Writing for students#
Determine our audience
What is their background or level of expertise?
In wich context are they reading your text (individually, in groups, at home)?
Set the goals:
What should ideally be the learning outcome?
What should be performed?
Motivate the reader:
Clarify the connections to other topics (or theory and experiment).
Relate broadly early on to captivate a multitude of readers.
Provide the reader with examples on how this will benefit them.
Be inclusive and inviting:
Use “we” instead of “you”.
Lead the way by means of friendly instructions; “think through…”, “take into account that … “, “let’s … “
Use whole sentences, with mathematical expressions integrated in the text.
Avoid abbreviations.
Achieve clarity:
Motivate all new concepts as early in the text as possible.
Define new context at the beginning of each section.
Point out explicitly:
What the reader should focus on.
Where significant omissions or simplifications occur.
Where the problem arise.
What the proposed solution is.
What we expect the students to achieve.
Be consistent, even when it means repeating the same word.
Avoid derailing from the topic.
Use logical structures in the text where possible.
Use suitable examples.
Revise and simplify your texts regularly.