EFFECTIVE ACADEMIC AND

TECHNICAL WRITING

Marinela Grănescu
Ema Adam
This book describes the basic principles of good writing in English. The book is targeted
mainly at students in engineering and researchers, but the principles are relevant to any form
of writing. The ideas are not original. They are the outcome of many hours of reading and
have been influenced by many interesting authors. It is impossible to write anything about
writing without acknowledging the many text books that we have used during the past
30 years. We have been influenced and learned from them all. The first EAP writing
book we ever used was Jordan's Academic Writing Course (Collins, 1980). Many
others followed. Internet-based sources are uncountable. One can virtually find how
to write books, hints, texts, articles everywhere. Ideas are helpful and efficient.

However, the approach of the authors wants to encourage Romanian students in engineering
to get rid of formal and flowery language, to write in simple words, in short sentences and to
make their work more reader friendly and much easier to understand. The book does not
include all types of technical and academic documents as we thought that the ideas can be
transferred from one document type to another with no exception.

The authors would be grateful to all those who could contribute with suggestions, corrections,
or improvements for another work on this topic.

The present book is addressed first of all to students in engineering, both

undergraduate and postgraduate, as they all need either to be introduced to or be
reminded of the basic principles of good writing in English. However it might be
opened by others as well, researchers, for instance, or anyone interested in or in need
of writing acceptably technical pieces of writing. Moreover, the description of the
basics will be found relevant to any form of writing. Since things are kept simple, to
the nutshell, the authors found it difficult to be very original and creative. The ideas
presented here are the result of extensive reading on the topic and cover the teaching
experience of roughly three decades. As these ideas represent the backbone of
(technical) writing, they might be found in any of the writing courses, such as Jordan's
Academic Writing Course (Collins, 1980), one of the first books on academic writing
used in the Cluj Poly, or many other works on the topic. It would be very difficult to
acknowledge all the seminal theoretical models, or textbooks used, all the sources and
resources refined here along the years. To say nothing of the internet - the internet
based sources seem to be never-ending, generated by the second, mirroring the latest
tendencies in the domain of thought and expression, providing useful directions, hints
and inspiration through books, articles and texts, towards helpful and efficient insights
into good writing.

Our strive would focus on the perceived needs and lacks of the Romanian students in
engineering. We would like to encourage them to get rid both of the highly formal flowery
style appreciated in some of their former literature classes. We would like to help them find
their voice, by fostering their writing in simple words, in short sentences, with their reader in
mind, help them make their work more reader-friendly and easy to understand. The book is
not exhaustive; it does not include all the types of technical and academic writing our students
might need to handle one day. It is impossible to guess today what those might be. We do
hope that the ideas presented here will be easily transferred to other document types, with
minimum adaptation according to different circumstances once mastered by our students.
The authors are aware that this book, like many others, is far from perfection. That is why
suggestions, corrections, or improvements would be gratefully welcome from all those who
could and took the trouble to contribute.

Table of contents
1. Introduction to communication
1.1. How important is good communication?
1.2 The theory of communication
1.3 Communication in an academic setting and communication at work
1.3.1 Communication in an academic setting
1.3.2 Communication at work

2. The Writing Process

2.1 The blank sheet of paper& the writer’s cramp
2.2 The features of the writing process
2.3 Stages of the Writing Process

3. Readability
3.1 Characteristics and formulae for readability
3.2 Improving Readability
3.3 WEB page readability
3.4 Computer programming readability
4. What is Technical Writing?
4.1 Fundamentals of Effective Technical Writing
4.2 EXTRA READING

5. Overview of the technical and scientific language used in oral and

written communication
5.1 Best words and phrases
5.2 Some suggestions regarding grammar
5.3 Punctuation
5.4 Formal and informal language

6.On Paragraphs

6.1 What is a paragraph?

6.2 Elements of a Paragraph

6.3 Development of a Paragraph

7. Basic types of documents
7.1. Technical/research articles and papers
7.2. Abstracts
7.3 User manuals
7.4 Technical reports
7.5. Specification sheets

8. Oral Presentations
8.1 Preparing for the oral presentation
8.1.1 The topic
8.1.2 The presenter
8.1.3. The visual support
8. 2 Delivering the oral presentation
8.3 The language of presentations
9. How to Write Numbers, Units of Measure, Equations and Symbols
9.1 Numbers
9.2 Units of Measure
9.3 Equations
9.4 Symbols

10. Useful phrases

11. Graphs, figures, and tables

12. Style

13. Selected bibliography

14. Conclusion
15. Exercises

1 INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION

1.1 Introduction to communication

It is well-known that engineers, scientists in industry and government and other
technical professions are mainly trained in technical subjects and areas and that they
pursue technical subjects quite successfully. What is also known is that though
technically smart and creative, scientists and engineers may remain unappreciated and
their inventions or creations may remain unknown or unused unless they are able to
convince peers, customers and supervisors of their ability, of their technical skills, of
their in-born or acquired skills. No matter what brilliant ideas scientists and engineers
may pursue in their work and study, these are useless and superfluous if their work
and products are not accompanied by good communication.

In fact, the word “engineer” originates from the Latin “ingenium” that means
smartness, in-born ability. This may lead us to the idea that engineers are mainly
concerned with being ingenious, i.e. of presenting smart ideas to be practically put at
the disposal of the society. However generous such a presentation of the engineer, the
one who has clever ideas but is not able to communicate them will not have success in
the real world. Bad communication or lack of communication leads to ambiguity and
sometimes to disasters. What is even worse for our self-esteem is that the status, the
advantages of the engineer’s profession and the quality of the individual’s work
outcomes are questioned.

There are many cases when we hear that a certain engineer or scientist has poor
communication skills: “X does not know how to write a letter” or X cannot utter a
word in front of the public”. This means that they should try to improve their
communication skills. Most engineers or scientists work in organizational settings
where team work is essential and good team work is not possible without good
communication. Even if an engineer or a scientist is independent, he/she has to
communicate with clients, sponsors, other interested parties. In many professional
situations, the product of the engineer’s or scientist’s work is a written document. If
that document is badly written, it mirrors badly upon the producer of the documents
and even on the organizations for which it was designed. Organizations are aware of
this and sometimes base their hiring and promotion decision on the writing ability of
their (would be) employees. To maximize your chances of landing a good job and
doing well on it you should work on your communication skills. Communication will
become even more important as you progress through your career (Huckin and Olsen,
1991, p.4).

1.1 How important is good communication?

The importance of good communication has been highlighted in many situations and
in many surveys. Thus, as early as 1980, The American Society for Education
conducted a survey to find out the most needed academic subjects for an engineering
career in industry. The results, from people with at least several years of on-the-job
experience showed that technical writing (2), public speaking (4), working with
individuals (6), working with groups (7) ranked higher than technical subjects (the
rank is given between brackets) and all these support the idea that writing and oral
skills may aid career advancement in industry.

Another aspect relates to the participants performing permanent exchanges of

information that occur today in an increasingly diversified and interactive world,
beyond geographical, occupational, cultural and linguistic boundaries. Examples
could be the mechanical engineers exchanging ideas with clinical doctors, computer
programmers, with business managers and linguists, both in their mother tongue and
in a foreign language that increasingly happens to be English. Engineers, technicians,
and other technical field-related professionals often collaborate with individuals or
organizations located near or far, in planning, writing, designing and decision making.
Good collaboration depends on having quite an early communication with the partner,
suggesting ideas, providing feedback for a project and on successful well-written
documents as well.

The globalisation of the technical communicator is another reason for improving

technical communication, as the requirements for writing and publishing in a world-
wide accredited scientific journal as well as the need to share one’s cultural norms are
also dependent on good communication skills.
In such a context, loaded with data and expectations on both sides, communication
may be misconceived, misinterpreted, miscoded and misunderstood. In such a
complex situation, technical communication does not simply mean conveying
information but rather social interaction, as it contributes to better sharing
“incomplete understanding of those who have information and those who need it,
helping people develop the shared knowledge that will meet their common needs
(Huckin and Olsen, 1991, p. 7). Legal considerations should be added to ethical
issues, as it is well-known that disasters and lawsuits could be avoided if better
technical communication or well-written product documentation existed.

How much time does an engineer or scientist spend on communication tasks? Quite a
lot. Surveys show that at least 23 % of our time is spent on writing, 11 % in
supervising other people’s writing and it seems the higher the position someone holds
in an organization, the more time he spends in communication-related activities. If
this is the case and communication is time-consuming, activities should serve better if
their efficiency were improved. Efficiency can improve if effective strategies for the
analysis of the communication tasks as well as strategies for producing reports and
oral presentations are developed.

How do we communicate? We write memos, letters, reports, procedures, proposals to

clients, scientific articles, abstracts and other business, professional or personal
documents and we speak during talks, telephone calls, small group meetings, face to
face discussions, presentations and others. Writing cannot exist without speaking and
communication is more round if both are used. Both oral and written communication
genres should be mastered in our modern times.
Communicating clearly, often concisely, stating the purpose precisely, organizing
materials, conveying messages that address problems that often require a
sophisticated level of thinking, analysis, evaluation and design skills, coated in good
appearance, proper wording are all aspects one cannot afford to neglect.
Chronologically speaking, interhuman communication has served various purposes: to
convey ideas, feelings, emotions, opinions, to convince, to influence, to work
together, to become and remain sociable beings. Due to these purposes and to the fact
that while communicating we need to use various verbal and nonverbal symbols,
communication is seen as an extremely complex process and characterised by specific
in-depth features. How we communicate to serve the above mentioned purposes is
commonly shown by the theories of communication.

1.2 The theory of communication

The theory of communication has increased in popularity in time and today there are
over 150 key statements on communication and corresponding various definitions
given to communication, function of the narrow specialization field it can apply to.
Probably the most often heard definition of communication is that given by Claude
Shannon and Warren Weaver in The Mathematical Theory of Communication (1949).
In a communication process, there will always be an emitter who initiates
communication and a receiver, who receives communication. When the process
develops two-way, we speak about communication, when the process occurs in only
one direction we simply utter words.

The message encoded by the emitter is decoded by the receiver as it is conveyed

while communicating. However, it can also be subjected to distortions, perturbations,
and therefore major differences can be found between emission and reception. The
message can be transmitted verbally (by means of words) and non-verbally (by the
body, space, time; the objects around us can also send a message) or even
paraverbally (tone, intonation, rhythm, emphasis of words, breaks – all appeal to our
senses and are perceived distinctly and individually by the message receiver.

Humans send 7% of their messages verbally, 38% paraverbally and 55% non-
verbally, because, according to Weaver, humans communicate even if they keep their
mouths shut; sometimes the verbal language contradicts or even cancels the verbal
language or vice-versa. Messages exhibit two dimensions: the content (information
valid for both the emitter and receiver) and the relation (data concerning the
relationships between the emitter and receiver).

In a communication process, besides message, other components are: the

communication channel which can be formal (reporting channels in a company) or
informal (gossip channels in the same company); the medium (environment) that can
be oral or written; the technical support which can be the telephone, fax, computer,
telex, audio and visual media; the context (all communication developed in a social,
cultural, physical, temporal, physiological, emotional context or background); and
noise-related distortions, that depend on the physical environment for communication
(external – e.g. the telephone rings and disturbs the writer of the report) or on the
physiological, perceptual, semantic, interpersonal or intrapersonal environment
(internal distortions). In fact, distortions can also be called noise barriers or filters;
they interfere with the message or the communication itself, at various paces, amounts
and with distinct consequences.

Communication is of three basic types:

- external (including all the verbal and non-verbal actions the participants can
see or hear, write or utter, listen to or read, with active or passive inputs or
outputs);
- intracommunication (a process in which we communicate with ourselves, put
questions and answer to questions, we “speak” to ourselves);
- metacommunication (i.e. what secondary message we perceive beyond the
words sent to us).
For communication to occur, feedback is essential as it is the reaction to the
message; it is part of the two-way system and gives the measure of the perception
of the message.

1.3 Communication in an academic setting and communication

at work

Just as people learn in different ways, people take part in communication in a variety
of ways and settings. So, it is important to be aware of the fact that each way and each
setting requires a specific style of communication to ensure that everyone will
understand the message. While communication in an organisation tries to overcome
perceptions of poor communication directly linked to increased operating costs and
reduced efficiency, because of lower productivity of people, employee dissatisfaction,
employee turnover, absenteeism, lack of understanding of business strategy and lack
of common direction, academic setting, has to prepare future employees to cater for
all these aspects and for unforeseen situations to make users aware of strategies to be
employed. Communication at work and at school differs in some respects, however.

1.3.1. Communication at work

Communication at work achieves job goals, addresses a variety of locators, having
differing perspectives. Communication in writing at work creates excessive
paperwork, (sometimes excessive emails), can be read by readers unknown to the
writer, has an indefinite life span, creates legal liability for the writer and organization
and varies in the form and typology of documents (Marie-Laure Attal Fougier, 2006,
p. 16). At work, communication serves the purpose of exchanging ideas and showing
that work has been or is being done. At work college-educated workers spend about
20 % of their time writing that makes the ability to communicate in writing critical for
job performance.
1.3.2 Communication in an academic setting

In an academic setting, communication aims at satisfying the needs of learning of the

undergraduates or graduates, that all have the (or should have) the same perspective
upon education. The amount of paperwork is limited by constraints typical to
university requirements and has a very limited time span. Most of the documents
written by the students are reports, exam papers and research papers. Communication
with the teacher and peers limit the extension of communication. The time spent to
communicate is almost equally divided between learning and communicating how
well the undergraduate has leant to the teacher and peers.

