The Cultivation Mode of Graduate Students’ English
Writing Ability of Scientific Papers on Mining Engineering
Haiying SHEN
Faculty of Foreign Languages & Cultures
Kunming University of Science & Technology
Kunming, China
Shuming WEN
Faculty of Land Resource Engineering
Kunming University of Science & Technology
Kunming, China
Chunlan Liao
Faculty of Foreign Languages & Cultures,
Kunming University of Science & Technology,
Kunming 650093, China
Abstract—Up till now, the development of mining industry
in China has followed the road of the overseas introduction
and absorption, independent innovation and technology export.
Mere English reading ability can hardly meet the demands of
high-level professionals to export research achievements. To
improve the graduate students’ ability to write English
scientific papers on mining industry has become one of the
main tasks to cultivate mining engineering professionals.
Considering the current condition of China’s test-oriented
education, the mode to efficiently and quickly enhance
graduate students’ English writing ability of scientific papers
on mining industry has been proposed, specifically,
intensively reading high-level English scientific papers on
mining industry, writing the Chinese version according to the
requirements of the corresponding English scientific paper,
rewriting the paper in English based on the Chinese version,
performing language refinement and polish by experts or
institutions, finally completing the paper through
communication and exchange with the experts.
Keywords- mining engineering, scientific paper,
cultivation of graduate students, English writing ability.
1. Introduction
Mining industry is to be a fundamental one of the national
economy construction. Since its founding, China has witnessed
three stages of mining industry development: the beginning
stage of overseas introduction and absorption, the stage of
independent self-development and the disseminating stage of
exporting technology, which have provided the crucial support
of mineral resources for the national economy and promoted
the economic and social development of China.
The exchanges at home and abroad have been conducted
in different depth and breadth at different stages of mining
development. The initial stage mainly involves the introduction
of foreign advanced technology and equipment, and the
application into domestic mining development and
employment after digestion and absorption. Mining
engineering professionals, indispensably armed with high
reading ability, study abroad, read and absorb foreign scientific
and technological literature so as to improve the ability to
apply the advanced technology and to actualize development
and utilization of mining industry. In the 1950s when the
development of mining industry of China was at such a starting
stage, a lot of mining engineering professionals went to the
Soviet Union to study the expertise in exploitation and
utilization of ores resources. They played an active and
important role in developing mining industry in China.
During the period of 1950s to 1980s when Chinese mining
industry has underwent initiative and independent development,
mining professionals carried out their independent
development and utilization of Chinese mining industry
applying the science and technology learnt from abroad.
Mining industry then developed slowly owing to the fairly low
level of developing and utilizing ores resources, and the
economic and social development was relatively sluggish
accordingly. With the implementation of reforming and
opening policy since 1980s, mining industry has developed fast,
promoting its exploitation and development of China close to
the advanced international level over mere 20 years. The
widely international academic and technological exchange as
well as mutual or multi-way cooperation has greatly boosted
the development of mining industry in China. In this period,
mining engineering professionals should be good at English
reading and speaking.
In the first decade of the 21st century, China has seen a
significant change in mining industry. Energy-efficient and
environment-friendly development model has become the only
one of mining developing; science and technology has become
the crucial factor. The technology of exploiting and utilizing
ores resources in China has reached to the international
advanced level, making it an inevitable trend to export our
mining technology and equipment in the 2020s. Under such
circumstances, mining engineering professionals not only
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should be competent at English reading and speaking, but also
at technical English writing to introduce our latest high-level
research achievements and technology by publishing high-
quality academic papers.
Higher requirements of English ability for mining
engineering professionals have been put forward in the new
situation. Especially, technical English writhing is a must for
high-level mining engineering professionals, thus how to
improve this ability has become an imperative research subject
for the English education of postgraduates majoring in mining
engineering࠙1ࠚ.
2.The Instructional Model to Improve
Graduate Students’ Ability to Read
English Scientific Papers
To improve postgraduates’ English comprehension through
intensively reading the high-standard English scientific papers
on mining industry
The introduction part of an English scientific paper, a
succinct generalization of the current situation and trend in the
relevant research field, is vital to the entire writing process,
calling for plenty of literature reading. Literature reading on the
one hand enables graduates to know and keep track of the
research trend, research subject and research level related to the
paper to be written, so as to ensure the innovation, quality and
significance of the paper. On the other hand, it can enhance
reading comprehension of scientific papers written in English.
The good understanding of English scientific papers lays the
foundation for writing such papers in an easy-to-understand
way.
In order to improve graduate students’ comprehension
ability of English scientific papers, intensive reading is
demanded to learn the rather excellent articles in the area of
mining industry. This process involves reading the citations,
research method, result discussion and conclusion carefully,
word for word, understanding each sentence thoroughly and
grasping the thesis statement, arguments and conclusion. The
abstract of papers requires repeated reading to master the gist
of the research content and research conclusion.
After reading intensively a number of high-level scientific
and technologic papers on mining industry, postgraduates can
enhance their ability to comprehend such papers; otherwise,
mere extensive reading will result in superficial understanding.
