Occupation/Job Title: ………..……..
Degree: ………..……
Number of scientific articles published: as author ...……/ as co-author ...……
Places of publishing/ Journals published in:
………
………
1. How difficult do you find the following aspects in writing a scientific article?
1 – very easy; 2 – quite easy; 3 – rather difficult; 4 – very difficult; 5 – hard to say 2. How many drafts do you usually produce?
Composing a scientific article in Estonian: ...
Composing a scientific article in English:...
3. What problems did you encounter as a ‘novice’ academic writer?
1 – often; 2 – sometimes; 3 – seldom; 4 – never; 5 – hard to say
using correct grammar and spelling 1 2 3 4 5 meeting publishing conventions 1 2 3 4 5 using appropriate field terminology 1 2 3 4 5 using appropriate general vocabulary 1 2 3 4 5 maintaining the logical flow of ideas 1 2 3 4 5
achieving paragraph unity 1 2 3 4 5
achieving text overall unity 1 2 3 4 5 managing visual data (e.g., charts, tables, etc.) 1 2 3 4 5 achieving academic style for readability 1 2 3 4 5 other ……… 1 2 3 4 5
4. In which aspects of writing would you require language support? 5. How do you usually compose a scientific article?
I compose the text in Estonian first and then translate it into English
I compose the text in Estonian, then translate the article into English and finally have it edited by a language consultant
I compose the text in Estonian and then have it translated into English I compose the text in English
I compose the text in English and then have it edited by a language consultant other ………
6. How much time does it take you to write a scientific article?
1 – a lot; 2 – quite a lot; 3 – quite little; 4 – very little; 5 – hard to say
in Estonian in English brainstorming and note-taking 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 I usually compose the article in … days/ … weeks.
7. Which of the following connective ties would you employ in your scientific articles?
Could you mark in bold the words and phrases that you would prefer?
Could you mark in italics the words and phrases that you would rather avoid?
however
another reason for this is subsequently
8. Which of the following words and phrases would you prefer in scientific writing?
Could you mark these words and phrases in bold?
clearly
there are (a number of cases) (substances) have been analysed
In scientific writing, I prefer to use:
linguistic signals of commitment linguistic signals of avoidance
9. How would you present new information in sentences?
I would place new information at the beginning of the sentence I would place new information at the end of the sentence It would depend on the sentence
It is hard to say
other ………
10. How often do you consult English scientific articles for language constructions?
often sometimes seldom never
11. Do you employ a fixed set of phrases and constructions in all your articles? Do you use a fixed whole-text framework?
I use the same textual framework I use the same language constructions sometimes I alter the textual framework
sometimes I employ the same textual framework I use a unique textual framework in every new article I use unique language constructions in every new article
12. Do you consider ‘unique’ language important in scientific writing?
highly important sometimes important not important at all
other ………
13. Do you consider connective ties (e.g., ‘by contrast’, ‘furthermore’, etc.) important in improving the logical flow of ideas/sentences/paragraphs in a text?
yes, highly important quite important
not very important: in scientific writing, content is more important than language not important: connective ties do not contribute to the readability of the text I do not employ connective ties since ...
14. Would you use ‘And’, ‘But’, ‘So’ and ’Also’ in sentence-initial position in scientific articles?
often sometimes seldom never
I prefer to start sentences with (please, mark in bold or underline):
‘And’ ‘But’ ‘So’ ‘Also’
I do not employ these words in sentence-initial position since ...
15. Can you find any problems in using the underlined words in a scientific article?
a) The sophisticated computer sound system lets the user input pitch and duration from the MIDI keyboard. This facilitates musical transcription.
b) When a second character arrives at the port before the fist character has been unloaded, the port stores the second character in the same register, overwriting it.
these words are often inadequately defined
these words diminish the readability of writing (e.g., when overused or misused) these words are not sophisticated enough to be employed in scientific writing these words should be replaced by text-specific content words
other ………
16. Do you consider the words such as ‘this’, ‘they’ and ‘it’ important in connecting
17. Do you prefer to compose in short or complex sentences?
I prefer short sentences in order to make the text clear for the reader
I prefer long sentences (2-3 lines) in order to handle the scientific issue adequately I combine both types of sentences to vary the style
I combine both types of sentences and highlight the crucial points in short sentences
other ………
18. Do you sometimes formulate your ideas as questions?
For example, “How do such distributed networks behave?”
often sometimes seldom never
I employ questions in my articles in order to ...
19. Which of the following aspects of writing do you consider most important in improving the readability of your written texts?
paragraph unity (development of the main idea with examples and details) text overall unity (logical development of the text: the introduction, the body and the conclusion; logical flow of ideas, etc.)
effective style (variety of structures) sophisticated style (complex structures) clear and simple style
usage of connective ties (logical development of ideas, e.g., by means of ‘however’,
‘simultaneously’, etc.)
pronoun referencing (logical development of ideas, e.g., by means of ‘its measurements’, ‘their properties’, etc.)
repetition of key words (with focus on important ideas or details)
other ………
20. How do you improve the quality of the final draft of your written text? How important do you consider the following aspects/factors in that process?
1 – very important; 2 – quite important; 3 – not so important; 4 – not important at all;
5 – hard to say
content 1 2 3 4 5
text overall organisation 1 2 3 4 5
language 1 2 3 4 5
• grammatical accuracy 1 2 3 4 5
• spelling and punctuation 1 2 3 4 5
• sentence structure 1 2 3 4 5
• vocabulary 1 2 3 4 5
• text organsiation 1 2 3 4 5
• flow of ideas (e.g., cohesive ties, lexical ties, etc.) 1 2 3 4 5
feedback on content 1 2 3 4 5
feedback on language 1 2 3 4 5
computer software (e.g., spell checker, etc.) 1 2 3 4 5 21. Where do you receive language feedback on your scientific articles from?
1 – often; 2 – sometimes; 3 – seldom; 4 – never
from science editors 1 2 3 4
from language consultants 1 2 3 4
from peers 1 2 3 4
in reference books 1 2 3 4
in the Internet 1 2 3 4
other ……… 1 2 3 4 Would you be willing to share your ideas on academic writing in an interview?
yes maybe no