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

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“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 sourcesWeb of Science 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 ReferenceParticle SizeMetricValue Ferro et al. (2004)PM 2.5 Source Strength0.45, 0.19 mg/min Ferro et al. (2004)PM 5 Source Strength0.72, 0.36 mg/min Long et al. (2000)PM 2.5 Maximum Concentration6.5 µg/m 3 Long et al. (2000)0.02 – 0.1 µmMaximum Concentration0.06 µm 3 /cm 3 Long et al. (2000)0.1 – 0.5 µmMaximum Concentration0.43 µm 3 /cm 3 Long et al. (2000)0.7 – 2.5 µmMaximum Concentration1.8 µm 3 /cm 3 Long et al. (2000)2.5 – 10 µmMaximum Concentration6.7 µm 3 /cm 3 Thatcher and Layton (1995)0.5 – 1 µmConcentration Ratio1.2 Thatcher and Layton (1995)1- 5 umConcentration Ratio1.8 Thatcher and Layton (1995)5 – 10 umConcentration Ratio11.4 Thatcher and Layton (1995) umConcentration Ratio29.5

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 Parameter Reference/ Display Element Number of Parameter Values Case Description (base case is in boldface) P d, Duct Penetration Sippola & Nazaroff (2002) Figure 5.1 and Table 5.1 2Simple Typical Complex  f, Filter Efficiency ASHRAE (1999) Figure 5.2 3MERV 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 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