There are various genres used in academic writing. Genres are not always clearly
defined; however linguistic function, formal features, textual organisation specifies
their main applicative purposes. Students meet with exam instructions, essays, reading
lists and presentations most often. Standard forms are the abstract, the books (full or
chapters), conference papers, dissertations and papers, research articles and research
papers or theses. Though writing at work is different from writing for school, the
rules, principles, norms, grammar, punctuation, textual organisation that is learnt in
academic writing is to be applied for job related purposes too. The same criteria shall
apply to technical writing, where standard forms range from technical reports,
business plans, progress reports, instructions, business correspondence to user guides,
oral presentations, abstracts, scientific articles, and indexes. The field of technical
communications is a fully professional field introducing you to the kinds of writing
skills you need in practically any technically oriented professional job. The more you
know about several basic academic and technical-writing skills, which are covered in
this book, the better job of writing you're likely to do. Technical writing - as this
coursebook is called - is not writing about a very narrow and specific technical topic,
but about any general topic related to technology and engineering. Another key part of
the definition of technical writing refers to the receiver of the information - the
audience - and to sending information to the audience in a manner that is adapted to
their needs, level of understanding, and background.

This book is a guide to academic and technical writing addressing a variety of people
concerned with the rules of writing in English.

2 THE WRITING PROCESS

2.1 The blank sheet of paper& the writer’s cramp

The writer of a technical or scientific document cannot be blocked by a white piece of
paper as the engineer, the scientist or the technician does not simply use his/her
imagination to be creative. The technical writer has data, information, structures,
framework that need not be invented from scrap. He/she has the task of turning them
into words and not of using his imagination to develop a document.

However, many people underestimate how difficult scientific writing is. The difficulty
originates in the inherent complexity of the subject matter, in its lack of common
purpose for the reader and intricacy as well as in its abstract features and complexity
of the language. Methods of avoiding the writer’s cramp relate to good organization
and following step by step the instructions of the writing process.

2.2 The features of the writing process

A. PURPOSES

When people are engaged in a process of communication, they are purpose-driven.

The communication itself is also purpose-driven. Purposes may differ from one
moment to another and from person to another.
As writers, you should bear in mind that a clear purpose:
- helps you organize your thinking coherently,
- helps you present it clearly to your audience,
- helps the audience understand the message,
- helps you focus upon important sides ,
- guides the reader.

B. TOPIC

The topic can be selected, imposed, self-determined, dependent upon the concerns of
the writer, or coming as a response to the demands of a specific audience. Topic can
be short or long, simple or complex, may be broadened or narrowed, and depends on
the level of interest of the writer, the potential interest or concern of the reader, the
format of the document and on the length of the document.

C. CONTEXT

Context is defined as “the situation” that generates the need for writing. Sometimes an
impulse or insight may inspire us to sit down and write without any sense of readers
or purpose. Poems and journals are written like that. Technical writing does not start
from inspiration. Technical writing is situation bound, even more than other times of
writing. It's a response prompted by various needs, desires, and demands from both
inside and outside.
The better you understand the circumstances that prompt you to write, the better you
can respond, adjusting your style to suit the specific context. When you write, you
may first look at the context from your own viewpoint. You begin to ask: Who is my
reader? What purpose do I hope to achieve? What should I say in order to achieve my
purpose? You may think of the reader. Responding well to the writing context
requires seeing from multiple viewpoints, and seeing how these viewpoints
interrelate. New questions appear and the deeper you understand the circumstances,
the better you respond and adapt to the requirements of the context.

D. THE AUDIENCE

Think for a moment about the audiences to which you wrote until now. If you
consider it, you will realize that you wrote letters to somebody you knew well, it
could be a friend or a teacher, or to a person with whom you had contact for various
business-related purposes. You wrote homeworks for the teacher or letters to peers. In
few instances you wrote to people you did not meet before. The audience consisted
mainly in one member (a friend, your teacher) whom you expected to read carefully
your work and to react to what you wrote.

But in other real-life situations, the audiences are much more different and complex.
Audiences are made up of a variety of readers: to some you have to explain things,
they may have different needs and purposes, reading circumstances and reading
strategies; some read only part of the document, others study each word.
As writers of technical documents, you may write for:
managerial audiences,
non-specialist audiences,
peer audiences,
international audiences,
mixed audiences.

Managers are often the most important audiences for technical communicators
because they make decisions that affect projects and careers. If scientists or engineers
or other technical professionals hope to influence those decision-makers favourably,
they had better understand how the managers work and what will catch their attention.
The nature of the managerial work has many particular features. Managers have
interpersonal roles: figurehead, leader of the unit, liaison with external units. They
disseminate information and serve as the spokesperson for their units, that is have
informational roles. Then, they have decisional roles; they initiate changes, negotiate,
allocate resources, handle disturbances.

Having so many roles to take on, they do not have spare time for very careful reading
or listening. That is why, when we write for managers, we have to make key
information accessible for them by foregrounding it (Huckin and Olsen, 1991, p.61),
by putting it where managers can easily find it. Important generalizations can be
found in the abstract or summary, introduction and conclusions. Surveys show that
only 15 % of the managers read the body of the report.

Non-specialist audiences are often the most difficult audiences to write for. They are
not well informed about the subject, so that they will be reading your writing in detail.
An angry customer or a potential client of your proposal can be a non-specialist
audience as are those who put instructions for equipment into operation. In order to
make the non-specialist reader’s life easier, you have to refer to “common
knowledge”. This means that you must use from the very outset the framework (i.e.
the conventional mode of presentation) to which the reader is acquainted (Huckin and
Olsen, 1991, p.62). Standard genres (proposal, application form, operating manuals)
are familiar to most people. Then, provide an overview at the beginning of the
document. Add some background information, free of jargon, but explanatory,
inserted here and there not necessarily upfront. Use a lot of explanations. For simple
concepts, that is relatively easy, by using (i) embedded definitions (in many cases,
simply insert a short paraphrase in parentheses); use (ii) examples for concepts that
are more complex. Examples are very powerful aids to understanding, but they have
to be carefully selected, to highlight important features, to avoid non-essential
features, to be familiar in one respect to the reader. Illustrations (photographs, plots,
graphs, drawings) are also powerful and vivid, attract attention. However, pay
attention to have them focused upon the concept you are trying to illustrate. Analogies
should be the last resort, when none of the techniques mentioned above works.

Peer audiences. Writing to peers is a luxury and a constraint at the same time. You
speak the same language as the audience. You do not have to do things as you would
do for non-specialists. For peers choose to:
- use standard technical terms,
- use a conventional format,
- use standard forms of reasoning and argumentation,
- emphasize data, display data in all appropriate forms (use tables, charts,
equations),
- make your main points clear and accessible,
- do not overstate your claims.
Peers or experts fill in whatever gaps may be there. They make inferences.
Consequently, you can be concise in writing. Well-structures documents help readers
of this type. They, however, go into details and you should anticipate this and decide
the data you think your peers will want to look at. The form must be clear and
accessible.

International audiences. Attending international conferences, working in

multinational corporations or in foreign trade, traveling abroad, interacting with
foreign companies and clients is a must today. The language of this kind of activities
is increasingly English. Most non-native speakers of English have a full command of
the language. That is why:
- the language user should avoid long and complicated sentences (similarity to
your native language is often the reason and the drawback),
- the English language user should avoid idiomatic vocabulary (e.g. phrasal
verbs, jargon, out of place phrases),
- the writer should not provide culture specific examples, illustrations or
analogies.

Mixed audiences consist of native and non-native speakers of English, experts and
non-specialists, managers and peers, are the most difficult audience and unfortunately
the most commonplace. For instance, proposals for research funding are read by both
technical experts and generalists. It is better to write a comprehensible report for both.
Sometimes you write a report which is also sent as copies to other associated parties
or, in an international communication, one can have native and non-native speakers
together, as well as managers and experts.
In such circumstances, there are only two basic means of meeting the needs of both
sides:
- the layered approach, where a report is written so as to respond to the needs of
all audience levels: the first page contains information, background and
recommendations, that are for the manager, while the body and appendices are
of interest for the specialist);
- the democratic approach (Huckin and Olsen, 1991, p. 65), where each part of
the document is addressed to the most important audience, but touches making
parts accessible to other audiences are added.

Identifying audiences
Audience identification is a difficult, though significant job. The operation depends
upon:
- the kind of information to be provided,
- the form of presentation,
- the situation,
- the type of communication,
- the writer’s motivation,
- the training of the audience analyst.

Nevertheless specialists propose a five step procedure that can produce a good
assessment of the audiences:
1. identify who will use your communication and the routes along which the
communication will go (e.g. when a software engineer writes an improved
version of a software, he/she has to think about the people who will review it
before putting it to the market),
2. identify all possible audiences, current or future (e.g. when you work in team
in a project, your work is taken over and extended by other people in other
places),
3. identify the concerns, goals, values and needs of each audience (e.g. Engineers
in industry must cope with a marketing unit, a manufacturing unit, a
management unit, a design unit; they have different perspectives. Or usually
sales related people recommend the production of machines that resemble
those being marketed by successful firms, because they are in demand and
imitations require less time to execute; designers want improvements or totally
new machines, though the time needed is longer and sometimes prolonged
because of unexpected barriers, drawbacks etc. Each has their perspectives on
the audiences).
4. make the communication accessible to the managers as they will support your
proposal,
5. identify the arguments and approaches that are more effective for your
audience and anticipate objections that could be raised.

2.3 Stages of the Writing Process

The nature of writing has been long influenced by the approach to writing: literary,
linguistic or communicative.

Literary writing considers “the best words put in the best order” as Samuel Coleridge
put it. Such an approach would mean that written language is superior to spoken
language and that such a view can be applied to all types of documents to write,
irrespective of genre, purpose or field of application.

The linguistic point of view sees written language as a display of the capacity of the
speaker to use language or of his/her language competence. This linguistic approach
has had a long and powerful influence on teaching writing.
The communicative view of writing considers both the writer’s language competence
and repertoire and imagination as part of a process with interacting participants. In
such a process, the requirements of the topic, reader and texts, the short-term and
long-term memory are put to work.

Writing documents and types of texts has been affected by one or a combination of
the approaches mentioned above. For the last decades, however, it became more
evident that seeing writing as a process helps readers and writers alike, as it voids
frustrations and increases productivity.

The steps of the writing process include:

- planning,
- defining the task/problem,
- collecting ideas, sorting out ideas,
- drafting,
- revising
- proof reading and editing.
We shall discuss each of these steps separately though mention should be made that
people find ideas and write distinctly and differently. Various techniques operate in
various manners, in different contexts for various individuals. For different types of
written documents even the same person makes use of various approaches. It is for
this reason that the writer is advised to find out more about himself/herself and to
know what better suits to his/her personality. The process description below will
guide you through these steps and you will have to choose what better suits you.

1. Planning is the first stage that has the onset in the coming up of the topic of
writing. In order to write a material, some basic requirements must be
fulfilled:
- define the topic in a very clear manner;
- define the purpose for which the documents will be written;
- define your audiences.

As an undergraduate, the topic definition is imposed. Usually teachers ask students to

write an assignment on a specific topic. For a technical professional, engineer or
scientist, the scope of the topic is more limited (a report, memo, application form
project proposal). In choosing and defining such a topic the end product has to be
clearly established. That is why stating the problem is of utmost importance.

What is the “problem”?

A problem is some kind of incongruity, a discrepancy between what we expect or
want and what we actually do find. It is a conflict between what should be and
what is (Huckin and Olsen, 1991, p. 14). Technical communication should be seen, in
this respect, as a way of mediating such incongruities. The technical communicator is
always faced with a discrepancy between expected and actual. To find a solution to
the problem, the technical communicator conducts an investigation, reaches some
conclusions, makes recommendations in relation with the goals, criteria and
constraints, determined by the desired and actual state of affairs. The solution (s) and
recommendation(s) are presented to decision makers who have to induce changes or
actions of problem-solving in view of reducing or eliminating the original
incongruity. All technical problems are conditional by society/community and are
dynamic.

Problems can be of different types. Some of the problems can be well-defined (when
there is one solution to them, e.g. technical calculations) or ill-defined (not that they
are incorrect solutions, but they are more complex, with more variables and
consequently, with more solutions, e.g. to improve the performance of a device).
Some problems need more time (usually the ill-defined ones) than others (usually the
well-defined ones) to be solved. Think of the difference of a task to make some
technical calculations and write a memo to it and the writing of a report on the
feasibility of buying some new equipment, which asks for a lot of thought and effort.
Problems require sophisticated techniques of cognitive and social problem-solving, a
good command of general English and of technical English, a sense of tailoring
language to the needs and capabilities of specific audiences, familiarity with various
genres of communication, learning about the ethical issues involved.

2. Defining the problem and your task

In order to generate ideas, you need (i) to identify the problem required to address and
(ii) to determine exactly how you are supposed to address it.
As mentioned before, most professional communication is problem-oriented. Before
beginning to write a project or prepare an oral presentation, you should ask yourself:
”What is the problem here?”.
If you have an organizational problem to solve, the problem is overtly identified, it is
clear that it needs a solution. But don’t confuse your personal problem (e.g. you need
a job) with that of the organization (i.e. the company needs someone to fill a position).
When more problems seem to arise from a certain situation, try to find the most
significant one and sort it out from the rest. Make a list, see how these small problems
(also called subproblems) can be grouped, organized in a hierarchy or a tree and
decide which can be put at the top. In this way you can focus your attention first on
the most important problem, then to the associated ones.

Then define your task. Are you supposed just to describe it? Are you supposed to
recommend a solution to it? Are you supposed to deal with the whole range of the
problem or only a part of it?

