中文写作中很常见，但是英文却不这样。

‘Figure’ and ‘Table’

The abbreviations for figure and table are Fig. and Tbl, respectively. However,
the abbreviation of table is rarely seen in text. One can also write fig. for figure. However,one should choose one convention and use it throughout the paper. You should not switch between, Figure, figure, Fig, or fig. In addition, abbreviations are not used at the beginning of sentences and a space belongs between the word/ abbreviation and the number.

Figure和Table的缩写分别是Fig.和Tbl，其中table的缩写很少见。可以用fig.作为figure的缩写，如果决定使用某种缩写，那么在整篇文章中，只能用这一种缩写方式，不能在Figure, figure, Fig, 或 fig之间切换使用。此外，句首不能使用缩写形式，单词/缩写和数字之间要用空格。

Variables

Variables, especially those of the English alphabet, should be italicized in
technical papers to distinguish them from English words. Of course, this depends on the style required by the journal.

变量，特别是英文字母表中的变量，应该在技术论文中用斜体表示，以区别于英语单词。当然，这取决于期刊所要求的风格。

Capitals

Be careful that capitals are not in the middle of the sentence.

注意大写字母不要出现在句子中间。

‘such as’ and ‘etc.’

Such as and etc. are commonly misused by Chinese-English writers. Such as
means ‘for example’ and implies that an incomplete list will follow; etc. means ‘and so on’ and is used at the end of a list to show it is not complete. Therefore, using such as and etc. together is redundant.

Such as是例如（for example）的意思，是指不完全列举，etc.是和and so on的意思相同，是指等等，用在列举的末尾表示列举还没有完。如果在一个句子中用到两个短语，就非常难受。

Such as means that an incomplete list will be given and should not be used when a complete list is given.

此外，such as意味着将给出不完整的列表，并且在给出完整的列表时不应使用。

Section 2

1. Some words have identical singular and plural forms and do not need an s added on to make them plural. These words include:

• literature (when referring to research)
• equipment,
• staff (referring to a group of people)
• faculty

有些单词单数和复数相同，不需要在后面加上s就可以成为复数，包括：

• literature (当表达研究时候)
• equipment,
• staff (当表达一组人的时候)
• faculty

2. Avoid redundancy in the following types of phrases frequently used by Chinese English writers
   有些词可以避免冗余：
   
3. Certain words demand that the noun they modify is plural. These include different,various, and number words.
   某些词要求它们所修饰的名词是复数。这些词包括这些词包括different, various和数字：
   
4. Never begin an English sentence with abbreviations and Arabic numerals such as Fig. and 8. Instead write Figure and Eight.
   英语句子切勿以缩写和阿拉伯数字开头，如 Fig. and 8。而写Figure and Eight。
5. Do not write ‘by this way’. Instead write ‘by doing this’, or ‘using this method’.
   不要写成by this way，而是写成 by doing this 或者 using this method.
6. Never write ‘How to…’ at the beginning of a sentence. (Don’t say it ither.)
   千万不能在句首写 ‘how to’，口语说的时候也别这样表达。
7. Do write ‘the results are shown in Figure 2’. Do not write ‘the results are showed as Figure 2’.
   不要写成‘the results are shown in Figure 2’，而要写成’the results are showed as Figure 2’。
8. Italicize variables appearing in the text to differentiate them from words. This is especially important when the variables are English alphabets. Write ‘The graph shows t,a, and C as a function of time’. Do not write ‘The graph shows t, a, and C as a function of time’.
   将文本中出现的变量用斜体表示，以区别于单词。当变量是英文字母时，这一点尤其重要。
9. Refrain from using the word obviously in a technical paper in the following way
   避免在技术论文中以下列方式使用 obviously 这个词
10. International papers should not use location dependant terms such as ‘at home’,‘abroad’, ‘here’, ‘our country’ because the reader most likely is not Chinese and not in China. Instead, write ‘in China’.
    国际期刊论文不能使用有地点依存性的词。例如‘at home’，‘abroad’，‘here’，‘our country’，因为读者很可能不是中国人，也不在中国，应该写‘in China’。
11. Avoid overusing the phrases ‘that is to say’ and ‘namely’. Instead, try to convey your meaning in one sentence.
    避免过度使用‘that is to say’和‘namely’这两个短语。相反，试着用一句话来表达你的意思。
12. Do not use ‘too’ at the end of a written sentence, especially in a technical paper.
    不要在书面句子的末尾使用“Too”，尤其是在技术论文中。

最后，附上a、an以及the的用法：

相关资料整理：

• 提高英文科研写作能力
• 导师“防秃”指南：审了200篇「中式英语」论文，你应该这样写！
• 不定期更新的论文写作注意事项
• The Most Common Habits from more than 200 English Papers（中国学生写英语论文中最常见的错误）
• 中国工科生常见英文写作问题总结

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