Online resources for writing, presentations, & posters

Research Article Writing

Style and Ethics of Communication in Science and Engineering (ebook/pdf, free access through UVA library) covers issues in writing, scientific publishing, dissertations, proposals & grant applications, oral communication, authorship, record keeping, ownership; authors from biomedical sciences & engineering background

How to write/present science: BABY-WEREWOLF-SILVER BULLET An eco-evo evo-eco blog post on setting up your scientific presentation or paper. Very useful for setting up introductions, conceptualizing your larger argument or thinking through the big picture of your presentation.

The Introduction Section -a pdf overview of the CARS model of moves and steps in research article introductions from Helsinki University of Technology

Organizing you Social Sciences Research Paper: The CARS Model A nice library guide with an overview of introductions. May need some adaptation for engineering but gives some place to start

Literature Review Writing Guide - from the University of Waterloo on writeonline.ca, a well organized multipart step by step guide for planning, writing & revising lit reviews; includes a section outlining the key parts of a lit review and tips for writing.

Literature Reviews - posts from Raul Pacheo-Vega on various strategies and stages of writing a literature review

Publishing from the PhD- Make a publication plan A Patter article explaining practical steps to making a research publication plan and why you may want to

How to Write Paragraphs in Research Texts (articles, books, and PhDs) Overview of key components in paragraphs in research writing, including why and how to use them and common issues

Components of Documents A quick overview of the basic parts of a research report

How to Write a Manuscript A short post on order of steps and strategies in writing an article

Writing Research Articles for Publication - (pdf)- Burrows (2011) from Asian Institute of Technology, includes overviews of sections, perspectives, common issues, language, and engineering examples throughout

Writing an IMRaD Report Very basic overview of sections

How to Write a Paper (Ashby, 2005)

Writing in Boxes An interactive tutorial and tool to get you started on writing the different sections of an IMRD article from JPHMP Direct; outlines what goes in each section; includes a video overview of how the tool works. While it is public health specific, you can adapt it to your field as well.

Scientific Writing Toolkit Many links, articles and tutorials for research writing and planning from the council of state and territorial epidemiologists

Graduate Research Advanced Skills Program Resources from Curtin University in Australia. Includes videos, handouts, slides, etc. for a number of workshops on research writing topics including Lit Reviews and abstracts

MIT CommKits - biological engineering, electrical engineering/computer science and chemical engineering - have clear simplified overviews for eachs ection of a research article that work across disciplines

Annotated Research Article 

10 Ways to Make Sure you Journal Article Never Gets Read, or Worse, Cited 

Three-Part Elsevier Series: How to Prepare a Manuscript for International Journals

Six things to do before writing your manuscript

11 steps to structuring a science paper editors will take seriously

Writing the first draft of your science paper - some dos and don'ts

Effective Abstracts 

Stanford's Writing in the Sciences Coursera Course

 

Revise & Resubmit

How to respond to reviewers- A practical blog post by eco-evo evo-eco on how to respond to reviewers in the journal revise & resubmit process

The Revise and Resubmit Series - A Chronicle Vitae article series about various aspects of revising & resubmitting as article to a journal

Part 1: Coping with Criticism

Part 2: Deciphering Reviewer Comments

Part 3: Techniques for Easier and Faster Revisions

Rejection & Revision

 

Also consider attending an Author's Rights: Use the Law, Share Your Work, Change the World library workshop

Presentations

How To Improve The Presentation Skills Of PhD Students A detailed and practical post on NextScientist on improving your presentation skills as a PhD student

20 Tips for Top Academic Presentations 

Slide Rules: Design, Build, and Archive Presentations in the Engineering and Technical Fields IEEE Professional Communication Series book; get free online access to the ebook with your UVA login

Oral Communication Tips for presentations from the University of Toronto Engineering Communication Program

Presenting Your Research (Friedman, 2016)

Presenting with Slides video from Texas A&M's University Writing Center

Academic Titles 

Also see the language use & vocabulary speaking section for resources on the pronunciation of technical words and phrases and key phrases for presentations and the thesis/dissertation section for resources specific to defense presentations.

