| home page - news - syllabus - schedule - assignments - tutorials - java - references - Mike Jacobson |
| about CPSC 331 - learning goals - CS background - math background - writing background - how to succeed - what to avoid - assessment |
| Technical Writing Background |
Technical writing will not be discussed in lectures or tutorials in this course.
However, students’ writing will be assessed. Assignments will ask students to provide written discussions of the correctness and efficiency of algorithms. Tests will ask students to provide written explanations for a variety of things discussed in lectures. Imprecise writing (and, possibly, errors in spelling and grammar) will be reported and penalized.
Some students will find that they do not need to improve their reading and writing skills to do well in this course. Unfortunately, that will not be the case for everyone. The following resources can be used by students, outside of course lectures and tutorials, to improve their communication skills.
Students at the University of Calgary who wish to improve their writing skills should consider the Effective Writing Program. This includes the Writing Centre, which offers free, individual tutorials for students at all levels who wish to improve their writing. The program also includes non-credit courses in effective writing for students who wish to improve their writing skills and who would prefer a more structured program.
Additional information about how to book an appointment, arrange for tutoring, and about dates, times, and the cost of the Writing Centre’s courses can be obtained by visiting the writing support services website or visiting the Student Success Centre (4th floor MacEwan Hall).
The following reference on technical writing is recommended for students in this course. It will probably a useful reference as you take later courses where you are asked to write about algorithms.
Justin Zobel
Writing for Computer Science
Third Edition, Springer, 2014
This book includes style guidelines that every computer science student should read and follow. It includes useful information about how to include mathematics in your writing and how to describe algorithms. It also includes material about ethics — notably including a helpful discussion of plagiarism — that you should read before submitting material that includes information from other sources for this or any other course.
An electronic version of this book (pdf or epub) is freely available to University of Calgary.
Nicholas J. Higham
Handbook of Writing for the Mathematical Sciences
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics,
Second Edition, 1998
Along with the mateiral typically found in a technical writing reference, this book a list of recommended writers’ tools and references, as well as information that should be particularly helpful for students whose first language is not English.
University of Calgary students can download chapters of this book using their library access credentials.
|
Last updated:
http://www.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~jacobs/Courses/cpsc331/W17/syllabus/writing_background.html |