Objectives

• Prepare written and oral technical communication for this class (and others)• Material in this lecture serves as a template for

evaluation• Focus is on skills (very practical)• Not a replacement for classes• Other resources

• Private editing services• http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~gslisgwp/• http://uwc.fac.utexas.edu/

Graduate Student Writing Service• Established last fall, the Graduate Student Writing Service welcomes any UT graduate student

to take advantage of our individualized, free writing assistance. Our staff of highly trained graduate-student consultants is qualified to offer help with writing in all disciplines and at all levels.

• Students may bring in any writing project, ranging from a fellowship application or C.V. to an article for publication, a master's thesis, or even a dissertation.

• Our mission is to help graduate students become independent, confident writers. In accordance with our mission and with University policies regarding academic integrity, we do not proofread or edit papers. Nor do we predict grades or guarantee better grades. Rather, we provide expert advice to help writers improve their skills and make the most of their work.

• If students are interested in consultations, we suggest scheduling appointments either by calling our receptionist at 475-8719 or by stopping by the Center (Jester A315). Otherwise, we can't guarantee that a consultant will be available. It's always a good idea to try to schedule appointments a few days in advance; during the busiest times of the semester, we're often booked up 3 or 4 days ahead.

• We also offer drop-in consultations on a first-come basis; the best way to get one of these consultations is to stop by the Center. If there's an open appointment, or if someone has cancelled, students are welcome to the time.

• For information please email Sarah Mullen (skmullen@mail.utexas.edu), or call 475-6607 or 475-8720.

• “Second Day of Bombing Fails to Bring Peace to Gorazde”

Seattle Post Intelligencer: April 11, 1996

Our Goal

• To tell a story that is factual, comprehensive, meaningful, engaging, succinct, clear, accurate, etc.

• Consider the uninformed reader

Major Sections

• Abstract• Introduction

• Often includes literature review

• Methodology• Modeling parameters

• Results (& Discussion)• (Discussion &) Conclusion• Acknowledgments (funding, non-authorship effort)• References• Nomenclature (optional)• Keywords (optional)

Unity Between Sections

• Use transitions

• Consider using heads and subheadings• Not appropriate to have a subheading with no text

• Follow same order throughout all sections / display elements

Abstract

• The most important part of your paper

• Should be succinct

• 100 words, 150 words, 300 words, 4 sentences

• Objective• Capture interest• State (generally is okay) most important results• End with non-obvious pithy sentence that entices

Strategies for Abstract Writing

• Write at end of process

• Pick out most important results• The more incremental your work, the more

specific the details

• Introduce and define important parameters if necessary

• No references (usually)

Introduction and Literature Review

• Objectives• Grab reader and pull them into your story• Cite all relevant references• Establish gaps in existing research• Define parameters and make case for their

importance• Organize and lay out rest of paper

Strategies for Introduction and LR

• Start with a interesting fact about your topic• No need to be alarmist or over-the-top• Use a short sentence

• Generally layer on more complicated ideas• Conduct a comprehensive literature review

• Use Web of Science to find other sources

• Don’t need to cite all details about previous work• Central idea

Intro and LR Strategies II

• Consider a table if previous work is grouped tightly enough

Reference Particle Size Metric Value

Ferro et al. (2004) PM2.5 Source Strength 0.45, 0.19 mg/min

Ferro et al. (2004) PM5 Source Strength 0.72, 0.36 mg/min

Long et al. (2000) PM2.5 Maximum Concentration 6.5 µg/m3

Long et al. (2000) 0.02 – 0.1 µm Maximum Concentration 0.06 µm3/cm3

Long et al. (2000) 0.1 – 0.5 µm Maximum Concentration 0.43 µm3/cm3

Long et al. (2000) 0.7 – 2.5 µm Maximum Concentration 1.8 µm3/cm3

Long et al. (2000) 2.5 – 10 µm Maximum Concentration 6.7 µm3/cm3

Thatcher and Layton (1995) 0.5 – 1 µm Concentration Ratio 1.2

Thatcher and Layton (1995) 1- 5 um Concentration Ratio 1.8

Thatcher and Layton (1995) 5 – 10 um Concentration Ratio 11.4

Thatcher and Layton (1995) 10 -25 um Concentration Ratio 29.5

Intro and LR Strategies III

• Challenge is striking balance between accurately representing work of others and not going into too much detail

• Cite and define key parameters and emphasize why they are important

• After reading introduction, the reader should know the direction of the rest of the paper

