Writing technically
Skills
Writing Technically – Writing the Report
Description of this Guide
This guide comprises two parts:
Part A – Writing the Report contains information and activities on collecting
data from your log book, on how to get going and finally produce a report with the
correct sections and understand what you need to do in each of the sections.
Part B - An Interactive Grammar Guide focusing on writing objectively (using
the passive), writing clearly (understanding the clause), being precise and
accurate, linking ideas and correcting four of the main grammatical sins in writing.
If you have a writing assignment coming up soon, it would be good to read and
work through the activities in Part A.
If you just want to work on your grammar go straight to the Interactive Grammar
Guide. It has many links to online sources where you can further test yourself.
Learning Outcomes
1. Understand the function of log/lab books and what they include.
2. Manage the writing process (think, plan, write, revise, and edit).
3. Understand the structure of paragraphs and the role of topic sentences and thesis
statements.
4. Understand the sections of scientific/technical report.
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Contents
PART A
Writing the Report
1.0
Introduction
2.0
The Process of Technical Writing
2.1
The Lab Log (Notebook): documenting your research
2.1
Checklist for Lab Notebooks
2.2
The Process of Writing your Report
2.2.1 Planning and Writing your report
A
Think: what does your reader want to know and what do
you want to say?
B
Plan: working with the structure
C
Write: just start somewhere
D
Revise: check you’re making sense
E
Edit : check for errors
2.3
Developing your message through your paragraphs
2.4.
Presenting your Work Professionally
2.5
Other Reports
3.0
Writing the Sections of your Report
3.1
The Summary/Abstract
3.1.1 Checklist
3.2
The Introduction
3.2.1 Checklist
3.3
The Methods Section
3.3.1 Checklist
3.4
The Results Section
3.4.1 Checklist
3.5
The Discussion
3.5.1 Checklist
3.6
The Conclusion
3.6.1 Checklist
3.7
The Appendices
4.0
Developing your Style
Writing technically
Skills
PART B
An Interactive Grammar Guide
1.
Improving your Technical Writing Style
2.
Being Objective - The Passive
3.
Writing Clearly
3.1
Understanding sentence basics: clause packets
3.2
Recognising signal words
3.2.1
describing cause and effect
3.2.2
indicating something similar or unexpected
3.2.3
comparing and contrasting
3.2.4
expressing degrees of certainty
3.2.5
being precise
3.2.6
writing about processes
4.
Correcting your Grammatical Sins
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
Sentence fragments
Run on sentences
Agreement problems
Faulty parallelism
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PART A
Writing the Report
1.0
Introduction
Scientific and technical advances are conveyed through written documents. These
can be for example research papers, technical reports and newspaper articles.
Being able to write effectively therefore is essential for the scientist or the
engineer. Experimental and project work at University is an excellent opportunity
to produce simple, clear and readable reports for a specific audience. It is
important to be aware that you need to learn this skill, and the more you practise
the better you will become.
The hallmark of good technical writing is clarity. If you are able to present your
ideas clearly you are also training yourself to think clearly. This guide will help
you to master the process of writing, which can be difficult for most of us and
identify the contents of each section of a report.
Writing the Report is Part A of the Writing Technically guide and should be used in
conjunction with Part B - An Interactive Grammar Guide as well as the other
guides on the Academic Skills website at
http://www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk/develop.htm
2.0
The Process of Technical Writing
The process of writing is the difficult part. It is not only your ability to string a
sentence together, but also how you manage the process. Get the process right, and
you will feel a lot more confident.
2.1
The Lab Log (Notebook): documenting your research
As an Engineering or Science student you will be carrying out work in the laboratory,
and as any good professional scientist or engineer, you will be expected to keep the
lab log or lab notebook. In this log you will record, in note form, details of each lab
session. You should complete your lab log during your lab session so you can record
observations and any key data as it occurs. Make sure you come to a conclusion at
the end of every experiment. Your lab log should be a hard-backed book that will
serve as a diary for all your lab sessions. The lab log may be all that you have to
write, but if you have to write a lab report, then you will need the information in your
lab log to work from. Remember, to record all your observations accurately.
Writing technically
Skills
Activity 1 : Headings for your Lab Notebook
Match the number with the letter….
1. Table of contents
2. Description of your work
3. Experiment
4. Materials and equipment
5. Methodology
6. Data
7. Results
8. Brief discussion
A.
Give it a title, write down: the question you are
trying to answer and your hypothesis.
B.
