1. CSC135 Review A Slide to a week review of the material covered 1

2. Week 1 Introduction to CSC135 – The need for 135 – Scientific writing What it is about Where do we tend to use it Where are we lacking What problems need a solution – The software to be used Mention two applications of scientific writing? Why do we need this course? 2

3. Week 2 Ethics – Science is build on trust – Plagiarism (other, self, misrepresentation) – Authorship Anyone that made a significant contribution to the intellectual content of the publication – Confidentiality – Conflict of interest What is plagiarism? What is self-plagiarism? What is misrepresentation? Who qualifies to be added as an author to a paper? Can a paper reviewer disclose any information about the paper? You are asked to review a paper and realise that the author is someone you personally know. What do you do and why? 3

4. Week 3 User Manual – what is it, what’s it used for – Contents: procedures of achieving tasks – Tips: think like user; use active voice; focus on the reader; write clear instructions; establish standards – Rough structure ( you don’t have to know it by heart but it help you later on ) System overview Hardware/software requirements Initial setup Menu options Procedures Troubleshooting Backing up an Restoring the system What is the primary function of a user manual? In which format are instructions usually given in user manuals so that readers can follow and apply? What is troubleshooting and why should it be included in a user manual? 4

5. Week 4 Algorithms – What are they and why do we show them? – What do you expect to see – Formalisms List style: numbered steps, discuss while presenting; lots of text and explanation Pseudocode: in blocks, each line is numbered, short and unclear text Prosecode: number each step; include explanatory text Literate code: introduce gradually; explain each step and introduce sub-steps and so on – Remember Notation; Environment; Performance Define an algorithm Why must we sometimes explain algorithms? When explaining algorithms what else is important to establish? 5

6. Week 5 Literate review (GS slides) – Purpose – Process of researching and building – Types of sources: textboooks; articales; summaries; review articles; journal articles; theses, reports, technical manuals etc etc – Steps and possible structure (title, abstract, introduction, subject- specific, conclusions, references) Define literature review? Name 3 things that you must do when reviewing literature? Mention 4 examples of sources used in literature review? When writing a literature review do we have to refer to historical facts (about the subject) or can we just mention what we did? 6

7. Week 6 Referencing – What it is and why use it? – The two main systems Harvard Numeric – Compiling lists of references – Electronic references – Direct quations and bilbioraphy – Common mistakes What is the difference between ‘list of references’ and the ‘bilbiography’? Given the following publication (xxxxx) write an example of a citation using the Harvard system 7

8. Week 7 Latex – Inserting and manipulating graphics – Inserting and manipulating URLs – Creating citations and list of references Inbuilt listing Using Bibtex ?? 8

9. Week 8 Writing style – Based on Zobel (chapters 2 & 3) – General guidelines Economy, tone, motivation, analogies, referencing Authorship, ethics, etc. – Specifics Titles; opening paragraphs; paragraphing; repetition and parallelism; directness; emphasis; definitions; choice of words; padding; misused words; jargon; tense; foreign words; plurals; abbreviations; acronyms; sexist language When writing – do we use active voice or passive voice – Can we use acronyms? – Can we use abbreviations? – Can we use foreign words? – How can we emphasize a point? – Use an analogy and explain a first in first out queue. – You are writing a paper for a UK journal; in the UK they spell analyse in the US (where you are from) they spell analyze, which do you use? – Rewrite the sentence below so that no acronyms are used and a non-technical person can understand it The new CPU from iNTEL gives out 6.5 MOPS and operates at a lower temp 9

10. Week 9 Poster on a conference – Positives and Negatives – Why people like them – Facilities – Planning Short presentation – Content & organisation – Introduction & Conclusions – Preparation, Delivery – The audience and questions Mention two differences between a conference poster and a conference paper Mention 3 items that you might see on a poster? Is the introduction important for a presentation and why? What might happen if you don’t time yourself correctly and you have too much information and too little time? 10

11. Your final exam Will be 2 and ½ hours long It will be on paper (no PCs) It will a number of short answer, essay type questions Your guide to review should be the slides More detailed account and information – Textbook – Zobel (e-book) 11