Writing Tips for Students

Writing technical documents effectively, concisely, and clearly is a valuable "soft skill" for all engineers and scientists. Learning how to write a technical document, however, can be very challenging for new engineers and scientists. The best means to learn how write is through practice, studying other technical documents, and getting advice from more seasoned writers.

This page contains a set of "writing tips" that new writers may find useful when writing a report, article, or manuscript. These tips span across all types of topics from the importance of outlines, to things to look for when editing, to how to format an equation, and more. Feel free to look over these tips that cover topics that most new writers miss, forget, or under utilize. Check back occasionally as these tips will be updated and expanded based on requests from students and faculty. If you have a suggestion, feel free to contact Mike Manno.

Please remember that each course may have their own set of formatting, writing style, and organizational requirements when creating a technical document. Make sure to follow those requirements over the general recommendations provided here, as these "tips" are designed to simply be general recommendations when writing.

Provided below are a few documents you may find useful when writing:

• IEEE Reference Guide (USEFUL!) - Provides examples on how to properly format references.

• Example Lab Notebook for junior level lab courses.

• Example Stage 1 report for junior-level MatS courses

Tips for Figures, Tables, Equations, and Other Graphical Objects

Tips when Organizing and Writing

Tips for Using Uncertainty Analysis in Writing

Example Scenarios