If an experiment takes place in the woods, and there's no one there to read about it, did it ever happen? No. At least, it may as well not have. Scholarly research is a communal activity. It is meant to be shared with a public audience through speaking and writing, and because the community is global, writing is often far more important. The Reed thesis experience reflects that reality. Although you will spend two delightful hours at the end of the year speaking with a group of faculty, the true measure of what you accomplish will be taken from what you write down.

That said, many thesis students in chemistry have not previously had a substantial writing assignment in chemistry. As a result, the preparation of thesis document can be as trying as the laboratory research. Experience shows that writing the introduction is the particular trial. In Chemistry, the thesis intro provides a review of previous work in the field and motivates the experimental work to follow. It is typically about 15-20 pages long and is built from 20-30 literature sources. Producing that introduction is the most significant activity of the first semester.

To help the process along, the department has set up two library sessions early in fall semester to acquaint you with literature searching and to provide you with access to the materials upon which your introduction will be built. These sessions are intended to feed directly into the writing process, which will begin immediately. The first writing samples will be due before fall break. However, these sessions only provide you with access to information. Organizing and editing that information into an original document takes place independently.

Numerous resources are available to you as a writer:

1. Most immediately, you have the words of others. Although review articles should not be the basis of your introduction, itself a review, they are examples you can use to shape your own ideas. Pay attention to language as well as organization. Scientific writing occasionally deserves its bad reputation, but many articles are well written, concise and not devoid of wit. Read broadly, and you will have many teachers to draw from.
   
   
2. Beyond these primary sources, secondary sources are also available. Take a weekend to read a book on writing. They are excellent guides to expressing your ideas.
   
   
3. Use the writing center. Although your English major friends will have no idea what a degenerate HOMO is, they will recognize dangling participles, split infinitives, verbless run-on sentences and other delights of the scientific mind. Often the best editor is a person who ignores your ideas and focuses on your phrasing.

Finally, and most importantly, write early and often. Writing is as much an experiment as any laboratory procedure you'll run this year. You need to put something on paper to see if it works. Be prepared to modify it, edit it and even throw it out if it doesn't suit your needs. By these means, you'll be able to assemble a thesis with little grief, and have the pleasure of throwing a big pile of drafts on the bonfire in April.

Maintained by: Linda Maddux, Science Librarian & Pat McDougal, Chemistry Professor