One of the most distinctive features of scientific prose is its extensive vocabulary. Scientific terms are divided into two categories: general scientific terms and special scientific words. The former refer to technical objects or subjects and make up 90% of the vocabulary. General scientific terms refer to concepts or ideas that are not easily understood or defined in ordinary speech. The former include terms such as "air" and "fire," which are ordinary words that carry information about different fields of science.
The main function of the scientific style is to describe, not to discuss. During this process, verbs take the passive position and the noun takes the active one. The result is a massive number of verbs in the lexicon, with a half-empty semantics. A common example of this is the verb "expresses," which is no longer used by itself. Instead, the word is paired with a noun.
In contrast to popular texts, scientific prose has a narrow audience. Unlike fiction or nonfiction, popular science is intended for general audiences, and its accuracy of facts is lower than that of other sub-styles. For instance, in popular science, a scientific text may include entertaining or unproven hypotheses, essay writer will still include the necessary facts to explain the topic, but he will also consider whether the reader will find the information entertaining or informative.
The style of scientific prose varies in different sub-styles, but there are some common features. Among the features of the scientific sub-style include the logical coherence of ideas, the use of analogy to support indirect ideas, and the use of metaphors and the epithesaurus. This style of writing is considered impersonal. And it's often a little cryptic. However, this is not to say that scientists don't feel emotion or empathy when writing scientific material.
Besides formal language, scientists also use references and quotations in their prose. References typically take up half a page and have a distinct compositional pattern. They include the author's name, the title of the work quoted, the publishing house, the date of publication, and the page number of the excerpt quoted. References should be arranged according to the Boston University System, an internationally recognized style of bibliographic records. In the case of multiple works by the same author, they are arranged chronologically.
The first sentence of an abstract is critical in helping readers decide if they want to read the rest of the document. The abstract should give context to the study. It should briefly summarize the larger scientific questions or issues, as well as its purpose. The purpose of the study should be clearly stated in one or two sentences, which can be done in many ways. It should also be clear that the audience will understand what the study is all about.
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