A Scientific Approach to Writing for Engineers and Scientists (Paperback)

A SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO WRITING

Technical ideas may be solid or even groundbreaking, but if these ideas cannot be clearly communicated, reviewers of technical documents—e.g., proposals for research funding, articles submitted to scientific journals, and business plans to commercialize technology—are likely to reject the argument for advancing these ideas.

The problem is that many engineers and scientists, entirely comfortable with the logic and principles of mathematics and science, treat writing as if it possesses none of these attributes. The absence of a systematic framework for writing often results in sentences that are difficult to follow or arguments that leave reviewers scratching their heads.

This book fixes that problem by presenting a “scientific” approach to writing that mirrors the sensibilities of scientists and engineers, an approach based on an easily-discernable set of principles. Rather than merely stating rules for English grammar and composition, this book explains the reasons behind these rules and shows that good reasons can guide every writing decision.

This resource is also well suited for the growing number of scientists and engineers in the U.S. and elsewhere who speak English as a second language, as well as for anyone else who just wants to be understood.

科學方法寫作

技術上的想法可能很扎實，甚至具有突破性，但如果這些想法無法清晰地傳達，例如研究資金申請書、提交科學期刊的文章，以及商業化技術的商業計劃等技術文件的審稿人很可能會拒絕推進這些想法的論點。

問題在於，許多工程師和科學家對數學和科學的邏輯和原則感到完全自在，卻將寫作視為沒有這些特點的事情。缺乏一個系統性的寫作框架通常導致難以理解的句子或讓審稿人困惑的論點。

這本書通過提出一種「科學」方法來解決這個問題，這種方法與科學家和工程師的感性相呼應，基於一套易於辨識的原則。這本書不僅僅陳述英語語法和寫作的規則，還解釋了這些規則背後的原因，並展示了良好的理由可以指導每個寫作決策。

這份資源也非常適合越來越多以英語作為第二語言的科學家和工程師，以及任何希望被理解的人。