Use graph paper software packages to display your
findings, ensure everything is labelled correctly. Make sure this relates to your
hypothesis.
C.
Lists experiments and investigations and the page number
D.
A list of everything you need to carry out this experiment
E.
Briefly state what you did in a few sentences
F.
Did you have appropriate evidence for your hypothesis, state what you’ve
learnt, how you would improve your experiment.
G.
Say how you carried out experiment, add diagrams
H.
Prepare data tables beforehand and explain what should data represents
See Key to Activities
2.1.1 CHECKLIST FOR LAB NOTEBOOKS
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2.2
Write with a PEN not a pencil.
Date and title your lab session.
Write simply and clearly so that someone else could repeat your experiment from
your notes.
Prepare data table beforehand and complete during the experiment.
Put a line through mistakes and make clear corrections, explain what changed and
why.
Make drawings where necessary.
Record your results carefully, make conclusions, offer suggestions and evaluate
any errors.
The Process of Writing your Report
Before writing your lab report check:
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Who this report is for (the reader).
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How you are going to structure it (your tutor may have the template for you to
use).
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That you have all the information you need from your experiment (see your lab
notebook).
Relevant references for your literature review in order to place your work within
a body of scientific knowledge. (Check with your tutor if this is necessary for your
report).
You will probably assume that your reader will be a tutor. However, since your tutor
knows this topic, you may feel you do not have to ‘spell everything out’. So, it may be
better to write for a friend who is interested in this topic, but does not know too much
about it. This way, you need to make everything clear. Having a reader in mind is
very important. This determines how you write.
2.2.1 PLANNING AND WRITING YOUR REPORT
Assume you have carried out your investigations and you have a reader in mind. It is
now important to: think, plan, write, revise and edit. This applies to any piece of work
you are writing.
A
THINK
PLAN
WRITE
REVISE
EDIT
What does your reader want to know and what do you want to say?
Take a report you will be working on and complete the table below (or use a mind
map).
Question
Why this investigation?
Purpose, objective(s) and scope of your report
Who else has done work in this area?
some key references
How did I/we do it ?
method and equipment used
Where did I/we do it?
Relevant if you did fieldwork
What did I/we find out?
Results and conclusions
Working title
Your notes
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Skills
These are all questions that the reader will want answered when reading your report.
You may prefer to create a mindmap that at this stage. The University workstations
have a mindmapping tool available (Inspiration).
B
THINK
PLAN
WRITE
REVISE
EDIT
Plan your working with structure.
You will need to know the structure of the report you are writing. Check with your
tutor as he or she may have a particular structure for you to use.
Also, if you are lucky enough to write a paper for a journal, you will need to check the
structure, formatting and referencing style for each Journal.
A typical structure for a report is:
1. Abstract
2. Title
3. Summary (abstract)
4. Keywords (optional)
5. Table of contents (advised)
6. Introduction
7. Literature review
8. Method (procedure, equipment)
9. Results & Analysis
10.Discussion
11.Conclusion and Recommendations
12.References - see Referencing your Work guide at http://www.academic-
skills.soton.ac.uk/develop.htm
13. Appendices (large tables of data, illustrations etc.)
The structure of your report may be a lot simpler, but those sections in bold will
almost certainly be included.
More details of the structure are provided in section 3.
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PLANNING TIPS:
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Look at your notes from the think section above.
Start to outline a few sentences for each section in your report. You don't
have to do this in order, but do group sentences in the right section and try
and place them in some kind of order, even though it may be rough at this
stage. If you are a visual learner, you may prefer to do this as a mind map,
but do try to constructs sentences. As mentioned earlier, the University
workstations have a piece of software called Inspiration that can help you do
this.
Look back at your notes, your lab notebook and your results to help you do
this.
Sentence outlines help you get started and before you know where you are,
your report is underway.
Take a piece of scientific/technical text – a section of a chapter or a scientific paper
would be ideal. Take the first sentence of each paragraph and write it down so you
have a list of sentences.
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From each sentence identify what the paragraph will be about
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Go back to the text and see how accurate you were.
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Now do this with some piece of text you have written.
A good writer will use the first (or first two) sentences of a paragraph as a pointer to
what is in that paragraph. You intuitively know this as a reader as the text will be
coherent.
If you write a sentence for each idea you have, this will be the outline of your work.
Check out section 2.3 for more information on this.
C
THINK
PLAN
WRITE
REVISE
EDIT
Just start somewhere………..