In relation with your task, you should ask yourself what your role is. Are you an
“insider” or an “outsider”? Are you the specialist? Do you have the power to make
decisions? Do you have the power to influence the decision makers? How do the other
people see you?

After the task and the problem are defined, you can move on to the next step:

3. Generating/collecting ideas

After the task is established, you need to think about it. The materials needed for
writing can originate in various sources or can be found by different methods.
The sources must be with direct application to the purpose. They can be usual
working tools (dictionaries, encyclopaedias, atlases, maps), basic textbooks and
handbooks (that simplify the search stage as the fundamental aspects are generally
outlined), monographs and case studies (that diminish the scope to a time interval, a
social community or a group or an updated issue) and the fundamental works that
resist time. Other important documentation sources are: tables, graphs, indices,
repertoires, inventories, references and the Internet.
Whatever the source mentioned above is used, the first activity consists in taking
notes. We take notes in many circumstances: during a lecture, when attending a
conference, when asking and receiving instructions. Note taking is an active attitude.
During this process, we select the essential information, avoid redundancy, avoid and
omit useless or non-informative data. Notes must give a well-ordered and logical
string of information flow, that, when read again, supplies in some words the main
ideas of the author or the source. Notes are very personal. We generally develop in
time our method of making notes, with abbreviations, diagrams, numberings,
underlinings that tell us and only us about the topic read. Sometimes notes are so
personal that other persons cannot understand them. On the margin of the paper on
which we make notes, we can also include personal comments, questions, marks.
When we make notes, many psychological features come into active use: motivation,
distributive attention (to what is said or read), capacity to comprehend (ability to
analyze, make a synthesis, to judge, language command), power of reasoning, making
decisions in a limited time interval, ability to operate with various information,
handling techniques (summarizing, paraphrasing, quotation, citation, associations
with already or previously known data), rapid writing techniques (abbreviations,
symbols, graphs) (Ştefănescu, 2001, p. 34).

Writing a summary means to systematically and briefly write the ideas, data,
information from a material in a block text. A good synopsis /summary is one whose
message is not altered by the reader’s opinion. It is summarized in the reader’s own
technique and quotations are copied word by word.
Writing an abstract consists in concentrating ideas and information from a source-
text, as an independent, dense and clear material.
Irrespective of the manner in which one takes notes or makes a summary, it is
recommended to develop a system of codes and abbreviations and to use permanently
such a system. An example could be:

Code Signifies

? I do not understand
M To keep in mind
D To go in-depth
 C To check
Def Definition
Clas Classification
Ex Example
Qt Quotation
Comp Comparison
OK I agree with this idea
! Interesting
!!! Very important

Among the intuitive methods of generating ideas, brainstorming provides yourself

with some notes that you can use to further stimulate your thinking. Take a piece of
paper or a tape, allow yourself a certain time limit and concentrate upon the topic.
Write down everything coming to your mind: ideas, associations, in whatever order,
not considering feasibility, not being critical or selective. In the second stage, review
the list, sort out and group them, eliminate those not in strict reference to the topic,
make correlations. Brainstorming is very intuitive. Just follow your ideas, do not
censor the flow of ideas. It is better to do brainstorming with other people. By
bouncing off your ideas to other people, you can stimulate their thinking, they
produce other ideas that can generate, in turn, other suggestions. DO NOT
EVALUATE or CRITICISE ideas, just generate them.

Another intuitive method consists in writing freely about the topic selected. Once
again, do not evaluate, do not make critical analysis, just let ideas flow out of you.
Diaries are rarely used by technical professionals. In fact, they are free writings, put to
paper in a moment selected by the writer. (Eduard de Bono, 1990).

Among the analytical methods (more ordered, faster, though less original), the
questions mean putting questions such as who?, what?, where?, when?, how?, why?
and trying to fully answer and give details, while the focus method consists in
defining the general topic, then separating it in specific aspects, then dividing the
aspects into smaller units until the aspects are defined.

The synthesis methods are based upon identifying ideas in various sources, collecting
them and adapting them in view of generating the necessary information. Reading is
the most common. A characteristic of this type of reading consists in being selective
and flexible, in the sense that more attention is paid to meaningful fragments, some
part can be skipped, while keeping in mind the purpose of writing.

No matter what method for ideas generation you use, do not consider that they should
be finely expresses in words. Just jot down the ideas coming to you in a time interval
established according to the deadline of paper submission.

4. Sorting out ideas

Sorting out means grouping ideas generated by one or more methods described above,
according to a logical and hierarchical order. This process is repetitive, enabling you
to have a general picture of the way themes and ideas join together, match and follow
one another. The ideas should be ordered according to the level of importance,
attitude of the receiver towards the ideas or type of argumentation chosen.
 5. Organizing ideas
The process of organizing ideas means designing the headings of each section,
possibly numbering the sections and putting these sections in a given order.

6. Drafting or putting ideas into words

Putting ideas into words constitutes a specific stage of the writing process. This
component of the writing process is divided into three separate and distinct substages.
It is very important to be aware of the fact that few people can directly find the best
form of putting ideas into words, of writing sentences with these ideas giving them a
good shape and polish these from the very beginning. That is why the writer should be
clear-minded and write the first draft that is to be altered at a later stage. The three
stages are: preparation, drafting, and revision. During the preparation stage, you
should keep in mind the ideas you have sorted out and organized according to the
topic given or selected. Remember that while drafting, you start to be creative. Take
each idea in turn. Join ideas so as to form sentences. Some ideas will be phrased in
some words, others in longer sentences. If you do not find the right word, leave an
empty space, jot down variants, foreign words, use the dictionary of synonyms. Leave
lines between the sentences as to have the right space where to intervene, add,
modify, according to the final purpose established.

Tips:
Do not be a perfectionist. It is only the first draft. So start with the body draft,
continue with the conclusions and only then write the draft of the introduction.
Find yourself a comfortable and cosy place to write.
Avoid distractions.
Take breaks.
Give yourself time for this effort.
From the first draft, your argumentation skills will be put to work.

7. Revising and proof reading

Let us imagine that you finished writing your document in its first form. Leave it
aside for a time. Only then start working on it again. The revision of a written text is
the stage you should pay the utmost attention. Revision consists in repeatedly reading
the text, watching the fulfilling of each purpose in turn:
a) see if the material is well organized;
b) see if the material presents a well stated problem;
c) see if the arguments are built so as to form a case;
d) be attentive if you had a simple, clear, precise and suitable language;
e) see to grammar, spelling and punctuation.

Other pieces of practical advice:

Read the material at a normal speed.
Read for detail.
Mark the portions where you should return and polish the text.
Insert new passages, eliminate passages not relevant or not interesting.
Expand with details.
Avoid sentence problems (too short sentences, flat and incorrect sentences,
unclear sentences).
 Replace vague words with words (nouns and verbs) that generate clarity and
energy.
Replace jargon and clichés.
Correlate all the modifications inserted.
Let the material stay away for some days and repeat revision.
During the last revision, check the formats (fonts in headings, subheadings,
numberings of chapters, subchapters, paragraphs).

Irrespective of your writing by hand or word processor, the final text must be good
looking and carefully laid out: Texts are usually margined with 2 cm to the top, 2 cm
to the right and bottom and 3 cm to the bottom. Computer-based texts are typed at 1.5
lines, the fonts and characters should not be too small to tire the reader or too large to
point at the writer’s inconsistency or incompetence. In English, chapters and
paragraphs are separated by a line. In Romanian, the evidence is made by a tab.

In conclusion, text writing is a complex, time-consuming, repetitive and slow process.

During writing, all the stages of the process should be covered:
- defining the problem, the task, the purpose;
- identifying the audiences;
- generating ideas and sorting them out, by making appeal to various methods;
- finding the best argumentation scheme;
- drafting;
- repeated revisions in view of improving the written material.
While passing through the process of writing a document, learning occurs, reflection
develops, thinking evolves and all these are portrayed in your writing.
Time is needed to distance yourself from your writing so that you can better
understand and recognize possible “flaws” in it and present the audience better refined
and more mature ideas.

3. Readability

3.1 Characteristics and formulae for readability

Writing is a time and resource consuming process as well as a quite stressful one.
Texts designed for writing purposes are distinguished from oral speeches by a strong
tendency of using more complex , more sophisticated and longer words, more varied
lexical units, specific stylistic features, sentences supported by subordinate clauses,
more nominal structures versus less verbal ones, passive and gerundial constructions,
few repetitions and almost no digressions.
Both oral and written communication rely on some variables (content, topic,
writer/presenter, feedback, means to correct misunderstandings, impossibility of rapid
feedback, linguistic aspects). However, written communication considers readability
as the variable of utmost importance.

Written communication is based upon a set of grammar rules and conventions that
lead to readability. The reading ease which results from the writing style used in a
document is defined as readability. How easily a text is read depends on the degree
and manner in which the reader interacts with the text. The reader may possess prior
knowledge, a certain reading skill, interest or motivation, but the text makes the
reader face other components, such as: content, style, design and structure. Experts
say that readability is a score or rough estimate of the skills required in reading a text.
In the case of computer programming, readability is defined as the rapidity and depth
and ease with which a human reader can comprehend the aim, flow and operation of a
source code. Readability has to be high as programmers spend a lot of time reading
source codes and poor readability slows down this process.

Today, researchers agree that readability depends upon the length of the sentence
(normally a readable sentence contains maximum 16-18 words in two distinct
sentences) and the audience’s intellectual level. Thus, in cartoons, the average
readability is expressed in 8 words, in newspapers in 21 words, while highly
specialized science books dedicated to a limited group of experts in a field reaches 28-
30 words. Readability also relies on our memory span and ability to retain what is
written (the upper limit goers around 12 words at first sight), the position of the words
in the sentence (humans generally keep in mind easier what is put at the beginning of
the sentence) and the motivation the reader has when reading a certain type of text
(for instance, we react differently when we read a poem and we are concerned with
each word; when we read a scientific article, we know that words rarely present
connotations, that words have unique meanings and the reading flow is totally
distinct). Researchers are aware that when the reading level of a document changes, or
when the decoding ability of the readers and the degree of familiarity of a topic
change, comprehension also modifies. Thus, a skilled reader will have difficulties in
decoding an unfamiliar topic, while a beginner will have less difficulties when the text
is totally familiar.

Readers, then, are of different types. Most readers of scientific and technical writing
do not have as much time they would like to have and therefore, they must read
selectively. Such readers skim read for main points and ideas (managers, supervisors,
executives, decision makers). Other professionals need to read more closely and
slowly (a worker or a technician or a consumer who needs following instructions in
order to reach thorough understanding).
From the point of view of such readers, a written document is readable only if it offers
the data looked for, in a format they are used to or they perceive quickly or at least as
quickly as possible.
Readable documents are effective, but making a document readable requires effort.
Remember an old saying: “It is easy to make things difficult, but difficult to make
things easy”.
Researchers have developed formulae to assess the readability of a text. Such
formulae measure features of a text by mathematical calculations. Among the features
measured there are the number of words in a sentence, the number of syllables per
word, the semantic loading of a word as well as the syntactic factor related to the
difficulty of a sentence. Some of the most popular formulae are the SMOG readability
formula, which estimates the years of education one needs to understand a piece of
writing, the POWERS-SUMMER-KEARL formula (more suited to primary school
children, based on sentence length and number of syllables), the FORCAST formula
(based on functional literacy), the SPEACH formula (unfamiliar words and sentence
length are primary elements in the calculation), the DALE-CHALL formula, the
FLESCH Reading Ease, The FRY Graph the index designed by Robert Gunning. All
these formulae highlight that the use of shorter, average length sentences and fewer
many-lettered words ease and speed of reading are much improved. However, there
are some important facts to be specified about these measurement methods:

a) Readability formulae only work for a specific language.

b) Readability and understandability are not equal.
c) The formulae mentioned earlier (and many others) are not exact scientific
instruments.

The formulae listed above are applicable only to English. For French, Swedish or
Romanian the formulae will be different. Other studies on the effects of textual
variables and writing strategies are often inconclusive. The use of illustrating
schemas, highlighting, syntax simplification, paragraph length, white space, or
parallelisms have not been found as conclusive requirements to improve readability in
all types of texts, though, depending on the genre, they can contribute to easiness and
quickness of understanding.

There are steps that one can take to make your writing more readable, but
unfortunately there is no one formula or trick that could help you be successful from
the very beginning in your endeavour.

3.2 Improving Readability

The content and form of technical and scientific writing are complex in themselves
and language used to make it understood and disseminated has to simplify this
complexity. Besides content, specialists mention that they use a specific language
when discussing their domain. This language has become today narrower and
narrower, together with the newly developed fields of activity. For instance, we do not
speak only about the language of machines, we can go deeper and we shall find the
language of rapid prototyping, of machine building, of mechanics. Mathematical
symbols and equations add even more complexity. In order to make complexity
visible, and to improve readability there are some basic rules to be followed, as
suggested below.

Step 1. Insert new information for the reader into a framework of information
already known to the reader.

Usually, it is expected that the emitter and receiver possess different amounts of data
and information. If the information sent out by the emitter is old and known to the
receiver, the latter will lose interest in the communication. Communication occurs
when there is a communication gap between two or more individuals, when one (the
receiver) does not possess the new information available to the emitter. When the new
pieces of information are absent from the emitter’s message, we say that the message
is non-informative or that it does not communicate anything.

e.g. 1. The computers run on software.

After ignition, the engine took speed.

These sentences do not bring new data for the layman, not to say anything about the
specialist. New information is the most necessary ingredient of meaningful
communication. This means that a well written piece must contain new data. On the
other hand the reader will better understand the new data if supplied in the
framework of information already made available. Given information or former
information is the background knowledge that helps making sense of new data.

e.g. 2. A computer is a machine that handles data according to a set of instructions.

