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Writing and Presentation Tips

Many, many knowledgeable people have prepared books, articles and notes on the principles of effective and proper writing that are very helpful aids to preparing technical reports and scientific papers. Here I will reference (and link where possible) the material I have found most useful and include some of my own resources on writing and presentations.

Writing

General technical aspects of writing in English

The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr.
contents online at: http://www.bartleby.com/141/index.html

Common Bugs in Writing, notes from Professor Henning Schulzrinne, Columbia University

Focus on scientific papers (especially electrical engineering & IEEE)

Whitesides' Group: Writing a Paper by George M. Whitesides <PDF>

Writing Technical Articles, notes from Professor Henning Schulzrinne, Columbia University
http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~hgs/etc/writing-style.html <PDF, in case the URL changes>

Top 10 tips for writing a paper, and Writing a good introduction, by Jim Kurose, Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst

How to give/write a good research talk/paper/grant, a collection of resources by Simon Peyton Jones, Microsoft

Tips on presenting and writing <PPT>, lecture notes by Andrew Mason, Michigan State Univ.

IEEE Journal/Transactions Template -a 'must read' for preparing IEEE papers

Presentations

General speaking skills

"How to Speak: Lecture Tips from Patrick Winston", by Professor Patrick Winston, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
videos available online from the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University
http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/html/icb.topic58703/winston1.html

Focus on technical presentations