It was suggested above, that when you Plan you can use sentence outlining as a way
of identifying what you want to say. It also means that you have started to write and
bypassed the blank white page syndrome that many writers face.
Now you have some skeleton sentences in each or most of your sections, try
developing some sentences in a section you feel most comfortable with. Very often
writers feel that the Methods section is the easiest place to start as it is the most
concrete.
Your sentences should be simple and clear. Your ideas are developed through your
sentences, so make sure they are put together logically. Each paragraph then
develops an idea or concept.
Writing technically
Skills
NOTE: When you are writing sentence outlines in the planning phase, the sentences
will probably express an idea for a paragraph. If you have several sentence outlines
for a section this will probably correspond with different paragraphs within a section.
In the writing phase, you need to develop these ideas through supporting sentences.
Check the activities in Part B, section 4.1 ‘sentence fragments’. The activities in the
section are important when you come to revise your work.
D.
THINK
PLAN
WRITE
REVISE
EDIT
Check you’re making sense!
You revise your work to check it is making sense, possibly adding or deleting things,
and refine the way you have expressed yourself. You should revise your work after
each section, and then finally look at all the sections when reviewing the whole work.
You must revise your work. If you leave your write up to the last minute, then you
may find you have no time to do this. Make sure your time management includes
revision. Most experienced writers have several revisions whereas poorer writers tend
to just produce one draft. Be prepared therefore, for several revisions. See guide
Being an Independent Learner section 2.0 on time management on the Academic
Skills website: http://www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk/develop.htm.
What you must do….
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Check your work covers what you have to do for your assignment.
Read your work critically -check you have a strong message that is clearly
argued and logically presented.
Is your message coherent and logical within paragraphs and between sections?
Check for any repetitions or things you can delete.
Check paragraphs are in the correct order- you can re- order them.
Think of your reader – check you haven’t introduced an acronym without an
explanation.
Check that your results clearly presented and your figures support what you're
saying.
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REVISION TIPS
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Use a word processor so that you can move text around easily during this
phase. Make sure you save each revision with a different name in case you
want to go back to an earlier version. This is a very important house-keeping
skill to develop.
Check the activities in Part B, section 4.0 for exercises to avoid the main grammatical sins.
E
THINK
PLAN
WRITE
REVISE
EDIT
Check for errors
Sometimes the revision and editing activities get done together. This is not a good
idea. During the revision you're looking at the content and how you have expressed
it. During the editing phase you're looking to surface errors, e.g. typos, spelling
mistakes, bad grammar, inaccurate labelling of figures and tables, and incorrect
referencing. This is a much like proof reading.
What you must do….. check your:
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Sentences are complete and make sense.
Style of writing – check your use of the passive? Do a search for ‘I’ or ‘We’ and
check if this needs to be converted from active to passive.
Spelling is correct.
Citations (names of authors you refer to in your text) - check they appear in
your reference list.
References are written in the correct way. You will probably need to write
them using the Harvard system (see guide Referencing your Work:
http://www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk/develop.htm ), but first check with your
tutor.
Writing technically
EDITING TIPS
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Skills
Read your work aloud – or into a tape recorder. This prevents you from
skimming over what you have written and missing things.
If your tutor is happy with peer review (i.e. enlisting the services of a fellow
student), this is an excellent way to check your work.
Use the spellchecker and grammar checker in Word (with caution).
Use of bibliographic software (Endnote or Reference Manager) that is available
in all public workstations (a guide to using Endnote can be found at
http://www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk/develop.htm).
If you have difficulty doing this phase of your work, it could be that you are
dyslexic or have visual difficulties, then check out the technology available to
help you in the Assistive Technology Service, located in the Hartley Library.
Website: http://www.ats.soton.ac.uk/ .
See activities in Part B, section 2.0
2.3
Developing your message through paragraphs
You can develop your message by:
1. Thinking about the topics you want to include (outlining).
2. Writing a thesis statement (a sentence or two focusing on the intent and scope
of your work).
3. Writing topic sentences (a key sentence in each paragraph that identifies the
topic of the paragraph).
OUTLINING : USING A THESIS STATEMENT AND A TOPIC SENTENCE
Outlining links to your thinking and planning phase. You can outline: topics, section
titles (if not using a predetermined template), topics within sections, your arguments,
and your results etc.
Outlining helps you develop a framework for a coherent report or essay. You can start
to see the shape of your work, what you already know, and what you need to find out.
Your outline can be in note form, or in complete outline sentences. The advantage of
writing sentence outlines is that you have made a start and these sentences will
probably refer to the topic of a paragraph. This is an excellent way to start writing
and it will be easier in the long run.
