English for postgraduate students. Учебное пособие

Unit 2. Attending a conference

orders of plenary sessions, rules for scientific contributions, requirements to submitted abstracts, information about registration fees, hotel reservations, etc. If you want to publish your abstract in Conference Proceedings you will need to fill in the preliminary application form and mail it without delay. Afterthatyouhavetosubmitashortabstractofyourpaper(oneprintedpage) before the deadline.

The conference starts with the registration of attendees. Before the plenary session you’ll have some time to get acquainted with other participants, to look through the latest information, to buy some booklets about the conference work.

You should also tell others about your research. Think about how to frame your work to convey how interesting it is. This is an important skill not just for a conference but in general. Plan your pitch, practice it with your friends, then further refine it through interactions at the conference. Remember to talk first about the goals of your research, and only then about the techniques you are using. You have to convince others that the work is worth hearing about before they will be willing to listen to the technical details.

You’ll learn a lot from talking about your work – seeing what confuses peopleandreceivingtheirideasandsuggestions,forexample–butremember that no one likes to be in a conversation in which they only listen. You need to always tell people about your work, but also be sure to ask others about their work (even doing so first). You’ll also learn a lot by listening and by asking questions. Keep an open mind, and try to deeply understand their research. You will benefit a lot from a specific atmosphere of the conference characteristic of any scientific meeting: groups of delegates discussing something, the sight of prominent scholars surrounded by their followers, talks, smiles, greetings, exchange of opinions.

(https://homes.cs.washington.edu/~mernst/advice/conference-attendance.html)

2 b. Read the text and answer the questions.

1.What kind of opportunity does any conference give to researchers?

2.What is «PreliminaryAnnouncement?» What is its role?

3.What details does a conference programme include?

4.What is necessary to submit before preparing a report?

5.What is the author’s advice for first-time conference attendees?

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English for postgraduate students

2 c. Summarize the text by completing the following sentences.

1.Two main reasons to attend a conference are …

2.An organizing committee usually sends …

3.From the announcement you may learnt important information concerning …

4.If you want to publish your abstract in Conference Proceedings

you …

5.Before the plenary session you may …

6.Remember to talk first about the goals …

7.You will benefit a lot from …

Listening

1. Work in pairs. Match scientific methods with their definitions. Which methods do you use in your research?

2 a. Watch the video. What methods are described in it?

2 b. Watch the video again and complete the sentences below.

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Unit 2. Attending a conference

1.However,thestepsinvolvedintoscientificmethod________widely among the different scientific disciplines.

a)disprove;

b)gain knowledge;

c)vary;

d)pose.

2.Awell-conceived question usually leads to the ________.

a)conclusion;

b)problem;

c)hypothesis;

d)data analyses.

3.The scientist ________ what an outcome will be when he tests his hypothesis.

a)inspires;

b)predicts;

c)proves;

d)refutes.

4.The scientist has to make observations of the results that he gets from the ________.

a)prediction;

b)hypothesis;

c)statement of knowledge;

d)experiment.

5.Based on the ________ he made, the scientist has to determine whether his hypothesis was correct.

a)observation;

b)scientific investigation;

c)unique method;

d)feedback.

6.Real scientist may go back and repeat steps many times before they come to any ________.

a)experience;

b)scientific equipment;

c)conclusions;

d)key steps.

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English for postgraduate students

2 c. Are these sentences true or false?

1.A scientific method is a set of procedures that scientists follow to gain knowledge about the world

2.However, the steps involved into scientific method are much the same among the different scientific disciplines.

3.Awell-conceived question usually leads to the hypothesis.

4.The scientist can’t predict what an outcome will be when he tests his hypothesis.

5.The scientist usually makes observations of the results that he gets from the experiment.

6.Based on the observation he made, the scientist seldom determines whether his hypothesis was correct or not.

Speaking 1

1. Speak on the latest conference you’ve attended. Use the key points below as a guide to your talk:

•preliminary announcement;

•when and where was the conference held;

•number of participants;

•registration fee;

•accommodation provided;

•problem field of the conference;

•conference agenda;

•plenary session; workshops;

•conference proceedings.

Presentations

Speaking 2

1. Work in pairs. Think about the presentations that you have been to. What were the characteristics of the good ones? Which of these suggestions do you agree with?

To make an effective presentation, you should:

1)find out as much as possible about your audience;

2)introduce yourself (name, position, company);

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Unit 2. Attending a conference

3)start with a joke;

4)outline the structure of your talk;

5)vary the tone of your voice;

6)refer to your notes as often as possible;

7)use clear visual aids;

8)summarize your main points.

Reading

1. You are going to read the text about the most important features of a presentation. Read it quickly and match the titles to the correct paragraph.

a)Questions;

b)Conclusion;

c)Introduction;

d)Body.

What makes a good presentation?

1 ________________________

Thisisthefirstimpressionthatyouraudiencehaveofyouthatiswhyit is very important. You should concentrate on getting your introduction right. You should use the introduction to:

•welcome your audience;

•introduce your subject;

•outline the structure of your presentation;

•give instructions about questions.

