Michael Alley, Penn State
Writing as an Engineer or Scientist
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Lesson 7: Organizing
​Research Papers

Journal papers and conference papers are the main ways that researchers in science and engineering communicate their work. In science and engineering, an expected organization exists for research papers. This lesson discusses that expected organization. The content here arises from Lesson 7 in The Craft of Scientific Writing.

Lessons Home

Contents


Overview
Organizing your research papers

Organization
Titles
Abstracts
Introduction
Middles and Endings

Language and Illustrations
Language: Being Precise and Clear
Language: Avoiding Ambiguity
Incorporating Illustrations and Equations

Mechanics of Writing
Grammar (avoiding run-ons and fragments)
Punctuation (comma, colon,...)
Usage (affect/effect, verb tense, using numbers,...)

Questions for Reflection

     Journal papers and conference papers are the main ways that researchers in science and engineering communicate their work. In fact, one of the main measures for the success of a research project is how often others cite the research papers of that project.  This lesson presents five films on the organization of research papers. (24 minutes)

Instructor's Lesson Plan


​     Forthcoming will be a plan for instructors to incorporate this summary lesson into a class period of their course. Included with this plan will be discussion questions, student activities, and a comprehension quiz. ​​​

References

  1. Alley, Michael, The Craft of Scientific Writing, 4th ed. (New York: Springer Verlag, 2018), Lesson 7.​
  2. George Whitesides, “Whitesides’ Group: Writing a Paper,” Advanced Materials, vol. 16, no. 15 (2004), pp. 1375-1377.

Sponsors and Editors


​Sponsors

     Leonhard Center, College of Engineering, Penn State
​     National Science Foundation, NSF EAGER Award  1752096

​Faculty Editor
     
Michael Alley, Teaching Professor, College of Engineering, Penn State


Film Editors
     
Richelle Weiger, College of Engineering, Penn State
     Casey Fenton, College of Engineering, Penn State

Organizing Your Research Papers: Overview. This film presents an overview of the expected organization of a research paper in engineering and science.

Organizing Your Research Papers: Titles. This film discusses creating titles for documents in engineering and science.

Organizing Your Research Papers: Abstracts. This film discusses creating abstracts for research papers in engineering and science.

Organizing Your Research Papers: Introductions. This film discusses creating abstracts and introductions for research papers in engineering and science.

Organizing Your Research Papers: Middles and Endings. This film focuses on audience expectations for the methods section and results and discussion section of a research paper.


Lessons Home

For the academic year 2019-2020, we are collecting comments, questions, criticisms, and suggestions for the films, text, and quizzes of each lesson on scientific writing. To help us understand your input, would please let us know what your discipline is and whether you are a student, professional, or faculty member?
Leonhard Center, Penn State 
University Park, PA 16802

Content Editor:

Michael Alley
​
mpa13@psu.edu