Sometimes your coursework will include this outlining phase and full sentence outlines
will be expected.
WRITING A THESIS STATEMENT
A thesis statement is a statement that lets the reader know the purpose, scope and direction of
your report. When you prepare your outline, you need to do this in a way that supports your
thesis statement. At the beginning, you may just want to jot down some ideas for the statement
rather than write a complete sentence.
11
Go back to the set of questions in section 2.2.1. If you answered the first question,
Why this investigation? - then you should have the beginnings of a thesis statement. Your
whole report will revolve around this and any hypothesis that you write for your
experiment will relate to the thesis statement.
A thesis statement is very specific and reflects the contents of your report.
For
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technical writing, your thesis statement will comprise:
Your topic of investigation.
Elements considered in your investigation.
The order you will be presenting the information.
Generally, the thesis statement will come towards the end of the first paragraph in the
introduction. You sentences before this will be setting the context.
For more information see:
Purdue Online Writing Laboratory
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_thesis.html
University of Wisconsin-Madison
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/Thesis.html
WRITING TOPIC SENTENCES: SENTENCE OUTLINES
Outlines are usually constructed with topic sentences.
A key sentence in a paragraph that identifies the topic of that
paragraph. All paragraphs should have one.
So, this sentence should be as specific as possible. You can always elaborate on this
when you come to write the full paragraph. Remember, your topic sentences will be in
support of your thesis statement.
See also the Writing Effectively guide, section 3 for paragraph development.
For more information check out:
Ohio State University’s Physic Department at:
http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~wilkins/writing/Assign/so/sent_outline.html
How to outline your paper
http://alpha.furman.edu/~moakes/Powerwrite/organ.htm
Capital Community College Foundation
http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/brainstorm_outline.htm
Purdue Online Writing Laboratory
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_outlin.html
Writing technically
Skills
2.4
Presenting your Work Professionally
It is important to get into the habit of writing professional looking documents and give
your hard work a good showcase.
Check:
 Format you may be expected to use.
 Font and point size are consistent (don’t develop fontitis).
 Margins are what they should be.
 Headings (choose a slightly different style across different levels of headings –
but use them consistently).
 Citations and referencing formats that you have to use.
The document should be easy to navigate and this helps with:
 Clearly laid out title and your name.
 Table of contents (if your document is short this may not be necessary).
 Numbered sections with titles.
 Clearly labelled tables and figures (select an appropriate font for these).
Where necessary refer to them as figure xxx: title or table xxx: title.
TIP
If you are preparing a long document, or many similar documents select your style for
all the headings and body of text and create a style sheet in Word.
Elements of Technical Writing: Document Design from Free Education on the Internet
http://www.io.com/~hcexres/tcm1603/acchtml/page_design.html
2.5
Other Reports
Technical reports have many functions, for example: evaluation, recommendation,
technical specification, guides or manuals. For more information on these different
types of technical reports see this e- Book to technical writing at:
http://www.io.com/~hcexres/tcm1603/acchtml/acctoc.html
As a student you will be involved in group projects. This will often involve a group
report.
In preparing your group report check you have:
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Covered the criteria for the assignment.
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Understand how to work in groups (see Working in Groups guide
http://www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk/develop.htm).
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Know what your role is in the group.
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Devised a group approach to your report where you can all contribute to its
writing.
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Linked its contents to an oral presentation where this is required.
You will also be asked to write essays. A good site for checking out how to write a
E.E.E. technical essay is from the University of Glasgow at:
http://www.efl.arts.gla.ac.uk/eee6/ and comprises: analysing the title, gathering information, and
organising information. See also the Writing Effectively guide.
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3.0
Writing the Sections of your Report
Scientific and technical reports have fairly standard sections. Some reports contain
the full set of sections while others a subset. You will need to check with your tutor
the sections he/she wants you to include in your reports. This guide gives you some
idea of what needs to be included in a selection of the sections.
3.1
The Summary/Abstract
Always write the abstract/summary last, even though it is placed at the beginning
of your article or report.
Summary
This is a paragraph or two giving a clear statement of the purpose of your
report/paper, your main findings and conclusions. Note the confidence you have
in your findings and any reservations. Information should be in the same order as
the report, but you should not make any cross reference to the body of the
report. Remember you read the title and summary/abstract of a paper/report in
order to see if it is of interest to you. You do not want to read the whole paper
and then find out it was not relevant.
