Tareas Academicas

How to Write a Paper
Mike Ashby Engineering Department, University of Cambridge, Cambridge 6rd Edition, April 2005

Mike Ashby

How to Write a Paper
6th Edition, February 2005 Introduction
This brief manual gives guidance in writing a paper about your research. Most of the advice applies equally to your thesis or to writing a research proposal. The content of the paper reflects the kindof work you have done: experimental, theoretical, computational. I have used, as a model, a typical Materials project: one combining experiment with modeling and computation to explain some aspect of material behaviour.

Sections 1 to 8 give guidelines for clear writing with brief examples. The Appendix contains longer examples of effective and ineffective writing. The manual is prescriptive—ithas to be, if it is to be short. It is designed to help those struggling with their first paper, or those who have written several but find it difficult. Certain sections may seem to you to be elementary; they are there because, to others, they are not. Section 8, on Style, is openended, the starting point for more exciting things.

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MFA, 20/02/05Contents
1 The Design p 3

2 The Market—Who are your readers? p 4

3 The Concept—Making a Concept-sheet p 5

4 Embodiment—The first draft p 9

5 Detail I—Grammar p 16

6 Detail II—Spelling p 20

7 Detail III—Punctuation p 21

8 Detail IV—Style p 26

9 Further Reading p 34

Appendix p 37

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1 THE DESIGN
Well-written papersare read, remembered, cited. Poorly written papers are not. To write well, you need a design. Like any design activity, there are a number of steps (Figure 1). I’ve used the language of engineering design here—it fits well. The Market Need. What is the purpose of the document? Who will read it? How will the reader use it? The answers help you decide the length, the level of detail, the style. TheConcept. Good writing starts with a plan. Writers have different ways of developing plans. I find the concept-sheet (Section 3, below) is a good way to do it.

Figure 1. The Design Process. Designing a paper is like designing anything else: there are five essential steps. The Embodiment. The embodiment is the first draft. Get the facts down on paper without worrying about style; make drafts ofeach section; develop the calculations; sketch the figures; assemble How to write a paper, 6th edition 3 MFA, 20/02/05

references. Detail. Now comes the crafting: clarity, balance, readability; in a word —style. The End-Product. Appearance is important: good layout, clear headings, well-designed figures. The Sections that follow expand on each of these in turn.

2 THE MARKET—Who are yourreaders?
Your market is your readers. Put yourself in their shoes: what, if you were they, would you wish to find? The readers of your thesis are your examiners. They expect details of all relevant parts of your research: why you did it, its background, your thinking, what you did, your conclusions and your views on where it is going. They don’t want the irrelevant parts—details of how standardequipment works, for instance. Find out as much as you can about content and format from your supervisor and other students, and look at some recent (successful) theses to get a feel for the product this market expects. A paper is read by one or more skilled referees, and, if accepted, by a scientifically-informed audience. This manual focuses on writing papers. The pages that follow explain how thismarket should be addressed. A research proposal usually addresses two markets. One is the funding agency: the EPSRC, the EU, another Government Agencies, or a Charity. They will look for a match between their priorities and yours. The other is the referees that the funding agency will use; they are charged with judging quality, promise

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