Scientific & Technical Presentation Course Syllabus

1. In the name of Allah

2. Scientific & Technical Presentation Leila Sharif Sharif University of Technology E-Mail: l_sharif@sharif.edu

3. Course Syllabus

4. Course Syllabus • Lecture: Mondays, 15:00-17:00, room Khodrow 7. • Website: http://ce.sharif.edu/courses/84-85/1/ce221/ Check this site often for important announcements. • Course Description: 40-221 provides an introduction to scientific & technical presentation.

5. Course Syllabus • Topics include: Guidelines on good technical writing, elimination sporadic noise in writing, writing common technical documents, writing a technical report documents (with emphasis on content & style of the title, table of contents, executive summary, graphics, tables, & documentations), accessing technical information, engineering a presentation, & writing to get an engineering job . • Prerequisites: Computer Engineering English(40-211). • Text Book: Scientific & Technical Presentation, by S.M.T. Rouhani Ranlouhi, 2nd edition, Jelveh Publisher, 1380. (Additional topics will be included.)

6. Course Syllabus • Reference Books: • A Guide to Writing as an Engineer, by D. Beer & D. McMurrey, John Wiley & Sons Inc., 1997. • The Student Skills Guide, by S. Drew and R. Bingham, Sampad Publisher, 1997. • The Craft of Scientific Writing, by Michael Alley, 3rd edition, Springle-Verlag, 1996. • From Research to Printout: Creating Effective Technical Documents, by J.H. White, ASME Press, 1997. • Writing is the Technical Fields: A Step-by-Step Guide for Engineers, Scientists, and Technicians, by M.H. Markel, IEEE Press, 1994. • Dictionary of Problem Words and Expresions, by H. Shaw, McGraw-Hill, 1987. • Handbook of Technical Writing, by C.T. Brusaw, G.J. Alred, & W.E. Oliu, 6th edition, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 117. • The non-desiner’s Design Book, by R. Williams, Peachpit Press, Berkley, CA, 1994.

7. Course Syllabus • Exams (Individual): There will be a final term exam.  • Course Projects (In Groups): There will be some course projects. • Student groups are supposed to present the assigned subjects & prepare some technical reports.  • All groups should also use other references, specially [1, 2], to enrich the content of their presentations. • Presented materials (projects, reports, …) should be different from the thesis, other course projects, & also other students’ presentations/publications.

8. Grading Policy • Final exam: 4 pts. (hold at: 1384.11.2, 14:30) • Oral presentation: 6 pts. (2nd pres. topic assignment due: 1384.8.30) • Final 4-page 2-column paper: 4 pts. (in English, submission due: 1384.10.5) • This paper should be prepared using IEEE style of LaTeX. • Professional organization memo (Persian & English): 0.5 pts. • Project proposal: 1.5 pt. • Project report: 1 pt. • Technical manual: 1 pt. • Participation: 2 pts.

9. Course Syllabus • Absence: A substantial portion of this class revolves around in-class collaborative work. As emergencies do arise, you will be allowed oneunexcused absence, but you will still be responsible for getting in contact with your peer group and/or completing the work for that day. Each absence after that can bring your grade down 0.25 level. • Completing Work: In order to receive a passing grade in this course, you must complete all of the work assigned during the semester. Late work will not be accepted.

10. Course Syllabus • Instructor Office Hour: Tuesdays 14-15 • Presentation Topics: Group 1: pp. 3~18 (Ch. 1), Group 2: pp. 21~46 (Ch. 2) Group 3: pp. 47~69 (Ch. 2), Group 4: pp. 73~96 (Ch. 3) Group 5: pp. 97~126 (Ch. 3), Group 6: pp. 129~144 (Ch. 4) Group 7-?: (selected chapters from other ref. books) …

11. Introduction to Scientific & Technical Presentation

12. Acknowledgement Some of the slides used in this course have been provided by Michael Alley(Virginia Tech), based on thebook: The Craft of Scientific Writing 3rd edition (New York: Springer-Verlag, 1996), 282 pages.

13. Books by Michael Alley • Alley, Michael, The Craft of Scientific Writing, 3rd edition (New York: Springer-Verlag, 1996), 282 pages. • Alley, Michael, The Craft of Scientific Presentations, (New York: Springer-Verlag, November 2002), 240 pages. • Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students, ed. by M. Alley, L. Crowley, J. Donnell, and C. Moore (Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech, 2002). • Writing Exercises for Engineers and Scientists, ed. by M. Alley, L. Crowley, J. Donnell, and C. Moore (Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech, 2002).

14. Scientific Writing: An Introduction Writing Guidelines for Students http://writing.eng.vt.edu/ The Craft of Scientific Writing 3rd edition (Springer-Verlag, 1996)

15. Key Principles audience occasion purpose [Report, 1986] This presentation discusses the importance of scientific writing and introduces key principles Importance of Scientific Writing

16. How well you communicate affects your career Survey (Richard M. Davis) Successful engineers spent 25% of work week writing Survey (Wisconsin) Professional engineers found writing their most useful subject in college Survey (Virginia Tech) Recruiters claim that engineers need more work on their writing

17. Space Shuttle Challenger (January 28, 1986) How well you communicate affects the well-being of others Explosion was caused by failure of O-rings in the solid rocket boosters Engineers knew of O-ring problems well before fatal launch Engineers failed to communicate seriousness of problem [Report, 1986]