Abstract
An abstract is also the summary of an article in a published journal. The abstract
will be published with and separate from the body of the article. So, it can be
read without access to the article (e.g. on remote databases and abstract
journals). Therefore, it must give you enough information to make a decision on
whether you should read the whole article. An abstract is usually about 250
words.
3.1.2 Checklist for your Summary/Abstract
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Purpose of your report.
Key findings.
Main conclusions.
Source: Engineering Communication Centre
For an example of an abstract see the Engineering Communication Centre at
http://www.ecf.utoronto.ca/~writing/handbook-lab.html
3.2
The Introduction
This section sets the scene and contextualises your work by giving the necessary
background. This is your shop window (along with the abstract if you write one) so it
is important to write clearly and interestingly. This should explain why you are
carrying out this investigation (see section 2.2.1 and the notes you took while you
were thinking about your report) and who else has done similar work.
The writing here should be engaging, simple, clear and relatively non-technical.
Writing technically
Skills
3.2.1 CHECKLIST FOR YOUR INTRODUCTION
This is not a complete list - check with your tutor.
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A paragraph discussing the topic of your investigation, state any
assumptions your work was built on.
Some information on any previous work in the field relating to your topic
o key findings from other researchers and/or
o approaches to tackling this issue
State your hypothesis, if you have carried out experiment or a clear
statement of a problem you are trying to solve.
Cite any references you use in your text and include in your reference list at
the end of your report. (see Referencing your Work at: http://www.academicskills.soton.ac.uk/develop.htm )
NOTE: You may want to have a literature review section on its own. Ask your tutor
what he or she wants.
3.3
The Methods Section
This section should be written clearly enough so that the reader could repeat your
experiment if he or she wanted to do so. This will also help the reader understand
how your data was obtained.
Your sentences should be simple and clear. You need to write in the past tense and
use the passive. If you don't understand what the passive form is, then go to Part B,
section 2.0. When you use the passive, you concentrate on what you DID and
underplay WHO did it. This gives your report a sense of objectivity, which is essential
in technical writing.
NOTE: This section may be divided into: methods and materials (or equipment) and
experimental procedure. Ask your tutor what he or she requires. Remember, you can
save a lot of writing by including a well-labelled diagram.
3.3.1
CHECKLIST FOR THE METHODS SECTION
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List the equipment used (add diagram if important).
State any conditions of your investigation.
State the purity and structure of the materials used if important to your
investigation.
State exactly what you did.
Describe the techniques used.
Use standard abbreviations for names of things.
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See exercises in Part B, section 2.0 on the passive.
3.4
The Results & Analysis Section
Here you will present your main findings (adjusted and analysed) and identify
important trends or information. This section will be full of tables and graphs that will
depict all your significant results.
You will need some text so that the reader can easily interpret your figures and
identify your variables. However, your comments should be short, clear and precise.
See below some language you could use - note the style of language. It should be
clear and precise, drawing the reader's attention to your findings without you
commenting on the results.
It is clearly evident from …….. that …….
According to Figure 1, it is clear that ………
it is evident that………
As can be seen in Table 3, there was an 4.5% fall in ……
there was a 4.5% increase in…
As a result of ………… there was a 3.5% rise in……………..
Make sure your graphs and tables are well laid out and accurately labelled (informative
title, labelled axes, legend - when appropriate, units used, numerical values along the
x-axis). Always refer to numbers and quantitative measures if possible.
Check out:
X is quite a lot larger than Y | X is 6% larger than Y.
Writing technically
Skills
3.4.1
CHECKLIST FOR THE RESULTS SECTION
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3.5
Identify key data that relates to your hypothesis.
Analyse and summarise this data.
Present your data in clear graphs or tables.
Briefly comment on the results to help the reader understand your data.
Add key calculations as appropriate.
Raw data should be in an appendix - if required.
The Discussion
Before you start this section, get your story straight. What do you want to say about
your findings? Here you need to link your results with your introduction to form a
critical view of your work. It is important that your writing here is evaluative, this is
the most important section. You need to convey to the reader what you results and
findings mean.
Below are some questions to start you thinking about this section discussion. Apply
them to a past experiment or investigation - make notes below.
1. Re-state your purpose
So, what were you trying to do? Use the past tense.
test a hypothesis
try to replicate someone else's study
test a new technique/protocol
evaluate the findings of others
anything else?
2. Interpret your data
Do your results support or reject your hypothesis? Remember your claims have to be supported by your
data. NOTE: check with your tutor how much you need to do in this area for your assignment.
