1. THE
TECHNICAL
WRITING
PROCESS
NAVIN
CHARI
DALHOUSIE
WRITING
CENTRE

2. Stages
in
Research
§ Iden>fy
your
topic
of
interest
§ Perform
a
literature
review
§ Generate
related
ques>ons
§ State
your
unsolved
problem
or
hypothesis
§ Find
or
develop
a
solu>on
§ Document
your
results

3. Thesis
Guidelines
§ Abstract
§ Introduc>on
(Objec>ve
&
Mo>va>on)
§ Literature
Review
§ Materials/Methods
§ Results
&
Discussion
§ Conclusions
&
Future
Work
§ References
This
presenta>on
will
focus
on
the
three
sec>ons
in
bold.

4. ABSTRACT
WRITING

5. Abstract:
Mo>va>on
§ Why
do
we
care
about
the
Problem
and
the
Results?
§ Importance
of
your
Work
§ Difficulty
of
the
Area
§ Impact
if
Successful
§ Helps
to
make
the
problem
more
interes>ng

6. Abstract:
Problem
Statement
§ What
problem
are
you
trying
to
solve?
§ What
is
the
scope
of
your
work?
§ Generalized
approach,
or
for
a
specific
situa>on
§ Be
careful
not
to
use
too
much
jargon
§ Put
the
problem
statement
before
the
mo>va>on
§ Only
if
audience
understand
the
problem’s
importance

7. Abstract:
Approach
§ How
did
you
solve
or
progress
on
the
problem?
§ Did
you
use
simula>on,
analy>c
models,
solid
models,
FEA,
prototype
construc>on,
etc.?
§ What
was
the
extent
of
your
work?
§ What
important
variables
did
you
control,
ignore,
or
measure?

8. Abstract:
Results
§ What's
the
answer?
§ percent
faster,
cheaper,
smaller,
or
otherwise
be]er
than
something
else.
§ Put
the
result
there,
in
numbers.
§ Avoid
vague,
hand-­‐waving
results
such
as
"very",
"small",
or
"significant."

9. Abstract:
Conclusions
§ What
are
the
implica>ons
of
your
answer?
§ Is
it
going
to
change
the
world
§ Are
your
results
general,
poten>ally
generalizable,
or
specific
to
a
par>cular
case?

10. LITERATURE
REVIEW

11. Lit
Review:
Importance
§ Provides
background
regarding
your
own
research
§ Shows
your
familiarity
with
research
in
your
field
§ Demonstrates
how
your
work
contributes
in
your
field’s
knowledge
base

12. Lit
Review:
Outcomes
§ Recogni>on
of
the
relevant
and
important
research
in
your
field
§ Understanding
this
research,
by
organizing
and
evalua>ng
it
§ Seeing
where
there
is
a
gap
in
the
research
which
your
study
will
a]empt
to
fill

13. Lit
Review:
Steps
§ Finding
Sources
§ Synthesizing
Informa>on
§ The
literature
review
is
both
a
step
and
an
itera>ve
feedback
loop
-­‐
Defining
an
unsolved
problem
determines
what
kind
of
literature
search
is
appropriate,
and
performing
a
literature
search
helps
define
an
unsolved
problem

14. Lit
Review:
Tasks
§ Brainstorming:
What
informa>on
you
will
need
§ Researching:
Where
to
get
your
hands
on
it
§ Developing
a
tracking
method
to
maintain
a
complete
record
of
all
of
the
informa>on
and
their
sources
§ Construct
a
list
of
experts
in
your
field

15. Lit
Review:
Wri>ng
&
Summarizing
§ Become
familiar
with
the
geography
of
the
source
§ Locate
the
point
of
the
argument
§ Iden>fy
key
subpoints
§ Iden>fy
key
themes
§ Skim
paragraphs

16. Lit
Review:
Condensing
Research
§ Do
not
write
everything
down
§ Create
your
own
shortcuts
and
shorthand
§ Use
numbers
for
numerical
terms
§ Leave
out
vowels
when
you
can
§ Record
all
vital
names,
dates,
and
defini>ons
§ Mark
items
that
need
further
examina>on
§ Check
accuracy
before
returning
or
filing
the
source

17. Lit
Review:
Summariza>on
§ Analyze
Accurately
and
Cri>cally
§ Present
an
overview
of
what
your
source
offers
§ Topic,
research
problem,
resolu>on,
and
arguments
§ Counterproduc>ve
to
try
to
read
everything
in
detail
§ Focus
on
the
abstract,
introduc>on,
and
conclusion
sec>ons
of
each
source
document
§ Categorize
and
understand
what
sources
you
have
and
what
might
s>ll
be
missing

18. REFERENCING

19. Cita>ons
§ Common
Styles
in
Engineering
Include:
§ APA
(Author,
Year)
§ h]p://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
§ IEEE
[Footnotes]
§ h]p://www.ieee.org/documents/ieeecita>onref.pdf