COURSE: STS 555 - Communicating Research to External Audiences (UVA course)

Book: Designing Science Presentations: A Visual Guide to Figures, Papers, Slides, Posters and More (Carter 2013) online access via UVA

 

Posters

Better Posters Incredibly useful blog about academic posters with numerous posts that include tips for creating, presenting and revising posters, stand out examples, critiques and before and afters/makeovers of posters; be sure to check out the link round up posts for many more resources

How to Design an Award Winning Conference Poster An article outlining key steps and practical perspectives for designing your poster

Designing conference posters multipost resource by Colin Purrington with extensive linked list of poster resources, tips, templates, software suggestions and more

MIT CommKit on Posters - scroll to the bottom for annotated examples; discipline specific guide from biological engineering, electrical engineering/computer science and chemical engineering

Infographic: Tips for designing better research posters 

How to create a better poster in less time - animated explanation of a new style of poster design, see also better poster's critique of this design, 

Alternative poster templates (ppt download) from American College of Chest Physicians

 

Visuals

ggplot2 a plotting system for R, based on the grammar of graphics; see the engineering library for free workshops on R and ggplot2 (& other software)

MIT CommKits on Visual Communication from biological engineering, electrical engineering/computer science and chemical engineering

The 10 Best Data Visualization Articles of 2016 (and Why They Were Awesome) An article showcasing examples and explanations of data visualizations

Using Tables, Figures and Diagrams Effectively in Your Writing Info sheet from The University of Queensland

Information Visualization available for free as an ebook through UVA library, technical reference, learn more about vizualization principles

Free software for biologists part 3- preparing figures Overview of some free software for scientific visualizations including options for figures, diagrams and animations

Library workshops on data vizualization tools

Data Visualization & Design Template links from Rice (scroll down)

Dissertation Proposals

The Perfect Proposal video by Dr. Candace Hastings from Texas A&M's University Writing Center

 

Dissertation

Publishing from the PhD- Make a publication plan A Patter article explaining practical steps to making a research publication plan and why you may want to

Graduate Research Advanced Skills Program Resources from Curtin University in Australia. Includes videos, handouts, slides, etc. for a number of workshops on research writing topics including sections of a dissertation proposal

Get Lit - The Literature Review Video intro to doing a dissertation literature review by Dr. Candace Hastings from Texas A&M's University Writing Center

see also Research Writing & Getting Published above

Writing your Doctoral DIssertation or Thesis Faster: A Proven Map to Success (2014) James & Slater- free ebook through UVA library - includes planning, proposal, defense

 

Dissertation/Thesis Defense

10 Ways To Successfully Defend Your PhD

The Completion Agenda, Part 2: The Best Defense

The Examiner-Perspective Lens for Doctoral Editing A post that helps you think like your committee when preparing for your defense. Includes lists of sample questions to prepare for and think through

The Perfect Defense video presentation by Valerie Balester from Texas A&M's University Writing Center

 

UVA Thesis/Dissertation Guides

LIBRA ELECTRONIC THESIS AND DISSERTATION PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION

DISSERTATION TITLE GUIDELINES

 

Software

MS Word for Thesis Writing from the Graduate Research School of the University of Western Australia- extensive screenshot illustrated guide on various features of Word for writing a long document like a dissertation or thesis from minor things, to issues and key things to consider. Includes links to additional resources.

Overleaf (for LaTeX) - UVA has access to the pro version; sign in with your UVA email. Templates & tutorials available.

To find funding, check out the looking for funding page or sign up for the engineering library's Funding Discovery Tools Workshop.

Also check out our Preparing Graduate Fellowship Proposals page for resources, courses, events and communities on writing fellowship proposals like the NSF GRFP.

 

General

Winning Grants Step by Step: The Complete Workbook for Planning, Developing and Writing Successful Proposals access the ebook online free with your UVA login

Grant Proposals (or Give me the money!) UNC Writing Center resource on grant writing

Research Development Resources from UVA Engineering a list of additional resources for writing, finding funding etc.

How to Write a Winning Proposal & Get those Grants from UVA's Center for Teaching Excellence

Style and Ethics of Communication in Science and Engineering (ebook/pdf, free access through UVA library) Chapter 4

The Ten Habits of Highly Unsuccessful Research Bid Writers A post highlighting things to look out for and avoid doing when writing a grant proposal

Dos and Don'ts of Successful Grant Writing IU GradGrants Center

The Most Common Errors Made in Research Proposals and Applications IU GradGrants Center

Purdue Owl Grant Writing pages

Sample grants, proposals, dissertations, and theses- Nigel Caplan

 

NIH

The Grant Application Writer's Workbook - NIH 2018 version of the book (not available in library) but some chapters are available online for free.

NIH Grants Glossary & Acronymns List 

Style and Ethics of Communication in Science and Engineering (ebook/pdf, free access through UVA library) Section 4.4; authors from biomedical sciences & engineering background

Tips for Great Grant Writing 2009 from extramural news compiled by UVA School of Medicine

UVA COURSE: CELL 8450: Effective Science Writing for Grants & Fellowships Reccommended by UVA engineering grad students; concepts can be transferred to other types of funding proposals as well.

