MSE 478-578
Scientific Communication in Materials Science & Engineering
Dept. of Materials Science & Engineering
Fall 2014/Bill Knowlton
Assignment 4
Provide your PI only with the following (Due Monday, 9/29/14, before class):
Write your Introduction (mostly present tense) for your study/project. You should send your PI the
Introduction. Use the color coding shown below:
• Big picture: ~1 to 2 sentences
• Your area: ~2-3 sentences to 1 paragraph
• Your topic: ~1-3 paragraphs
o Cover published work by others in the field
o Cover your previous work in the field
• State the gap in knowledge that you intend to fill: ~1-2 paragraphs
o State 2-3 aspects of what is missing in the literature.
o State the questions that are unresolved by this knowledge gap.
• State how Your Study addresses these questions; that is, how Your Study fills the knowledge gap.
~1 paragraph
• List possible implications/ramifications/impact of your study. ~1-2 sentences
Recall that the Introduction is a form of organizing your literature review to support and motivate your
study. Hence, you will need to include references in your Introduction and a Reference section. Your
bibliography program should contain all the references you use in your Introduction and should be used
to create your Reference section.
NOTE: For assignments:
• Please name your file: “FirstName LastName Assignment# Course & # year.file type”
• Please include the assignment request/question in your email to your PI so that the PI is aware of the
assignment request/question.
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