Academia: Writing Guidelines

As a researcher, there are a few main writing challenges you will face - theses, journal articles, and grant proposals; possibly in that order during your career.

• Copyright & Fair Use, or Am I Going to Get Sued for This Photocopy?
• Theses
• Journal Articles
• Grant Proposals

Copyright & Fair Use, or Am I Going to Get Sued for This Photocopy?

It's not always enough to just assume that academic use is protected. Know the pertinent info. You can find copious information at these sites:

• The Stanford Library Copyright and Fair Use web page.
• www.copyright.gov
  • Copyright law
  • See section 107 for some Specific exceptions for class room use

Theses

Your best bet is to look up your school's guidelines and formats. You can look at theses published in your group already to simpire you as to what is appropriate. Ideally, your advisor will also be able to guide you. Page length and contents will vary greatly from field to field and from lab to lab.

One thing I cannot stress enough is the utility of good reference citing. Keep track of your citations as you go, and seriously consider purchasing software that provides inline reference citing and automatic construction/revision of bibliographies.

• Columbia Guide to Online Style
• IBM Patent Server
• Rice University Thesis Procedures & Format

Journal articles

For a journal article, you should look around the journal's web site. They should have specific guidelines there on how to submit your article. things to consider:

• Pay close attention to whether or not the page count includes figures
• Pay close attention to how the figures are to be submitted
• Look at similar articles to get a feel for what is acceptable; e.g. if you are submitting a letter for Nature, look at other letters in Nature for guidance, especially ones in your field.

You will also need to compose a list of reviewers and their contact information. The list should include people that are well-equipped to assess the accuracy and scientific importance of your article.

Grant Proposals

For now, let's keep it simple. Make your proposal:

• speak to your audience
• keep the goal of the granting agency in mind
• be sure to include the proper number of students, post-docs, etc.