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Seminar: Scientific and Technical English for Computer Scientists (STE, WiSe 2025/26)

Lecture 1 hour, Blanchette; exercise 1 hour, Blanchette, Desharnais, and Lempa

Recognized as “Einführung persönliche und soziale Kompetenz” in the bachelor program.

Overview

This bachelor-level seminar is aimed at computer science students to help them develop their English-language scientific and technical writing skills. These skills will help you create the various kinds of documents used in academia and industry.

In this seminar, you will

  • learn the basics of scientific and technical writing for computer science, such as the proper use of citations, quotations, and code excerpts;

  • acquire techniques for structuring the writing process, to help avoid the blank page syndrome;

  • learn the fundamentals of writing in plain formal English, including grammar, punctuation, and style;

  • learn how to develop various types of documents, such as papers, theses, slides, posters, and documentation.

The first lecture reviews computer aids, including spell-checkers and artificial intelligence chatbots, that can be used to improve the quality of your writing. The following nine lectures are dedicated to the fundamentals of English writing: structure, style, grammar, punctuation, presentation issues, citations, quotations, and revisions. The next three lectures focus on specific issues associated with theses, papers, slides, posters, and software documentation. The last two lectures feature mystery guest speakers.

Organization

Please register on Moodle using this registration key: STE202526

Place and Time

The lectures take about 45 minutes each and are followed by a 45 exercise session.

We will make videos of the lectures available on LMUcast as a convenience to students with schedule conflicts. We will do our best to put the videos online shortly after the lecture, but we offer no guarantees about their availability or quality.

Schedule

The course consists of 15 lectures:

  1. Practicalities and Computer Aids
    slides

  2. Structure
    slides

  3. Style
    slides

  4. Words and Phrases
    slides

  5. Sentences and Paragraphs
    slides

  6. Punctuation, Part 1
    slides

  7. Punctuation, Part 2
    slides

  8. Textual Presentation
    slides

  9. Citations and Quotations
    slides

  10. Revisions
    slides

  11. Theses and Papers
    slides

  12. Slides and Posters
    slides

  13. Software Documentation
    slides

  14. Guest Lecture 1
    slides

  15. Guest Lecture 2
    slides

Materials

The slides of the lectures are available above under Schedule. The exercise sheets are also available there. Solutions will be gradually be made available there as well. All materials are provided for your convenience and are subject to changes.

Additional material referenced in the lectures or the exercises is available on Moodle.

Exams

The possible grades for this seminar are pass and fail. A written exam at the end of the semester tests your understanding. The exam is on paper and closed book. You will be given 90 minutes to complete it. There will also be a retake exam.

If you need some adjustments to compensate for disabilities or impairments, please contact the lecturer at least one week before the exam.

The seminar is being taught for the first time. A mock exam, together with answers, is available so that you can practice.

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