Do you ever struggle to put your ideas into writing? Does your advisor feel the need to edit your text? Have anonymous reviewers ever misunderstood your main arguments? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you are likely to benefit from this course.

This course develops writing skills for students in all areas of computer science. The course is aimed specifically at Ph.D. students who have passed or completed a first draft of their research exam.

Classes meet once per week; attendance is mandatory. Classes will start with a presentation on some aspect of writing style. However, the main portion of each class (beginning in the second week) will be devoted to workshop critiques of student manuscripts. Each section of the class will be limited to 9-11 students.

Students must provide a writing sample (e.g., a draft of the research exam, or equivalent) to enroll in the class. Students will receive group feedback on their writing, as well as individual feedback from the instructor.

Grading (S/U) is based on class participation; there will be no writing assignments during the quarter itself. Though good writing requires practice, this course is based on another time-tested method: the diligent and mindful critique of others' work can help us see what is lacking in our own.

Administrivia

• Professor: Lawrence Saul
• Meetings: Wed 2-3:20 pm via Zoom
• Grading (S/U): 99% perspiration, 1% inspiration.
• Units: 2

Texts

Syllabus

All readings after the first week refer to chapters in Style.

Date	Subject	Reading	Critique
1/6	Course goals and expectations. Writing for the reader.	SciWri	none
1/13	Actions	Ch 03	Gautam
1/20	Characters	Ch 04	Shraddha
1/27	Cohesion and coherence	Ch 05	Rishikanth
2/3	Emphasis	Ch 06	Rajdeep
2/10	Motivation	Ch 07	Cheng
2/17	Global coherence	Ch 08	Alex
2/24	Concision	Ch 09	Bodhi
3/3	Shape	Ch 10	Bingyu
3/10	Elegance	Ch 11	Tiancheng
3/17	What comes next	none	An