Writing for Science and Engineering: Papers, Presentations and Reports

286 Pages·2002·10.76 MB·English

by  Heather Silyn-Roberts

Writing for Science and Engineering:
Papers, Presentations and Reports
by Heather Silyn-Roberts, Silyn-Roberts

ISBN: 0750646365
Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann
Pub. Date: December 2002
stnemegdelwonkcA
This book has come about sa a result of working with hundreds of graduate
students and .ffats I would particularly like to thank those in the following
institutions: the University of Auckland, in particular the School of
Engineering, and those attending courses at the Centre for Professional
Development; the University of Tiibingen, Germany- the Graduate
Schools of Neurobiology, Interphase Chemistry, and Cell Biology; the
Interdisciplinary Clinical Research Centre; the Department of General and
Environmental Hygiene; the faculties of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy,
and Biology; and the Max Planck Institutes of Biological Cybernetics,
Tiibingen, and Immunobiology, Freiburg, Germany.
For their support and organization of the programmes at the University of
Tiibingen and Max Planck Institutes, Germany, I am very grateful to Jutta
Bachmann, Konrad Botzenhart, Susanne Braum, Heinrich Biilthoff, Gerd
D6ring, Klaus Eichele, Hans-Dieter Frey, Wolf Frommer, Friedrich G6nnen-
wein, Sabine Hirsch, Wulf Kriiger, Peter Pilz, Davor Solter, Thomas
Tritschler, and Friederike Wolf-Oberhollenzer.
For contributing ideas or commenting on specific points: Keith Bailey,
Simon Bickerton, Martyn Bowis, Richard Christie, Stewart Forsyth and the
staff at Worley Consultants Ltd, Mike Johnston, ziL Godfrey, Stas Gorb,
Enrico Hammerle, Patsy Hulse, Peter Jackson (for allowing me to adapt
material for Chapter 9), Keith Jones, Sharlene Peterson, staff at the Purdue
Online Writing Lab, and Fiona Stevens-McFadden.
And, sa ever, Sign and Gretel Silyn-Roberts, for their knowledge and
editing skills, their humour, and keeping me buoyant.
Introduction
This book has been designed with the needs of science and engineering
graduate students and junior professionals in mind. It si the result of working
with hundreds of you in Europe and Australasia- how you access
information, the type of information you want, and the kinds of books you
don't like. These are the sorts of things that many students have said:
(cid:12)9 uoY appreciate prescriptions. This book si prescriptive; it's almost a recipe
book. Some people may criticize it for that reason. But science and
technical writing be guided to a great extent by prescriptions. uoY may
can
not achieve high style but you'll get professional competency.
(cid:12)9 uoY don't like black text. I've had many disparaging comments about
books with 'too many words'.
(cid:12)9 uoY need to be able to read any chapter in isolation. In this book, you
don't have to have read the previous parts of the book to understand the
later ones.
(cid:12)9 Looking things up and cross-referring si second nature to scientists and
engineers. This book has lots of cross-references within it to other parts of
the book.
(cid:12)9 uoY appreciate knowing the mistakes to avoid, and that you are not alone
in your difficulties. This book lists the common difficulties and errors.
(cid:12)9 Many of you have not had enough guidelines on the requirements of
technical writing and presentation during your undergraduate years. This
book assumes no basic knowledge, but it si not simplistic.
The basic structure of the book
Chapter 1 The General Structure How to decide on a structure
of a Document for a document.
Chapter 2 The Core Chapter: The requirements for all the
Sections and Elements sections likely to be found in
of a Document a graduate document.
Chapters 3 - 31 Specific Types of The requirements for each
Documents type of document. Extensively
cross-referred to Chapter :2
The Core .retpahC
Chapter 41 Referencing The conventions for
referencing within the text
and for the List of .secnerefeR
Chapter 51 Editorial Conventions The conventions for such
things sa formatting
equations, rules for
capitalization, etc.
Chapter 61 Revising and The techniques for revising a
Proofreading: Strategies document and proofreading
the final version or editor's
page proofs.
Chapter 71 Problems of Style Recognizing and correcting
common problems of writing
style.
Chapter 81 A Seminar or The techniques for a formal
Conference oral presentation.
Presentation
Chapter 91 Presentation to a Small The techniques for a
Group presentation to a small panel
of people, e.g. PhD oral or a
design presentation.
