Synopses & Reviews
This writing guide, by the author of Pearson’s best-selling Short Guide to Writing about Biology along with two well-known chemists, teaches students to think as chemists and to express ideas clearly and concisely through their writing.
Providing students with the tools they'll need to be successful writers, A Short Guide to Writing about Chemistry emphasizes writing as a way of examining, evaluating, and sharing ideas. The book teaches readers how to read critically, study, evaluate and report data, and how to communicate information clearly and logically.
Students are also given detailed advice on locating, evaluating, and citing useful sources within the discipline; maintaining effective laboratory notebooks and writing laboratory reports; writing effective research proposals and reports; and communicating information to both professional and general audiences.
Synopsis
This writing guide, by the author of Pearson's best-selling Short Guide to Writing about Biology along with two well-known chemists, teaches students to think as chemists and to express ideas clearly and concisely through their writing.
Providing students with the tools they'll need to be successful writers,
A Short Guide to Writing about Chemistry emphasizes writing as a way of examining, evaluating, and sharing ideas. The book teaches readers how to read critically, study, evaluate and report data, and how to communicate information clearly and logically.
Students are also given detailed advice on locating, evaluating, and citing useful sources within the discipline; maintaining effective laboratory notebooks and writing laboratory reports; writing effective research proposals and reports; and communicating information to both professional and general audiences.
Table of Contents
Preface
Part I: General Advice About Writing And Reading Chemistry
1. Writing: A Threshold Skill
What Do Chemists Write About And Why?
The Keys to Success
Ten Strategies for Preparing Your First Draft
Ten Strategies for Revising and Editing: Getting to Your Final Draft
Rules and Conventions: The Easy Stuff
The Essential Last Pass: Proofread
2. General Advice on Reading and Note-Taking
Why Read and What to Read
Effective Reading
Effective Note-Taking and Note-Organizing
Reading Data: Plumbing the Depths Of Figures And Tables
Reading Text: Summarize As You Go
Plagiarism and Note-Taking
Checklist for Reading and Note-Taking
3. Citing Sources and Listing References
Citing Sources
Some Guidelines for Citing Sources In Chemistry
Preparing the References Section
A Sample References Page
Checklist for Citing Sources
Checklist for Preparing the References Section
4. Revising
Why Revise?
Revising for Content
Revising for Clarity
Revising for Completeness
Checklist for Revising
5. Editing for Concision and ACS Style
Editing for Gender Neutral Language
Editing for Concision
Editing for ACS Style: Some Guidelines
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Capitalization for Chemists
Hyphens
Spelling
Chemistry Specific Conventions
Conclusion
Checklist
Part II: Guidelines for Specific Tasks
6. Keeping Laboratory Notebooks
The Role of Laboratory Instruction
The Teaching Laboratory Notebook
The Research Laboratory Notebook
Checklist for Final Draft
7. The Role of Lab Instruction
Writing Reports of Teaching Laboratory Experiments
Composition of the Report
Checklist for a Final Draft
8. Writing Summaries and Critiques
Writing the First Draft
Writing the Summary
Writing the Critique
Concluding Thoughts
Checklists tor Summaries and Critiques
9. Writing Essays and Review Papers
Writing to Learn
Why Bother?
Getting Started
Researching Your Topic
Developing a Thesis Statement
Writing the Paper Plagiarism
Citing Sources
Creating a Title
Revising and Editing
Checklist for Writing Essays and Review Papers
The Plagiarism Challenge
The Citing Sources Challenge 10. Writing Research Reports The Nature of Scientific Research Components of a Research Report
Longer Reports
Publication of Research Results
Preparing a Manuscript as Though for Publication
Checklist for a Final Draft
11. Writing Research Proposals
The Research Proposal as Persuasive Writing
What Are Reviewers Looking For?
Researching Your Topic
What Makes a Good Research Topic?
Writing the Proposal
Tightening the Logic
A Real Research Proposal
Checklist for a Final Draft
12. Answering Timed Essay Questions
Basic Principles
Applying the Principles
The Writing Component of the Graduate Record Exam
Checklist for Answering Timed Essay Questions