The document outlines the key stages and sections in the technical writing process. It discusses the importance of conducting a literature review to identify existing research and how the writer's work can contribute new knowledge. It also provides guidance on writing an abstract, introduction, and literature review for a thesis. The abstract should concisely describe the problem, approach, results and conclusions. The introduction should provide motivation and clearly state the problem. The literature review involves researching existing sources and synthesizing information to identify gaps for the writer's study to address.

1. THE
TECHNICAL
WRITING
PROCESS
NAVIN
CHARI
DALHOUSIE
WRITING
CENTRE

2. Stages
in
Research
§ Iden>fy
your
topic
of
interest
§ Perform
a
literature
review
§ Generate
related
ques>ons
§ State
your
unsolved
problem
or
hypothesis
§ Find
or
develop
a
solu>on
§ Document
your
results

3. Thesis
Guidelines
§ Abstract
§ Introduc>on
(Objec>ve
&
Mo>va>on)
§ Literature
Review
§ Materials/Methods
§ Results
&
Discussion
§ Conclusions
&
Future
Work
§ References
This
presenta>on
will
focus
on
the
three
sec>ons
in
bold.

4. ABSTRACT
WRITING

5. Abstract:
Mo>va>on
§ Why
do
we
care
about
the
Problem
and
the
Results?
§ Importance
of
your
Work
§ Difficulty
of
the
Area
§ Impact
if
Successful
§ Helps
to
make
the
problem
more
interes>ng

6. Abstract:
Problem
Statement
§ What
problem
are
you
trying
to
solve?
§ What
is
the
scope
of
your
work?
§ Generalized
approach,
or
for
a
specific
situa>on
§ Be
careful
not
to
use
too
much
jargon
§ Put
the
problem
statement
before
the
mo>va>on
§ Only
if
audience
understand
the
problem’s
importance

7. Abstract:
Approach
§ How
did
you
solve
or
progress
on
the
problem?
§ Did
you
use
simula>on,
analy>c
models,
solid
models,
FEA,
prototype
construc>on,
etc.?
§ What
was
the
extent
of
your
work?
§ What
important
variables
did
you
control,
ignore,
or
measure?

8. Abstract:
Results
§ What's
the
answer?
§ percent
faster,
cheaper,
smaller,
or
otherwise
be]er
than
something
else.
§ Put
the
result
there,
in
numbers.
§ Avoid
vague,
hand-­‐waving
results
such
as
"very",
"small",
or
"significant."

9. Abstract:
Conclusions
§ What
are
the
implica>ons
of
your
answer?
§ Is
it
going
to
change
the
world
§ Are
your
results
general,
poten>ally
generalizable,
or
specific
to
a
par>cular
case?

10. LITERATURE
REVIEW

11. Lit
Review:
Importance
§ Provides
background
regarding
your
own
research
§ Shows
your
familiarity
with
research
in
your
field
§ Demonstrates
how
your
work
contributes
in
your
field’s
knowledge
base

12. Lit
Review:
Outcomes
§ Recogni>on
of
the
relevant
and
important
research
in
your
field
§ Understanding
this
research,
by
organizing
and
evalua>ng
it
§ Seeing
where
there
is
a
gap
in
the
research
which
your
study
will
a]empt
to
fill

13. Lit
Review:
Steps
§ Finding
Sources
§ Synthesizing
Informa>on
§ The
literature
review
is
both
a
step
and
an
itera>ve
feedback
loop
-­‐
Defining
an
unsolved
problem
determines
what
kind
of
literature
search
is
appropriate,
and
performing
a
literature
search
helps
define
an
unsolved
problem

14. Lit
Review:
Tasks
§ Brainstorming:
What
informa>on
you
will
need
§ Researching:
Where
to
get
your
hands
on
it
§ Developing
a
tracking
method
to
maintain
a
complete
record
of
all
of
the
informa>on
and
their
sources
§ Construct
a
list
of
experts
in
your
field

15. Lit
Review:
Wri>ng
&
Summarizing
§ Become
familiar
with
the
geography
of
the
source
§ Locate
the
point
of
the
argument
§ Iden>fy
key
subpoints
§ Iden>fy
key
themes
§ Skim
paragraphs

16. Lit
Review:
Condensing
Research
§ Do
not
write
everything
down
§ Create
your
own
shortcuts
and
shorthand
§ Use
numbers
for
numerical
terms
§ Leave
out
vowels
when
you
can
§ Record
all
vital
names,
dates,
and
defini>ons
§ Mark
items
that
need
further
examina>on
§ Check
accuracy
before
returning
or
filing
the
source

17. Lit
Review:
Summariza>on
§ Analyze
Accurately
and
Cri>cally
§ Present
an
overview
of
what
your
source
offers
§ Topic,
research
problem,
resolu>on,
and
arguments
§ Counterproduc>ve
to
try
to
read
everything
in
detail
§ Focus
on
the
abstract,
introduc>on,
and
conclusion
sec>ons
of
each
source
document
§ Categorize
and
understand
what
sources
you
have
and
what
might
s>ll
be
missing

18. REFERENCING

19. Cita>ons
§ Common
Styles
in
Engineering
Include:
§ APA
(Author,
Year)
§ h]p://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
§ IEEE
[Footnotes]
§ h]p://www.ieee.org/documents/ieeecita>onref.pdf