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Communications and Technical Writing Resources
General Communication Resources
Copyright
Copyright information is very important when it comes to academic publications. It is crucial to understand what rights an author can maintain when submitting papers to journals or conferences.
An example copyright guideline when publishing to ASME. Copyright guidelines often vary from publisher to publisher: ASME copyright guidelines
The author's guide for the Joint Army-Navy_NASA-Air Force Conference includes authorship rules, copyright information and guidelines: Journal of Propulsion and Energetics
Fellowship applications
Fellowships can be a good way to get funding for your project. Knowing how to write a strong, compelling application is important.
Job application documents
The ultimate goal of graduate school is to get a job doing what you love. A strong CV or resume and other application materials can show off your skills.
Patents and Intellectual Property
A high-level view of the importance of Patents for engineers and warnings regarding public disclosures such as presentations, and publications: American Society of Mechanical Engineers: Intellectual property and engineers
Proposals
As an engineer, writing proposals and applying for funding will be a part of your life throughout your career. Learn how to generate a compelling proposal and how to aim it at your audience.
Publishing ethics
Comprehensive resource covering copyright, plagiarism, conflicts of interest, etc.: Wiley: Publishing Ethics
Thesis/Dissertation
You have been doing research for years, and the time has come to gather it all together into your thesis or dissertation. Although a thesis or dissertation can be similar in structure to a journal or conference paper, it is usually far longer and has its own unique challenges.
Using your lab notebook
Lab notebooks are a powerful tool but are often under-utilized or poorly organized. Below are resources meant to improve the effectiveness and utility of your lab notebook.
Brief page with recommendations on how to keep a tidy lab notebook: Science and Engineering Project Laboratory Notebooks: Getting Started Guide
Microsoft OneNote is an application included in the Microsoft Office suite of software. This guide provides an excellent reference if you are interested in going paperless with your lab work: Quick guide for using Microsoft OneNote as laboratory notebook
MIT's Mechanical Engineering departments guide to keeping a good lab notebook. While it does include information specific to their labs, it does include a lot of techniques and methodologies that can be useful for new and experienced researchers: MIT: Instructions for using your laboratory notebook
Writing readable code
Everyone has come across code that was illegible and confusing. Here are some resources to help you write code in such a way that it communicates its purpose and process to the reader.
High level view of how to make code readable. Content is generalizable to any programming language: Writing highly readable code
Excellent style guide specifically tailored for MATLAB. Naming conventions, and formatting rules to keep code consistent from author to author: Matlab Style Guidelines
Technical Writing
Abstract
The abstract is the first, and frequently only, portion of your paper someone will read. Summarizing your work in a concise and engaging way is the goal of the abstract.
Introduction and Literature Review
The introduction and literature review put your work in context and explain its importance and relevance.
Journals
This page contains links to some of the most popular journals where Zucrow students often submit papers. Find a good fit for your project as well as information about formatting and submission.
Methods
The Methods section tells the reader what you did and what process you followed so they can evaluate your results and possibly duplicate them. Clarity and specificity are critical.
Plots and Figures
A picture is worth a thousand words. Graphics can help convey complex ideas succinctly and quickly to an unfamiliar audience.
Well written article with examples of how the same data can be expressed more effectively by changing the format of charts and figure: MIT Comm Lab: Figure Design
References and documentation
Resources such as Mendeley and Zotero are indispensable tools for storing, sorting, and citing your references. They can also auto-generate in-text citations and reference lists and modify them to match the formatting required by your journal. If you want to submit to another journal later, no worries! You can change the formatting of all the citations in your paper with a few clicks of the mouse.
Results, Discussion, & Conclusion
The Results and Conclusion or Discussion sections are where you present your findings and explain their significance. This section tends to have a larger graphics-to-text ratio than the others.
Title and Key Words
If you want people to read and reference your work, it must be discoverable. In this age of search engines, a good, descriptive title and key word choices are critical.
Technical Presentations
Conferences
This page contains links to some of the most popular conferences attended by Zucrow students. Find a good fit for your current project or explore places you might want to submit to in the future.
Giving technical presentations
Giving technical presentations, especially for a professional audience, can be very intimidating. Here are some resources to help you prepare well and feel confident when you step to the podium.
Graphics for papers and slides
A picture is worth a thousand words. Graphics can help convey complex ideas succinctly and quickly to an unfamiliar audience.
Well written article with examples of how the same data can be expressed more effectively by changing the format of charts and figure
Poster design & delivery
A good poster will summarize your entire research project in a visually appealing way and be accessible even to people unfamiliar with your field of study. That’s a pretty tall order!
