Chris Fenwick's webpage
Center for languages and International Education, Institute of Education, University College LondonScientific Writing
This page contains notes and examples on certain aspects of scientific writing which I teach on the International Pre-Master's (IPM) course.
The aim of the IPM is to help non-native English speakers learn academic and scientific forms of writing, and the notes support this
by using example texts taken from maths, statistics, O.R. and modelling papers as well as engineering and other physical sciences.
We then analyse these texts for their academic and scientific language, their style and discourse, as well as the structure of the text as a whole. For example, one can ask of a scientific text, What makes it an introduction style of writing? Or, what makes it a summary style of writing? One can also ask, What is it about the text which illustrates argumentation rather than description or summary? Etc.
It is important to note that my focus here is not on academic English (since I am not an English teacher) but on using language to express one's mathematical or scientific ideas. As such, even though these notes are aimed at non-native speakers they are also useful for anyone wanting to learn the discourse of academic writing in maths and science.
We then analyse these texts for their academic and scientific language, their style and discourse, as well as the structure of the text as a whole. For example, one can ask of a scientific text, What makes it an introduction style of writing? Or, what makes it a summary style of writing? One can also ask, What is it about the text which illustrates argumentation rather than description or summary? Etc.
It is important to note that my focus here is not on academic English (since I am not an English teacher) but on using language to express one's mathematical or scientific ideas. As such, even though these notes are aimed at non-native speakers they are also useful for anyone wanting to learn the discourse of academic writing in maths and science.