To read high-level scientific and technologic papers lays the
groundwork for remarkable thesis writing. It is impractical to
write a high-standard scientific paper in English without the
deep understanding of relevant literature written in English.
To master the English expression of scientific papers
through intensive reading of high- level English scientific
papers
The stylistic structure of scientific papers written in English
and Chinese are similar, but the thesis statement is a big
difference. Due to the interference of their mother-tongue,
Chinese graduate students generally have trouble in the
statement of English expression. The English learning of
Chinese graduate students is primarily test-oriented, leading to
the consequence that their good command of grammar and
large vocabulary do facilitate academic reading, not language
production, though, owing to the tough problem of diction,
tense and subtle grammatical relations when writing.
Intensively reading high-level English scientific papers on
mining industry is an effective way to improve writing skills.
In the process of reading, in addition to understanding the
meaning of each sentence, understanding and grasp of sentence
structure and expression pattern are of great importance to
writing. For reading material, it is better to choose scientific
papers on mining industry written in standard English by the
native speaker. To express their ideas using the grammar and
vocabulary they have originally learnt, Chinese graduate
students tend to make up some sentences which are misleading
or even incomprehensible for English native speakers because
of the polysemy.
There is norm for writing of scientific papers, chiefly
involving presentation and discussion of the facts, without too
much wonderful description, hyperbole, personification and
other forms. Accordingly, targeting in intensive reading of
high-level mining scientific papers will enable you to quickly
master mining technology thesis writing skills, and to advance
the rapid promotion of the level of English paper writing on
mining technology.
To master the English expression of scientific papers
through intensive reading of high- level English scientific
papers
The stylistic structure of scientific papers written in English
and Chinese are similar, but the thesis statement is a big
difference. Due to the interference of their mother-tongue,
Chinese graduate students generally have trouble in the
statement of English expression. The English learning of
Chinese graduate students is primarily test-oriented, leading to
the consequence that their good command of grammar and
large vocabulary do facilitate academic reading, not language
production, though, owing to the tough problem of diction,
tense and subtle grammatical relations when writing.
Intensively reading high-level English scientific papers on
mining industry is an effective way to improve writing skills.
In the process of reading, in addition to understanding the
meaning of each sentence, understanding and grasp of sentence
structure and expression pattern are of great importance to
writing. For reading material, it is better to choose scientific
papers on mining industry written in standard English by the
native speaker. To express their ideas using the grammar and
vocabulary they have originally learnt, Chinese graduate
students tend to make up some sentences which are misleading
or even incomprehensible for English native speakers because
of the polysemy. There is norm for writing of scientific papers,
chiefly involving presentation and discussion of the facts,
without too much wonderful description, hyperbole,
personification and other forms. Accordingly, targeting in
intensive reading of high-level mining scientific papers will
enable you to quickly master mining technology thesis writing
skills, and to advance the rapid promotion of the level of
English paper writing on mining technology.
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3.Extension-Rule Based Theorem
Proving Method the Instructional Model
to Improve Graduate Students’ Ability to
Write English Scientific Papers
A good English scientific paper on mining industry requires
perfect language expression, and more importantly, its
scientific value and academic level. Apparently the academic
value and level of the paper is fundamental, while the English
language is the means. It is hard to think in English for Chinese
graduate students, studying in China, the first language
environment. The consideration of academic issues and
language expression in the meantime often leads to the lack of
logic and incoherence. The better approach is to write a high
level of a scientific paper in Chinese at first, based on which
then complete a high-quality scientific paper in English.
Yet the Chinese scientific paper should be written in
accordance with the requirements of the English scientific
paper. A typical scientific paper is composed of title, abstract,
introduction, methods / experimental procedures, results,
discussion, acknowledgments and references. Professor Zhou
Yaoqi, School of Informatics, Indiana University, has put
forward advisable suggestions about how to write these aspects
well࠙2ࠚ. A paper starts with the abstract and introduction, but
Professor Zhou advises to begin from the method and result
sections, with which the author is most familiar. Besides, the
subject matter can be determined only if the methods and
results are better understood.
Graduate students should start working from the most
familiar things, just like the readers understanding from the
most familiar part. With respect of methods or experimental
procedures, if the paper is concerned with new methods,
techniques, or algorithms, it requires the detailed and elaborate
statement and specification in a logical and reasonable way.
This will help readers grasp the essentials of the new method.
If the method uses the parameters, every parameter needs
rationalization, applying the previously used ones, or derived
from physics or mathematics, or through extensive testing and
optimization. If the rationality cannot be guaranteed, the
influence caused by changing it must be described; if the test of
the rationality is not conducted, the explanation should be
given. The development of a new research method requires
various tests. The more tests there are, either collected or
designed by the author, the more convincing it would be, and
the more research work will be accepted and applied.
When graduate students begin to write the results section,
firstly consider what the results mean. In other words,
understand the test results from these aspects: whether the
results tell the more profound things, whether the results could
be comprehended from many different angles, whether some
conclusions could be drawn through designed proof or disproof.
If a new phenomenon is discovered, the result must be testified
to ensure that it is not forged; it can be reduplicated under
different conditions. A new method developed calls for
testifying its importance and improvement comparing with the
existing method.
