Brief Guide to Writing and Speaking

Rules for writing paper

• Do the figures; iterate the figures until display main points.
• Do the figure captions; iterate until they tell main story of paper.
• Do the table; iterate until most relevant and smallest set of numbers with fewest digits remain.
• Do the table captions; what story should caption tell?
• Do the equations; iterate until least number capture physics in terms of carefully chosen and already defined symbols.
• Do the references; capture most relevant papers.
• Using copy-casting rules, estimate the number of lines and figure out (by subtraction) how many lines you can write.
• Prepare sentence outline; iterate until each topic sentences captures the essence of the paragraph and you have correct number for length.
• Write sentences: known-material subject drives to new concept.

Rules for preparing talk/viewgraphs

• Decide on take-home message.
   What do you want listeners to carry away? Design talk to that aim.
• Pick figures and illustrations that deliver take-home message.
• On each viewgraph, put
  • Title that summarize subject of viewgraph.
  • Carefully formulated argument.
  • Conclusion of argument at bottom of viewgraph.
• Practice for:
  • Length. Shorter is better.
  • Connectivity. Cleanly segue from one viewgraph to the next.
  • Clarity . Formulate your ideas accurately and concisely.