Good Writing The PEERLESS Method P

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D I T A N D

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Q U A L S

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T U F F

Stage 1:

Writing is easy. You sit down and you write. Good Writing is not so easy. Prepare to write

In this stage, you must first collect all the materials you need including your lab notebook, any notes from the pre-experiment lecture, your laboratory textbook, and any other materials (websites, other textbooks, journal articles, etc.) that you think you will need to write a good report. Then you need to decide what you will write about. You should consider each section of the report individually. Each section has its own requirements which are distinct from each other. Read your Laboratory Report Guide carefully paying close attention to the different requirements for each section. A tried and true method to ensure you do a good job at this stage is to prepare an outline. Your outline should be complete and detailed enough so that it is perfectly clear WHAT you will write about in each section and HOW you plan to write it. Most of the work of good writing occurs here in the Preparation stage. The time you spend here saves time once you begin writing. A good outline will contain: A main heading for each section Subheadings when necessary (some reports will be more complex than our first one) A list of topics and items for each heading or subheading. Typically abbreviated entries are used (i.e. discuss the difference between the melting point ranges of pure vs. impure compounds). Be complete here each item here will be later developed into sentence form. Include full citations for textbook pages, journal articles, or other references here this will remind you to put them in your report later and save you the trouble of looking them up when you prepare your list of references. You might also include reminders to yourself here like write in third person, past-tense, passive voice or use language similar to book or paraphrase the third paragraph on page xx of the Pavia text.

Stage 2: Execute your writing plan

Okay you have your outline ready. Now you need to execute this writing plan. As you write, make sure to pay attention to the language you are using. Your writing should be reflective of that in the textbook and your notes and should be similar to that which you hear your instructor use when they talk about the subject. Remember you are trying to communicate with an audience that is educated in organic chemistry. To be most effective, you should use the common language of the discipline.

D.S.Frohnapfel 2008

Make sure to follow your outline. If you have prepared properly, your outline has a bullet point or two for each topic or item that needs discussed. If you have a really good outline, all you need to do for the report is to take each bullet point and turn it into 1-3 sentences. Also remember that you are writing this report AFTER you have learned the material. Dont endlessly discuss a topic. Make your point and move on.

Stage 3: Edit and Revise

Read your completed report carefully. Pay particular attention to: Spelling and grammar Language choices are you using the language of the disclipine? Correctness of the science you present Clarity does what you have written make sense? Make the needed changes. Repeat this process until you dont think any more changes need to be made.

Stage 4: Let Equals See your Stuff

This is a real-world example of where LESS is more. Good Science is a collaborative effort and Good Writing about science should be no different. Find another student (or three) that you can share reports with. Probably it is best if you have the same instructor since each instructor will have their own preferences about experiment reports. Read each others report carefully. As you read another students report pay particular attention to: Spelling and grammar Language choices are they using the language of the discipline? Correctness of the science you present Clarity does what they have written make sense? Make suggestions for change in a friendly, non-judgmental, and constructive manner. Be prepared to receive suggestions about your report in the same way. Remember this stage is about helping each other become better writers. The goal here isnt to make yourself feel better about your report by tearing down someone elses effort. DONT underestimate this stage it is probably the most important one! Most writers have blind spots about their own writing. They know what they were trying to say. Every time they read a given passage of their own work, they filter that writing through that knowledge. Someone else reading the same material may find it completely confusing. Also if the writer has a misconception about some science topic, its highly unlikely that they will ever catch that mistake in their own writing. Only another person can help them do that. Better to have this happen before your instructor reads your report. Rest assured that they will catch each spelling or grammar mistake, each instance of muddled thinking, and each instance of bad science. And DONT get the wrong impression about this stage this stage isnt a free opportunity to plagiarize someone elses writing. They may state it better than you, but you arent allowed to copy their text. What you can do, however, is discuss that topic with them so that you understand it better and can rewrite your own section to be better in your own style.
D.S.Frohnapfel 2008