Appendix 1 Sl Units
Appendix 2 The Parts of Speech
Tenses and Forms of
the Verb
Appendix 3 Style Manuals for
Specific Disciplines
INTRODUCTION xi
How to use this book
If you need the primary information about:
(cid:12)9 the basic skeleton of headings of a technical document
(cid:12)9 how to choose sections for a document
(cid:12)9 how to guide a reader through a document
go to Chapter :1 The General Structure of a Document.
If you need to write a specific type of document, or an oral presentation
go straight to that chapter. It will be extensively cross-referred to the detail
you need in other parts of the book.
The other chapters give the supporting information on the conventions of
technical documentation: referencing, editorial style etc.
Chapter I
The general structure of a
document
This chapter covers:
(cid:12)9 AIMRAD: the classic structure of an experimental report.
(cid:12)9 When AIMRAD isn't an appropriate structure for your
document.
(cid:12)9 The basic skeleton of section headings.
(cid:12)9 Building an extended skeleton of section headings.
(cid:12)9 Using the Outline mode of Microsoft Word| to help organize
your document.
(cid:12)9 The importance of overview information: building a navigational
pathway through your document.
(cid:12)9 Deliberate repetition of information in the basic skeleton.
The basic skeleton of section headings for a
technical document
This section covers:
(cid:12)9 The classic AIMRAD structure for an experimental report.
(cid:12)9 When AIMRAD isn't suitable: choosing section headings.
(cid:12)9 The basic set of headings forming the skeleton of a document,
whatever its topic or length.
RIMRAD: the classic structure of an experimental report
The classic, traditional structure for an experimental report, particularly a
journal paper, si the AIMRAD structure: Abstract, Introduction, Methods,
Results and Discussion.
2 GNITIRW ROF ECNEICS AND :GNIREENIGNE ,SREPAP NOITATNESERP AND STROPER
When AIMP~D isn't an appropriate structure for your
document
The classic AIMRAD structure may not be suitable if you are reporting on:
(cid:12)9 Experimental work, but the structure needs to be expanded from the
restrictive AIMRAD form.
(cid:12)9 Work that si not of an experimental nature.
In this case, you will need to construct your own set of headings.
There si no single structure that can be applied to all reports. The
following sections give guidelines for this.
Choosing a set of main headings
The basic skeleton of all professional technical documents si made up of a set
of main headings. The headings don't depend on the topic or length of the
Table 1.1. A basic, general skeleton rof a dezilareneg short and a long document
to show the similarities
A short document A more complex document (Note: You
may not need lla of these sections).
Title Title page
yrammuS Abstract or yrammuS or Executive
yrammuS
Recommendations (if needed)
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Glossary of Terms and Glossary of Terms and
Abbreviations or List of Abbreviations or List of Symbols
Symbols (may not be needed) Theory (if needed)
Introduction or Background Introduction or Background
(Middle part of text- your (Middle part of text- your choice
choice of headings) of headings)
Discussion
Conclusions Conclusions
Recommendations (if needed) Recommendations (alternative
Alternatively, placed immediately position) or merged sa
after the .yrammuS Conclusions and Recommendations
Acknowledgements (alternative
)noitisop
References and/or Bibliography
Appendices (may not eb needed) Appendices
EHT LARENEG GNIRUTCURTS FO A TNEMUCOD 3
report, or whether it presents experimental or investigational work that
you've done, or material that you've researched only from the literature (e.g.
a generalized project report).
Documents tend to start and end with the same sections; the middle part
will depend on the subject matter of your document. To show this, Table 1.1
compares the basic format for a generalized short and a long document.
Choosing section headings: building na extended
skeleton
This section describes how to:
(cid:12)9 Build up the general skeleton into an appropriate extended skeleton
of sections for your document. This covers every type of document
that si not of a strictly AIMRAD structure.
(cid:12)9 Use the standard sections frequently used in longer documents.
Steps to take
Step I: Working from eht basic skeleton, plan an enlarged noteleks
/or your document
Use Table 1.2 to help: it does the following:
(cid:12)9 It lists many standard sections used in postgraduate science and
technological documents, in the approximate order in which they would
occur in the document.
(cid:12)9 It gives the purpose of each section.