 

NSF

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship blog post with lots of tips, outline, examples, links, etc.

Intro to the NSF GRFP (& DoD) Fellowship(s) ppt slides from Prof. Scully's (UVA Engineering) 2018 intro to the NSF GRFP presentation

The Grant Application Writer’s Workbook -NSF 2018 version of the book (not available in library) but some chapters are available online for free.

NSFGRFP.org administered by ASEE - site with lots of information, resource people contact info and more.

Guide to NSF GRFP Reference Letters- PDF compiled by Katie Pelland for the UVA Engineering Graduate Writing Lab

UVA COURSE: STS 555 - Communicating Research to External Audiences: covers broader impacts & intellectual merits sections of NSF proposals

MIT CommKits - NSF fellowship personal statements & research proposals: specific links biological engineering, electrical engineering/computer science and chemical engineering (all are quite similar)

also- see resources directly from the funding agency

Biomedical Engineering

NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY AUTHOR GUIDELINES

BMES How to Prepare an Effective Poster Presentation

Style and Ethics of Communication in Science and Engineering (ebook/pdf, free access through UVA library) covers issues in writing, scientific publishing, dissertations, proposals & grant applications, oral communication, authorship, record keeping, ownership; authors from biomedical sciences & engineering background 

MIT Biological Engineering CommKit

 

Chemical Engineering

AMERCIAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY STYLE GUIDE

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING STYLE GUIDE

MIT ChemE CommKit

 

Civil and Environmental Engineering

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS AUTHOR GUIDE Chapters 5 and 7

CIVIL ENGINEERING WRITING PROJECT MATERIALS

CIVIL ENGINEERING WRITING PROJECT REFERENCES

 

Computer Engineering

ASSOCIATION FOR COMPUTING MACHINERY AUTHOR INSTRUCTIONS

IEEE PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION GUIDE

IEEE EDITORIAL STYLE MANUAL

IEEE AUTHOR CENTER

IEEE Guide to Writing in the Engineering and Technical Fields

MIT Electrical Engineering & Computer Science CommKit

 

Computer Science

ASSOCIATION FOR COMPUTING MACHINERY AUTHOR INSTRUCTIONS

IEEE Guide to Writing in the Engineering and Technical Fields

Writing for Computer Science

MIT Electrical Engineering & Computer Science CommKit

 

Electrical Engineering

IEEE PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION GUIDE

IEEE EDITORIAL STYLE MANUAL

IEEE AUTHOR CENTER

IEEE Guide to Writing in the Engineering and Technical Fields 

MIT Electrical Engineering & Computer Science CommKit

 

Materials Science and Engineering

MATERIALS RESEARCH SOCIETY MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS

 

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS GUIDE TO CONFERENCE PUBLICATIONS

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICS AND ASTRONAUTICS JOURNAL AUTHOR GUIDE

Professional Communication in Engineering (Sales)

 

Systems and Information Engineering

IEEE PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION GUIDE

IEEE EDITORIAL STYLE MANUAL

IEEE AUTHOR CENTER

SYSTEMS & CONTROLS LETTERS GUIDE FOR AUTHORS

IEEE Guide to Writing in the Engineering and Technical Fields 

 

Refer to your program's graduate student handbook for additional suggested resources.

See also specific journal or professional association guidelines.

Grad Writing ESL Resource - Collab Site - sign up for access

 

Collocation & Technical Dictionaries

Babylon 10 Science & Engineering Dictionary

Just the Word Collocation dictionary - see which words go together

Ozdic Collocation Dictionary Shows common constructions, collocations, and local context for the word you look up; note: may not show some very common uses.

Word & Phrase search for chunks of language (phrases) and see in context; from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) by BYU

Also see using COCA below.

 

For Speaking & Pronunciation 

Phraseum Searchable phrases by use- mostly spoken; mini phrase tutorials by specific uses (i.e. phrases for___)- see the one on presentations especially

Forvo Pronunciation of technical vocabulary by a variety of speakers and accents + definitions & synonyms. Hear real pronunciation of technical vocabulary. Also has android & iOS app.

YouGlish Authentic technical vocabulary pronounced in real contexts through searchable videos. Use educational YouTube videos as a corpus of examples. Search a technical word or phrase and get a series of seemingly endless examples of the phrase in context in lectures and presentations with captioning so you can hear how it is pronounced in context by a variety of speakers.

