Special Tutorial Seminar

How to Write a Good Paper (Thesis and Project Report)

Sunday, 3 June 2012, at 14:00    (NOT  24.5.12)

Prof. R.L. Boxman
Electrical Discharge and Plasma Lab
Department of Physical Electronics
School of Electrical Engineering
Tel Aviv University

The objective of this lecture is to present to the participants a recipe for organizing and writing good scientific papers and theses. The critical elements of each section of the “research report” will be reviewed, and content, organization, and style conventions will be discussed. The paper should be centered on a well defined “research question”. In the Introduction, the importance of a clear gap sentence and statement of purpose will be emphasized. The requirement for providing sufficient detail for duplicating results elsewhere in the Experimental Details section will be explained. The proper order for presenting Results – location, presentation, and comment - will be explained. The principle of heads-up display in technical drawings will be presented. The need to differentiate between results and interpretation will be emphasized. The organization of the discussion, from narrow comments to broad implications, will be presented, and appropriate language and interpretation of the relative certainty of explanations, i.e. from speculation to proof, will be explained. Answering the “research question” and summarizing the key results and their implications in terms of 3 points the author wishes the reader to remember will be suggested as the organizational mode for the Conclusions. The difference between an indicative and an informative Abstract will be explained, as well as the need for the latter. Finally, suggestions for interacting with journal editors and responding to reviewers’ comments will be presented.

Please note: this special seminar is not to be counted in the quota of the seminars' hearing-duty