技术写作与文档2022nature.com编辑精选
科马克·麦卡锡：如何写出优秀的科学论文
Cormac McCarthy’s tips on how to write a great science paper (2019)
导读
《自然》杂志借科马克·麦卡锡给科学家的写作建议，谈论文写作中的用词、标点与句子节奏。评论区高赞意见恰好构成对麦卡锡的反驳：技术写作追求清晰而非有趣，值得写作者分辨“文学写作”与“说明性写作”的不同规则。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
分清文体：论文、报告这类说明性写作以清楚为第一目标，不要为了“不无聊”而刻意换词。
- 02
同一个概念、方法、对象在全文中始终用同一个名称，首次出现时先定义，之后不再改用同义词。
- 03
把标点当作消歧工具而非风格装饰，尤其在长句和对话、引述中，逗号与句号决定读者能否跟上。
- 04
过渡词（然而、因此、相比之下）是给读者的路标，能提示转折和张力，不必一律删掉。
HN 评论精选
技术写作必须术语前后一致，用词多变只会造成混乱；“无聊”不是缺点。
“不要重复用同一个词，那很无聊”——这是对技术写作最糟糕的建议。想让读者明白你在说什么，就该先定义术语，然后整篇论文都沿用同一术语：不要第一次叫它“红色诺珀托克”，第二次叫“带托克的深红诺珀”。同一对象、概念、方法始终用同一个名字，否则只会制造混乱、让读者疲惫不耐。“无聊”在技术写作里不是缺点，技术写作的目的是解释和澄清，不是娱乐；创意写作是完全另一回事，把论文当短篇小说写是最大的错误。我第一轮论文就犯了这毛病，全被拒，审稿人困惑地说不知道我某个词指什么；上了学校的学术写作课才明白自己在刻意追求文学式的用词变化，改掉后反而常被夸写作清晰。
YeGoblynQueenne查看英文原文
>> And don’t use the same word repeatedly — it’s boring. This is the worst possible advice to give about technical writing! What you should absolutely do if you want your readers to know what you're talking about is a) define your terminology before you use it and b) stick to the terminology you defined throughout the entire paper. Don't call a thing "red noppertock" the first time you mention it and then "crimson nopper with a tock" the next time. Call the same object, the same concept, the same method by the same name, always. Otherwise, you will only create confusion and make your reader tired and impatient. "Boring" is not a flaw, in technical writing. The purpose of technical writing is not to entertain, but to explain and clarify. Creative writing is a completely different thing. The worst mistake you can ever make is confuse the two and treat a paper like a short story, or such. Trust me, I know. What McCarthy advises above is exactly the mistake I made in my first research papers and they all got rejected with frustrated comments by confused reviewers who pointed out they had no idea what I meant when I used a particular term. I had to take a course with an academic writing expert at my university, to realise what I was doing wrong: I was trying to add variety to my writing, just like in literary, creative writing. I stopped that as soon as I realised how wrong it was and now I actually get reviewer comments about the clarity and quality of the writing in my papers. And as _writing_ goes, it's boring as all hell, but it gets the point across without doubt. That's its purpose.
标点是消歧工具，不应为了风格而舍弃。
标点是我们抵御英语固有歧义的最好防线。麦卡锡厌恶标点是他写作中最糟的一面，弄得《血色子午线》的对话几乎没法读。恳请写作者把他的主观意见当作“正该精确使用标点”的反面论据。
driggs查看英文原文
Punctuation is our best defense against the peculiar ambiguities of the English language. Cormac McCarthy's abhorrence to using punctuation is the worst facet of his writing, and made the dialog in `Blood Meridian` practically unfollowable. I kindly urge writers to use his subjective opinion here as an argument FOR rather than against the precision application of punctuation!
过渡词是帮助读者定位逻辑走向的路标，不必刻意回避。
我不同意关于少用“however”这类过渡词的建议。这些词是有用的路标，能提示上一句描述的方法存在缺陷，或在描述问题时制造张力。也可能只是我水平不够，找不到别的写法。
anonymousDan查看英文原文
I disagree with the advice on not using transition words such as 'however'. These can be a useful signpost that e.g. the approach described in the previous sentence has a drawback and/or to build tension when describing a problem. Or maybe I'm just not a good enough writer to do it in some other way...
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