 

Using COCA (The Corpus of Contemporary American English)

COCA (The Corpus of Contemporary American English) This large collection of texts is navigable through a sophisticated web interface that allows you to search in different ways to see language in use in real contexts. You can identify how words, phrases and parts of speech are typically used by exploring very organized examples across different sub collections of text. See the academic subcorpus especially.

You can learn the five basic functions of COCA (List, KWIC, Collocates, Compare, & Chart) through the tutorials below. Each tutorial has a video and a pdf transcript. The tutorials are CCBY and developed by Iowa State University in conjunction with the US Department of State.

COCA tutorial: The List function (4:26 min) [PDF, 699K] 

Using COCA: The Keyword In Context (KWIC) function (4:54 min) [PDF, 762K]

Using COCA: The Collocates function (4:20 min) [PDF, 895K]

Using COCA: The Collocates function (cont.) (3:09 min) [PDF, 645K]

Using COCA: The Compare function (3:42 min) [PDF, 683K]

Using COCA: The Chart function (2:47 min) [PDF, 392K]

 

Free Software for Exploring Language in Collections of Texts

AntConc - Concordancing software to quickly and easily see patterns in text. Use articles you've collected and converted to .txt or use AntCorGen to download and process PLOS articles related to your discipline quickly.

Video tutorials on AntConc by the developer

Corpus Analysis with AntConc - one of many screenshot guides explaining how to use AntConc to explore texts

AntCorGen - Quickly download and process whole or sections of PLOS articles by discipline for use in other programs like AntConc (fastest way to get a lot of discipline specific examples quickly)

AntFileConverter - Convert Pdf and Word .docx to .txt for use in corpus tools like AntConc (You can use this first so you can use articles you have as pdfs in AntConc)

Grad Writing ESL Resource - Collab Site - sign up for access

 

Overviews

A Scientific Approach to Writing for Engineers and Scientists IEEE book, grammatical conventions explained; free online access to the ebook with your UVA login

Grammar Bytes 'Grammar instruction with attitude' Fun grammar and mechanics resources including handouts, videos, presentations, a MOOC, interactive exercises (quizzes), and definitions. Fragments and comma splices interactive exercises and informative materials are particularly useful.

Commnet Guide to Grammar & Writing An interactive resource with explanations and exercises on many word, phrase, sentence & paragraph level writing, grammar and mechanics topics including parts of speech, punctuation, and sentence structure

The Purdue OWL - more undergraduate focused but some guides may be useful- see English as a Second Language->ESL Students, combining sentence, pronouns, nominalizations & subject position, prepositions, punctuation | General Writing-> mechanics, grammar, punctuation

 

Verbs

Verb Tenses in Research Writing

Verb Tense Tutorial Verb tense tutorial from EnglishPage (many other tutorials also available)

Verb Tense Chart

Verb Tense Timeline

Gerunds & Infinitives Tutorial EnglishPage tutorial that goes through when to use infinitives ( to__) and gerunds (__-ing)

 

Prepositions

Abstract & Academic Prepositions Worksheet

Prepositions with Abstract Nouns

 

Nouns & Articles

Count & Noncount Nouns on commnet

Articles on Commnet

Definite & Indefinite Articles Basic decision chart from George Mason Writing Center

 

Sentence Structures

Combining Clauses to Avoid Comma Splices, Run-Ons, and Fragments from George Mason Writing Center

Rules for Finding & Fixing Comma Splices & Fused Sentences from Grammar Bytes

Comma Splices & Fused Sentences Interactive Exercises from Grammar Bytes

Rules for Finding & Fixing Fragments from Grammar Bytes

Fragments Interactive Exercises from Grammar Bytes

 

Punctuation

Semicolons and Colons quick intro video from Texas A&M's University Writing Center

note: Students for whom English is an additional language can also make one-on-one appointments through the UVA Writing Center (different than the Graduate Writing Lab) with an ESL specialist to work on aspects of the English language or review their work. Be sure to choose a tutor that has 'ESL' in their name to ensure you get an appointment with an instructor instead of an undergraduate student.

Grad Writing ESL Resource - Collab Site - sign up for access

 

Sentence Level

The Science of Scientific Writing Gopen & Swan

Duke Graduate School Scientific Writing Resource Tips for scientific writing

Sentence Structure of Technical Writing PPT from MIT

A Scientific Approach to Writing for Engineers and Scientists IEEE book, grammatical conventions explained; free online access to the ebook with your UVA login

Cohesion & Coherence

Strategies for Improving Clarity slides from Nathan Sheffield, PhD

Hedging Claims

Accurate Documentation A discussion of how and why to cite sources in engineering and technical writing

Graduate Research Advanced Skills Program Resources from Curtin University in Australia. Includes videos, handouts, slides, etc. for a number of workshops on research writing topics including better sentences & paragraphs in research writing, developing arguments, being critical and writing analytically.

