Scientific Writing (3 ects)

Teachers:
Part 1: Wilhelmiina Hämäläinen
(firstname.secondname@cs.joensuu.fi, without Scandinavian letters)
Part 2: open

Lectures in part 1 (autumn 06): 7.9.- 23.11. (12 times) Thu 14-16 B178 (computer class room).

Material: Hämäläinen, W.: Scientific Writing for Computer Science Students (132 pages)
For printing take this (2 pages per a4, 66 pages) or this (4 pages per a4, 33 pages).

Current

• jabreaf a tool which makes it easier to manage your bibtex database. Works in both Linux and Windows.
• Notice! When you write references without bibtex, you should yourself specify the labels if you want to use letter abbreviations instead of numbers. E.g. "\bibitem[AM96]{assrule}Aggraval, R., Mannila, H., et al.: ..." generates label AM96 when ever you use command \cite{assrule}. For more information, see about writing bibliographies
• Basic Linux/Unix commands
• basiclatex.tex (a simple template for the first exercises)
• articletemplate.tex + cat.ps (figure example)
  The official latex template for this course. Use this template for everything you write in this course. Please, do not change the font size, line spacing, marginals etc.
• finelib (Electronic library)
• First meeting Thu 7.9. Notice: the course is only for this year impit students!
• Hint: There are graphical editors for latex. In Linux, you can try kile. For windows, you can find LEd. Our administrators have promised to install them to B178 and maybe also to other computer classes.

Description

The goal is to prepare impit students for writing a master thesis. During the course, we will practise to search relevant information, read scientific articles, plan logical structure for writing, write scientific English texts, make references, etc. Useful tools like latex and bibtex are also introduced. The main part of the course consists of writing exercises.

This year, the course is divided into two parts:

Part 1 (autumn 2006, about 1 ects): We practise useful tools which support you in your studies already this year. There are no homeworks, but the classes are obligatory. If you are ill, you can solve the tasks at home and show them afterwards. Often this requires some selfstudying.

Part 2 (spring 2007, about 2 ects): Each of you writes a small research paper. You search relecant scientific material, plan a logical disposition, and write the paper little by little during the course. Your teacher gives you feedback from each part. The goal is to practise not only scientific writing, but also develop your English.

Schedule

What you can do before the the second part begins?

• Save all texts you have written in English.
• Read as much English as possible. For example, if you can select a Russian or an English version of a course book, prefer the English one!
• Get a good English grammar. It can be easier to read in your mother tongue, but you will manage in English as well. We will anyway have to use all grammatic concepts in English. Check on-line grammar
• If you know you have problems in grammar, try to recall and practise them. Check also typical language problems in ES diaries.
• Try to enlarge your vocabulary, especially computer science terms. In the course you will be asked to keep your own dictionary, but you can begin it already now. It is a simple www page, where you list all new words you want to learn, their meaning and some examples, if the use context is not clear. Notice that often the words have different meanings in different languages, even if they are nearly same. Check the use context from English-to-English dictionary or at least from English-to-MotherTongue dictionary.
• Practise to use English-to-English dictionaries. For example, in Linux you can find The Collaborative International Dictionary of English (command kdict), which is very good one!

Useful links

Recommend good links!

• Merriam-Webster online dictionary and thesaurus. In the thesaurus, you can check how to use words + synonyms for them.
• Searching material
• The Guide to Grammar and Writing A very easy-reading grammar and instructions for writing. You can also test your nowledge in quizzes!
• Strunk: The Elements of Style. A classic book about writing available on-line.
• The American Heritage Book of English Usage (an online book on grammar and style)
• Wordnet - a lexical database for the English language Explanations and synonyms for nouns, adjectives and verbs.
• The Not So Short Introduction to LATEX2 A comprehensive guidebook!
• Zobel, Justin: Writing for Computer Science. A recommended book, available at least in Amazon.
• Differences between British and American English
• More differences
• Shall vs. will
• More on shall vs will

Last modified 12.12. 2006