The new information inserted in the already known framework of information needs
to be understood. Sometimes excessive amount of information makes it
nonunderstandable, as in the example below:

e.g. A team (what team?) has unravelled the swift (?) process by which a
complex nanoscale structure self-assembles with a frequency-doubled
output, finding that a wheel-shaped molybdenum oxide molecule takes
shape with the help of a transient scaffold at its centre.

In order to be comprehended, the new information has to be included in among pieces

of information already supplied to the reader. Less amounts of information supplied
one (as in the complicated nominal groups in the first part of the sentence) could
make it more comprehendible.

We need to insert new information in the framework of already known one, because
given information is activated, we become aware of it, we start making associations
these can help us in interpreting part of new information. Of course, the writer should
activate the right kin d of information in the readers’ minds, i.e. what is most helpful
in understanding the new information. So, the words must be familiar, concise, loaded
with imagery so as to maximise the amount of background knowledge, to connect
knowledge possessed with the data presented by the writer as new.

Step.2. Use prominent positions in the text to activate the right kind of
information in the reader’s mind.

Place at the beginning of a sentence or paragraph the information that will activate the
right stimuli in the reader’s mind. The prominent positions are where the words have
more space around them: titles, headings, captions, labels, paragraph topic
sentence, sentence subjects.

e.g. 3. Though the details of an algorithm in themselves should be presented in a

computer science paper they can show that this process is not worthwhile. The author
should demonstrate that the algorithm is a significant contribution, by showing it is
correct and that it meets some performance criteria bound.

Though it is clear that you can understand the message of this paragraph, the
paragraph will not remain in your memory.

Improved version of e.g. 3:

When an algorithm is presented in a computer science paper, the details of the

algorithm by themselves – the program steps, for example – do not show it is
worthwhile. The author must demonstrate that the algorithm is a valuable
contribution. The author can show that the algorithm is correct and that it meets some
claimed performance, by proof or by experiment.

Step 3. Explain clearly the topic and purpose of your document

In scientific and technical reading, the readers do not read in detail that document, but
they look only for the information they need. If you define the topic and your purpose,
the reader is helped to decide how to process the document and if his/her expectations
are fulfilled. Usually, topic and purpose are expressed in technical genres in the titles,
abstracts, forewords, summaries, overviews. It is preferable to use these features and
not vague sentences. Fill them with key words. State the problem to be solved to
orient the readers.

Step 4. Use key words prominently.

Key words are the basis of sections and paragraphs. Key words can be found and
arranged in a prominent position in headings, subheadings, topic statements, sentence
subjects. Establish your hierarchy of topics and subtopics for the various units of your
text. Each of these should consist of appropriate key words. Move from general items
to specific items. While writing, specific items become general and generate even
more specific items. A well structured discussion is functional if it has a general
framework to which the new information is progressively added, and interpreted in
terms of this framework and transformed in given data. If key words are used
prominently, they help selective reading, as readers can locate much easier the
information required.
e.g. 4. A technical resume should clearly show a candidate's technical skills. To
achieve this, add the Technical Summary or Technical Expertise section to your
resume. Further, break this section into sub-categories for a quick scan of your
knowledge of programs and applications.

As mentioned earlier, most readers prefer texts organized hierarchically, because they
can see what the main ideas are, how they are linked together and which the details
that support the ideas are. When the readers focus upon details, they prefer the
organization of details in the form of lists (see the lists of instructions, test procedures
arranged in a chronological sequence in the case of test procedures).

e.g. 5. To create instruction lists do the following:

start your project instruction list application

create tasks for you and other team members
use Task Tree to break-down your projects into doable activities
plan timelines, costs, set priorities and assign tasks to performers
use Notes or Comments panels to add general and detailed instructions to
each task

Step 5. Terminology for specialist, non-specialist and mixed audiences

When writing for specialists, the writer should learn, know, use the standard technical
terminology of the field in question. Standard technical terminology is jargon only for
the outsiders, is rich in information, can be understood by peers and as associated
concepts, it becomes given information. Never define, paraphrase, explain a
concept to a reader who works in your field. Adding extra info would disbalance
the text as too much given information is there for the specialist and potentially new
information is not present sufficiently. The non-specialist reader audience, on the
contrary, needs clarification. The most common methods are formed of examples,
analogies, visual aids, definitions, illustrations. In the case of mixed audiences, it is
recommended to have two types of documents (for both kinds of audience) or at least
one with clarifications included.

Step 6. Write well-designed paragraphs.

The paragraph is a basic and highly functional unit of discourse in scientific and
technical writing. A good paragraph should contain a topic statement and a clear
pattern of organization. In a paragraph, a group of sentences focus upon one main
idea. The main idea is included usually in the first two sentences of the paragraph and
key words focus the attention of the reader.
Step 7. Flow of ideas

Writing a good paragraph is not enough. Ideas should flow in a sensible sequence. For
this purpose, remember that the first sentence of a paragraph usually sets the topic for
that paragraph. Don’t include any unlinked ideas in the same paragraph. A paragraph
must consist of more than one sentence. Try to make the ideas within each section
flow together. When appropriate, keep the order of ideas the same in different
sections of the document. Check that you don't contradict or repeat yourself in
different sections. Aim for simplicity: many readers are less intelligent and less
knowledgeable than writers.

Step 8. Other aspects

Readability depends on the individual’s psychological mechanisms, on his/her

cultural norms, on his/her expectations. European and Western audiences prefer clear,
full statement of purpose and topic, Oriental readers are less straightforward.
As soon as you finished writing the first draft, test it on some intended users. Ask
them read it as if for actual use, to mark it, criticize it, if it misleads, if they can follow
the main points. In the case of instructions a good test would be acting according to
the instructions written.

GOLDEN RULES of writing more readable documentation:

1. Use simple, familiar words. Use words with a high frequency count.
2. Avoid jargon and culture and gender-based language.
3. Use correct grammar, punctuation and spelling. Present tense and active voice
should be dominant.
4. Keep sentences short (below 15 words), using active verbs.
5. Line-up, indent and keep paragraphs average in length.
6. Improve organization (consider topic, purpose, summaries, headings, signal
words).
7. Improve cohesion (links between sentences and paragraphs, avoid using too
many ideas in the same paragraph).
8. Address your writing to the reader, make it personal.
9. Avoid using too many referents in front of a noun, and especially ambiguous
ones.
10. Layout can improve readability. Recommended type is 10 to 12 points. The
average line length in an A4 should be between 8-10 cm, and the ideal space is
1.5. Headings and subheadings must stand out.

3.3 WEB page readability

Web pages should be easy to read, usable, providing only useful information. In order
to make a webpage more pleasant and easy to read and understand, web designers
should follow the following guidelines:

1. Use contrasting colours, however be careful that some readers may not be able
to read low contrast or others may not accept irritating high contrast.
2. In the case of web pages, text of any colour on black background is hard to
read for people with astigmatism, and is generally, uncomfortable for the eye.
Specialists say that with a white background the effects on the eye are less
hurting. In the case of paper in prints, dark text on light paper is best suited for
longer readings.
3. Break up blocks of text, to help the reader know when a new idea is present.
4. Use short paragraphs; do not fill with words the page.
5. Put only relevant information, remove or group irrelevant data.
 6. Use sans serif text (plain) and combine such fonts with styles to highlight and
make it easier to read.
7. Grammar, spelling, paragraph organisation are the same as for any other text
types.

Improving the readability of the site is an easy step to develop your business and to
have more visitors.

3.4 Computer programming readability

Software readability refers to the ease with which the human reader can comprehend
the aim, control flow and operation of a source code. Readability has to be high as
programmers spend a lot of time reading source codes and poor readability slows
down this process. Some of the factors that can improve computer programming
readability are:

1. Use vertical alignment, as it is quicker to find a name in a vertical list. If the

number of variables is over 20, alphabetic order is favoured.
2. Name conventions (variables, classes, procedures) for objects, specifying
benefits, length, and letter case.
3. Use specific indentation styles.
4. Insert comments and definitions between asterisks.

4. WHAT IS TECHNICAL WRITING?

4.1 Fundamentals of Effective Technical Writing

4.2 EXTRA READING

Technical writing is defined by its very subject matter: it deals with the literature of
science, technology and systems development, i.e. with specialized areas of science
and technology. Technical writers are involved in aerospace, defence, consumer
electronics, chemical processing, pulp and paper, mining, construction, fibre optics,
instrumentation and control, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, computers and software
documentation and much more.

The language related to technical issues is “utilitarian, stressing accuracy rather than
style” (Blake and Bly, 1993, p.4) and besides content it is differentiated from any
other technical communication by its purpose, that of transmitting technical
information with maximum of accuracy.

Its beginnings are rooted in World War II when “the military needed to teach soldiers
about weapons, transport vehicles, and other hardware”. Today, we often make
confusion between technical writing and business writing. Business persons write
business related documents agendas, e-mail messages, business letters, meeting
minutes, memos, presentations, reports, and proposals. Usually, these documents are
written by one person. Technical documents are most often the product of a team,
including the writer, the editor, the expert in the field and others. Technical writing
covers both print and electronic media. Most often met print materials are user
manuals for software and hardware, specifications related to all types of equipment
assembling, operation and repair, scientific articles and reports as well as conference
papers. Electronic materials include all web-based documents, computer-based
documents and online documentation.

Twenty years ago print versions were most commonly required by companies. Today,
the same documents can be delivered both in print and in electronic format.
Documents such as reports, presentations and proposals can be both business and
technical.

4.1 Fundamentals of Effective Technical Writing

In The Elements of Technical Writing, Blake and Bly list their ten fundamental
requirements of effective technical writing (pp. 5-11). Here are their suggestions:

1. Technical accuracy
2. Usefulness
3. Conciseness
4. Completeness
5. Clarity
6. Consistency
7. Correctness in Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar
8. Targeted
9. Well Organized
10. Interesting
Let us discuss the ten suggestions in some detail here and from our perspective. Our
explanation may be somewhat different from that of Blake and Bly.

1. Technical accuracy

Accuracy is essential in technical writing. The content and the way of expressing it
must be extremely precise. Without complete accuracy, technical writing may become
useless at the least and harmful at the most. If, for example, errors are found in a
technical document, millions of euros can be wasted. So business can suffer. In a
general technical information text written for informing the public or in an
advertisement, errors can only destroy the image of the writer. This is why documents
are to be carefully reviewed before being made public. Figures, numbers, graphs
should also be carefully reviewed. Make sure the facts as stated in the document are
correct, helpful, and on topic.

2. Usefulness

Technical writing has to be useful. A text has to tell us what we need to know. If we
check computer manuals we will not probably see obsolete manuals anymore because
they are no more useful. Do not make creative prose, make texts easy to understand.

3. Conciseness

Remember that the readers of technical documents do not read for pleasure. They
should not waste their time on lengthy materials. Delete long and not reliable
sentences, keeping in mind that the documents are necessary for professional
purposes. On the other hand, do not leave out important information just for the sake
of brevity.

4. Completeness

Technical writing needs to be complete with all details, arranged in a specific order
and written consistently having in mind the need to be practically applied. Remember
instructions for installing software. If one detail is missing or if the word for one part
is inconsistent, we may not be successful in our installing it.

5. Clarity

Technical writing needs to be clear. Readers are not interested in a philosophical

dialogue in which the meaning of each idea needs to be pondered. The writing needs
to tell us what goes where and what we need to do. Plus, short sentences are a must.
Long sentences become confusing. Put sentences in short paragraphs and arrange
paragraphs in an orderly fashion. References to visuals have to be clear as well.

6. Consistency

Readers need consistency. Do not mix metric units of measurement with Imperial
ones.
When you use an abbreviation or acronym for the first time, introduce it. Only
afterwards, you can freely use it. However, if an acronym is repeated after 10 pages,
one has to introduce it again or include in a list of indices. Remember that the number
of abbreviations and acronyms should be kept to a minimum as too many are
unnecessary and confusing.

Another example refers to the references. Be consistent in referencing, too.

The third example refers to avoidance of gender language. It is best to avoid gender
specific terms such as “she” and “he”.

The fourth refers to capitalized terms: use capital letters each time you use the same
term.

7. Correctness in Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar

Achieving correctness in spelling, punctuation, and grammar is not always easy.

Using a spell check is helpful, but spell checks are often misleading. The best option
could be a second reviewer. Then, though spelling problems can be easily spotted,
grammar can remain uncertain. If you are not sure about a specific punctuation or
grammar point, check the Internet or grammar books for it.

8. Targeted readers

Technical writers need to target their writing for a specific audience and write at a
level appropriate for that audience. Even if the audience is well educated and
knowledgeable in their field, the writing needs to be clear so that non-specialists will
be able to understand it. Sometimes technical writers do not write simply enough for
both specialists and non-specialists.

9. Well Organized

Technical writing requires good organization. Starting at point a, moving to point b, c,

d, e, and f, and concluding at point g will help readers to understand. Outlines and
headings facilitate reader understanding.

10. Interesting

Technical writing can be interesting. If you go to any English bookstore and look at
the wide range of Dummies books, you will see examples of technical writing with
humour and interest. Look at PCs For Dummies or Building a PC For Dummies. This
is a newer style of technical writing that is everything technical writing can be: clear,
understandable, and interesting.

