Common Mistakes of Taiwanese Writers

1
Common Mistakes of Taiwanese Writers

• Melissa Wallace
• Wallace Institute
• December 21, 2005

2
MIT Sloan Management Review

• Because the majority of SMRs readers are
  business executives, we work with authors to
  ensure that research-based articles with complex
  technical ideas have the greatest possible
  influence on actual management practice. We help
  authors move from insider terminology to quickly
  accessible language. We work collaboratively, but
  we do edit and rewrite substantially in order to
  reach SMRs primary audience.

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MIT Sloan Management Review

• We clarify phrases, make the passive voice
  active, invent engaging heads and subheads,
  devise ways to highlight the main points, and
  delete redundant references. In short, we help
  authors tackle anything that might hinder
  widespread appreciation of their ideas.

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MIT Sloan Management Review

• Avoid generalizations
• Be specific
• Does the paper offer something innovative or
  provide a new insight? The more novel and
  counter-the-conventional-wisdom a piece is, the
  more we like it.
• Would a practicing manager find the paper useful?
• Make the focus of the discussion clear
• Is the study engaging and interesting? Does it
  have impact?

5
GNOME JOURNAL

• Research Writing Guidelines for Publishing in the
  IT Industry
• Make definite assertions. Avoid tame, colorless,
  hesitating non-committal language
• Use The Elements of Style, by William Strunk

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GNOME JOURNAL

• William Strunk, The Elements of Style
• Avoid a succession of loose sentences
• Express co-ordinate ideas in similar form
• Keep related words together
• In summaries, keep to one tense
• Place the emphatic words of a sentence at the end
  

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GNOME JOURNAL

• William Strunk, The Elements of Style
• Make the paragraph the unit of composition one
  paragraph to each topic
• As a rule, begin each paragraph with a topic
  sentence end it in conformity with the beginning
  
• Use the active voice
• Put statements in positive form
• Omit needless words

8
HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

• The Harvard Business Review has one goal to be
  the source of the best new ideas for people
  creating, leading, and transforming business.
  Since its founding in 1922, HBR has a proud
  tradition of being the worlds preeminent
  business magazine, publishing cutting-edge,
  authoritative thinking on the key issues facing
  managers.

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HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

• HBR readers are business executives in
  organizations of all sizes and kinds. Their
  interestsin improving performance, in learning
  and benefiting from the thinking and experience
  of expertsshape what HBR editors look for when
  reviewing submissions.

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HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

• HBR Writer Guidelines
• Proposals for articles that demonstrate clear and
  bold thinking, fresh and useful ideas, accessible
  and jargon-free expression, and unambiguous
  authority and expertise are those most likely to
  meet our readers needs.

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HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

• What is the central message of the article you
  propose to write?
• What is new, useful, counterintuitive, or
  important about your idea?
• Who is the audience for your article?
• Why should a busy manager stop and read it?

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JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

• Write concisely. The abstract should be written
  without jargon and without the use of formulas or
  mathematical notation. The abstract should
  provide a highly readable overview of the papers
  objectives, methods, and nature of contribution
  to practice and research.

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JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

• Journal of Industrial Technology (JIT)
• The best research and analysis can be obscured
  and rendered unreadable by inadequate attention
  to the overall organization, grammar, spelling,
  syntax and use of language in the article. This
  is perhaps the most common reason for rejection
  of submitted articles.

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JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

• Text must be written cleanly and correctly.
  Editors will make only minor corrections.
• Write for the target audiencea common question
  asked by reviewers is Why am I reading this?
• The JIT puts a premium on concise and effective
  writing.

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16
Rewrite the following title

• The Development of Employee Satisfaction-Performan
  ce Model and the Related Empirical Study

17
Rewrite the following title

• The Development of Employee Satisfaction-Performan
  ce Model and the Related Empirical Study
• (Employee Satisfaction-Performance Model
  Development and Related Empirical Study)

18
Rewrite the following title

• Evaluating the RFIDs Impact in Distribution
  Center by Time-Driven, Activity-Based Costing

19
Rewrite the following title

• Evaluating the RFIDs Impact in Distribution
  Center by Time-Driven, Activity-Based Costing
• (Evaluating RFID Distribution Center Impact by
  Time-Driven, Activity-Based Costing)

20
Rewrite the following title

• The Dynamics of a Software Houses One-Shot
  Growth

21
Rewrite the following title

• The Dynamics of a Software Houses One-Shot
  Growth
• (A Software Houses One-Shot Growth Dynamics)

22
Rewrite the following title

• A Revisit to Logistics Performance Tangible and
  Intangible Assets

23
Rewrite the following title

• A Revisit to Logistics Performance Tangible and
  Intangible Assets
• (Logistics Performance Revisited Tangible and
  Intangible Assets)

24
Rewrite the following title

• Synthesis of Carbon Nano Capsules and Carbon Nano
  Tubes by an Acetylene Flame Method

25
Rewrite the following title

• Synthesis of Carbon Nano Capsules and Carbon Nano
  Tubes by an Acetylene Flame Method
• (Carbon Nano Capsule and Nano Tube Synthesis by
  Acetylene Flame Method)

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Textbook phrases

• 1. Using these phrases in front of the subject
  of a sentence pushes the main idea to the back of
  the sentence, making it difficult to understand
  the main idea of the sentence. This robs the
  sentence of a direct English flow

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Textbook phrases

• 2. The native English speaker who reads this kind
  of manuscript with large portions of textbook
  phrases concludes that the main idea is indirect,
  and that the writing structure is rigid and
  unrelaxed.

