Michael Alley, Penn State
Writing as an Engineer or Scientist
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      • Reports Tutorial: Full
      • Badge: Writing Reports
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      • Sample Report Format
      • Report Templates
    • Laboratory Reports
    • Design Reports
  • Emails
    • Tutorial: Emails
    • Writing Professional Emails
    • Writing Professional Letters
    • Badge: Writing Emails
  • Research Papers
  • Grammar
    • Section 1: Grammar
    • Section 2: Punctuation
    • Section 3: Usage
    • Comprehensive Quiz
    • Badge: Grammar Errors
  • Teaching Resources
    • Short Films
    • Canvas Quizzes for Report Tutorials
    • Kahoots to Teach Writing
    • Craft of Scientific Writing >
      • Lessons >
        • 2: Being Precise and Clear
        • 3: Avoiding Ambiguity
        • 4: Sustaining Energy
        • 5: Connecting Your Ideas
        • 6: Being Familiar
        • 9: Emphasizing details
        • 10: Incorporating Illustrations
      • Errata
    • Why Our Students Struggle With Scientific Writing

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Writing as an engineer or scientist is much more challenging than many people realize. A large gap exists between what young engineers and scientists  have learned about writing in first-year English and what is expected in laboratory courses, design courses, and internships. A large gap also exists between the technical writing taught to undergraduates and the writing expected of researchers. This website tries to bridge those gaps by presenting lessons taught to professionals, graduate students, and undergraduates at more than 100 companies, laboratories, and universities. You are more than welcome to link to these pages, films, and files. 

Lessons on Scientific Writing

Lessons on Scientific Writing

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​Introduction and Contents
Summary for Undergraduates: Writing as an engineer and scientist
Summary for Graduate Students (Forthcoming)
​Lesson 1: Writing emails and letters
Lesson 2: Being precise and clear
Lesson 3: Avoiding ambiguity

Lesson 4: Sustaining energy
Lesson 5: Connecting your ideas
Lesson 6: Beginning with the familiar 
Lesson 7: Organizing research papers

Lesson 8: Emphasizing details
Lesson ​9: Organizing reports
​Lesson 10: Incorporating illustrations
Appendix A: Essence of grammar
Appendix B: Essence of punctuation
Appendix C: Avoiding common errors of usage
Appendix D: Choosing a professional format

Writing Reports

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In addition to emails and letters, engineers and scientists write many other formal documents. On a single project, examples would be to propose a design, to update the design's progress, to present test results of the design, and to document the completed design. This section discusses common types of formal documents  and presents sample professional formats based on the report format at Sandia National Laboratories.
Overview
Sample Report Format
Report Templates
Laboratory Reports
Design Reports

Instructor Resources

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These resources are intended to help instructors teach writing to students in engineering and science courses. Included are resources for both a standalone course on technical writing and a large STEM course with a writing component. Also included are teaching slides from The Craft of Scientific Writing.
Overview
Instructor Lesson Plans
Technical  Writing Course
Large STEM Course
Teaching Slides
Visual Model

Writing Emails and Letters

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Engineers, scientists, and technical professionals often write emails. In addition, they sometimes write other forms of correspondence such as letters and memos. In engineering and science, such correspondence is an effective way to make requests, submit small changes to a job, and deliver specific information. ​This section presents professional formats and student models.
Overview
Email Template
Letter Template

Exercises 

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This section presents short films and exercises to review the essence of grammar, punctuation, and usage in scientific writing. Acquiring this essence is important to help you avoid errors that can undercut your credibility. In addition, understanding grammar allows you not only to connect sentences in sophisticated ways but also to provide more precise reviews of documents written by others.
Overview
Essence of Grammar
Essence of Punctuation
Avoiding Errors of Usage

Leonhard Center, Penn State 
University Park, PA 16802

Content Editor:

Michael Alley
​
mpa13@psu.edu