If you implement the ten fundamentals, your writing will become better. Writing
changes will not happen in a day. Such changes in writing as in other areas of life
require practice, patience, and time. If you think about one change each day, you may
be better able to integrate changes. If you do technical translation or rewriting or
proofreading, implementing some of the changes may be possible. However, doing so
is a more complex issue because you are not the writer of the text.
4.2 EXTRA READING

(The texts below represent compilations of materials taken from various sources,
during the last 25 years. Some of these cannot be cited anymore, because the authors
have lost track, other sentences are the equivalent of general truths; however, we think
that readers can get a more rounded view on the topic.)
Below you will find several texts taken from various sources. Some are more recent,
some were written decades ago. Consequently it is difficult to cite their origin, as their
track got lost. Most of them are the expression of general truth and the authors
consider their selection will contribute to a more complete view on the topic.

1. Technical writers

Over the past twenty years, the number of jobs opening up in the field of technical
writing has grown explosively, and shows every sign of continuing to do so. Because
it is such a rapidly expanding field, diligent and persistent newcomers are able to find
entry level jobs even if they have no appropriate college degree or technical or
scientific training (though, of course degrees and certificates make it easier).

The technical writing field has grown so fast that the term technical writer is no
longer an adequate description although everyone still uses it. There are at least three
distinct types of writing now lumped under the term technical writer:

Technology Education consists of writing about technology for non-technical

audiences. For example, hardware and software user manuals, system
administrator guides, reports to lay or semi-technical readers, general interest
articles, grant requests, environmental impact statements, and so forth. To do
this type of writing, you need to have only as much technical background as a
typical reader will possess (in other words, not much). You have to be able to
understand your audience and what they need and can assimilate, be able to
write clearly, use Desktop Publishing (DTP) software, work with technical
people, and above all be a quick learner. Essentially, this job requires you to
learn something and then teach it to others through a written document which
may be printed on paper or displayed on the web or both. Much of this kind of
writing is now being done on, and for, the worldwide web which means you
need to know how to prepare web documents using HTML.

Traditional Technical Writing consists of writing for a technical audience.

For example, repair and maintenance manuals, scientific papers,
programmers’ manuals, research reports, technical specifications, and so forth.
To do this type of writing you usually have to have a technical background in
the field, know the audience and what they need, and be familiar with the
technical jargon. A college degree or equivalent in the technical field is
frequently required.
 Technology Marketing (AKA Marcom) consists of writing sales,
promotional, and corporate communications materials for hi-tech companies
and services. For example, marketing materials, specification sheets,
brochures, newsletters, reports, and so on for companies in the computer,
electronics, biotech, aerospace, and similar fields. For this type of writing, you
need only have as much technical background as the audience you are writing
for. A background in sales or advertising may be helpful but is not essential.

In addition to high-tech companies, most banks, insurance companies, and other large
businesses have their own computer departments, and those departments also need
writers to prepare the manuals and instructions that company employees use. Many
corporations are now hiring writers for non-computer related documents, plans,
procedures, guides, and so forth. Non-profit and educational institutions are also
starting to use professional writers for research and environmental reports, grant
proposals, reports, and similar materials.

2. What do you think you need to be a technical writer?

Here is a list of skill often required from a technical writer. Explain in your own
words what the skills listed below can refer to:

a. Writing ability
b. Know the Tools
c. Technical Background
d. Email & Internet
e. Comfort with jargon
f. People skills
g. Can do attitude

What genres will you write?

The genres in technical writing are:

For non-technical audience:

- hardware and software user manuals,
- system administrator guides,
- reports to lay/semiskilled technicians,
- grant requests,
- environmental impact studies.

For technical audience:

- repair - maintenance users manuals,
- scientific papers,
- programmers manuals,
- research reports,
- technical specifications.

For technical marketing:

 - sales materials,
- promotional materials,
- corporate communication,
- specification sheets,
- brochures,
- newsletters, marketing material.

5. OVERVIEW OF THE TECHNICAL AND SCIENTIFIC

LANGUAGE USED IN ORAL AND WRITTEN
COMMUNICATION
5.1 Best words
5.2 Some suggestions regarding grammar
5.3 Punctuation
5.4 Formal and informal writing
We can communicate efficiently both orally and in writing. The two means exhibit
features that are inherent to the means used.

Oral communication uses the verbal channel (The speech can be heard, listened to,
perceived, decoded and understood in this way.) and also body language (Posture,
gestures, mimic can accompany the speech and may support it in a favourable manner
or can distort it.), voice, its amplitude, intensity, modulations, timber can be a
stimulus for the audience. Intonation and articulation have their part in message
conveying. The vocabulary must be accurate, the language used has to be coherent
and clear.

Written communication enables the individual channel, the audience is alone, be it

made up of one person or more, the reader sees the message, perceives, decodes and
understands the written message because the message sender also uses some aids to
support communication (graphical representation, page layout, punctuation, photos,
charts etc.).

In oral communication, the message is produced and received more rapidly and is
flexible, according to the context and barriers or filters. It cannot be changed once
sent away. In written communication, the message is produced and perceived slowly,
slower than with oral communication. Writing is mediated, while oral speeches are
not much mediated. However, both depend upon the language competence of the
emitter. Written communication is short, rigorous, and concise. Oral communication
is longer, should be rigorous and coherent. At the border between the two types
mentioned, the e-mail requires distinct linguistic competence. Written communication
seems similar to spoken language, but is more rigorous and exact. However, this kind
of written communication is not permanent as written communication used to be, as it
is much affected by interaction. Then, confidentiality seems to be lost more and more.

A written message once sent cannot be altered, improved or distorted by the sender so
that the emitter should consider the potential feedback and behaviour of the receiver.
The written message in the form of a thesis, or a report dedicated to a board, a sponsor
or a project funder must develop adhesion, goodwill and need to agree with the writer
in a pragmatic manner.

With oral messages, the pragmatics of communication teaches the speaker to adapt,
shorten, lengthen a speech, according to the audience’s reaction. This is due to the
fact that oral language contains words with meaning and meaningful gestures, mimic,
intonation in two overlapping layers that are received instantly. Oral presentations
come after a paper is written. Consequently, the plan is similar (introduction,
methods, results, discussion), but the wealth of data varies in the two types.
In both forms of communication, the science of putting words to use is decisive as it
is the key to the final document word. The use of words demands reasoning, either in
a fast manner or one selecting prolonged thinking the best position in a sentence.
Words are elements of human speech, having meaning; they can be used
grammatically and can be understood by a historical community. When writing a
document, specific requirements must be fulfilled in order to reach the best feedback
on behalf of the reader.

5.1 Best words

There are some basic requirements in so far words use and usage are concerned.

1. Choose the best meanings of a word. In science and technology, words have
a full lexical value (e.g. engine, computer), denoting notions, actions, states, in
direct relation with direct or figurative meanings, whether concrete or abstract.
The most proper and most dependable sources for lexical units are
dictionaries; however well-compiled, however scientific or descriptive,
however comprehensive or large, no dictionary is able to cover the multitude
of meanings and shades of meaning that a word may acquire in the usage of a
language, written or spoken (Levitchi, 1970, p. 22). Only the context can help
in finding the right word. By context we mean either a restricted linguistic
sense or a very broad one, in which extra-linguistic factures are also
considered. Linguistic context can help the speaker or writer single a word out
from all potential meanings. Nevertheless, a short context may be detrimental.
Besides context, denotations and connotations are also important in choosing
the right word. The objective, rather impersonal meaning of a word is called
denotation. Science and technology make appeal to denotations, while
connotations (i.e. the subjective, personal and additional meanings) are typical
of literature.

2. Define terms. Use the language of your reader and define terms they may not
understand. Special chapters dedicated to the use of terms are common in
technical documents. Use a good dictionary, on paper or electronic, make
reference to it. However, do not define a term by its antonym or synonym as
not all readers are familiar with these terms and confusion can occur in the
readers mind.
English dictionaries (in print and online)
A Dictionary of the English New Oxford American Dictionary
Language by Samuel Johnson New Oxford Dictionary of English
(prescriptive) Oxford English Dictionary
The American Heritage Dictionary (descriptive)
of the English Language The Penguin English Dictionary
Black's Law Dictionary, a law Random House Dictionary of the
dictionary English Language
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Merriam-Webster
Fable Noah Webster's An American
Chambers Dictionary Dictionary of the English
Canadian Oxford Dictionary Language (prescriptive)
The Century Dictionary Webster's New World Dictionary
Concise Oxford Dictionary Webster's Third New International
HarperCollins Dictionary (descriptive)
Longman Dictionary of Webster's New Universal
Contemporary English Unabridged Dictionary

Adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionary

3. Avoid homophones, redundant synonyms, paronyms, cognates, false

friends and barbarisms. Their wrong use leads to confusion.

A homophone is a word that has the same pronunciation as another word but differs
in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as flower and flour, or
differently, such as to, two and too. Homophones that are spelled the same are also
both homographs and homonyms. The term "homophone" may also apply to units
longer or shorter than words, such as phrases, letters or groups of letters that are
pronounced the same as another phrase, letter or group of letters. Here is a list of
most commonly spelt words found in our students’ works. I think their errors
originate in homophones.

1. ad, add 21. cite, sight, site

2. allowed, aloud 22. dear, deer
3. altar, alter 23. desert, dessert
4. aural, oral 24. deviser, divisor
5. axel, axle 25. die, dye
6. band, banned 26. discreet, discrete
7. bight, bite, byte 27. draft, draught
 8. board, bored 28. find, fined
9. born, borne 29. flew, flu, flue
10. boy, buoy 30. for, fore, four
11. brake, break 31. its, it’s
12. bread, bred 32. licence, license
13. brews, bruise 33. meter, metre
14. broach, brooch 34. sale, sail
15. bur, burr 35. scene, seen
16. but, butt 36. sea, see
17. cereal, serial 37. seam, seem
18. cheap, cheep 38. there, their, they're
19. check, cheque 39. ware, wear, where
20. chord, cord

Table 1. List of homophones

A paronym or paronyme may refer to two different things: either a word that is
related to another word and derives from the same root, e.g. a cognate word or words
which are almost homonyms, but have slight differences in spelling or pronunciation
and have different meanings.

They often lead to confusion. Examples of paronyms are:

alternately and alternatively

collision and collusion
conjuncture and conjecture
excise and exercise
continuous and contiguous
farther (or farthest) and further (or furthest)
affect and effect
upmost and utmost
deprecate and depreciate

As for barbarisms, as a non-native speaker you have less chances of using them.
However, even a word by word translation of a phrase from your mother tongue into
English can sound barbaric to a native reader.

Cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. We can very often find
words in two languages that have a common etymology and thus are similar or
identical. Cognates often have a similar meaning, but in some cases the meaning has
changed over the centuries in one language or another. Not always cognates have a
common origin.

A variety of cognates is the "false friend” when the similar words in two languages
have totally different meanings because their origins are different. An example of
such a change is the English word "actual," which usually refers to something real,
and the Romanian “actual”, which usually means “existing now, contemporary”.

Some examples of false friends for Romanian language are:

abstract, actual, apology/apologie, babe, ban, eventual, jar, library/librărie,
miserable/mizerabil, nap, nor, novel/novelă, pace, pat, physician/fizician, raft, rest,
stare, tip.

4. Use short verbs instead of long synonymic phrases. Use plain words rather
than elegant or complex.

The technical writer should try to use simple rather than bombast, fancy or too
complicated langue, as plain language communicates more effectively and directly.

Remember the KISS (Keep it short and simple) rule. One way of keeping things short
and simple is avoiding phrases and long expressions, in favour of short, active verbs.
Table 2 below gives you some suggestions.

Agree Come to an agreement

Apply Make an application
Analyze Perform an analysis
Breakthrough New breakthrough
Conclude Come to/Arrive at the conclusion that
Consensus General consensus
Consider Give consideration to
Emphasize Put an emphasis on
Examine Make an examination of
Experiment Conduct an experiment
Improve Create an improvement of
Inform Provide with information
Investigate Conduct an investigation
Modify Accomplish a modification
Refer Make reference to
Recommend Make a recommendation
Result End result
Save Realize a saving of
Show Give an indication of
Status Current status

Table 2. Verbs and verbal phrases

5. Use concrete and specific terms instead of vague and general ones

In a technical document, the reader looks for exact and detailed information – figures,
facts, data, recommendations and conclusions. Use adjectives that show how
something works, rather than how it is. The terms help the reader GET A CLEAR
IMAGE OF WHAT IS WRITTEN. However, sometimes colourful language creates a
more vivid image and is more intuitive. From the two examples below, the latter is
not colourful or impressive, but is accurate and concrete.
 e.g. Because of poor condition in equipment, measurements are not accurate.
e.g. Out temperature measurements are not accurate because the thermometer
was not working properly.

6. In electronic documents, do not use contractions because of reading difficulty

with low resolution screens. In paper documents, contractions are today accepted,
though not much.

e.g. “Do not follow the steps in section 6.” is more acceptable in print than
“Don’t follow the steps in section 6.”

7. Avoid idiomatic expressions

A language is a living matter influenced by a wide range of factors. Being very
flexible, English language constantly enriches its vocabulary with the words invented
by the language speakers, making it more colourful with new idiomatic expressions,
and at times refills its stocks with the borrowings and neologisms. English is a
language with a vast idiomatic basis, which makes its learning very exciting and
intriguing. There are about 4,000 idioms used in American English. Wikipedia
suggests that "to even explain what they mean needs about 2000 words of the
vocabulary."

Idiomatic expressions give English variety, character and colour. Idioms are used in
both spoken and written English, and often appear in newspaper articles. They are
frequently utilized by native speakers. However, people writing formally should
avoid idioms, because of their colourful feature and because non-native readers may
not understand them.

e.g. to burn the midnight oil - to work hard

red tape - regulations
A jack-of-all-trades (A jack-of-all-trades is someone that can do many different jobs.)
Job's comforter (Someone who says they want to comfort, but actually discomforts people is a
“Job's comforter”. Job's is pronounced 'jobes', not 'jobs'.) )
Paper over the cracks (If you paper over the cracks, you try to make something look or work
better but only deal with superficial issues, not the real underlying problems. )
Pass muster (If something passes muster, it meets the required standard.)

