Astronomy · Life

My English sucks

Finally, after revisiting the thesis statement several times, it’s time to circulate my draft among the co-authors. The process I have been through this month just revealed that I need my English writing skills to improve badly. When I read the stuff I just wrote, which turned out to be really hard to understand, I was unable to find a clear logic flow behind those phrases. Unfortunately, that is the essential part about writing a scientific paper. Thus I realise I really need to take some time and be serious about my English. Through reading some British or American masterpieces, and mastering some new words, I should improve my English. Besides logic, I found myself often using some useless phrases whose meaning has already been presented before. In one word, I need to simplify my sentences.

Last Sunday, I just finished the PhD qualifying exam for PMO. The exam on galaxies is really hard for me. Maybe that’s because I have forgotten a lot. However, I think the ISM and English parts are not too bad. That means I need to take out some time carefully reading the textbooks on galaxies, for they are the foundations.

In about 2 months, I will graduate as a master in Astrophysics. Good luck to me.

12 Comments

  1. I once had a discussion with someone on the logics. It seems western people are familiar with the linear logic, i.e. A->B->C->conclusion, while Chinese are good at synthetic logic, i.e. (A,B,C)->conclusion, which is difficult for western people to understand.

  2. I think your English is fine, based on your blog. The best way to improve your English in your manuscript is to let a professor ( a native English speaker would be better) to review your writing and leave some comments. Reading papers, especially the ones in your reference list will also help. Good luck~

    P.S.

    I was suffering writing my proposal before my pre-lim, too. Well…it’s getting better~

          1. Hmm…you can track visitor’s IP, OS, and Web-browser on this thing? Interesting…

  3. Hi there, you may read this, http://book.douban.com/subject/1014914/. Hope it helps.

    I’d like to say that I peronally agree with your statement (that you really need improve your English). Several conspicuous grammer errors do exist in this blog, for example,

    after several times revision ( “servel times” should never be combined with a noun)
    Last Sunday, I just finish (finished)

    1. Thank you very much for the recommendation and the comments. The book will be a great help.

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