(cid:12)9 It cross-refers you to the pages of this book that give guidelines on how to
write each section.
petS 2: Work out your own headings for eht central part of eht
document
Think about what the reader needs.
(cid:12)9 Ask yourself: What does the reader need to be able to assess my material most
readily? How can I best tell this story for the reader?
(cid:12)9 Don't ask: How do I want to present this material? This si quite different; it
si looking at it from your point of view, not the reader's. Documents that
are written from the writer's point of view run the risk of being difficult
for a reader to readily understand.
4 GNITIRW ROF ECNEICS AND :GNIREENIGNE ,SREPAP NOITATNESERP AND STROPER
Table 1.2. Use this table to determine what sections you will need for a
document. It shows: (1) the possible standard sections of a graduate technical
document, (2) the purpose of each section, (3) how often the section si used, and
(4) the relevant cross-reference to guidelines in this book
Section heading Purpose of section Frequency of use .ecnerefer-ssorC
Unless otherwise
stated, eht material si
in Chapter :2 The
Core Chapter
Title To adequately describe the Necessary See 'Title', page 16
contents of your document
in the fewest possible words.
The Title Page This si usually the covering Longer documents See 'Title Page',
page (first page) of a page .91
document, giving the title of
your document, information
about yourself and your
institution, and any
declaration that you may
need to make.
Abstract or Summary or (cid:12)9 To give the reader a Necessary See Chapter 3:
Executive Summary miniaturized version of Abstract/Summary/
the document, so that Executive Summary,
they can identify the page 64.
basic content quickly and
accurately.
(cid:12)9 To give the reader a brief
overview of all of the key
information. Vitally
important to help the
reader assess the
information in the rest of
the document.
(cid:12)9 To help readers decide
whether they need to
read the whole document.
Keywords A brief list of keywords Usually only for a See 'Keywords', page
I relevant to your document journal paper .32
that will be used by
electronic indexing and
abstracting services.
Acknowledgements To thank the people who If needed See 'Acknowledge-
have given you help in your ments', page 23.
work and in the preparation
of your document.
Table of Contents Gives the overall structure Longer documents See 'Table of
of the document. Lists the Contents', page .42
headings and subheadings,
together with their
corresponding page numbers.
List of Illustrations To give a listing - separate Longer documents See 'List of
from the Table of Contents Illustrations', page
of the numbers, titles and .62
- corresponding page numbers
of all your figures and tables.
Glossary of Terms and To define the specialist If needed See 'Glossary of
Abbreviations (or List of terms and abbreviations Terms and
Symbols) (including acronyms) that Abbreviations', page
you use in the main text of .72
the document.
EHT LARENEG GNIRUTCURTS FO A TNEMUCOD 5
Section heading Purpose of section Frequency of use Cross-reference.
Unless otherwise
stated, eht material si
in Chapter :2 The
Core chapter
Introduction (cid:12)9 To clearly state the Common See 'Introduction,'
purpose of the study. page .82
(cid:12)9 To allow readers to
understand the
background to the study,
without needing to
consult the literature
themselves.
(cid:12)9 To indicate the authors
who have worked or are
working in this area, and
to describe their chief
contributions.
(cid:12)9 To indicate correlations,
contradictions, anomalies
and gaps in the
knowledge.
(cid:12)9 To outline the approach
you will take.
(cid:12)9 To provide a context for
the later discussion of
your material.
(cid:12)9 In longer documents to
describe the structure of
the document.
Background Often used as an alternative fI needed See 'Background',
heading to Introduction. page 32.
But where a document needs
both an Introduction and a
Background:
Introduction: usually a
restatement of the brief and
a description of the structure
of the document.
Background: gives the
history of the subject matter
and the objectives of the
study. Alternatively, the
objectives can be stated in a
separate Objectives section.
Objectives To describe the aims of your fI raelc statement See 'Objectives'
study. needed page 32.
Purpose Statement To state the purpose of the See 'Purpose
document (equivalent of the statement, page 33.
Objectives section).
Scoping Statement or To describe the topics See 'Scope
Scope covered in the document. These four sections are statement', page 34.
sometimes found in
Procedure Statement To describe the processes management reports. See 'Procedure
you followed in investigating statement', page 34.
the topic of the document.
Problem Statement To describe the problem and See 'Problem
its significance. statement', page 34.