8. Avoid uncommon, rare and obsolete words. These words can be encountered in
documents and articles written by native speakers, but they can often prevent you
from understanding a sentence. As a non-native speaker, it is recommended not to use
such words though they are full of flavour.

e.g. aforetime - in earlier times

aforementioned – mentioned above
amiss - not as things should be
cloven - split into two
cumbrous - awkward, inconvenient
figured - marked with drawings or writing
 heed - thought, consideration
hitherto – until now
mayhap - perhaps
puissant - powerful, influential
surmise - to decide that (something is true) without having complete
information
tithe - one tenth

9. Avoid too many big, impressive words. There is an increasing trend among
technical readers and writers to use complicated, many syllable words, to show that
their work has not only results but also a modern form. Do not forget, however, that
some of your readers belong to other departments where such words are not
commonly met.

Use this word… instead of this…

find out ascertain
Fireproof incombustible
Free disengage
Glassy vitreous
Shorten abbreviate
Show demonstrate
Speed expedite
Stop cessation

10. Avoid sexism. Use politically correct gender. Table 3 below presents a list of
gender neutral words worth considering.

Use this word… instead of this…

Chair chairman/chairwoman/chairperson
flight attendant steward, stewardess
Humanity mankind
insurance agent insurance man
Moderator chairman/chairwoman/chairperson
non-professional layman
People the common man
shop -assistant salesman
Synthetic man-made
Supervisor foreman
workforce/personnel manpower
working hours man hours

Table 3. Gender neutral words

In the same range:

- Avoid using the pronouns he/she.
- Prefer plural forms (they).
- Or use he/she (though a little too pedantic)
- Or use “they” with a singular meaning
 - Or use “he” in one paragraph and “she” in the other, if there are no other
possibilities.

11. Use more formal words when possible, Latin origin words are usually seen as
more formal than the Anglo-Saxon ones. Here are some examples you might
consider.

e.g.
“assist” instead of “help”
“advent” instead of “coming”
“concerning” instead of “about”
“enquire” instead of “ask”
“however” instead of “but”
“inform” instead of “tell”
“obtain” instead of “get”
“purchase” instead of “buy”
“receive” instead of “get”
“require” instead of “need”
“retain” instead of “keep”
“select” instead of “choose”
“shift” instead of “move”
“therefore” instead of “so”
”velocity” instead of “speed”

12. Use modern terminological words, be aware of two way transfers between
everyday and specialized language. Use appropriate style.

e.g.
benchmark, deploy, e-enable, e-business, embrace, empower, iterate, leverage, mesh,
strategize (verbs); collaborative, compelling, cutting-edge, holistic, plug-and-play,
proactive, ubiquitous (adjectives); deliverables, infomediaries, netspeak, niches,
supply-chains, weblish, webbrain, webrarian, web-readiness (nouns).

Many modern words or terms have moved to everyday English. For instance, one can
often hear a phrase like this: “A lot of bugs in Jane’s proposal” or “Parts of his
business plan need to be debugged” or “I’m out of bandwidth I can’t take it
anymore”

Be aware of the etiquette of the medium in which you write. You can use the
following abbreviations, but not in formal contexts:

e.g.
B4 - before
BTW- by the way
FYI - for your information
GR8 - great
IMHO - in my humble opinion
LOL - Laughing out loud/lots of love
OTOH - on the other hand
 13. Words and Phrases Commonly Misused

In this category enter words and phrases which take up space but add little to meaning
or clarity. The following list includes some common wordy phrases. The column on
the right offers suggested substitutions:

Instead of • Use:

a large number of many

along the lines like
as a general rule generally
as shown in table 6 table 6 shows
as yet yet
at all times always
at this point in time at this time, now
at your earliest convenience now, soon
be considered as is
by means of by
despite the fact that although, even though
during the course of during
even more significant more significant
exhibits the ability can
has been widely acknowledged as is
has proved itself to be has proved, is
have discussion of discuss
inasmuch as since
in order to to
in many cases often
in some cases, in other cases sometimes
in the event that if
in the majority of instances usually
in the near future soon
in the process of tabulating in tabulating
in the vicinity of near
is equipped with has, contains
it is clear that clearly
on a daily basis daily
on a weekly basis weekly
on an annual basis yearly
on the basis of by, from
on the occasion of when
prior to that time before
subsequent to after
the necessity is eliminated you do not need
the reason why is that because
with reference to about
with the result that so that
 Table 4. Commonly misused words

14. Troublesome Words and Phrases

Another group of misused words and phrases comes from the subtle shades of
meaning existing in groups of words. These subtle shades of meaning lead to lack of
accuracy not only in technical writing, but also in everyday language use. It is
recommended to know and use the exact meanings of such words and phrases to
observe the requirements of accuracy, simplicity and coherence.

ability, capacity Ability means the state of being able, or

the power to do something. (A computer
has the ability to create graphics.)
Capacity is the power of receiving or
containing. (The computer has a capacity
of 640 K.)
about, approximately About indicates a rough estimate. (We are
about halfway there.) Approximately
implies near accuracy. (There are
approximately 1.05 quarts in a litre.)
advise, inform Advise means to offer counsel and
suggestions. (I advise you to buy a
mutual fund.) Inform due means to
communicate information. (I inform you
that your proposal hasn't arrived yet.)
alternate, alternative Alternate, as a noun, means a substitute.
An alternative is a choice between two or
more possibilities.
because of, due to Because of means the reason of or on
account of (The computers did not arrive
because of the train delays.) Due to
means attributable to (These implants are
widely used due to their properties.)
beside, besides Beside means by the side of. Besides
means in addition to.
big, large, great Big is used in connection with bulk,
mass, weight, or volume. Large is used to
describe dimensions, extent, quantity, or
capacity. Great is now used almost
entirely to connote importance, eminence,
superiority, or excellence.
continual, continuous Continual means recurring frequently;
continuous means without interruption.
effective, efficient A machine that is effective performs its
intended function well. If it does this with
a minimum of waste, expense, and
unnecessary effort, then it's efficient as
well.
data, datum When data is used synonymously with
facts, it is plural. When it is used
synonymously with information, it is
 singular. The singular form datum is no
more in use.
discreet, discrete Discreet is hidden, while discrete is
separate.
ensure, insure, assure Ensure means to make sure things
happen; insure means to provide
insurance; assure to tell confidently or
convince someone.
equipment, equipments Use equipment both as singular and
plural.
percent, percentage Percent means per hundred. Percentage
means a proportion or share in relation to
a whole.
really unique Unique has no superlative, so no
adverbial modifiers can be placed before
it.

Table 5. Troublesome words and phrases

15. Avoid redundant synonyms.

absolutely essential essential

actual experience experience
adding together adding
balance against one another balance
consecutive in a row consecutive
cubic metres in volume cubic metres
different varieties varieties
final outcome outcome
first introduction introduction
in close proximity close
joined together joined
one and the same the same
repeat again repeat
this particular instance this instance
whether or not whether

Table 6. Redundant synonyms

16. Nominalization

Nominalization has an extremely high frequency in scientific texts. It is a process

which helps to make a scientific text more impersonal and detached in that emphasis
is laid on the entities rather than the actions. It enables concentration of information.
The tendency to use long noun strings in scientific texts is even more pronounced
nowadays. Christopher Taylor has called nominalization “the stepping stones of
scientific discourse.”
In nominal groups, pre-modification concentrates information; pre-modification
is achieved by transforming verbs, adjectives and circumstances into noun phrases:

e.g. a provision which is effective of support from a social viewpoint = an effective

social support provision
the methodology that uses interviews that are structured = the structured interview
methodology

The main guideline to word order in nominal groups is the progression from left to
right of elements that have increasingly permanent attributes.

_ e.g. a new yellow book cover, where the permanent attribute that is unlikely to
change is book (a book cover is a special type of a cover), the colour yellow points to
the new feature. We cannot say a yellow new cover of book or a yellow book new
cover.

A wide range of grammatical items (particles, adjectives, verb participles, adverbs,

nouns) can precede a noun head and modify it, thus forming a nominal group. The
pre-modifiers assume the function of adjectives; consequently they are never used in
the plural.

e.g. more reduction-based operations.

In Scientific and Technical English complex pre-modification is common and

acceptable because it normally addresses people in-the-know who have the
background subject knowledge to correctly interpret a complex noun phrase.

17. Confusing differences between British and American English

One kind of false friend can occur when two speakers speak different varieties of the
same language. Speakers of British English and American English sometimes have
this problem, which was alluded to in George Bernard Shaw's statement "England and
America are two countries divided by a common language." For example, in the UK,
to "table" a motion means to place it on the agenda, while in the U.S. it means exactly
the opposite —"to remove it from consideration". In fact most lexical differences
between British English and American English are related to their different history in
the 19th and beginning of 20th centuries. In car and railway industry, words used are
extremely different. Then, language is constantly changing: due to region, age, local
factors, now the two languages have moved away from one another; on the other
hand, globalisation has accelerated the rate-of-change to English worldwide and
words that once were regarded as strictly British or American are no more
distinguished in the two dialects. Lexical items reflect mainly separate social and
cultural development. In technology and science, terminological differences are not
wide, though they exist.

Advice: When working on your Technical Brief and considering your reader, you
must learn what variety of English you should use. Otherwise, your work can be
refused just because you did not use the right and specific vocabulary, grammar and
lexis.
The link below gives you the basics concerning American and British English
differences.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_having_different_meanings_in_Americ
an_and_British_English

Information comes to us both in British and American English. Those who write
documents for Europe and America often confuse the readers especially in spelling.
Here is a list of spelling matters that should be checked before handing in a document.

Word endings:

- eable/able
British English keeps e before able, while American English has the tendency of
dropping it:

e.g.: sizeable (British English – B.E.) /sizable (American English – A.E.)

- ae/e
British English keeps a in words like paediatrician, while American English has the
tendency of dropping it:

e.g.: aesthetics (British English – B.E.) / esthetics (American English – A.E.)

- ce/se
British English uses -ce for a verb, and -se for a noun. American English uses only –
se for both nouns and verbs.

e.g.: licence/license (British English – B.E.) / license (American English – A.E.)

-ise/ize and -yse/yze

British English mostly uses -s, while American English uses –z. However, in British
English, there are some words which a spelt with –z. (e.g. realize). Be consistent in
your documents once again.

e.g.: analyse (British English – B.E.) / analyze (American English – A.E.)

- our/or
British English keeps u in words, while American English drops it:

e.g.: colour (British English – B.E.) / color (American English – A.E.)

-re/er
American English most often swifts –re into –er in endings, while in British English
this is not important:

e.g.: centre (British English – B.E.) / center(American English – A.E.)

Some differences:
In American English only the word program is used in all contexts, while in British
English program is used with respect to software, while programme is used for TV
programmes.

In British English a cheque is used to pay, while check means to verify. In American
English the word check is used for both purposes.

In American English only the word transport is used in all contexts, while in British
English transportation is favoured.

In summary, the lexical unit used in a message should have an identical perception in
the mind of an emitter and receiver of a technical text. When new objects or notions
are derived or invented, the best source is a word that already exists, whose meaning
can be extended or the resort to a foreign basis in view of creating a neologism. This
word formation means help in defining clearly and unambiguously a term for a certain
object, device, operation or notion. The specificity of the technical language is lack of
ambiguity due to a commonly agreed upon context and definition of terms. Semantic
accuracy, neuter, emotional perception, refrained synonymy and polysemy define the
lexis of technical English.

Making documents readable depends on developing a coherent and precise style,

having a very good command of grammar, syntax and spelling. Here are a few
recommendations to make your writing more readable.

5.2 Some suggestions regarding grammar

18. Use present tense, in most documents

General truths, principles, theories, descriptions, classifications are expressed in

present tense. Avoid using should, would, could or might because they diminish the
definite features of the statements. In the example on the left, it is obvious that would
is used with a future meaning, but it is useless and gives a shade of lack of certainty.

In this section we would provide In this section we provide specifications

specifications of simple queries. The of simple queries. The supporting data
supporting data structures of the structures of the application include a
application would include a large set of large set of Intervals.
Intervals.

19. Use past tense to describe experimental work and results

The use of past tense for the description of works carried out and completed in the
past. This is valid for research or academic papers, dissertation, theses, where steps of
research work were completed before writing the text.

We found that heated starch turned from the glassy state at feeding to a highly elastic
state and then it melted. After leaving the die, expansion occurred and moisture level
diminished abruptly. With the loss in moisture, temperature loss also took place and
the extrudate returned to its highly elastic state and then to the amorphous state.

20. Use active voice

Using the active voice gives more life and authority to a technical document. In
passive voice, the doer of the action is not important. In active voice, the doer is the
subject. It is for this reason that experts prefer active voice. With active voice,
sentences are more direct, more concise and vigorous. In passive voice, the same
sentence can sound bleak. Make the difference between these two sentences:

The report must be completed by June. vs. We must complete the report by June.

However strong the emphasis for active voice, there are situations when passive voice
is more appropriate:

- when the focus is the action, not the doer or when the doer of the action is
unimportant (e.g. The site was established in early November 2004.)
- when the doer needs not to be visible (The memory stick was erased.)

21. Avoid dangling participles

Present participles always end in –ing. These dangling participles are verbal forms
that do not clearly refer to the nouns or pronouns they modify, that is when attached
to the wrong subject in the sentence. Participles dangle at the beginning or end of
sentences. In technical writing, one can frequently find such dangling participles,
mainly due to the influence of Romanian language:

e.g. While recruiting a new employee, the company software malfunctioned.

