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This means that when you write in English you may be going against what is con-
sidered good style in your own language. But don’t let breaking a taboo stop you
from expressing yourself in the way that will best highlight your results and thus
attract more readers.

3.7 Use ‘generic + specific’ constructions with caution
Generic statements are often redundant.

Do you notice anything missing in the following paragraph?

S1. Devices are becoming increasingly miniaturized, powerful, cheap and have become part of
our daily lives. Notable examples include smart phones and smart watches equipped with
a plethora of sensors, home appliances and general purpose devices such as tablets and
ultra-thin notebooks. We are surrounded by all these devices daily in a pervasive way, at
home, work and also in public spaces – as anticipated in Mark Weiser’s visionary observa-
tion: “The most profound technologies are those that disappear.”

The original version of S1 contained the following introductory sentence:

S2. The last decade has been characterized by advances in device manufacturing.

S2 says nothing that the reader doesn’t already know, and its main point is repeated
in the next sentence. Moreover, its very generic nature does not invite the reader to
continue reading. It can therefore be deleted.

Using an introductory sentence at the beginning of a new section or paragraph is clearly
a good idea as it acts as a topic-sentence alerting the reader about what is coming next.
However, where possible the introductory sentence should also be eye-catching.

A sentence such as Devices are becoming increasingly miniaturized, powerful,
cheap and have become part of our daily lives does not attract attention.

Remember that your readers will not be reading every word, sentence or paragraph
of your paper. Their eyes will be skimming down the page (rather than slowly read-
ing across the page horizontally). Their eyes are waiting to rest on something that
attracts their attention.

So a better start to S1 would be:
S3. Way back in 1991 Mark Weiser observed that "The most profound technologies are those
that disappear." In fact, increasingly miniaturized, powerful, and cheap devices have