To Read and to Write Science Well, You’ve Got to Think with Purpose

Summary

Listen to this interview of Christian Kästner, Associate Professor, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. We talk about reading papers, and how to do that while balancing speed and accuracy, and we talk about writing papers, and how to do that for a reader going fast and moving with purpose.

Christian Kästner: "I don't want my reader to be doing a lot of work synthesizing details across a paper of mine. I want to make it obvious what the key idea is. And honestly, I think we all have to, because otherwise, for example, the reviewers will not get the point, and if published, then the paper might just cause confusion or disagreement about the value of the work. So, I prioritize stating very explicitly the point."

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Daniel Shea

I am committed to helping scientists write at their best. To this end, I founded the Graduate Communication Services, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany. Here I work in the unique role of textician. Want to know more? Contact me at daniel.shea@kit.edu
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