In this case, the sentence means that the software of the company did not operate well
because of the recruitment process, which is not correct.

22. Gerunds

Gerunds also end in -ing. They start out as verbs, but function as nouns. When a
gerund is preceded by a noun or pronoun, it must take the possessive form.

e.g. The author's describing of the algorithm is flawless.

23. Subject and verb agreement

The basic rule in grammar is that subjects and verbs in sentences must agree, that is
both must be singular or both must be plural. However, there are situations that can be
tricky:

a. A, many, a, each, and every always take a singular verb:

e.g. Many a man is denied this chance.

 Each and every computer has a modem.

b. None, some, any, all, most and fractions are either singular or plural,
depending on what they modify:

e.g. Half the shipment was misplaced.

Half the books were misplaced.

c. Nouns referring to money, distance or amount use a singular verb if the noun
is considered as a single unit:

e.g. There are 10 yards of wire on the reel.

I think ₤100 is a fair price.

d. In the case of or or nor, the verb agrees with the closest item to the verb:

e.g. Neither the assistants nor Jim was available.

Neither Jim nor the assistants were available.

24. Adjectives

The following list contains absolute adjectives. They cannot take a comparative or
superlative form:

complete right
correct round
dead square
empty stationary
genuine unanimous
parallel wrong
perfect

25. See and show the positive side

Use words that deliver a positive message, such as: benefit, convenient, guarantee,
right, save, satisfactory, and others similar in connotation. Avoid using words that
convey a negative or doubtful message, except for a fully technical terminological
context: damages, failure, delay, broken, trouble, suspicion etc.

26. Be consistent and clear

You should maintain consistency throughout our documents. There are some aspects
you should pay attention to; note the following:

- Use the same term or phrase to define a specific object, tool, device, system;
once you call a set of recommendations guidelines, use this word in the entire
document, do not replace it with guide, suggestion, norms etc.
 - Do not replace technical terms with synonyms, you can compromise your
work because of synonymy. In technical writing, synonymy is avoided due to
differing connotations. (e.g. systems and networks are synonyms; however
they have different connotations)
- Avoid ambiguity, for instance when you have to be specific use don’t not
should or may.
- Be exact in using words about locations such as top, bottom, right, left.
Consider the subjectivity of the reader facing this sentence: The switch is on
the right. For such situations, add information: As you face the screen, the
switch is on the right.
- To describe turns, use clockwise and counter clockwise or symbols.
- In case jargon is a must, use the same jargon all over the document.
Technical jargon epitomizes a good technical document for the right readers.
But not all readers appreciate it.

27. Delete words, sentences, and phrases that do not add to your meaning

Wordy technical documents are a waste of time for the reader. The fewer words you
use, the better. After the first draft, take a pen and cut our all words, sentences,
phrases, and even pages that do not add to your meaning.

It is most useful, rewarding and This article presents the two technologies
interesting to be able to describe the two for compressed air engines in use today.
technologies for compressed air engines
that are more and more affordable today.

As for the syntactic aspects, the tendency to make phrases and sentences more
objective and personal, of avoiding too many tenses, of using passives and noun
compounds or nominal groups describes language used in written communication
especially as too economical.

The sentences selected to transmit messages require specific types of sentences, with
word order observance and complying with logical connections between notions and
ideas. Complex sentences should be formed of some (or one) main sentence or a main
sentence combined with more subordinate clauses. Such a sentence should not be too
long and obscure for understanding, should not be sophisticated, to facilitate meaning
acquisition and should be logical and coherent.

5.3 Punctuation
Punctuation is one of the most important instruments in the creation of documents.
Punctuation bears the mark of your voice.
Hyphens

Do not confuse hyphens (-) with dashes (–).

1. Hyphenate two words that form an adjective modifier:
e.g.
state of the art technology → state-of-the-art technology
long range high power radar → long-range-high-power radar

2. Use hyphens to write fractions:

e.g. This is three-fifths of the annual cost.

3. Use a hyphen between a prefix and a word that ends respectively begins with the
same vowel:
e.g. pre-existing

4. No hyphen is needed after adverbs ending in –ly:

e.g. technically accurate manual

5. Do not hyphenate scientific terms, chemicals, animals, diseases:

e.g. sulphur dioxide emissions

6. Hyphenate two nouns if they are necessary to express a single idea. English has
the tendency of writing words either with a hyphen (type-setting), or in two separate
words (type setting) or, more recently in only one word (typesetting), to draw the
readers’ attention to the meaning. The only solution is to always check with a
dictionary.

Commas

Commas indicate a short pause in order to make the different parts of sentences
clearer. Commas have two main functions. They separate a comment from the rest of
the sentence and they separate items in a list or an enumeration.

e.g. According to the lab tests, the water flow rate could be increased.

In this case, according to the lab tests gives extra information. When such comments
are in the middle of the sentence, remember to insert both commas in the pair. If you
forget the second comma, the sentence will be more difficult to understand.

1. Use commas to separate three or more items in a series:

e.g. In industry, reports, memos, proposals, and projects are most often met.

In enumerations, always use commas except before the last word. This kind of comma
is known as serial comma and most writers recommend its use because it helps
sentence flow and clarity. If the last word is preceded by and, include a comma there,
too (see the example above).

2. Use a comma before coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet) when
they join two complete sentences:
e.g. I understood the purpose of the presenter, but I did not agree with him.

3. Do not use a comma before “because”:

e.g. The computer is down because of power outage.

4. Use commas to separate items in an address or date:

e.g. The address of the publishing house is 219, Cranberry Street, Bath, U.K.

5. Use a comma after an introductory phrase, mainly if introduced by if, as, although:

e.g. According to the financial consultant, costs will increase.

6. Place between two commas, additional information that is not necessary or

essential to the meaning of the sentence:

e.g. The computer hardware, whose brand you know well, should be changed.

7. Use commas to express titles, degrees, identifications of persons:

e.g. Gary Blake, the author of “Fundamentals of Technical Writing”, is our guest at
this workshop.

8. Use commas after the opening of a friendly letter: (e.g. Dear Mary,)

9. Use commas after the closing of a letter: (e.g. Sincerely yours,)

10. Use commas before a direct quotation:

e.g. The manager said, “We should revise our business plan until Friday next week.”

Semicolons

1. Use a semicolon when separating items in a list where the items themselves have
commas:

e.g. The final deadline was August 2009. The milestones were January 15, 2006; July
15, 2007; July 15, 2008; January 31, 2009.

2. Place a semicolon to introduce a separate sentence:

e.g. The project came to standstill; however, we managed to have a small profit.

3. Replace and, but, or, nor, so or yet with a semicolon to join complete sentences:

e.g. We provide a mathematical model of time to cater for the representation of

spatial-temporal information; the model is mainly applicable to temporal databases.

Colons
Colons serve as introduction and show that there is a close connection between what
comes before and after the colons

1. Use a colon after the introduction implying as follows or the following or before a
list of words and phrases:

e.g. The car has a number of optional extras: sun roof, tinted windows, rear seat belts,
and electrically operated wing mirrors.

2. Use a colon to separate hours and minutes (mainly in American English):

e.g. 5:30 p.m.; 3:00 a.m.

3. Use a colon to introduce a longer or shorter quotation:

e.g. Horace Mann used to say “Do not think of knocking out another person's
brains because he differs in opinion from you. It would be as rational to knock
yourself on the head because you differ from yourself ten years ago”.

4. Use a colon, in a bibliography between the place of publication and the name of
the publisher.

e.g. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1966

5. In the heading of a business memo:

e.g. TO: Ema Adam

FROM: Marinela Grănescu

SUBJECT: Student evaluation form

6. With today's sophisticated word-processing programs (which know how much

space to put after punctuation marks), we insert only one space (hit the space-bar
only once) after a colon.

Dashes

Dashes are considered as strong parentheses. They can stand alone or be used in pairs.
One piece of advice is just not to overuse them, because you can lose the impact of
your sentences. Use dashes to emphasize or to indicate a strong point of view:

e.g. This model – as tests have shown – is more powerful than the previous ones.

Parentheses

Parentheses enclose words included in a sentence.

They are used:
1. when the words included in the parenthesis do not alter the meaning of the entire
sentence:

e.g. The new photo copier has many features (including scanning options and faxing
capabilities) that will be most beneficial to us in this office.

2. when making references to figures, charts, authors:

e.g. The examples in the next page (see Figure 2) provide the information for database
1.

3. when enclosing numerals or letters in an enumeration:

e.g. Before you turn in your paper, check (1) spelling, (2) punctuation, (3)
capitalization, and (4) footnotes.

4. In scientific, business, or legal writing, parentheses are used to restate a

number. Be sure this use is justified. In most prose, it is not, and it creates an
inappropriately official tone.
e.g. The bill is due and payable in thirty (30) days. (acceptable )

Brackets

Brackets (also called parentheses) enclose extra information or explanations which

interrupt the normal progression of the sentence.

Note: Full stops, question marks and exclamations marks are usually put outside the
brackets (unless the brackets enclose a complete sentence).

Use brackets when you are inserting material into sentences that are not originally in
the sentence - in other words, not done by the original author.

Add brackets in sentences where you need to clarify information that is already in
parentheses .

Show incorrect spelling (though not very polite). Many times you'll need to use the
Latin term "sic," which means "thus." This alerts the reader to the fact that the word
may be misspelled in the original document. Brackets are used around the word as
shown [sic].
Periods/Full stops

1. Use periods after a statement, command or request:

e.g. Check the accuracy of the meter.

2. Use periods in acronyms, initials or other abbreviations. However, it is advisable to

check it out in a dictionary as today there is a strong tendency to omit them in several
situations.

Slashes (/)

Generally, slashes separate to show an omission as in without (w/o).

1. Use slashes in and/or expressions:

e.g. The simplified result needs one less AND/OR operation.

2. Use slashes in Internet addresses:

e.g. http://www.whatsinthehouse.com/widgets

3. Use a slash to separate parts of fractions:

e.g. 2/3, 15/16

4. Use a slash to shorten various formulae:

e.g. This car can go over 200 m/hr.

Quotation marks

Use the double quotation mark and single quotation mark/apostrophe for different
purposes.

The double quotation ( “ ) encloses a direct quotation, whether made by a person or

taken from a piece of literature.

e.g. “This article is amazing!” John exclaimed.

According to the article, the value of the euro in developing nations is “strongly
influenced by local conditions.”

Use the single quotation mark ( ' ) within a regular quotation to indicate a quotation
within a quotation.

e.g. John said, "George told me, 'I wasn't sure if you wanted to read this
article!'" .
5.4 Formal and informal writing

There are two main styles of writing: formal and informal. Consider these two
examples:

Example 1:

Nanotechnology is the study of phenomena and fine-tuning of materials at atomic,

molecular and macromolecular scales, where properties differ significantly from
those at a larger scale. Products based on nanotechnology are already in use and
analysts expect markets to grow by hundreds of billions of euros during this decade.

Example 2:

I guess the study of tiny things they search can be small or large…Well, I thought it’s
awful to get into such detail… but, hey, they do billions of bucks out of them…

The difference between the two is obvious. The first one is formal, and the second is
informal. The level of formality is given by the way we use words in order to express
our ideas, opinions and feelings. When we have to write or speak in a formal context
(for instance, in an academic setting) we will use words, syntax, tone differently than
when writing to a friend. These are just some of the differences between formal and
informal writing.

Both formal and informal styles are correct, the only difference is that we should be
careful to make it agree with the setting. Formal English is used mainly in academic
writing and business communications, whereas Informal English is proper for
communicating with friends or relatives. So, choose the style of writing keeping in
mind your reader. Anyway, do not mix the two styles.

The main differences between informal and formal writing are listed in the table
below:

Formal Informal
no colloquial words/expressions colloquial words/expressions
write out full words use contractions
third person (except in business letters) first, second, or third person.
avoid clichés clichés
one, one’s, the reader, the reader’s, second person pronouns (you, your,
etc.) etc)
Latin based words Anglo-Saxon based words
abbreviations are not permitted, except abbreviations understood by the writer
for those with technical significance and reader
third person references imperative voice
passive voice active voice
noun phrases contracted phrases
longer and more complex sentences short and simple sentences.
 Table 7. Formal and informal features

While informal writing is fine for personal writing, letters or emails to friends, those
who write papers for school, college application essays, scientific papers, research
papers, conference presentations, and business proposals generally employ a more
formal style. This high level formality style is typical of academic writing. The main
features of academic writing can be found in the use of third-person rather than first-
person perspective, focus on the topic and accurate choice and use of words. Writing
in the first person or making “I” statements, making direct personal statements, and
imprecise word choices are to be avoided. In academic writing we shall not be
informal, i.e. colloquialisms and jargon, abbreviations, though easier and more
familiar, shall be avoided.

Writers seeking to improve their academic writing skills should focus their efforts on
spending time on reading varied sources of information, on reviewing major issues
found in references, on writing detailed outlines, on having a perfect command of
grammar and vocabulary which means many years of study and practice (Proper
punctuation use and good proofreading skills improve academic writing as well.) and
on being consistent in the stylistic approach chosen.

