Whether you are a PhD or master’s student, or even an undergraduate student conducting research, you are most likely going to write research articles. Although this task might seem difficult, dividing your writing process into stages will make it easier for you. This blog post will help you recognize how to write Engineering research papers and to understand the steps involved in the three different stages of writing: prewriting, writing, and rewriting. The prewriting stage: The prewriting stage constitutes the biggest proportion of the writing process. It involves:
The writing stage: Once you create the visuals that you want to include in your paper, you can now move to the actual writing stage. In contrast with the previous stage, this stage usually constitutes the smallest proportion of your writing process. A typical engineering research article includes the following sections: abstract, introduction, literature review, methods, results, discussion, conclusion, and references. However, writing your sections in the same order as they appear might be inefficient. Here is the recommended order for writing your sections in addition to the content of each one:
The rewriting stage: Once you are satisfied with the content of your first draft, you can move on to the next stage: the rewriting stage. This is where you revise, edit, and proofread your draft to make it clearer, more appealing, and free of errors. Here are a few tips to consider in this stage:
Finally, keep in mind to always check the guidelines of every journal or conference to which you are submitting your article. Some of them may require you to follow a specific format that is slightly different from the one discussed above. For example, some may require you to add a new section, while others may require you to combine some sections, such as the introduction and literature review sections, or the results and discussion sections, or the discussion and conclusion sections. Additionally, check their page or word limit and plan accordingly. And most importantly, remember to visit The HUB Writing Center to get some writing feedback and suggestions to improve your draft before you submit!
0 Comments
Applying for graduate school could be a very stressful period, especially with the large number of different essays that are typically required. However, if you understand the process and work step by step on every part of your application, you may be able to secure your spot in your program of interest. One of the essays required in almost every graduate school application is the Statement of Purpose (SOP). As its name suggests, this essay should focus on your future intentions. It should clearly communicate your goals, explain how and why pursuing a graduate degree would help you achieve these goals, and convince the admission committee that you are a good candidate. This blog post will help you understand the major components to include in the SOP, give you ideas on how to organize it, and provide you with some stylistic and grammatical tips to make your SOP stand out. Planning and brainstorming: The first step in writing your SOP is brainstorming the ideas that you want to include. This step should typically start two to three months prior to the application deadline in order to have enough time to gather the appropriate information. To begin, start thinking about your experiences and accomplishments. Usually, such experiences should preferably be research oriented, especially for PhD applications. Ask yourself questions like: What are the research projects that I have worked on? What did I learn during my work? What was my own contribution to these projects? What was the outcome of these projects? For example, did they get published? Did they provide an important advancement to my research field? Additionally, you may think about including information regarding other experiences, such as work or teaching experience; however, only include these if they are relevant to the program to which you are applying. If they are irrelevant, they are probably not going to help you convince the admission committee that you are a good fit for their program. Use your limited space wisely to elaborate on the components that are more related to your area of interest. Then, carefully look at the website of the university to which you are applying in order to find potential professors with whom you would like to work. For each professor in your intended department, check their personal website to familiarize yourself with their research interests and accomplishments. This will help you identify several professors whose research interests align well with your own interests and experiences. This is very important because if you are applying to a program where none of the professors conduct research in your area of interest, your chances of being accepted will probably be low. The university website is usually the most helpful and accessible way to get familiar with faculty members and their research areas; however, there are of course many other approaches, such as connecting with them through LinkedIn or email, or even reaching out to current graduate students in the same department. In addition to identifying potential professors of interest, you could also identify any resources at the university that might help you achieve your main goal. Writing your first draft: Once you have gathered your ideas, you can start drafting your SOP. To get an idea on how to organize your essay, you can examine some SOP samples in your field of study, either by searching for online resources or asking some colleagues who were already accepted into graduate school. Looking at how other people in your area organize their SOPs will help you understand the conventions of your field and recognize the expectations of the admission committee. A typical organization of the SOP could be as follows:
Revising, editing, and proofreading: Once you are happy with the content of your first draft, you can start revising your document to make any necessary edits, improve its readability, and correct any grammatical mistakes. Here are some of the most important aspects to consider when revising your SOP:
Some pitfalls to avoid: Throughout the writing process, remember to:
Finally, always check the given SOP prompt before starting to draft your essay because it might be different from one university to another, and even from one department to another. Also, consider customizing your SOP for every university and program to which you are applying. And most importantly, remember to ask your friends, colleagues, professors, and the HUB writing partners to read your SOP and give you their feedback! About the Author: Maha Issa is a graduate writing partner at the HUB writing center since Fall 2023. She is a PhD student in Computer Science and Engineering, and she is happy to work with other writers and help them improve their writing and communication skills. As writing partners, we sometimes have writers stop by the HUB to ask “How can I improve my writing in general?” Though one of our first suggestions is – “Visit The HUB!” – we’ve got a few other suggestions for you as well. Some of these tips you can do on your own, some are collaborative, but all of them are ones many writers have used. So have a look to see what you might want to try:
Realize that writing is a social action. (You’re never really writing alone!)
