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Kulkarni Group Handbook

Effective writing

Table of contents

  1. Effective writing
    1. Drafting
    2. Writing Tips
    3. Other Tips
    4. Outside Resources

Drafting

  1. Write a detailed outline. A detailed outline summarizes everything you want to say and the structure of what you are going to write.

  2. Write a “really rough draft”. Write a draft with no concern for clarity, grammar, or completeness. Just get something on paper. Don’t worry, nobody will see it.

  3. Refine your “really rough draft” into a better draft and get feedback. This draft doesn’t have to be good, you just want to get feedback on the overall structure and flow.

  4. Edit or rewrite your draft with comments in mind. Focus on simple, clear language and make sure the overall flow of ideas make sense.

  5. Continue to get feedback from others and rewrite until you are satisfied. Make sure you meet any length or formatting requirements!

Writing Tips

  1. Use simple words when possible. Using a lot of technical terms can be confusing to read, even for a technical audience.

  2. Know your audience. Most people, will not know your specific field. If you work on zeolites, do your readers know what zeolites are and why they are important? If your audience works in an adjacent field, do they know the history of innovations in your field? Emphasize the parts of your research your audience is interested in.

  3. Make sure your ideas flow logically. Reorder sentences and paragraphs you have written so that each idea builds on the next. You will hear often that your writing should “tell a story”.

Other Tips

  1. When incorporating images, make rough drafts of the images and don’t worry about updating them until the very end. The structure of the other components of the paper as well as formatting requirements will change a lot, don’t change your images until you need to.

  2. Keep your references organized and accurate! This will save you a lot of time when making a bilbiography.

  3. Many examples of writing for the Prelim, QE, proposals, and publications are stored in the group Box. These can be used to guide your writing: what works, what doesn’t?

Outside Resources