Writing Tips

Bugs in Writing by Lyn Dupre

Lyn Dupre's book is an excellent source of tips on writing well. It is fun to read as well as helpful and informative.

The ACS Style Guide: A Manual for Authors and Editors

This site by the American Chemical Society is the best that I have found so far. The section on writing style and word usage is much like an abbreviated version of Lyn's book. The only section that isn't relevant is Types of Presentations. Everything else is excellent and right on target for how I'm hoping all of you will write:

Writing a Scientific Paper

This site also has a nice summary of how a scientific paper should be organized, although in Computer Science we often have a separate section on related work and a final section called conclusions. Also, you do not have to label each section with the standard headings of Introduction, Methods, Results, Conclusions; often it is better to use a heading that provides more information for your particular paper.

For computer science research, you also must carefully distinguish between that work that you do and the work that the system does. It is fine to use the system as an actor in sentences.

Engineering and Information School Writing Center

A valuable personalized resource available to any Information School student or anyone enrolled in an Information School course.


Last updated by Wanda Pratt on Jan, 2003.