In the name of Allah

Scientific & Technical Scientific & Technical PresentationPresentation

Leila SharifLeila Sharif

Sharif University of TechnologyE-Mail: l_sharif@sharif.edu

http://ce.sharif.edu/courses/84-85/1/ce221/ 

Formatting Scientific Documents

In scientific writing, formats vary considerably to serve different situations

FormalReports

JournalArticles

PresentationSlides

The most effective combustion methodis an atmospheric fluidized bed

separator

airinlet

cleanedexhaust

grid

• 90% removal capability

• low capital cost—able touse in existing equipment

• high operating cost

• ability to use differentgrades of coal

Not all rules of format are constant

ReportsSandia Laboratories

Figure 1

Table 1

equation 1

TextbooksPrentice-Hall

Fig. 1

Table 1

equation (1)

JournalsASME

fig. 1

table 1

Eq. 1

Format is the arrangement of type on the page

typography

layout

Arialabcdefghijklmnopqrstuwxyz1234567890

Arial Narrowabcdefghijklmnopqrstuwxyz1234567890

Comic Sansabcdefghijklmnopqrstuwxyz1234567890

Times New Romanabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890

Garamondabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890

Courierabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz1234567890

Each typestyle has its own personality and power

Serif Sans Serif

Avoid large blocks of capital letters

WORDS SET IN ALL CAPS USE MORE SPACE THAN TEXT SET IN LOWERCASE.

Words set in all caps use more space than words set in lowercase.

TYPE IS TO READ

Type is to read

Morton-Thiokol’s presentation to NASA suffered because of all capital letters on the slides

Morton-Thiokol Presentation to NASAJanuary 27, 1986

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 CONTACTWITH METAL PARTS GAP OPERATING TO MEOP

• BENCH TESTING SHOWED CAPABILITY TO MAINTAIN O-RING CONTACT DURINGINITIAL PHASE (0 - 170 MS) OF TRANSIENT

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

In your layouts, use white space for association, emphasis, and hierarchy

spaceformargins

space forillustrations

space forheadings

Follow the format that is expected or required for the situation

General PointsGeneral 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”.

General PointsGeneral 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.

General PointsGeneral 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).

General PointsGeneral 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.

General PointsGeneral 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.

General PointsGeneral 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.

The Craft

of Editing

Editing isn’t a cosmetic process. It’s a thinking process.

Richard Rhodes, authorMaking of the Atomic Bomb

Although editing is a large subject, we will focus on the editing that occurs in the sign-off process

Editing documents:ReviewingLine editingOnline editingProofreading

Reducing friction:Actions by authors Actions by editors

Before editing someone’s document,you should first consider your constraints

Other Editorsof Document

Audienceof Document

Format ofDocument

Formality of Document

Process toPublish Document

Politics andEthics

Three aspects of the writing affect the way that editors assess documents

Content

Style

Form

Editing for content involves deciding what message to send

Is thecontent

complete?

Is thecontentcorrect?

Is the content

appropriate?

Editing for style involves deciding how to communicate the message

Focus onlanguage

Focus onillustration

Focus onstructure

Editing for form concerns whether the communication is properly presented

Focus ongrammar

Focus onpunctuation

Focus onusage

Focus onformat

Focus onspelling

Dispositionof

Writer

Consistencyof

Change

Importanceof

Change

Difficultyof

Change

What variables determine how muchchange you make?

A well-done edit has three characteristics:clarity, consistency, and hierarchy

hierarchy

mostimportant

next mostimportant

leastimportant

consistency

effecteffecteffectaffect e

clarity

deletee

Last year, city engineers came up with a

plan to address the tetrachloroethane-

contaminated soil required to be

excavated for planned thoroughfare

construction that will occur within

right-of-way adjacent to Building 1817,

which houses the Genetics Laboratory.

devised

One convention is to circle comments,but not added words or letters

sentence too long

for

This construction / #the

*au: are you implying that Chem E contaminatedthe soil?

au*

Reducing the friction between editors and authors calls for action on both sides

Identifying pet peeves

Negotiating gray areas

Establishing boundaries

Controlling tone

Understanding authors

EditorsAuthors

Identifying constraints

Submitting outlines early

Allotting time for editors

Mulling over criticisms

When editing someone’s writing, consider tone

Edit one another asyou would wish to

be edited

Lead withthe positive

Editor

Author