Chemical Engineering: Scientific Writing

To many science and engineering students, the task of writing may seem irrelevant to their future professional careers. At MIT, however, students discover that writing about their technical work is important not only in solving real-world problems but also in developing their professional identities.

Scientific writers must not only present their science, but also work hard to generate and sustain the interest of readers. Attention-getters, sentence progression, expectation-setting, and memory offloaders are essential devices to keep readers and reviewers engaged.

The book helps scientists write papers for scientific journals.

Telling people about research is just as important as doing it. But many competent researchers are wary of scientific writing, despite its importance for sharpening scientific thinking, advancing their career, obtaining funding for their work and growing the prestige of their institution. This second edition of David Lindsay's popular book Scientific Writing = Thinking in Words presents a way of thinking about writing that builds on the way good scientists think about research. The simple principles in this book will help you to clarify the objectives of your work and present your results with impact. Fully updated throughout, with practical examples of good and bad writing, an expanded chapter on writing for non-scientists and a new chapter on writing grant applications, this book makes communicating research easier and encourages researchers to write confidently. It is an ideal reference for researchers preparing journal articles, posters, conference presentations, reviews and popular articles; for students preparing theses; and for researchers whose first language is not English. Makes it easy to understand what goes where in scientific publications and, equally importantly, why Reinforces principles with examples of good and bad writing Addresses new issues for publishing, including open access and predatory journals Emphasizes writing effectively in other media that scientists must use, including conference papers, posters, theses, reviews, popular articles and grant applications Explains the principles behind writing and how it affects readers rather than proposing recipes for good writing

Write Like a Chemistis a unique guide to chemistry-specific writing. Written with National Science Foundation support and extensively piloted in chemistry courses nationwide, it offers a structured approach to writing that targets four important chemistry genres: the journal article, conference abstract, scientific poster, and research proposal.