Successful Writing Habits

1. Scott Coffel Director, HCTCCollege of Engineering Sarah Livesay, PhD Assistant Director, HCTC Successful Writing Habits

2. OVERVIEW • In this talk, we will discuss common challenges faced by students writing an Honors thesis, and we will learn various ways to energize and organize your writing. Discover techniques to give your project momentum and motivate daily writing during this phase of your research.

3. Start with confidence “If you think you can’t, or you think you can, you’re probably right.”—Mark Twain How do you start writing?

4. Writing Makes Thinking Happen “How can I know what I mean until I see what I say?” —E.M. Forster • Writers achieve coherence and organization through a process: • Drafts • Feedback • Revision • There are no shortcuts to a completed thesis.

5. Write Daily Start an informal journal and write in it every day, because: • Writing is an incremental process. • Daily entries about your project become a collection of starting points and critical insights. • Re-reading your own thoughts is a good place to begin brainstorming. • Daily writing—no matter the quality—makes you five to ten times more productive (Socolofsky, 2004, 13). Thesis journal 5/22/17 -article by X inspired thinking about X concept differently. Reread! - Reconsidered results from first test. Why were they off? Socolofsky, S. A. (2004). How to write a research journal article in engineering and science. Retrieved from https://ceprofs.civil.tamu.edu/ssocolofsky/downloads/paper_how-to.pdf.

6. Read other writing Read previous theses and dissertations from your department or area of research. (Start with the library’s collection here.) Read your advisor’s publications. Read recent conference proceedings and journal articles from your field. Read outside of your field: news articles, book and movie reviews, and even novels expand your thinking even as you work on a thesis or dissertation.

7. Brainstorm • Write down at least 3-5 aspects of your research that your readers need to know. • Can they all be connected? If not, can you minimize or exclude the least important? • Is the story of your research greater than the sum of its parts?

8. Types of Brainstorming Mood board Bad idea list Word association

9. Using Researchin writing In-notes reference • Make your research notes searchable and keep all in one document if possible. • Highlight and color code important concepts so that you can more easily browse for ideas. • Copy quotations and information directly from notes to your draft. • After copying or paraphrasing information, cite immediately. Color-coded highlighting

10. Thesis Structure • Introduction: provides background and context for the objectives of your research and/or experiments. Proposes hypotheses and/or provides an outline of following sections. • LiteratureReview: offers a brief review of current knowledge and describes any “gap” in current knowledge that your research aims to fill. • Methods: details step-by-step record of how you achieved your results. • Results and Discussion: asserts and discusses the significance of your data. • Conclusion: clarifies and analyzes whether objectives were achieved, and where future research might lead. • Abstract: Condenses your thesis (appears first but is written last).

11. Thesis Structure Continued Source: University of New South Wales Sydney

12. Outline • Create an outline with each part of the structure as a heading. • Make notes about what belongs where: a piece of data, a quotation from your research, the results of a test, etc.

13. Stages in the Introduction: • State the general topic and give background • Provide a review of the literature related to the topic • Define the terms and scope of the topic • Outline the current situation • Evaluate the current situation and identify the gap • Identify the importance of the proposed research • State the research problem/questions • State the research aims and/or objectives • State the hypotheses • Outline the order of information • Outline the methodology University of New South Wales Sydney (2014, April 3). Thesis Structure: Introductions. Retrieved from https://student.unsw.edu.au/introductions.

14. Example: Stages of the Introduction University of New South Wales Sydney (2014, April 3). Thesis Structure: Introductions. Retrieved from https://student.unsw.edu.au/introductions.

15. Synchronize • Make sure that your thesis does not contradict your advisor’s view of reality. • Avoid misrepresenting (over-hyping) your achievements.

16. Clarify • Precise writing establishes your credibility as an engineer. • Scientific writing is a no-ambiguity zone: • Ambiguity (defined as “doubtfulness or uncertainty as regards interpretation”) can often lead to serious misinterpretations. • Be vigilant in the battle against vagueness. For example, avoid the words some, about, approximately, almost. • When possible, use active voice (“The experiment revealed that…” instead of passive voice (“It was revealed that…”).

17. Goals for the Thesis • Demonstrates control of your materials: • precise descriptions • insightful analysis • Is specific but selective: • sticks to the major themes of your research • Conveys a sense of the future: • indicates what is unique about your research • establishes your research as a starting point from which you or others will continue

18. Summary • Writing a successful thesis is a process that improves through incubation (the day-to-day growth of your insights), drafts, feedback, and revision. The process of writing: • Eliminates extraneous details. • Demonstrates your powers of organization and analysis. • Fosters self-confidence.

19. Resources for writing • University of Leicester: Develop your writing • University of Leicester: Writing your dissertation • University of New South Wales, Sydney: Writing in Engineering and Science • PriyaNarasimhan, Carnegie Mellon: How to Write a Good (no, Great) PhD Dissertation

20. Questions? Ask anything! Scott Coffel scott-coffel@uiowa.edu Sarah Livesay sarah-livesay@uiowa.edu 2224 SC