Research Guides: Engineering: Write and Cite in the Sciences

Scientific Writing

Writing and presenting in STEM has a few significant differences from other disciplines. Below are some resources that may be helpful.

Print and e-books on Research and Writing in Science

Below are a selection of books at the Claremont Colleges Library about research and writing in the sciences. This is not our whole collection - to find more, search for "writing" or "research" and "science" "chemistry" or "STEM" to find more.

Scientific Writing by Lebrun
ISBN: 9789812770424
Publication Date: 2007-01-01
This work walks through the parts of a scientific paper and how to avoid pitfalls of weak papers.
Research Ethics for Scientists by C. Neal Stewart
ISBN: 9781119978862
Publication Date: 2011-09-15
This item covers ethical parts of researching and writing, from plagiarism, research misconduct, peer review, authorship, and data management.
Research Projects and Research Proposals: a Guide for Scientists Seeking Funding by Paul G. Chapin
ISBN: 9781280541070
Publication Date: 2007-01-09
This book is a guide to writing scientific research proposals for submission to funding agencies. It approaches the topic by placing it in the larger context of planning and carrying out a research project, offering guidance on selecting a suitable research topic, organizing and planning the project, identifying a funding agency, writing the proposal, and managing the funded project.

There are several online sources that are also helpful for writing in the sciences:

Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science
Writing guidelines and models for several forms of communication used in the sciences.

Organizing Your Research

Citation Managers are tools to help you keep track of your citations as you research and to create/format your citations and bibliography. For example, Zotero allows you to keep citations, full text articles, and other research resources organized in one place. You can also use these tools to format your bibliographies and the notes/citations in your papers according to the appropriate style (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

Watch this video to learn more about Zotero

Download Zotero
Zotero is a free open source application that works with Firefox, Chrome, and Safari, you can also download a client to your computer. It is a good choice if you use just one computer when researching. You can access citation information when online or offline.
Zotero How-to Guide
This will take you to The Claremont Colleges website which will answer frequently asked questions.

Zotero Short Guide (PDF)
Download this guide to walk you through how to download Zotero on your computer.