David G. Cahill Professor of Materials Science
Donald Biggar Willett Professor of Engineering
GRADING: The Wikipedia article is 1/3 of your total course grade. I will base your
grades on the following components.
Technical content (35%): appropriate level; depth of discussion; correct science.
Illustrations (20%): information content; clarity; fully described by captions.
Organization (20%): sections and subsections; single idea paragraphs; clarity of
sentences.
Sources (5%): appropriate level and diversity of sources; proper crediting of
sources.
Writing mechanics (5%): lack of major grammatical and punctuation errors.
Final oral presentation to the class (15%)
SOME WRITING TIPS
Omit the word "very" and other similarly vague words. Strive to make your
discussion quantitative.
Avoid pronouns and avoid starting a sentence with "It" or "There".
Most sentences will be clearer in an active voice; i.e., do not use the passive too
often. Avoid complicated tenses; simple present tense is often the best.
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of writing clearly and concisely.
If you are looking for a textbook to help you improve your skills, I
highly recommend Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, by Joseph M. Williams.
Provide a comprehensive figure caption for your illustrations. Nothing in the figure
can be left unexplained, either by the caption or the text.
Do not quote directly from sources: paraphrase and then
cite a reference. Since these articles will probably not contain
a great deal of original work, a significant fraction of your sentences
will require citations to your sources.
Use short, single idea paragraphs..
Avoid using tables to present data. An x-y plot
is usually a more efficient form of communication.
Your writing should be as
quantitative as possible. Most papers require a
few equations to explain the topic quantitatively.
Keep your audience in mind. You should write the paper so that
a classmate in MatSE 460 will understand your discussion completely with
careful reading. But that same classmate should also learn something
new from the effort.
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