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Textbook phrases

• Previous literature suggests
• It appears that
• It is easily seen that
• It is interesting to note that
• Experimental results show that
• It is now recognized that

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Textbook phrases

• These results would suggest that
• It is seen from the above discussion that
• It is noted that
• It is apparent that
• Numerous studies have shown
• We attempt to identify

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Textbook phrases

• Question Does using these phrases highlight the
  primary emphasis or main idea, or do these
  phrases hide or get in the way of the authors
  main meaning? The author must decide.

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Rewrite the following sentence from passive to
active

• Cost information collection influences not only
  the cost of products and services, but also the
  decisions of management.

34
Rewrite the following sentence from passive to
active

• Cost information collection influences not only
  the cost of products and services, but also the
  decisions of management.
• (Cost information collection influences not only
  product and services cost, but also management
  decision.)

35
Rewrite the following sentence from passive to
active

• The influence of advanced technology is quicker
  than traditional ABC.

36
Rewrite the following sentence from passive to
active

• The influence of advanced technology is quicker
  than traditional ABC.
• (Advanced technology influence is quicker than
  traditional ABC.)

37
Rewrite the following sentence from passive to
active

• The purpose of this paper is to understand the
  growth dynamics of a software house.

38
Rewrite the following sentence from passive to
active

• The purpose of this paper is to understand the
  growth dynamics of a software house.
• (This paper proposes to understand the growth
  dynamics of a software house.)

39
Rewrite the following sentence from passive to
active

• The growth of its income has stagnated.

40
Rewrite the following sentence from passive to
active

• The growth of its income has stagnated.
• (Income growth has stagnated.)

41
Rewrite the following sentence from passive to
active

• The model is analyzed from a feedback perspective
  to demonstrate how the short-term and long-term
  growth conflict with each other.

42
Rewrite the following sentence from passive to
active

• The model is analyzed from a feedback perspective
  to demonstrate how the short-term and long-term
  growth conflict with each other.
• (The analyzed model demonstrates from a feedback
  perspective, how short-term and long-term growth
  conflict with each other.)

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Rewrite the Run-together sentence below

• This research focused on the leading third party
  logistics provider companies and used data
  envelopment analysis to evaluate their
  performance efficiency so as to understand their
  operations, to find out for them the improvement
  directions and suggestions and to provide
  references for their decision making and
  sustainable progress.

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Run-together sentence answer

• This research focused on leading third-party
  logistics provider companies and evaluated their
  performance efficiency using Data Envelopment
  Analysis.
• The analysis provided operational understanding
  so that recommendations for improvement and
  decision-making guidance could be made for
  sustainable progress.

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Rewrite the following prepositional phrases

• manager of the company
• study of logistics
• results of the research
• effect of the analysis
• questions by the workers
• findings from the literature

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Prepositional phrases rewritten

• company manager
• logistics study
• research results
• analysis effect
• worker questions
• literature findings

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The indefinite article a / an

• NOTE
• We use a before consonant sounds
• Its a computer.
• Shes a European.
• We use an before vowel sounds
• Its an elevator
• An hour is a long time.

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Use the indefinite article a / an

• Before unspecified singular countable nouns
• She works in an office.
• Would you like a coffee?
• With names of professions
• Shes an executive and hes a waiter.

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Use the indefinite article a / an

• Before a noun to mean all things of the same
  type
• A scooter is faster than a bicycle.
• In expressions of measurement
• We charge 500 an hour.
• It costs 1.75 a liter.

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Use the definite article the

• When it is clear from the context what particular
  thing or place is meant.
• Ill meet you in the bookstore.
• Before adjectives to specify a category of people
  or things
• The French, the poor, the unemployed

54
Use the definite article the

• Before a noun that you have mentioned before
• They had a house in Taipei and an apartment in
  Tokyo, but they sold the apartment.

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Zero article (0)

• There is no article before the names of places
  and people.
• We do not put an article before mass nouns used
  in general statements
• (0) Money is the root of all (0) evil.

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Rewrite the following sentence by correcting
article errors

• The business model is changing from mass
  production to enforce the individual necessity.

57
Rewrite the following sentence by correcting
article errors

• The business model is changing from mass
  production to enforce the individual necessity.
• (Business models are changing from mass
  production to individual necessity.)

58
Rewrite the following sentence by correcting
article errors

• The advanced technology decreases the material
  handling information and increases the work
  efficiency.

59
Rewrite the following sentence by correcting
article errors

• The advanced technology decreases the material
  handling information and increases the work
  efficiency.
• (Advanced technology decreases material handling
  information and increases work efficiency.)

60
Rewrite the following sentence by correcting
article errors

• The transaction cost drivers allocate the cost by
  activity resource for each operation.

61
Rewrite the following sentence by correcting
article errors

• The transaction cost drivers allocate the cost by
  activity resource for each operation.
• (Transaction cost drivers allocate cost by
  activity resource for each operation.)

62
Rewrite the following sentence by correcting
article errors

• The man hours in DC contains the data processing
  time, the distribution time, and the moving time.

63
Rewrite the following sentence by correcting
article errors

• The man hours in DC contains the data processing
  time, the distribution time, and the moving time.
• (Man hours in the DC contain data processing
  time, distribution time, and moving time.)

64
Rewrite the following sentence by correcting
article errors

• Software industry is gaining more attention.

65
Rewrite the following sentence by correcting
article errors

• Software industry is gaining more attention.
• (The software industry is gaining more attention.)

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Review

• Titles
• Passive voice and active voice
• Run-together sentences
• Prepositional phrases
• Articles

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Thank you!

• Melissa Wallace
• Wallace Institute
• December 21, 2005

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