• Keep it short (~3 paragraphs)

Intro and LR Strategies IIV

• Avoid passive voice, be active• It is acceptable to use “I” or “we”• Vary language:

• Smith et al. (1972) measured …• Ezekoye and Shi (2003) investigated…• Several studies report differences between…

(Katz, 2004; Kinney et al., 2000; Allen and Collins, 1999)

• Follow the format for citations and references

Introduction vs. Methodology

• There should be no methodology in your literature review• You can say what you did in general, but not

specific, terms in the Introduction• Don’t alienate your reader

• Similarly the Methodology should have limited references to other sources

Methodology

• Objectives• Reader should be able to repeat what you did• Lay groundwork for results

• Model Parameters• Description of inputs that you used in writing the

paper

Strategies for Methodology

• Use passive voice to describe your procedures• Past tense (you have already done the work)

• Length varies considerably• Be explicit in your description

• Identify equipment• Refer to standard procedures

• Use a schematic/figure if it helps your work• Not appropriate to indicate how much work

you did

Modeling Parameters

• Use a table if it helps organize data

• Reader should be able to repeat your process and get exactly the same results

ParameterReference/ Display Element

Number of Parameter Values

Case Description(base case is in boldface)

Pd, Duct

Penetration

Sippola & Nazaroff (2002)Figure 5.1 and Table 5.1

2 Simple

Typical

Complex

f, Filter

Efficiency

ASHRAE (1999)Figure 5.2

3 MERV 2

MERV6

MERV 12

Equations

• Use Equation Editor (or similar)

• Follow equations with a definition (with dimensions) of every previously undescribed variable

Difference Between Methodology and Results

• There should be no results in the methodology• Caveat about pilot data

• Very common error

Results

• Objective• Present and INTERPRET results from your analysis

• Most likely place for tables and figures• Display elements should stand alone

• All tables and figures should be discussed in the text• Very common to forget to do this

• Should refer back to portions discussed in earlier sections

• Unusual to have references

Display Elements

• Should stand on their own

• Often take the most time

• Basics• Use same size font as rest of document (12 pt)• Figures should be dense (limited white space)• Captions go above Tables and below Figures

• Should be descriptive of contents

Rules for Figures

• No small type• No colored/shaded backgrounds• DON’T USE COLOR• Use 12 pt font• Use same font• Only use symbols for discrete points, not for

showing a function• Check your units

Example Figure

Example Table

Discussion

• Objectives• Elucidate results• Put results in context• Compare to other work• Investigate implications

• Often combined with Methodology or Conclusion

• Short discussion is common reason for paper rejection

Strategies for Discussion

• Compare results to other work• Explore ancillary effects

• Describe implications

• Explore uncertainty• Limitations

Air Exchange Rate (1/hr)

0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 1.50 1.75 2.00

Equivalent O

utdoor Ozone

Concentration Increase (ppb)

0

10

20

30

40

50Ion Generators 1 and 2Ion Generator 3Ion Generators 4 and 5

Figure 1: Change in outdoor ozone concentration necessary to achieve equivalent indoor concentration to home with an operating ion generator

Conclusions

• Objective• Summarize your work

• Pitfalls• Introducing new material• Describing future work• Using bullet points instead of sentences

• Strategies• Often very short• Write at same time as Abstract

Other Sections

• Acknowledgments• Not the Oscars• Focus on funding, non-author work

• References• Follow format for journal• People use this section – don’t make errors

• Nomenclature (optional)• Keywords (optional)

• Object is to be found in search index• Avoid words used in title

Grammar and Style

• Common grammatical and stylistic errors• Colloquial• Articles and prepositions• Overuse of parentheses• Unclear subjects• Long sentences• Not defining terms• Avoid possessive (i.e. Alvarez’s work showed

that…)

Grammar and Style

• Pet Peeves• Not following consistent citation/reference format• Incorrect citation of information from references• Ignoring this lecture

Strategies for Avoiding Grammatical Errors

• Peer review/edit before submission

• Read paper out loud• Even better (more embarrassing) with an audience

• Read each sentence, starting from end of paper

• Look at previous versions to try and catch recurring errors

Review Process

• Will discuss more when papers are submitted:• You will need to submit all references and they

will be checked for• Accuracy of citation (two-level)

• Primary reference

• Quality of source (i.e. peer review, archival)

• Comprehensive literature search.

• Grammar and spelling will be explicitly evaluated during the review process