18. specific technical audiences general technical audiences non-technical audiences Scientists and engineers are called upon to communicate in many different situations Conferences Lectures Meetings Posters Reports Articles Proposals Web Pages

19. audience occasion purpose This presentation discusses the importance of scientific writing and introduces key principles Importance of Scientific Writing Key Principles [Report, 1986]

20. Writing Constraints audience occasion purpose Purpose of Writing Writing Style To inform To persuade [Peterson, 1987] Scientific writing differs from other kinds of writing Subject Matter [Franklin, 1952]

21. You should begin the writing process by analyzing your constraints Who they are What they know Why they will read How they will read Audience Format Formality Politics and ethics Process and deadline Occasion To inform To persuade Purpose

22. Three aspects of writing affect the way that readers assess your documents Content Style Form

23. [Peterson, 1987] words wordswords wordswordswords wordswordswordswords Illustration wordswordswords wordswordswords wordswordswords wordswordswords Structure Language Style is the way you communicate the content to the audience style

24. mechanics grammar usage punctuation spelling format typography layout Form embodies the format and mechanics of the writing

25. Writing the First Draft Getting in the Mood Revising, Revising, Revising Finishing We can split the writing process into stages

26. Cal-Tech Linus Pauling An excellent way to improve your writing is to choose good models AIP Maria Goeppert Mayer

27. Formatting Scientific Documents

28. Journal Articles Presentation Slides In scientific writing, formats vary considerably to serve different situations Formal Reports

29. Not all rules of format are constant Journals ASME fig. 1 table 1 Eq. 1 Reports Sandia Laboratories Figure 1 Table 1 equation 1 Textbooks Prentice-Hall Fig. 1 Table 1 equation (1)

30. Format is the arrangement of type on the page typography layout

31. Arial abcdefghijklmnopqr stuwxyz1234567890 Times New Roman abcdefghijklmnopqr stuvwxyz1234567890 Arial Narrow abcdefghijklmnopqr stuwxyz1234567890 Garamond abcdefghijklmnopqr stuvwxyz1234567890 Comic Sans abcdefghijklmnopqr stuwxyz1234567890 Courier abcdefghijklmnopqr stuvwxyz1234567890 Each typestyle has its own personality and power Serif Sans Serif

32. WORDS SET IN ALL CAPS USE MORE SPACE THAN TEXT SET IN LOWERCASE. TYPE IS TO READ Type is to read Words set in all caps use more space than words set in lowercase. Avoid large blocks of capital letters

33. Morton-Thiokol’s presentation to NASA suffered because of all capital letters on the slides PRIMARY CONCERNS - FIELD JOINT - HIGHEST CONCERN • EROSION PENETRATION OF PRIMARY SEAL REQUIRES RELIABLE SECONDARY SEAL FOR PRESSURE INTEGRITY • IGNITION TRANSIENT - (0-600 MS) • (0-170 MS) HIGH PROBABILITY OF RELIABLE SECONDARY SEAL • (170-330 MS) REDUCED PROBABILITY OF RELIABLE SECONDARY SEAL • (330-600 MS) HIGH PROBABILITY OF NO SECONDARY SEAL CAPABILITY • STEADY STATE - (600 MS - 2 MINUTES) • IF EROSION PENETRATES PRIMARY O-RING SEAL - HIGH PROBABILITY OF NO SECONDARY SEAL CAPABILITY • BENCH TESTING SHOWED O-RING NOT CAPABLE OF MAINTAINING CONTACT WITH METAL PARTS GAP OPERATING TO MEOP • BENCH TESTING SHOWED CAPABILITY TO MAINTAIN O-RING CONTACT DURING INITIAL PHASE (0 - 170 MS) OF TRANSIENT Morton-Thiokol Presentation to NASA January 27, 1986

34. Choose a type size that is easy to read 48 point 36 point 24 point 18 point 14 point 12 point 10 point 8 point posters presentation slides titles text footnotes

35. In your layouts, use white space for association, emphasis, and hierarchy space for headings space for margins space for illustrations

36. Follow the format that is expected or required for the situation

37. General Points • Make attention on how to communicate effectively. • Engineers write a lot (over 40% of the work). • A successful engineer career requires strong writing skills. • Consider good writers & good speakers in research community. • “No one can be a good writer – only a good rewriter”.

38. General Points • Be clear & concise. • Eliminate noise during communication (it’s, fuzzy). • Focus on why you are writing. • Focus on your readers/audience. • Get to the point.

39. General Points • Provide accurate information. • Present your material logically. • Convey ideas & results in the least possible time & space. • Present yourself clearly (engineering is considered as a precise discipline).

40. General Points • Highlight your contributions. • Keep reader’s attention on the main problem. • Organize the article into sections & subsections properly to help its readability. • Spell abbreviation out in full when first used & include (parenthetically) the abbreviation [i.e.,image processing (IP)]. • Be consistent with notations & format.

41. General Points • The number of figures & tables does not come inside brackets [i.e., Figure 1, Table 5]. • Figure caption appears on its below & ends with a point. • Table caption appears on its above & ends with a point. • Do not put space between a word & its subsequent comma, semi-colon, point, etc.

42. General Points • Avoid using apostrophe in formal writing [i.e., don’t]. • Avoid writing short paragraphs. • Avoid writing lengthy sentences. • Avoid writing English or French words using Persian alphabets. • First time that the Persian translation of a professional word is used, state the English word using footnote.