Technical & Scientific Writing

Malhar Ambhikar, Sean Holster, & Varun Chowdhary

“If the reader is to grasp what the writer means, the writer must understand what the reader needs.”

- Gopen and Swan

• A report to an immediate supervisor detailing the progress of work

• A memo to a supplier• A letter to a client giving a report• An article to a peer-reviewed journal • A proposal to win a grant or a contract

Typical writing situations

• What do the professors, managers, engineers, scientists, or technicians who will be reading the document know about the subject?

• What terms need to be defined?• What background or source information

needs to be included?

Audience

• Is the document intended to inform or convince?

• Why will the audience read the document?• How will the audience read the document?

Purpose

Scientific Writing is collaborative

• Co-authors are usual. They may be colleagues, supervisors, or internal review boards and other specialists.

• Contributors may provide comments, information, guidance, or evaluation.

• Research, methods, and theories are disseminated through writing, usually journals.

Collaboration

• Correspondence is used for requests, announcements, and short reports.

• Requests and announcements are generally one page.

• Reports in memo form are short and broken into sections with illustrations and appendices where needed.

• Final paragraphs tell readers what the writer will do for them or what the writer needs.

• Copies should be sent to every party referred to in the text and/or directly affected by the content of the communication.

Memos & Letters

Formal Reports

Formats:• Laboratory Reports• Design Reports• Proposals • Progress Reports• Instructions• Journal Articles

Contents:• Keywords• Title• Abstract• Introduction• Procedures (Methodology)• Results • Discussion (Conclusion)• Appendices• References

Formal reports or articles

Formal Reports

Purpose:• written in order to communicate about

laboratory work to management • often form the basis for company decisions• serve to archive laboratory work

Contents:• Abstract• Introduction• Procedures• Results • Discussion• Conclusion• Appendices• References

(This organization does not necessarily serve for all laboratory reports.)

Laboratory reports

Formal Reports

Purpose & Audience:• introduce or transfer the

concepts used in scientific and engineering designs to applications

• audiences include– engineers and scientists

concerned with the operation and effectiveness of the design

– management entities interested in the application and effectiveness of the design

Contents:• Abstract• Introduction• Results • Discussion• Conclusion• Appendices• References

Design reports

Formal Reports

Purpose:• a plan for solving a problem

Audience:• managers assess

administrative feasibility and effectiveness

• engineers assess technical feasibility and effectiveness

Contents:• Abstract• Introduction of problem• Solution• Benefits of Solution• Feasibility• Cost• Timeline• Appendices• References

Proposals

Requests for Proposals (RFPs)• Solicited proposals are written in response to

advertisements or requests made by engineering or scientific consulting agencies (requests for proposals, or RFPs) for the solution to a problem.

• Unsolicited proposals are initiated without request to make a client aware of a problem and to propose a solution; often these occur within the company.

Formal Reports

Purpose & Audience:• written in conjunction

with proposals after resources are secure

• meant to update the client on the project’s progress

Format: • memo, letter, or short

report

Contents:• Background information• Assessment of tasks listed

in the proposal• Problems that have arisen

& possible solutions• Revisions of original

objectives• Achievements of

proposed plan• Discussion of remaining

work • Relation of progress to

proposed schedule

Progress Reports

Formal Reports

Purpose & Format:• to inform the

audience how to perform a process

• formats include single-phrase cautions or thick handbooks on procedures

Style:Instructions have four unique stylistic aspects:

• Numbered steps• Imperative mood• Cautions and warnings• Illustrations and examples

Instructions

Formal Reports

Purpose & Audience:• to provide a primary

medium for engineers and scientists to present their work to peers

• researchers or scholars somewhat familiar with the technical or scientific content but not necessarily experts

Content:• Abstract• Introduction• Procedures• Results • Discussion• Conclusions• Appendices• References

Journal Articles

Formal Reports

Purpose & Format:• summarize the critical

components of the report or document for searches and quick review by potential readers

• place the most important information first

• remain within the word limit (250-500 words)

Content:• Problem/Objective• Solution• Value to the industry or contribution to

knowledge• Important conclusions such as solutions or

recommendations

Abstracts

The art science or technical style

• Some people argue that science is hard to read because of the complicated material and graphs/figures.

