Universität Wien
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040824 UK Scientific Writing (2009W)

4.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 4 - Wirtschaftswissenschaften
Continuous assessment of course work

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Friday 09.10. 16:00 - 18:00 (Seminarraum 1 Hohenstaufengasse 9 1.Stock)
  • Friday 16.10. 16:00 - 18:00 (Seminarraum 1 Hohenstaufengasse 9 1.Stock)
  • Friday 23.10. 16:00 - 18:00 (Seminarraum 1 Hohenstaufengasse 9 1.Stock)
  • Friday 30.10. 16:00 - 18:00 (Seminarraum 1 Hohenstaufengasse 9 1.Stock)
  • Friday 06.11. 16:00 - 18:00 (Seminarraum 1 Hohenstaufengasse 9 1.Stock)
  • Friday 13.11. 16:00 - 18:00 (Seminarraum 1 Hohenstaufengasse 9 1.Stock)
  • Friday 20.11. 16:00 - 18:00 (Seminarraum 1 Hohenstaufengasse 9 1.Stock)
  • Friday 27.11. 16:00 - 18:00 (Seminarraum 1 Hohenstaufengasse 9 1.Stock)
  • Friday 04.12. 16:00 - 18:00 (Seminarraum 1 Hohenstaufengasse 9 1.Stock)
  • Friday 11.12. 16:00 - 18:00 (Seminarraum 1 Hohenstaufengasse 9 1.Stock)
  • Friday 18.12. 16:00 - 18:00 (Seminarraum 1 Hohenstaufengasse 9 1.Stock)
  • Friday 08.01. 16:00 - 18:00 (Seminarraum 1 Hohenstaufengasse 9 1.Stock)
  • Friday 15.01. 16:00 - 18:00 (Seminarraum 1 Hohenstaufengasse 9 1.Stock)
  • Friday 22.01. 16:00 - 18:00 (Seminarraum 1 Hohenstaufengasse 9 1.Stock)
  • Friday 29.01. 16:00 - 18:00 (Seminarraum 1 Hohenstaufengasse 9 1.Stock)

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This course is designed for students in Economics, Applied Mathematics,
Statistics, and Computer Science who are in the phase of writing their
diploma or doctoral thesis.
The general aim of this course is to
¿ introduce you to some basic principles of scientific writing and style
requirements as they have become standard in the respective academic
disciplines,
¿ discuss some elements of grammar, punctuation, and usage as they are
typical for scientific English, as well as
¿ to introduce you to some general ideas about the process of writing,
attitudes and voice that might help you to organize your own process
of writing.
A special feature of this course is that it contains a discussion how to present
mathematical arguments¿how to combine verbal and formal reasoning, choose
notation, typeset and reference mathematical formulae, etc. Whenever ques-
tions of typesetting, referencing, or organizing notes and bibliographies arise,
I will discuss this in close connection to the scientific typesetting program
LATEX. (Please note however that this is not a comprehensive course in
LATEX.)
The course will be organized as a series of combined classes¿lecture and
workshops. There will be practical exercises, we will read an analyze text in
class, there will be reading and writing assignments for home, and you will
discuss and review the texts of others.
Time and location: The class will meet for 10 sessions, 2 full hours each,
October through December,
Friday, 4.00pm¿6.00pm,
at Hohenstaufengasse 9, Seminarraum 1.
The specific dates are: October 9, 16, 23, November 6, 13, 20, 27, and
December 4, 11, 18, 2009.
Registration: This course is limited to 24 students. In order to register for
this course, you have to
(i) register by the on-line registration system, and
(ii) send me a one-page letter of personal introduction, by e-mail to
pawlowit@fas.harvard.edu, no later than October 1, 2009.
In your letter, please tell me which program you are enrolled in, what your
interests or fields of specialization are, what the topic of your thesis is, etc. If
you have already started to write your thesis, or if you have another ongoing
writing project like a term paper or research article, you can also attach 3¿
5 pages of text; for example, the introduction or the first pages of another
relatively self-contained chapter.
Evaluation: Evaluation for this course is NOT based on your own writing
samples, but on (i) your reviews of the texts of others, as well as on (ii) your
preparation of reading assignments.

Assessment and permitted materials

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Examination topics

Reading list

The standard reference for writers, editors, and publishers is The Chicago
Manual of Style (15th edition, 2003, Chicago University Press).
Other style guides and works on writing: American Mathematical Society. A Manual for Authors of Mathematical
Papers, 3rd rev. ed. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society,
1990.
Clark, Roy Peter. Writing Tools. 50 Essential Strategies for every Writer, First paperback ed. New York: Little Brown and Company, 2008. Miller, J.E. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers. Chigaco: Uni-versity of Chicago Press, 2004. Steenrod, Norman E., Halmos, Paul R., Schiffer, M.M., and Jean A., Dieudon¿e. How to Write Mathematics. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society, 1973. Strunk, William Jr., and E.B. White. The Elements of Style, 4th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000. Williams, Joseph M. Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, With two chapters coauthored by Gregory G. Colomb. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990. Zinsser, William. On Writing Well, 30th anniversary ed. New York: Harper Collins, 2006. Works of fiction and non-fiction that I will use: Hemingway, Ernest. A Movable Feast. First Scribner trade paperback ed. New York: Scribner, 2003. Mailer, Norman. The Spooky Art. Thought on Writing. Random House paperback ed. New York: Random House, 2004. Stewart, Ian. Letters to a Young Mathematician. New York: Basic Books, 2006. Wood, James. How Fiction Works. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2008. Vida, Vendela, (ed.) Believer Book of Writers Talking to Writers. San Francisco: Believer Books, 2005.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:29