A short guide to writing about chemistry

pt. 1. General advice about writing and reading about chemistry. 1. Writing: a threshold skill.

What do chemists write about and why?

The keys to success

Ten strategies for preparing your first draft

Ten strategies for revising and editing: getting to your final draft

Rules and conventions: the easy stuff

The essential last pass: proofreading

Do not depend on your computer to do your work for you

Checklist for writing about chemistry

2. General advice on reading and taking notes.

Why read and what to read

Effective reading

Effective note-taking and note organizing

Reading data: plumbing the depths of figures and tables

Reading text: summarize as you go

Checklist for reading and taking notes

3. Citing sources and listing references.

Citing sources

Some guidelines for citing sources in chemistry

Preparing the references section

A sample references section

Checklist for citing sources

Checklist for preparing the references section

4. Revising.

Why revise?

Revising for content

Revising for clarity

Revising for completeness

Checklist for revising

5. Editing for concision and ACS style.

Editing

Editing for gender-neutral language

Editing for concision

Editing for American Chemical Society Style: some guidelines

Conclusion

Checklist for editng.

pt. 2. Guidelines for specific tasks.

6. Keeping laboratory notebooks.

The role of laboratory instruction

The teaching laboratory notebook

What to record

The research laboratory notebook

Checklist for the laboratory notebook

7. Writing laboratory reports.

The role of laboratory instruction

Writing reports of teaching-laboratory experiments

Composition of the report

Titles and authors

Experimental section

Results section

Discussion and conclusions section

Introduction

Abstract

Acknowledgements and the references

Checklist for a laboratory report

8. Writing summaries and critiques.

Preparing to write the summary

Writing the first draft

Writing the summary

Writing the critique

Concluding thoughts

Checklists for summaries and critiques

9. Writing essays and review papers.

Writing to learn

Why bother?

Getting started

Researching your topic

Developing a thesis statement

Writing the paper

Plagarism

Citing sources

Creating a title

Revising

Checklist for writing essays and review papers

The plagerism challenge

The citing sources challenge

10. Writing research reports.

The nature of scientific research

Components of a research report

Longer reports

Publication of research results

Preparing a manuscript as though for publication

Checklist for a research report

11. Writing research proposals.

The research proposal: an exercise in persuasion

What are reviewers looking for?

Researching your topic: how to choose and read papers

What makes a good research topic?

Writing the proposal

Tightening the logic

A real research proposal

Checklist for a research proposal

12. Answering timed essay questions.

Basic principles

Applying the principles

The analytical writing section of the Graduate Record Exam

13. Giving oral and poster presentations.

Talking and writing

Oral presentations

Checklist for juding oral presentations

Poster presentation

Checklist for making posters

14. Writing applications

Writing and the workplace

The application process

Before you start

Preparing your cover letter

Preparing the graduate school personal statement

Checklist for applications

Appendix A: Using punctuation

Appendix B: Suggested rubric for evaluating science writing

Additional electronic and print resources.