Making Connections

Well-written academic text is surprisingly easy to read. This may sound strange as academic text can be full of unfamiliar vocabulary and seemingly complicated structures. However, if it is a competent piece of writing, it will move easily from one point to the next, unlike the patchwork of the less competent writer. Ideas in a text are connected, or linked, in a variety of different ways. One of the most common features of English is the use of referents which can be anaphoric, referring back to something already mentioned, cataphoric, referring forwards to something which will follow, and exophoric, which refers to something outside of the text.

When reading, it is important to notice who is saying what, which points are linked and how. Some of the most common referents are,

subject pronouns = I you he she it we they
object pronouns = me you him her it us them
possessive adjectives = my your his her its our their
definite articles = the this that these those

Look at the following text. What are the items in bold referring to? Are they referring back, forwards or to something outside the text.

Example 1

Chemistry was becoming full of possibilities. Its practitioners were now discovering an exciting range of new elements and compounds. This process was hastened by the development of new laboratory experiments. But most importantly, these latest ingredients and techniques were being used in a rational, methodical manner. Chemistry was no longer an embryo science. Yet for the time being its progress remained largely piecemeal, the result of uncoordinated experiments carried out by independent chemical pioneers. The developing science lacked a unifying principle. It also contained certain puzzling features which defied explanation. One of these was fire.

Strathern, P., 2001. Mendeleyev's dream: the quest for the elements. Macmillan. p.202

Let’s examine the words in bold in more detail. What do they refer to? They could refer to just one word, or it could be a complete sentence.

Its Chemistry

This process discovering an exciting range of new elements and compounds

these new elements and compounds, new laboratory experiments

its Chemistry

It the developing science

these certain puzzling features

As you can see from the example, the majority are anaphoric, referring back to something already said. However, this is not always the case. Also, notice that the number of words referred to depends on the content, and meaning specifically.

Example 2

Let’s look at another, more complex example.

Decades of robotic exploration have confirmed that in the distant past, Mars was warmer and wetter and its surface was habitable. However, none of the spacecraft missions to Mars have included among their scientific objectives the exploration of Special Regions, those places on the planet that could be inhabited by extant martian life or where terrestrial microorganisms might replicate. A major reason for this is because of Planetary Protection constraints, which are implemented to protect Mars from terrestrial biological contamination. At the same time, plans are being drafted to send humans to Mars during the 2030 decade, both from international space agencies and the private sector. We argue here that these two parallel strategies for the exploration of Mars (i.e., delaying any efforts for the biological reconnaissance of Mars during the next two or three decades and then directly sending human missions to the planet) demand reconsideration because once an astronaut sets foot on Mars, Planetary Protection policies as we conceive them today will no longer be valid as human arrival will inevitably increase the introduction of terrestrial and organic contaminants and that could jeopardize the identification of indigenous martian life. In this study, we advocate for reassessment over the relationships between robotic searches, paying increased attention to proactive astrobiological investigation and sampling of areas more likely to host indigenous life, and fundamentally doing this in advance of manned missions.

Fairén, A.G., Parro, V., Schulze-Makuch, D. and Whyte, L., 2017. Searching for life on Mars before it is too late. Astrobiology, 17(10), pp.962-970

its Mars

their spacecraft missions

those Special Regions

this none of the spacecraft missions to Mars have included among their scientific objectives the exploration of Special Regions,

We the authors/researchers

these delaying any efforts for the biological reconnaissance of Mars during the next two or three decades and then directly sending human missions to the planet

we all concerned people, institutions ……

them Planetary Protection policies

that Planetary Protection policies as we conceive them today will no longer be valid as human arrival will inevitably increase the introduction of terrestrial organic contaminants

this study

we the authors/researchers

this reassessment over the relationships between robotic searches, paying increased attention to proactive astrobiological investigation and sampling of areas more likely to host indigenous life

As we can see, again the majority of referents do refer back, but ‘we’ in both cases refers to something outside of the text; the first being to the authors and/researchers while the second refers more generically to any interested party.

From the above examples we can see how important it is to always be aware of who is saying what, which points are linked, and how. By noticing the referents we can make the necessary connections to aid our overall understanding of the text.

Another important way we make connections in text is with the use of lexical cohesion using synonyms, antonyms and language families.

Practice

Now it's time to focus your activity on texts that you may need to read and understand for your own discipline. Nowadays academic papers from relevant, peer-reviewed, academic journals are the main resource for research for your assignments. You can use your institution's database which will give you access to a wealth of resources, or if you are not enrolled in an institution, you can use Google Scholar which will give you abstracts for numerous texts on all academic disciplines.

Using an abstract or introduction from an academic paper or text in your discipline or area of interest, skim the text and underline any of the connecting words.

subject pronouns = I you he she it we they
object pronouns = me you him her it us them
possessive adjectives = my your his her its our their
definite articles = the this that these those

Now find the word or words they refer to. Remember they could be referring back to something already mentioned, forward to something the writer is going to say, or to something outside of the test itself.