1 / 24

Physics and Astronomy Writing

Physics and Astronomy Writing. Physics 695 Some material courtesy of Dr. J. Fabian, Univ. of Regenburg. Reading about Physics Writing P. RUBENS, SCIENCE & TECHNICAL WRITING: MANUAL OF STYLE , 2 nd . Ed, TAYLOR (2001) - Recommended text for Phys 695

alaqua
Download Presentation

Physics and Astronomy Writing

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Physics and Astronomy Writing Physics 695 Some material courtesy of Dr. J. Fabian, Univ. of Regenburg

  2. Reading about Physics Writing P. RUBENS, SCIENCE & TECHNICAL WRITING: MANUAL OF STYLE, 2nd. Ed, TAYLOR (2001) - Recommended text for Phys 695 M. Alley, The Craft of Scientific Writing, 3rd Ed., Springer, New York, 1996. B. Goss Levi: “Some Simple Rules of Writing” http://www.research.att.com/kbl/APS/dec97/rules.html D. Mermin: “What’s Wrong with This Prose?” Physics Today, May 1989, p.9 D.Mermin: “What‘s Wrong with These Equations?” Physics Today, October1989, p.9 D. Mermin: “Writing Physics” http://www.lassp.cornell.edu/~cew2/KnightLecture.html

  3. Types of Scientific Writing • Academic/Industrial Research • Journal Articles; Conference Proceedings • Research Reports (to sponsor or management) • Funding proposals • Industrial Development/Engineering/QA • Measurement Reports / Engineering Memos • Equipment/software manuals • Funding proposals • Teaching • Books, tutorials • Lab manuals • Exams, Homework, Solutions • Student • Lab Reports; Course Papers; Portfolio; Resume • Theses

  4. Portfolio Requirements • Homework problem solutions • Lab Reports

  5. Components of Physics Writing • Text (including references/bibliography) • Equations • Tables • Plots • Diagrams and other figures • Photos

  6. Paper/Report Organization Reference everything taken from other sources

  7. Equations • Use Microsoft Equation Editor or TeX • Short equations or mathematical expressions can be “in-line”: • so when 2d sin = n • Longer equations centered & numbered: 4.1

  8. Plots Fig. 1. Semi-log plot of current-voltage characteristic of diode.

  9. Plot Features • Caption • Axes clearly labeled with quantity plotted and (units) in parentheses • Symbols at data points, with error bars when possible (no lines connecting points) • If an equation has been fitted to the data, show the line or curve corresponding to fit • Gridlines optional; usually omitted

  10. Detector Laser Scope Generator Sync Main Chan 1 Ext.Trig Diagrams Fig. 2. Electronics Setup.

  11. Tables

  12. Physics Word Processing Alternatives • Microsoft Word (or Open Office) with Equation Editor ($65) • Prior to Word 2007, had “old” equation editor; can purchase MathType enhanced Equation Editor ($50). (Barely) adequate; saves equations as graphic images. • For Microsoft Word 2007, Equation Editor included as is; also includes new equation editor with support for a TeX-like "Office Math Markup Language“. • Scientific Word - Specialized scientific word processor; can save output in TeX form. ($500/$160 student) • TeX (popular versions: LaTeX; MikTex) - Page formatting language; allows precise text & equation formatting (free) • LyX - WYSIWYG “front end” for LaTex; no need to learn TeX commands; produces TeX and PDF output (free)

  13. TeX Alternatives • LaTex • http://www.latex-project.org/ • May want pdflatex • REVTeX 4 • To compile Phys. Rev. Style documents • http://publish.aps.org/revtex4/ • LyX • http://www.lyx.org • Includes RevTeX4 document class; PDF creator

  14. LyX Documentation: Excellent help files, including tutorials and user guides

  15. Plotting Software • MATLAB (SFSU site license; student version $100) • IDL (SFSU site license) • Gnuplot (free) • Origin (student version $50 for one year) • Kaliedagraph; Igor Pro • Excel usually cannot produce publication-quality plots • Save plots as .eps files for placing in LaTeX or LyX document; as .wmf or .jpg files to import into MS Word (use MATLAB export function) • See handout for how to import .eps plots into LyX

  16. Diagram Software (Vector Graphics) • Adobe Illustrator/Freehand (CS3 student $200) • Inkscape (free) • www.inkscape.org • Inkscape and Illustrator can export .eps files for easy import into LaTeX or LyX, as well as several other graphics file formats • For photos: • Photoshop • Paintshop Pro • Gimp (free)

  17. References/Bibliography • BibTeX is a tool for formatting lists of references. BibTeX makes it easy to cite sources in a consistent manner, by separating bibliographic information from the presentation of this information. • Obtaining References • One means of getting references is from Web-based databases, such as ones created with the Reference Web Poster program. • Importing and Exporting References using EndNotes • Launch EndNotes, and load an existing library or start a new one. • Click on [File] [Import] and load "sample.isa" specifying "Reference Manager (RIS)" as the format. • Click on [Style] [Set Styles Folder...] and then open the "Export" folder and choose "BibTeX.ens". • Select the entries that you want to export. • Click on [File] [Export] and save as type "Text File (*.txt)" and save the file as "sample.bib". • Now you can merge "sample.bib" with one of your existing BibTeX database(s).

More Related