• But the difficulty disappears when authors use clear language.

• It is possible to produce clarity without oversimplifying scientific issues/facts.

Scientific Writing is collaborative

• Precision: ambiguities in writing cause confusion and may prevent a reader from grasping crucial aspects of the methodology and synthesis.

• Clarity: concepts and methods in the sciences can often be complex; writing that is difficult to follow greatly amplifies any confusion on the part of the reader.

• Objectivity: any claims need to be based on facts, not intuition or emotion.

Core Values for Style

Different words might convey similar meaning, but usually only one is most appropriate in a given context.

For example: The population density is correlated with SARS transmission rate.

In this context, "correlated" conveys a precise statistical relationship between two variables. Explain how the correlation was estimated and is related:

Revised: The population density is positively correlated with SARS transmission rate (see Fig. 1).

Precision

Precision and Figurative Language

Figurative language makes writing interesting and engages casual reading. However, it is by definition imprecise. Whenever possible, use quantitative rather than qualitative descriptions.

For example: Experimental subjects were assaulted with a wall of sound.

The metaphor fails to convey the precise meaning.

Revision: Experimental subjects were presented with 20 second pulses of conspecific mating calls.

Precision and Figurative Language

Precision and Level of Detail

The effort to be precise can encourage detail. Including some detail is necessary, but the reader should be able to easily follow the writing without being distracted by irrelevant facts and descriptions.

A few questions to ask when evaluating the level of detail:

• Is the rationale for performing the experiment clear?• Are the materials and procedures used to generate the

results described at a level of detail that would allow the experiment to be repeated?

• Will the reader be able to follow the chain of logic used to draw conclusions from the data?

Precision and Level of Detail

Making Style More Clear

• When you're writing about complex ideas and concepts, it's easy to get sucked into complex writing.

• Transforming complicated ideas into simple explanations is probably the most difficult task in scientific writing.

Clarity

Clear Style

• When choosing between a familiar and technical or obscure term, use the more familiar term only if it does not reduce precision.

• The reader has complicated material to learn, so there should not be any distraction with complex terms that may be confusing.

Complex Simple

efficacious effective

utilize use

elucidate explain

proximal close

Simplicity First

Clear Style

• When the action of the sentence (verb) is removed from the subject, the reader may lose track of the the main idea.

– No: It is clearly evident from Fig. 1 that bird species richness increased with habitat complexity.

– Yes: Bird species richness increased with habitat complexity (Fig. 1).

Clarity in Sentences

For example:

The osmoregulatory organ, which is located at the base of the third dorsal spine on the outer margin of the terminal papillae and functions by expelling excess sodium ions, activates only under hypertonic conditions.

Located on the outer margin of the terminal papillae at the base of the third dorsal spine, the osmoregulatory organ expels excess sodium ions under hypertonic conditions.

For example . . .

Clear Style

Almost all scientific writing is space limited! Grant proposals, journal articles, and abstracts all have word or page limits, so there's a premium on concise writing.

• Avoid generic phrases that contribute no novel information.• Common phrases should be excluded: "the fact that," "it

should be noted that," and "it is interesting that" are cumbersome and unnecessary.

Wordiness = Lack of Clarity

Objective Style

• The objective tone used in conventional scientific writing reflects the philosophy of the scientific method: if results are not repeatable, then they are not valid.

• Hence, scientific writers try to adopt a tone that removes the focus from the researcher and puts it only on the research itself.

Objective Style

Objective Style

For the hard sciences . . .Common wisdom has almost always been, “Don’t use passive voice!”

(The passive voice is a sentence structure where the subject who performs the action is hidden or delayed.)

In scientific writing, passive voice is highly encouraged when the actor (researcher) is less important than the action (research).

Passive: The data was examined.

Active: We examined the data.

