"This book is a guide to technical writing, presented in a systematic framework that mirrors the logic associated with the scientific process itself. Other English books merely define concepts and provide rules; this one explains the reasoning behind the rules. Other writing books for scientists and engineers focus primarily on how to gather and organize materials; this one focuses primarily on how to compose a readable sentence. The approach should be satisfying not only to scientists and engineers, but also to anyone who once took a grammar course but can't remember the rules--because there was no exposure to underlying principles"--

This book, by a scientist, is not a textbook on English grammar: nor is it just one more book on how to write a technical report, or a thesis, or a paper for publication. It is about all the ways in which writing is important to scientists and engineers in helping them to remember to observe, to think, to plan, to organize and to communicate.

A SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO WRITING Technical ideas may be solid or even groundbreaking, but if these ideas cannot be clearly communicated, reviewers of technical documents—e.g., proposals for research funding, articles submitted to scientific journals, and business plans to commercialize technology—are likely to reject the argument for advancing these ideas. The problem is that many engineers and scientists, entirely comfortable with the logic and principles of mathematics and science, treat writing as if it possesses none of these attributes. The absence of a systematic framework for writing often results in sentences that are difficult to follow or arguments that leave reviewers scratching their heads. This book fixes that problem by presenting a “scientific” approach to writing that mirrors the sensibilities of scientists and engineers, an approach based on an easily-discernable set of principles. Rather than merely stating rules for English grammar and composition, this book explains the reasons behind these rules and shows that good reasons can guide every writing decision. This resource is also well suited for the growing number of scientists and engineers in the U.S. and elsewhere who speak English as a second language, as well as for anyone else who just wants to be understood.

This easy-to-read, concise book is filled with examples, hints, reminders and reviews designed to help engineers and scientists develop effective writing skills. Use the book to learn to write better reports, memos, and journal articles and keep it close at hand when you have questions about organization, clarity and style, writing and revising rough drafts, graphics, workplace writing, computers in writing, and legal issues in writing. The book also contains four helpful appendices on common errors, equations and abbreviations, preparing manuscripts for publication, and documenting information sources. Effective Writing Strategies for Engineers and Scientists provides easy training for the type of writing required of engineers and scientists, gives specific advise for conveying complicated information, and describes how to synthesize information according to specific writing strategies. It is a "must" for every scientist's and engineer's bookshelf.

Who done it?: an introduction; Getting started; Two dozen ways to begin: their advantages and disadvantages; Effective organizing; Easy outlining; Fallacies to forget: misconceptions and misinterpretations; Brevity: the soul of it; The standard of grammar for the professions; The standard of diction for the professions; Style: the personality and character of writing; Style and diction; Style and sentences; Style and paragraphs; Writing memorandums, letters, instructions, and other short forms; The editor and supervisor and the future editor and supervisor.

The focus of this text is to teach engineering students the skill of technical writing. It uses practical outlines throughout, and actually shows students how to producethe most common technical documents step-by-step.

Telling people about research is just as important as doing it. But many researchers, who, in all other respects, are competent scientists, are afraid of writing. They are wary of the unwritten rules, the unspoken dogma and the inexplicably complex style, all of which seem to pervade conventional thinking about scientific writing. This book has been written to expose these phantoms as largely smoke and mirrors, and replace them with principles that make communicating research easier and encourage researchers to write confidently. It presents a way of thinking about writing that emulates the way good scientists think about research. It concentrates on the structure of articles, rather than simply on grammar and syntax. So, it is an ideal reference for researchers preparing articles for scientific journals, posters, conference presentations, reviews and popular articles; for students preparing theses; and for researchers whose first language is not English. Scientific Writing = Thinking in Words expounds principles that produce scientific articles in a wide range of disciplines that are focussed, concise and, best of all, easy to write and read. As one senior scientist observed, ‘This book not only made me a better writer; it made me a better scientist’.