In the results section of the paper, discussion from different
perspectives or multiple tests are called for to support new
discovery or to validate the importance of the new method.
Once the results have been fully analyzed, the thesis statement
of this paper needs to be decided, proved with supporting
paragraphs and testified with data. In addition, give up the data
(even the hard-earned) that have nothing to do with the thesis
statement. When the sections of the methods and results have
been completed, the paper writing has already been more than
halfway to the success.
2. English writing based on Chinese scientific papers on
mining industry
To complete a good English scientific paper, it is not
enough just to translate directly the completed Chinese version
into English one. Due to many differences existing between
English and Chinese expressions, the literal translation often
fails to achieve good results. Therefore, re-writing the English
version based on the Chinese scientific paper on mining
industry is the key to a good English scientific paper on mining
industry.
The sentence is the smallest functional unit of the article, so
sentence writing is the basis of essay writing. The most easily
understandable sentence is what readers are familiar with,
which is not possible for scientific papers because only the new
research will be published. In fact, scientific papers usually
include a lot of new terminology, so an easily understandable
sentence should begin with the information that the reader has
known (or just mentioned), and end with new information with
a typical smooth transition from the known to the new. Before
using a concept, the graduate must be clear whether he or she
has already mentioned this concept or not.
In a sentence, readers want to see the action verb
immediately after the subject. For a sentence describing who is
doing what, readers need to find the verb to understand. If the
verb and the subject too far apart, reading will be interrupted
by seeking the verb, causing the sentence difficult to
understand.
Readers expect that in every sentence there is only one
focus which usually comes at the end of the sentence. Each
paragraph should be about one point. Expressing several points
of view makes it hard for readers to know the focus and to be
clear about the writer’s intention. The first sentence of a
paragraph is supposed to tell the readers about the topic, in
which case, the reader can skip this paragraph freely. The last
sentence of the paragraph is expected to draw the conclusions
or to tell the reader what is about in the next paragraph. The
sentences should be connected logically from the beginning to
the end with the flow of old information to new information.
Graduate students can complete a satisfactory English
scientific paper on mining industry rewriting sentence by
sentence and paragraph by paragraph on the basis of its
Chinese version, in accordance with the English expression of
scientific papers.
3. Refinement and polish of English scientific papers on
mining industry
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The response to an English scientific paper on mining
industry submitted to the editorial department of journals and
magazines often says in the e-mail that “In its current state, the
level of English throughout your manuscript does not meet the
journal's desired standard. There are a number of grammatical
errors and instances of badly worded/constructed sentences.
Please check the manuscript and refine the language carefully.”
The editorial department requires the language refinement and
polish for the paper by some expert or institution. Receipt of
such notice indicates the existence of language problems in the
paper. In this case, graduate students are demanded to perform
the language polish and refinement in accordance with the
requirements of the editing, either by themselves or turning to
the help of specialized institutions who know the specification
of the English scientific papers, language requirements, so as to
modify the language to achieve the requirements of the
editorial department.
4. To re-modify English scientific papers on mining industry
In the revision process, language experts and specialized
institutions sometimes put forward some suggestions about the
manuscript and point out language expression problems which
cannot be modified. Graduate students should take these
problems seriously, carefully compare their own English
expressions and experts’ modification, communicate with the
experts and make themselves understood. This process is
important to improve graduate students’ writing ability in
English. As a result, graduate students are able to figure out the
reasons why their discourse expounded in the way they take for
granted doesn’t get across.
After refinement, polish and re-modification, the paper will
meet the requirements to be published in terms of English
language. The writing process and practice of English scientific
papers on mining industry will also significantly improve and
enhance the ability of graduate students.
4. Conclusion
With the development of mining engineering in China.
Each stage sets different requirements of English ability for
mining engineering personnel. Reading ability plays the
primary role in overseas introduction, absorption and self-
development. Technology export calls for mining engineering
personnel to be more proficient in English speaking and
writing, especially in writing of scientific papers on mining
industry.
Considering Chinese graduate students’ insufficiency in
English writing ability resulted from test-oriented education
mode, their English writing ability of scientific papers can be
improved by intensively reading high-level English scientific
papers on mining industry, improving their comprehension
ability and mastering the expression patterns of such papers.
In the process of writing an English scientific paper on
mining industry, it is crucial to rewrite the English paper based
on its Chinese manuscript. As Chinese differs from English in
the means of expression, it is undesirable to literally translate
from Chinese to English.
After submission, graduate students are supposed to invite
some expert or institution to make the language refinement and
polish for the paper according to the requirements of the
editorial department. This process can quickly enhance
graduate students’ writing ability in English through
communication and exchanges with the experts. Thus their
papers can meet the language requirements of English
scientific papers on mining industry for publication.
ACKNOWL EDGMENTS
This work was supported in part by NSFC under Grant
Nos. u0837602.
REFERENCES
[1]Shuming Wen, On Current Situation of Mineral
Resources Exploitation & Talent Demands in China,
China Edu. Inno. Her. 586 (2011) 98-100
[2]Zhou Yaoqi, The Key to Good English Scientific Paper, J.
Un. Sci. & Tech., 576 (2007) 121-124
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