Realize you can learn a lot from your own past writing.
Hello Broncos! With finals happening within the next few weeks, I think it’s best we start to figure out how you can be successful. Whether you have a final project or an actual test, stay tuned as I’ll provide you with 5 helpful tips so you can be successful during finals week, confident in your studies, and ready to pass the class! 1. Get To Work Earlier Rather Than Later It doesn’t matter if it’s a group project or studying for a final test, I recommend you start working immediately (if you haven’t already). When you look at successful people, they don’t wait until the last minute, so why should you? "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” - Benjamin Franklin. “Preparation doesn’t assure victory, it assures confidence.” - Amit Kalantri, “Wealth of Words” For those working within a group, I recommend you have a group chat beyond email, because not everyone checks their emails. You can either create a shared calendar, with specific events so everyone knows when things should be done, and what days to meet; or you can create calendar events and share them with everyone else. 2. Take Advantage of Office Hours I bet you all know the importance of going to class: you can learn more on the material, etc. But have you considered going to office hours? This is the time where you can engage with the professor one-on-one or group-to-professor to truly have all your questions answered. Not only will the professor’s expectations become clear, but your needs from the class can also be addressed. 3. Split Up the Time of Study When you focus so much on one material, your brain becomes overwhelmed, and mentally you get exhausted. I want you to be successful, so I recommend you set a time limit on how much time is spent on a given subject/project. Then take a break, have a snack, before getting back to work. Following the pomodoro method your productivity will slowly but surely increase. *For group work, not only should you split up the responsibilities amongst the team, but you should also have different deadlines for smaller parts of the assignment, so everyone won’t be stressed out completing the entire project in one night. 4. Practice Interactive Studying Many students “study” by only rereading notes and textbooks. Sure this is “studying” but it’s not the most effective, studying. You should be testing your mind, so try flashcards or creating test questions for yourself and/or peers. This way you’re truly testing your knowledge. I also recommend trying practice exams if possible, or using quizlet (they have a bunch of interactive studying options). *Study groups can be helpful, just make sure you’re actually working (not playing the whole time). 5. Expand Your Study Environments Psychological studies have shown that studying in different environments helps improve memory… so go outside and study in the park, or a nice area within the library, don’t limit yourself. Have fun studying! About the Author:Lady Elizabeth, a sophomore at SCU who majors in psychology, has worked at the Writing Center since fall 2021. She is passionate about learning and helping others, whether it be with writing or in any other area. Werewolves! Zombies! Vampires! Citations! So many writers find those four equally frightening. After all, where’s the logic with any of them?!? Especially with citations!?! Why does one class ask you to use APA while a different class asks for MLA? Or CMS? Or CSE? It can feel like an arbitrary nightmare, where you’re typing away, trying to escape the seemingly inconsistent madness of whatever citation system you’ve been asked to use. At the HUB, we can’t deliver you from those first three horrors, but we’ve got you covered when it comes to citations. Because we get it! We know how tough it can be to figure out what to use when. Luckily, we’ve got some important tips to share so you can better battle those baffling citation beasts. Most importantly, we want you to know that there’s some logic to why some classes use one system and others use another. Because there is some logic there. Specifically, the information a particular citation system asks you to include highlights what is valued and expected in a particular field. Take APA. Notice how you include the date with an in-text citation? Here’s an example of that: (Kruger, 2019). Dates are important because disciplines that use APA -- think Psychology, Communication, Education, and others -- want to make sure readers see how current their information is or how many sources across several years have similar findings. That’s different from MLA, which doesn’t ask for the date with in-text citations. Check out this example: (Kruger 75). There you’ve got the author’s last name and the page number where the quote or idea can be found. MLA-using disciplines such as English Literature, Foreign Languages, and Comparative Literature value direct quotes and the language of particular authors. They don’t mention the time period in those citations because they’re not usually very concerned about how contemporary a source is. After all, if you’re analyzing Shakespeare’s language, it doesn’t necessarily matter that Shakespeare has been dead for a long, long time. So now that we’ve piqued your interest, check out our short video about citation methods -- and their logic. That way you won’t need to stay up at night, fearing what citation system you might be faced with next. And remember, if you’re feeling like you could use some more help with this, make an appointment with a HUB writing partner! You can check out more details about how the HUB can help you here. Lastly, if you want to dive a bit deeper into this, check out how many other citation systems there are. And, yes, we warned you! About The HUB Writing Center:
The HUB is a free resource for all SCU writers. We work with students, faculty, and staff during any stage of the writing process. Writers can come in with something -- or a lot -- written, or they can also come in when they’ve just started brainstorming about a project. Whatever stage you’re writing is at, the HUB can help! |