Writing For Computer Science

Writing Well in Experimental Science - Judith A. Swan Ph.D

• Writing well is Hard

• Writing is doing science. It is important

• Writing is a process with different stages

• Readers are important people and are always right

• Readers use structure as instruction

• Writing always has a context

• Writing within the rules is not always the best

• Scientists tell stories for things that can not speak for themselves

• Figures often get read before the actual text

• Sections break up the story

• Time shapes our experience as a writer and a reader

• Sentences have a directionality to them and you should make sure you are telling the story of the important object that people care about

• There is not rule you can't use the first person when it is necessary

The Writing Checklist From Writing for Computer Science

• • Have you identified your aims and scope?

  • Are you maintaining a log and notebook?

  • Does the paper follow a narrative?

  • In what forum, or kind of forum, do you plan to publish?

  • What other papers should your write-up resemble?

  • Are you writing to a well-defined structure or organization?

  • Have you chosen a form for the argument and results?

  • Have you established a clear connection between the background, methods, and results?

  • How are results being selected for presentation?

  • How do the results relate to your original aims?

  • Have you used any unusual patterns of organization?

  • Have the results been critically analyzed?

  • Are the requirements for the thesis met?

  • Do you and your co-authors have an agreed methodology for sharing the work of completing the write-up?