Writing in Graduate School Dr. Desiderio Kovar, MS&E Graduate Adviser

Use Available Resources Sanger Learning Center http://www.utexas.edu/ugs/slc/grad Offers the only all-inclusive graduate writing assistance available on campus Student can bring any form of writing – paper, thesis, dissertation, etc. All students get three free tutoring sessions each semester Program for Excellence in Engineering Communicationhttp://www.engr.utexas.edu/peec Communication workshops for all engineering graduate students – check the web site for dates Oral Communication and Writing Courses specifically for international students – highly recommended by students who have taken the course in the past

Organizing a Paper Introduction Experimental Procedures Results Discussion Conclusion Acknowledgements Citations

Introduction What is it? What does it include? An introduction to the topic Why this research is relevant to the field Context of existing literature Make it clear where the contribution is.

Experimental Procedures/Results Someone should be able to reproduce your experimental procedures exactly. Include details like elemental purity Results: Can people compare their results to yours? Include supplemental info. or an appendix if necessary.

Discussion/Conclusion Discussion = Analysis What did you learn from the results? What do the results tell you about your material? Conclusion

Acknowledgments/Authors Who gets included in acknowledgements (as opposed to being listed as an author)? Anyone who did not make a significant intellectual contribution to the work (e.g. lab technician) What is the recommended author order? 1st Author – Who did the most lab work? Last Author – Principle Investigator Everyone in between – in decreasing order of work contribution

Candidacy Abstract Candidacy Abstract A statement explaining why this problem is worth studying from an academic perspective (note that this is not the same thing as the commercial relevance) An explanation of the methods and techniques you intend to use to study/address the proposed question(s)

Writing Tips Use common sense Reasonable font choice/size 1-inch margins Spelling/grammar check Check the standard on using active/passive voice Use consistent verb tenses throughout writing Cite sources correctly