Passive Voice & Objectivity

Contents of a Formal Report or Scientific Article

KeywordsTitleAbstractIntroduction (Background)Procedures (Methodology)ResultsDiscussion (Conclusion)AppendicesReferences

Keywords

• Are used mainly in professional scientific writing by the indexing and abstracting services

• May increase the ease with which interested readers can locate an article

Keywords

Title

• Includes the fewest possible words that accurately describe the content

• Omits all waste words such as:– “A study of…”– “Investigation of…”– “Observation on…”

• Names limitations (region, species, population, etc. ) when applicable

Title

Abstract• Enables the reader to identify the basic content of a

paper quickly and accurately. Readers need to determine its relevance to their interests, and if they should read the rest of the paper

• Concisely states the principal objectives and scope of the investigation (where not obvious from title) and results and principal conclusions

• Excludes details of the methods• Conveys the essential details of the paper in as few

words as possible (about less than 250 words)

Abstract

Introduction

• Establishes the significance of the current work: Why was there a need to conduct the study?

• Clearly states the scope and objectives• Provides evidence of sound engineering or

scientific principles• Builds credibility through references to other

work done on the problem (review of literature)

• Omits any conclusions, methods, or results

Introduction (Background)

• Provides a basis for repetition of the study by others

• Provides enough detail for a competent worker to repeat the study and reproduce the results, but not too much: “it’s a menu, not a recipe”

• Is tailored to the needs of the audience– If the procedures are standard processes or

previously published, little detail need be included. A name of the method or a reference should be provided if available.

– If not, theoretical framework must be presented as well.

Procedures (or Methodology)

• Reports the outcome of the study• Presents visual data (as graphs, tables, and figures)

with important trends extracted and described• Omits results that are not crucial to the discussion

NOTE: Sometimes Results and Discussion are presented together.

Results

• Evaluations, generalizations, and estimations based on results• No speculation (Common-knowledge statements,

unsupported opinions, and conclusions from previous works are strongly discouraged.)

• Significance of the results: how can the knowledge gained be applied? What will readers know after this study that they did not know previously? How does the study contribute to knowledge? Change theories or practices?

• Doesn't leave the reader thinking "So what?“• Discusses reliability of the results• Reports any errors made, problems unsolved, or study

limitations

Discussion (Conclusions)

• Provide in-depth information too lengthy to include in the report or tangential to the subject

• Formal appendix contains a “beginning, middle, and end” (i.e. introduces the context of the information, presents the information, and explains why it is relevant)

• Informal appendix condenses supplemental material and calculations to headings, captions, and if necessary, brief commentary

Appendices

• Lets the reader know what other studies were read or cited in preparing the report

• Follows a consistent citation style (A general style for science is put out by the Council of Science Editors. )

• Includes internal citations (in the body) that show exactly what information came from which sources

NOTES: Direct quotes are not commonly used; however, the words and ideas of others are paraphrased or summarized and cited.

Failure to cite any sources, including visual, is a violation of academic integrity.

References

ReferencesAlley, Michael, Leslie Crowley, Jeff Donnell, & Christene Moore. “Writing Guidelines for

Engineering and Science Students,” http://writing.eng.vt.edu (Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech, 2002).

Alley, Michael. (1996). The craft of scientific writing, 3rd edition. New York: Springer-Verlag.

Gopen, George D., and Judith A. Swan. "The Science of Scientific Writing." American Scientist 78 (1990): 550-558. 16 Apr. 2007 <http://www.amstat.org/publications/jcgs/sci.pdf>.

Hartberg, Yasha. Personal interview. 12 Apr. 2007.

“Notes on the Structure of a Scientific Paper.” University of Canberra.” 14 Apr. 2007 <http://aerg.canberra.edu.au/pub/aerg/edupaper.htm>.

Paradis, J.G. and M.L. Zimmerman. (2002) The MIT guide to science and engineering communication, 2nd edition. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

"Writing in the Sciences." Handouts and Links. University of North Carolina. 14 Apr. 2007 <http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/sciences.html>.

References for this presentation