 

Organization

How to Write Paragraphs in Research Texts (articles, books, and PhDs) Overview of key components in paragraphs in research writing, including why and how to use them and common issues

Technical Writing Rhetorical Structures Outline of organizational structures for technical writing from the University of Toronto Engineering Communication Program

The Writing Process Tips for planning and revising from the University of Toronto Engineering Communication Program

What is paragraph re-planning? Explanation of reverse outlining as a revision technique

Reverse Outlining- revising technique in a short video from Texas A&M's University Writing Center

 

Additional Sources

George Mason University Writing Center Quick Guides a number of short pages on a variety of pertinent topics

UNC Writing Center Tips & Tools A long list of links to resources on a number of topics

Patter Academic writing blog with posts on a number of topics

Becoming an Academic Writer - 50 Exercises for Paced, Productive, and Powerful Writing, Patricia Goodson (Book)

Rice's Coursera Series - Communication Skills for Engineers

Stanford's Writing in the Sciences Coursera Course

How to Maintain Your Digital Identity As An Academic A Chronicle-Vitae post on maintaining an online presence as an academic through various social media and website outlets and its importance for your career

Topical Academic Hashtags An annotated list of hashtags for following and joining conversations related to academia, graduate school, research writing, the job market and more.

Using Twitter as an Academic

Creating Your Online Presence from the UVA Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Affairs

ORCiD: The Free iD that Can Ensure You get Credit for All of Your Research (library workshop on ORCiD)

Advisors at the Center for Engineering Career Development are the best resource for preparing job and PhD application materials. They have a page of resources for grad students. UVA Engineering graduate students can make a 1-on-1 appointment in Handshake to get individualized help and resources in preparing job documents tailored specifically to their needs. Masters students should select the appointment category “Center for Engineering Career Development” and PhD students should select "Center for Engineering Career Development- PhD Students." If no appointments show as available or fit your schedule, you can also book an appointment by emailing Julia Lapan (jcg9j@virginia.edu). Postdocs should email Julia Lapan (jcg9j@virginia.edu) directly to schedule their appointments. There are also walkin appointments available daily.

 

UVA Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Affairs Career Development Site & Sample application materials

 

Academic Jobs

The Academic Job Search Handbook -ebook available through the UVA library

Academic Job Application Materials (UVA Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Affairs)

Online Academic Job Prep Workshops from the UVA Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Affairs, covers academic cvs, cover letters, teaching statements & interview with videos & slides

CTE's Teaching Statements resources includes a handout, rubric, samples and more

CTE's Teaching Portfolio resources

MIT CommKits from  biological engineering, electrical engineering/computer science and chemical engineering see Professional Communication section

 

Diversity Statements

The Academic Job Search Handbook -ebook available through the UVA library

Writing Effective Diversity Statements for the Academic Job Market - pdf of presentations slides from UChicagoGrad

Writing Diversity Statements - from Postdoctoral Affairs at the University of Arizona- see links on page for presentation slides & examples

Diversity Statements - quick 2 page pdf from Graduate Career Services at University of Notre Dame

Developing and Writing a Diversity Statement - Beck (2018) Vanderbilt's Center for Teaching, includes topics, common questions & prompts to get you started

Contributions to Diversity Statements - includes link to a one page guide for writing them, examples, evaluation criteria (school specific), from UCSanDiego

Related Articles-

The Case for Diversity Statements - LSA University of Michigan

Breaking Down Diversity Statements- Inside Higher Ed, includes categorization & examples of common elements in diversity statements

Demystifying the Diversity Statement - Inside Higher Ed (opinion)

 

Nonacademic Jobs (Industry, Government, etc.)

NonAcademic Job Application Materials (UVA Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Affairs)

UVA Career Center Engineering, Science, & Technology Community 

MIT CommKits from  biological engineering, electrical engineering/computer science and chemical engineering see Professional Communication section

See the resources compiled on the Office of Research's Research Communication page. Most of the resources are videos. Many are useful for communicating with technical and nontechnical audiences. Those on preparing slide decks can be useful for talks for any audience.

COURSE: STS 555 - Communicating Research to External Audiences (UVA course)

Connect with Engineers Writing for Public Audiences

Make an appointment with Marlit Hayslett, Director of Research Messaging (marlit@virginia.edu), to review your talk/presentation.

Check out PHD+ offerings.

also see MIT CommKits from  biological engineering, electrical engineering/computer science and chemical engineering see the Science Policy section