Writing in science and technology

Home > Subject areas > Studying science and technology > Writing in science and technology

Effective communication is paramount in science and technology assignments, as it is with any subject-specific assignment. The difference is though, assignments may have different conventions that what you have been used to, and include different aspects. This section helps you get to grips with these.

• Diagrams
• Checklist for report writing

Diagrams

• The rules about plagiarism, and the law of copyright, apply as much to diagrams as to words, and if you take a diagram from someone else’s work, you must make this clear, by giving the source of the diagram immediately beneath its presentation.

• The diagram must be clear. If it is asked to carry too much information, or the detail is reproduced in too small a scale, the visual impact may be lost.

• Colour may also be lost in photocopying, and in any case it should be used with discretion.

• The writer is responsible for deciding in the first place that a diagram is needed, and how much detail it should show. He or she also has to decide where the diagram will appear: will it be in the text itself, or in an appendix at the end? The convenience of readers is the major deciding factor: does the reader need to see the diagram while reading the text, or is it supplementary only?

• A diagram should never interrupt the flow of the text, by being placed in the middle of the sentence, or in a closely reasoned argument.

• The diagram needs to be clearly identified. It should have a figure number and a short title, usually placed immediately under the diagram itself.

• Readers need to be told when the diagram is to be used. Within the text, a reference will make this clear, so that lets readers know that the diagram with this reference is of use at this point of the report.

For more advice, see referencing and plagiarism and professional writing.

1. Keep your sentence length under control (maximum 35 – 40 words in a sentence).
2. Keep your paragraph length under control (not more than half a page in a paragraph).
3. Use logical connections, such as ‘therefore’ and ‘moreover’ accurately.
4. Follow the conventions of your subject for abbreviations, signs, symbols and so on.
5. Don’t become personal, emotional or chatty in a report.
6. Don’t address the reader directly as ‘you.’
7. Avoid referring to yourself, especially in the singular ‘I’; ‘we’ may sometimes be acceptable.
8. Don’t use abbreviations such as can’t, it’s, don’t.
9. Use formal, precise language rather than expressions such as ‘fairly slow,’ ‘a lot of equipment,’ ‘the write up in the lab book.’
10. Write as concisely as possible, and avoid waffle.
11. Use clearly identified diagrams, acknowledging the source as appropriate.
12. Check all you write, including any corrections you have made.

This content has been taken from Chapter 4 of Effective Communication for Science and Technology by Joan van Emden.