2 ________________________

Thispartisthe“real”presentation.Iftheintroductionwaswellprepared and delivered, you will now be “in control”.You will be relaxed and confident.

The body should be well structured, divided up logically, with plenty of care-fully spaced visuals. Remember these key points while delivering the body of your presentation:

•do not hurry;

•be enthusiastic;

•give time on visuals;

•maintain eye contact;

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English for postgraduate students

•modulate your voice;

•look friendly;

•keep to your structure;

•use your notes;

•signpost throughout;

•remain polite when dealing with difficult questions. 3 ________________________

This part of the presentation is used to:

•sum up;

•(give recommendations if appropriate);

•thank your audience;

•invite questions.

4 ________________________

This is a good opportunity for you to interact with your audience. It may be helpful for you to try to predict what questions will be asked so that you can pre-pare your response in advance. You may wish to accept questionsatanytimeduringyourpresentation,ortokeepatimeforquestions after your presentation. Normally, it is your decision, and you should make it clear during the introduction. Be polite with all questioners, even if they ask difficult questions.They are showing interest in what you have to say and theydeserveattention.Sometimesyoucanreformulateaquestion.Oranswer the question with another question. Or even ask for comment from the rest of the audience. (https://www.topcorrect.com/blog/useful-english-phrases-for- a-presentation/)

2. Read the text again carefully.Are the statements true, false, not given?

1.Introduction is the first impression that your audience have of you.

2.You should use the introduction to outline the significance of your

report.

3.Maintain eye contact otherwise you have to include visuals in your presentation.

4.Inconclusionyououtlinethestructureofyourpresentationandgive instructions about questions.

5.Thereisnoneedtoanswerthequestionsasyoumayaskforcomment from the audience.

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2 a. Work in pairs. The phrases from a presentation titled «The way will be living in 2030» are below, but they are jumbled. Number them in the correct order. Compare the answers with your partner.

a.Well, that’s it. Thank you for listening.

b.To sum up, I think the key thing is that the Internet is going to transform our lives in ways that we can’t fully predict yet.

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English for postgraduate students

c.To get an idea about the effect of the Internet on personal communication, have a look at this graph showing the incredible increase in the number of e-mails being sent between people every day.

d.The title of my talk is «Internet applications: present and future». So, communication between people.

e.Right, I’ll move on now to business-to-business uses of the Internet and how they may develop over the next 20 years.

f.OK, now let’s look at how the Internet might change society and the way we live and work.

g.My name’s Maria Robles and it’s an honour to have been invited to this conference as a keynote speaker.

h.I’m going to talk about three main areas: communication between people,business-to-businessinteraction,andthesocialeffectsoftheInternet, with a look at how we might be using it in the year 2030.

i.I’ll talk for about 45 minutes and then we'll have 15 minutes for questions. If you have any questions, I’ll be delighted to answer them now.

j.If you could keep your questions until then, we’ll have a chance to go into them more deeply.

2 b. Mock conference. Follow the main steps described in Attachment 1 to present your report based on your current research in a group.

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UNIT 3. WRITING A RESEARCH PAPER

Topical Vocabulary: How to write a paper for a scientific journal

1.Abstract and Introduction.

This paper considers / reports on / deals with / aims at / describes / examines / presents

Acomparison of … with … is made. An attempt to … is made.

To determine whether …

The purpose of this study was to … This study tested the hypothesis that …

There have been few long-term studies of ...

This study was undertaken to … The aim of the work described ...

2. Methods.

Amethod of … is proposed. Data on… are discussed. Analysis was carried out using ...

The design of the experiments was to reveal… Discussion will focus on the problem of … Present data encompass a period of …

... was used to calculate ...

3. Results.

The results of … are discussed

The most important results are as follows … The results indicate the dominant role of … The results are supported by…

We have been able to show that … The … of ... was determined by ...

... yielded a total of ...

... was highly correlated with ...

4. Discussion.

This may be explained by ...

Our experimental results demonstrate …

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English for postgraduate students

These results indicate …

...it appears …

The presence of … suggests.

Speaking and Vocabulary

1.In small groups, discuss the following questions.

1.What are the ways of exchanging scientific information?

2.What are the reasons for publishing research papers? Think of three

reasons.

3.Why is it difficult to be published in the international literature?

2 а. Complete the text with the words in the box. Check your answer to Exercise 1.

Publishing in the international literature

________ a manuscript to an international journal is a way of participating in the international scientific community. Researchers publish their papers to ________ ideas and results with colleagues.

These are some other reasons for publishing:

•to leave a ________ of research which can be added to by others;

•to receive due ________ for ideas and results;

•to ________ interest from others in the area of research;

•to receive expert ________ on results and ideas;

•to ________ the research; i.e. receive independent verification of methods and results.

Getting published is also a skill: not all writers are published. Some reasons for this fact include the following:

•not all research is new or of ________ scientific interest;

•________ do not always work: positive results are easier to publish;

•scientific journals have specific ________ which can be difficult to meet: publishing is a buyer’s market;

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