Written communication

Objectives

The aim of this course is to train students in writing techniques, i.e. the set of rules for producing and structuring a scientific written document, to improve the readability of a text and its comprehension by a reader.

Written communication is a cross-cutting skill for data scientist students. In addition to the importance of being able to communicate and explain one’s results, i.e. to produce comments on statistics (indicators, tables, graphs, etc.) and the methods used in an understandable way, writing helps to clarify and order one’s ideas, to deepen analysis and the production of meaning.

Course outline

Scientific report or study

Commenting on results and presenting methods

Laws of proximity

Text structure: inverted pyramid, essential message, angle…

Rules of readability: adopt an active style, keep sentences short, avoid sequencing and instrumental logic…

Headings: titles, inters and chapters

Illustrations: tables and graphs.

The 1st lab applies these techniques to examples taken from publications and/or statistical work. The 2nd and 3rd practical sessions are designed to work on the report that each group is required to write as part of the "Statistical Project" course.

Prerequisites

Descriptive statistics and multivariate exploratory statistics