“On the other hand” vs. “Besides” vs "Moreover"

Опубликовано: 15 Март 2021
на канале: University English Hub

986

On the other hand, besides, and moreover are three terms that are often interchanged in scientific papers. However, there are some distinct differences that will be helpful for you when writing your academic paper.

---------Transcript---------
Many Uni-edit customers are from Chinese & Japanese language backgrounds. Our customers sometimes translate these characters into English as “on the other hand” and “besides”. However, these words have quite different meanings in English.

Let's start with: On the other hand

“On the other hand” presents two things that are opposed when the author is making a decision. A commonly used and natural structure is "statement... On the other hand,..."

Here's an easy and correct example: "I love ice cream. On the other hand, I don't want to gain weight."

Now, let’s look at a scientific paper. Here is a correct example. "Metallic carbon nanotubes possess high thermal stability, high thermal conductivity, and high current carrying capacity. On the other hand, their fabrication is a challenging and time-consuming process, and there is no suitable mass production method at present."

So in this example, we have the main statement. It shows the benefit. Then “on the other hand" which means a problem statement will follow. The pattern is: main statement, "On the other hand", problem statement.

Besides
“Besides” introduces an extra argument. The author gives an extra argument in case the main statement is not enough. Here is a correct academic example: "Based on this evidence, we did not employ metallic carbon nanotubes to construct our chips. Besides, the speed of existing technology is suitable for our purposes."

The pattern is: main statement, besides, extra argument.

So far, we've looked at On the other hand and besides. Next, we look at a common alternative: Moreover

“Moreover” introduces an extra argument. The author gives an extra argument to strengthen the main statement. Let's look again at the previous example: "Based on this evidence, we did not employ metallic carbon nanotubes to construct our chips. Moreover, the speed of existing technology is suitable for our purposes."

The pattern is: main statement, moreover, extra argument.
----------

Uni-edit provides English editing and translation services for conference papers, journal papers, research papers, theses, dissertations, and other academic manuscripts.

English editing:
www.uni-edit.net

WRT030