3. Briefly re-state your method in relation to your results
Were there any limitations in your method that could have affected your results? This refers to
experimental error and tolerances. Is this acceptable? Are your results still valid? Could this be
improved? Look critically at your work. Use the past tense.
4. Set your work in relation to others
How does your work relate to others who have undertaken similar investigations? Use the present tense.
NOTE: you may not need to do this for your assignment, but check with your tutor.
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5. Analyse the strengths and weaknesses of your experimental design
How do you feel about your experimental design? What were the strengths and weaknesses? Did it effect
the reliability of your results? If something didn’t work be honest and try to analyse why.
3.5.1 CHECKLIST FOR THE DISCUSSION
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3.6
Re-state your purpose and hypothesis (if appropriate).
Interpret your data and comment on your findings.
Re-state key elements of your experimental design/method in relation to
results (experimental error/tolerances).
Comment on your confidence regarding the validity and reliability of your
findings as a result of your design.
Be quantitative whenever possible.
Be objective and avoid vague general statements, such as, “ I felt it was
quite successful” !
Comment on your results in relation to others – expected or unexpected.
Cite others’ work as appropriate (see Referencing your Work guide
http://www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk/develop.htm) .
Summarise and critically evaluate your research design and findings.
The Conclusion
You may include the conclusion in your discussion. Check with your tutor what is
needed for your assignment. If you do include this section, you may want to move
your critical comments about your research design into this section and then talk
about how you could improve it in the future.
What’s wrong with this and what do you need to do to make it acceptable as a scientific text?
“I think this experiment was quite successful.”
Writing technically
Skills
3.6.1 CHECKLIST FOR THE CONCLUSION
 Briefly state what you found.
 Support this statement with key findings.
 Comment on how future research could develop this topic.
3.7
The Appendices
Typically these include the following – put them in separately labelled appendices.
 Raw data (as necessary).
 Calculations.
 Pertinent detailed graphical information such as NMR, graphical output from
tests etc.
 Any detailed information about the apparatus/equipment as is necessary.
4.0
Developing your style
Writing, as any skill, improves with practice. The more you write, the more confident
you will feel. You should however reflect on how your writing skills are developing and
identify areas for improvement.
Do you ….
then look at ….
… find you can't get going?
Think, Plan, Write
section 2.2.1 (A,B,C)
… find you have lots of mistakes pointed
out when your work is handed back ?
Revise, Edit,
Section 2.2.1 (D,E)
… get confused about what you should
write in each section?
Section 3
... find your tutor corrects your grammar
quite a lot ?
Part B Interactive Grammar guide
… feel unsure about referencing?
See Referencing your Work guide at
http://www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk/develop.htm
… feel unsure about plagiarism?
See Referencing your Work guide, section 3.3 at
http://www.academic-skills.soton.ac.uk/develop.htm
Key websites
Purdue Online Writing Centre http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
Engineering Communication Centre – University of Toronto
http://www.ecf.utoronto.ca/%7Ewriting/handbook.html
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Writing Guidelines for Engineering & Science Students – Virginia Tech
http://www.writing.eng.vt.edu/
Online Technical Writing – Austin Community College
http://www.io.com/%7Ehcexres/tcm1603/acchtml/acctoc.html
Scientific Report Writing – University of Arizona
http://geog.arizona.edu/~comrie/geog230/report.htm
What about writing competitions and awards?
The Daily Telegraph Science Writer Awards
http://www.science-writer.co.uk/
Ask your tutor if they have any other contacts for writing competitions.
Writing technically
Skills
Key to Activities
Activity 1:
Headings for your Lab Notebook
1C, 2E, 3A, 4D, 5G, 6H, 7B, 8F
Title in the Lab Notebook
Brief Description
1. Table of contents
Lists experiments and investigations and the page
number.
2. Description of your work
Briefly state what you did in a few sentences.
3. Experiment
Give it a title, write down the question you are trying
to answer and your hypothesis.
4. Materials and equipment
A list of everything you need to carry out this
experiment.
5. Methodology
Say how you carried out experiment, add diagrams.
6. Data
Prepare data tables beforehand and explain what
should data represents.
7. Results
Use graph paper software packages to display your
findings, ensure everything is labelled correctly.
Make sure this relates to your hypothesis.
8. Brief discussion
Did you have appropriate evidence for your
hypothesis, state what you’ve learnt, how you would
improve your experiment.
9. Date
Don’t forget this!
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