Science Writing for CHEM 8152

1. Science Writing for CHEM 8152 09/07/2012

2. The learning objectives for this course are: • Critically consume scientific literature and talks in the area of analytical spectroscopy. Pose meaningful questions and present significant comments while exploring a new topic. • (2) Identify appropriate spectroscopic techniques for the analysis of any sample. Recognize the strengths and limitations of each technique. • (3) Formulate a novel research project addressing an important unanswered question by exploiting analytical spectroscopic methods. Recognize the critical early work and identify current state-of-the-art work in the chosen area.

3. Why is this relevant? The point of doing doctoral work is to advance science from the current state of the art using knowledge and creativity. You must first know what’s been done and what the next steps are before making a contribution. When I surveyed faculty on the topic of generating original research ideas, most responses centered on 3 major actions: *attend seminars in a wide variety of areas *read scientific literature broadly *practice formulating questions and looking for “the gap” Writing is a critical and, yet, underdeveloped in science Ph.D.s, according to post-graduation employers.

4. Common Writing Errors • PROOFREAD!!! You should check your paper to catch and correct these and other common errors. • AbbreviationsYou should avoid abbreviations by writing out the full word  (minimum, October, Virginia, first, temperature, with...).  Exceptions include common scientific terms like ATP and DNA, units of measure (m, g, cm, °C), and mathematical or chemical formulas.  Sentences should never begin with an abbreviation or an acronym. • AcronymsYou may wish to introduce an acronym for a term that is repeated often.  If you are writing a paper about tidal freshwater marshes, the first time the terms appear, you can introduce an acronym:  "Tidal freshwater marshes (TFM) are important transitional zones in the landscape."  Throughout the rest of your paper, you would refer to TFM. • Chemical elementsare not proper nouns, so do not capitalize them.  Only the first letter of the symbol is a capital letter: nitrogen (N), carbon (C), calcium (Ca).   • ContractionsIn formal writing, you should never use contractions (didn't, can't, haven't...). • DataThe word "data" is plural, as in "the data were collected on January 21, 2001." http://www.writing.engr.psu.edu/exercises/index.html

5. Common Writing Errors • Direct quotesshould be avoided, unless you are presenting another author's specific definition or original label.  You can usually paraphrase the writing effectively and more concisely, taking care to properly attribute the sources of your statements. • Fluff It is obvious when students do not understand what they are writing about, and their grades suffer as a result.  Read and re-read your references.  Consult a textbook or another reference to help you resolve any aspects of the paper you do not understand before you start writing. • Run-on sentences You should review your writing to make sure that each sentence presents one or two clear ideas.  This will also help you organize sentences within paragraphs in a logical order. • Significance  In science, the word "significant" implies the result of a statistical test.  It cannot be used to say, "the number of root nodules on red clover plants increased significantly when nitrogen was added," if you did not perform a statistical test to determine significant differences.  • SlangDo not use slang.  Try to use accurate, scientific terms where possible (without unnecessary jargon) and avoid colloquialisms and figures of speech: "somewhat" rather than "sort of," "many" or "a great deal" instead of "a lot." http://classweb.gmu.edu/biologyresources/writingguide/PracticalTips.htm

6. Plagiarism • According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to "plagiarize" means: • *to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own • *to use (another's production) without crediting the source • *to commit literary theft • *to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source. • In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward. http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/what_is_plagiarism.html

7. Plagiarism All of the following are considered plagiarism: *turning in someone else's work as your own *copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit *failing to put a quotation in quotation marks *giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation *changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit *copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/what_is_plagiarism.html

8. Quotation What is quoting? Taking the exact words from an original source is called quoting. You should quote material when you believe the way the original author expresses an idea is the most effective means of communicating the point you want to make. If you want to borrow an idea from an author, but do not need his or her exact words, you should try paraphrasing instead of quoting. How often should I quote? Quote as infrequently as possible. You never want your paper to become a series of connected quotations, because that leaves little room for your own ideas. Most of the time, paraphrasing and summarizing your sources is best (but remember that you still have to cite them!). For the most part, it is quite unusual to find direct quotations in scientific writing. http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/printable_docs.html

9. Paraphrasing • What is paraphrasing? • your own rendition of essential information and ideas expressed by someone else, presented in a new form • one legitimate way (when accompanied by accurate citation) to borrow from a source • a more detailed restatement than a summary, which focuses concisely on a single main idea • 5 steps for effective paraphrasing: • Reread the original passage until you understand its full meaning. • Set the original aside, and write your paraphrased version. • Check your rendition with the original to make sure that your version accurately expresses all the essential information in a new form. • Use quotation marks to identify any unique term or phraseology you have borrowed exactly from the source. • Record the source (including the page) so that you can credit it easily when you incorporate the material into your paper. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/619/01/

10. Citation Follow the American Chemical Society Citation Style: (1) Ho, M.; Pemberton, J. E. Anal. Chem. 1998, 70, 4915-4920. (2) Bard, A. J.; Faulker, L. R. Electrochemical Methods, 2nd ed.; Wiley: New York, 2001. (3) Francesconi, K. A.; Kuehnelt, D. In Environmental Chemistry of Arsenic; Frankenberger, W. T., Jr., Ed.; Marcel Dekker: New York, 2002; pp 51-94.

11. Minute Papers (from our syllabus) • The minute paper should be grammatically correct, written in your own words, and no longer than 500 words. • You should emphasize the techniques that were used and the major findings of the work. • A great addition to any minute paper would be your ideas about other experiments that could be done to continue or improve the presented work. • As the semester progresses, your original experiment ideas should be featured more prominently in your minute paper and testable hypotheses should be included.

12. Minute Papers • 1st – Identify an analytical spectroscopy/spectrometry paper of interest in the ASAP alerts • 2nd – Read the paper, examine the figures/data, and identify the core conclusion • 3rd – Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the scientific work and more experiments that should be done (using the same or other techniques) • 4th – Compose your paper and upload it to the class blog (deadline: 5 pm each Friday) • 5th – Read you classmates’ minute papers to quickly review a lot of literature