English Writing Requirement
The Department has replaced the doctoral degree foreign language requirement by an English writing requirement. This writing requirement is associated with the preliminary oral examination. The student’s preliminary report must be submitted to his/her Preliminary Examination Committee at least one week prior to the oral presentation, and the committee chair is in charge of examining the student’s report for his/her English writing proficiency.
If the scientific content of the document is satisfactory, as evaluated by the Preliminary
Examination Committee, but the writing needs improvement, the student will be advanced
to candidacy, but the student must have a revised document approved by the end of
the following semester. If the deadline for approval is not met, the student will
be deemed not to be making satisfactory progress and may be subject to a reduction
or termination of financial support.
International students may need extensive writing assistance from the ESL Tutoring
Center established to provide exactly this kind of technical writing tutorial support.
Tutorial assistance in writing, if needed, will also be provided to native students.
Below are some reference texts you might find helpful:
- Betty Schrampfer Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar (3rd edition). Prentice Hall.
- Nicholas J. Higham, Handbook of Writing for Mathematical Sciences, SIAM, 1998.
- Jan Peterson and Stacy A. Hagen, Better Writing Through Editing. McGraw Hill -College.
- Jan Frodesen and Janet Eyring, Grammar Dimensions: Form, Meaning, and Use.
- Heinle and Heinle (Thomson Learning). (Series director: Diane Larsen-Freeman.)