Michael Alley, Penn State
Writing as an Engineer or Scientist
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Lesson 6: Being Familiar

    In high school, you learned different organizational strategies such as chronological and spatial. In scientific writing, another strategy becomes even more important: beginning with the familiar before moving to the new. Because longer scientific documents are written in sections, you are called upon to use this strategy multiples times through the document. In addition, you are called upon to use that strategy whenever you introduce a new term or abbreviation. This lesson, which arises from Lesson 6 in The Craft of Scientific Writing, explains that strategy. ​(14 minutes)

Beginning with the Familiar: Openings for Documents and Sections. This film discusses a strategy for opening a document or section in which you begin with the familiar before moving to the new.


Defining Abbreviations. This film discusses audience expectations for defining an abbreviation in a scientific or technical document.


References

  1. Alley, Michael, The Craft of Scientific Writing, 4th ed. (New York: Springer Verlag, 2018), Lesson 6.​
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