6. ON PARAGRAPHS
6.1 What is a paragraph?

6.2 Elements of a Paragraph

6.3 Development of a Paragraph

6.1 What is a paragraph?

6.1 What is a paragraph?

The central component of a written text is the paragraph. A paragraph (from the
Greek paragraphos, "to write beside" or "written beside") is unit of the written
discourse that treats one particular idea, point, concept, notion. A paragraph is usually
made up of more sentences. In very few cases, a paragraph is formed of only one
sentence. As an independent discourse unit, it is placed between two indented lines or
two blank spaces. Such a separation of paragraphs makes them easier to read and
understand. Learning to write good paragraphs will help you as a writer follow your
ideas in an organised form. What is important in distinguishing a paragraph in a text,
is not the length or appearance of that fragment, not the number of sentences that
construct a paragraph, but it is the unity and coherence of ideas. Strong paragraphs
contain a sentence or sentences unified around one central, controlling idea.

The definition above leads us to the rule of writing paragraphs: keep one idea to one
paragraph. When you want to signal to the reader that something new, “a change
related to time, direction, action, emphasis” (Csomay and Szerdahely, 1997, p.35) will
occur, you will write a new paragraph. It is difficult sometimes to decide what
belongs to the same idea and what represents the opposite of it. Our decision to begin
a new paragraph is often influenced by intuition and our sense related to good text
layout as well as by us as readers. If the paragraph is too long (more than 10
sentences) we often decide to move to another paragraph.

6.2 Elements of a Paragraph

A good and effective paragraph is defined by the following: Unity, Coherence, A

Topic Sentence, and Adequate Development or Variety. Of course, these elements
overlap and our purpose is to make the paragraph fluent and effective by considering
all these traits.

Unity

The entire paragraph has unity when all the information included is in strict
relationship with the topic discussed. The paragraph that has one central idea should
also have everything related and developed in relation with that idea. Sentences
should fit to one another, should be put in a logical order, not at random. In order to
write a unified paragraph, focus on one idea and state that idea in a topic sentence.
Place the topic sentence in that part of the paragraph that is more effective. Support
the main idea by details, secondary ideas, and examples to illustrate or clarify the idea
expressed in your topic sentence. Do not forget to write clearly, highlighting the
relationship between your evidence and your idea.

Coherence

Coherence is the feature that makes the paragraph easily understandable to a reader.
Coherence is the logical flow of ideas. It can be created and improved considering
two aspects: creating logical order and verbal connections.

Logical order

In a well-designed paragraph, the same idea of a topic is carried over from sentence to
sentence; successive sentences are arranged in a clear order for the reader. When we
arrange our ideas, we can follow various patterns of organisation, such as the order of
importance, chronological order, developmental order, comparative order, etc. and it
is necessary to stick to the pattern chosen.

Verbal connections

The verbal connections are made by means of transitions and signposts. Transitions
are one or several sentences that "transition" from one idea to the next. Transitions are
used at the end of a paragraph to help moving to the new paragraph. Transitions can
be single words, phrases, sentences, and even whole paragraphs. They help to
establish relationships between ideas in a paragraph and to create a logical
progression of those ideas in a paragraph. Without transitions, your paragraph will not
be unified, coherent, or well developed. In fact, transitions, whether within a
paragraph or among more paragraphs acts like glue giving the fragment coherence
and unity. Here is an example of transitions used in a paragraph. Words written in
bold are used as verbal connections:

“Data processing refers to the operations which are performed on the data either to
derive information from them or to order them in files. These operations include
functions performed by programmers and by automatic equipment. The functions of
the programmers are, for example, to prepare, test and document computer programs.
In fact, this step encompasses analyzing a problem, formulating an algorithm to solve
it, translating the algorithm into high-level language, testing the programs and running
it with the data. On the other hand, the functions of the computer are to perform
arithmetic and logical operations on the program and data after they have been
translated to machine code and to make the results of these operations accessible to
humans.”

From: P. Charles Brown, Norma D. Mullen, English for Computer Sciencce,OUP,

1991, p. 183

The table below gives the words and phrases that express specific relationships that
can exist between ideas.
Relationship English Transition Words and Phrases
Adding information also, and, as well, besides, equally important, finally,
furthermore, in addition, moreover, then, too
Comparing ideas in like manner, in the same way, likewise, similarly
Contrasting ideas at the same time, but, conversely, even so, even though,
however, in contrast, nevertheless, nonetheless, on the one
hand, on the other hand, still, yet
Giving an example as an illustration, as can be seen by, for example, for
instance, in other words, namely, specifically, to illustrate,
in this case, in another case, on this occasion, in this
situation, take the case of, to demonstrate,
Showing time immediately, thereafter, soon, after a few hours, finally,
then, later, previously, formerly, first (second, etc.), next,
and then afterward, before, currently, eventually, finally,
first, (second, third, fourth, fifth?), in the future, in the past,
later, less important, meanwhile, most important, next,
often, sometimes, soon, subsequently, then, today, when
Proving because, for, since, for the same reason, obviously,
evidently, furthermore, moreover, besides, indeed, in fact,
in addition, in any case, that is
Showing exception: yet, still, however, nevertheless, in spite of, despite, of
course, once in a while, sometimes
Emphasizing: definitely, extremely, obviously, in fact, indeed, in any
case, absolutely, positively, naturally, surprisingly, always,
forever, perennially, eternally, never, emphatically,
unquestionably, without a doubt, certainly, undeniably,
without reservation
Showing Sequence first, second, third, and so forth. A, B, C, and so forth. next,
then, following this, at this time, now, at this point, after,
afterward, subsequently, finally, consequently, previously,
before this, simultaneously, concurrently, thus, therefore,
hence, next, and then, soon
Summarizing ideas in brief, on the whole, summing up, to conclude, in
conclusion, as I have shown, as I have said, hence,
therefore, accordingly, thus, as a result, consequently, on
the whole

Table 8. List of English Transition Words and Phrases

A topic sentence

A topic sentence is a sentence that indicates in a general way what idea or thesis the
paragraph is going to deal with. The sentence that introduces the idea to be developed
in that paragraph is called topic sentence. In a good paragraph, the topic sentence
contains all ideas that will be clarified, explained, illustrated in that paragraph. Topic
sentences can occur anywhere in the paragraph (as the first sentence, the last sentence,
or somewhere in the middle), though it is simpler for novice writers to place the topic
sentence at the beginning of the paragraph. The topic sentence tells the reader what to
expect about the information that will follow. Without the use of a topic sentence, it is
very difficult to develop a paragraph. In the example below, you will be given the
topic sentence and its development.

Adequate development/variety

Paragraph development or variety shows the way in which you organize your words
in the sentences. Normally, the way of developing paragraphs varies from paragraph
to paragraph, depending on the author's purpose. Some methods to develop your
paragraph consist in:

analysing the problem,

defining terms related to that problem,
narrating events related to an experiment,
investigating in detail testimony,
using examples and illustrations
citing data (facts, statistics, evidence, details, and others)
comparing and contrasting
evaluating causes and reasons, effects and consequences.

A new paragraph should start when you begin a new idea or point, you want to put
in contrast information or ideas (Separate paragraphs can serve to contrast sides in
a debate, different points in an argument, or any other difference.), when your
readers need a pause because paragraphs can become too long or too complex, or
when moving from one section of the document to another.

Steps in developing a paragraph

a. The development of a paragraph begins by formulating the basic or controlling

idea. This idea, also called topic sentence, can occur at four major points in a
paragraph: the beginning of the paragraph, the middle of the paragraph, the end of the
paragraph, or at both the beginning and the end of the paragraph. Here's how you
might begin a paragraph on motivation:

In the Linux community, two recent developments have occurred that are of relevance
to real-time software design processes.

b. This idea is followed by an explanation related to the controlling idea. Sometimes

an example better supports the explanation:

The first is the introduction of "real time" features such as high-resolution timers,
priority inheritance, and shortened non-preemptable sections in mainline Linux (in
versions 2.6.16 to 2.6.22). The second is the introduction (in version 2.6.24) of
mechanisms for supporting container hierarchies (Linux server documentation 2007;
Eriksson and Palmraos 2007; Lessard 2003).
c. If an example or more are provided, they should be explained in detail and the
relevance to the topic sentence and rationale given at the beginning of the paragraph
should be given. NONE of your examples should be left unexplained.

Containers are an abstraction that allows different task groups to be isolated from
one another (mainly, by providing different name spaces to different task groups for
referring to tasks, files, etc.). Containers are seen as a lightweight way to achieve
many of the benefits provided by virtualization, without the expense of hosting
multiple operating systems. From the standpoint of scheduling, containers are
similar to various "server" abstractions considered in the real-time-systems literature.

d. The final step in paragraph development consists in tying up the controlling idea of
the paragraph to the relevance of the information presented and making transition to
the new paragraph.

These Linux-related developments are happening at a time when multiprocessor

platforms are becoming increasingly common. This is partly due to the advent of
multicore technologies as an alternative to single-core chip designs. Additionally,
reasonably-priced "server class" multiprocessors have been available for some time
now. These hardware-related developments are profound, because they mean that
multiprocessors are now a "common-case" platform that software designers must deal
with.

The full paragraph is given below:

In the Linux community, two recent developments have occurred that are of relevance
to real-time software design processes. The first is the introduction of "real time"
features such as high-resolution timers, priority inheritance, and shortened non-
preemptable sections in mainline Linux (in versions 2.6.16 to 2.6.22). The second
is the introduction (in version 2.6.24) of mechanisms for supporting container
hierarchies (Linux server documentation 2007; Eriksson and Palmraos 2007; Lessard
2003). Containers are an abstraction that allows different task groups to be isolated
from one another (mainly, by providing different name spaces to different task groups
for referring to tasks, files, etc.). Containers are seen as a lightweight way to achieve
many of the benefits provided by virtualization, without the expense of hosting
multiple operating systems. From the standpoint of scheduling, containers are
similar to various "server" abstractions considered in the real-time-systems literature.
These Linux-related developments are happening at a time when multiprocessor
platforms are becoming increasingly common. This is partly due to the advent of
multicore technologies as an alternative to single-core chip designs. Additionally,
reasonably-priced "server class" multiprocessors have been available for some time
now. These hardware-related developments are profound, because they mean that
multiprocessors are now a "common-case" platform that software designers must deal
with.

(From Real Time Systems vol. 43 no. 1 Sept. 2009 Springer affiliated journal, p. 60-
61)
Note the verbal tenses used predominantly in technical and scientific English. The
examples below show that a paragraph is not a mere juxtaposition of a few sentences
in a paper. Beyond the various models of developing a paragraph, a common idea
should prevail, i.e. that all paragraphs should have one central idea, this central idea
should be discussed and explained, exemplified and then it should make the reader
ready for another idea. The two paragraphs below are an evidence for the rules
mentioned.

“The most popular form of the drive system is the hydraulic system because hydraulic
cylinders and motors are compact and allow high levels of force and power, together
with accurate control. A hydraulic actuator converts forces from high pressure
hydraulic fluid into mechanical shaft rotation or linear motion. Hydraulic fluid power
is more cost effective for short-stroke, straight-line positioning requiring high forces,
controlled acceleration, and repetitive motion. No other drive system packs as much
power into such a small package; no other drive is as safe or as resistant to harsh
environments.”

“Short Message Service (SMS) is a communications protocol allowing the

interchange of short text messages between mobile telephone devices. The Short
Message Service feature also known as Text Messaging or Texting or its most
common name – SMS – is currently the most widely-used data service, the feature that
allows users to receive and send messages that are short, up to 160 characters.
Initially, the service represented an extension of paging for GSM networks, but it
became very popular with the wide public quite soon. This powerful communication
tool has soon turned into a culture, or rather a subculture, with its own norms. The
SMS technology has facilitated the development and growth of text messaging. The
connection between the phenomenon of text messaging and the underlying technology
is so great that in some parts of the world the term "SMS" is used colloquially as a
synonym for a text message from another person or the act of sending a text messag.”

Instead of conclusions

Paragraph development is more than just a few sentences arranged in a paper, it is a

natural and difficult process by which connections are made between various ideas so
that a single idea will run throughout the entire paper. There are many models of
developing a paragraph. What is common to all these models is the following: all
paragraphs should have one central idea, this central idea should be discussed and
explained, the explanation should be shown in an example, which in turn should be
explained and the last idea in the paragraph should prepare the reader for another idea
to come. When all these steps are covered, your paragraphs will be unified, coherent,
varied and suggestive.
7. BASIC TYPES OF DOCUMENTS

7. Basic types of documents

7.1. Technical/research articles and papers
7.2. Abstracts
7.3 User manuals
7.4 Technical reports
7.5. Specification sheets

Although this book is mainly aimed at improving your writing and style, we thought it
is important to learn what the structure of a technical or business document is.

There are thousands of technical, business, academic, scientific and trade publications
around the world. They publish technical articles and papers each year. In industry,
basic research, applied technology or university, engineers and scientists are known
through the documents related to their works and through their findings presented to
the rest of the technical, engineering or academic community in the form of articles,
papers and reports. Publishing offers a higher professional status to the author, good
publicity for his/her work, increases personal satisfaction and professional prestige.
The author both contributes to the pool of technical knowledge and learns more about
the subject. Sharing results is an important part of the scientific progress.

7.1 Technical/research articles and papers

The preparation of a scientific paper has almost nothing to do with literary skill. It is
a question of organisation.
(Robert A. Day, How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper)

Technical/research articles and papers present the results of scientific research;

their style and organization, their depth vary. Many publications require authors to
follow their strict guidelines and review articles before publication with quite a
critical eye. In many situations, articles are rewritten by journal editors. However, the
engineer is expected to provide a well-organized and cleanly written material if
wishing to increase chances of publication.

Technical papers are usually organized in the IMRAD format – Introduction,

Methods, Results And Discussion.

The Paper Title (The paper title can sometimes be long and descriptive:
(“Experimental investigation of the effect of the intake air temperature and
mixture quality on the combustion of methanol - and gasoline-fuelled
homogeneous charge compression ignition engines”) or very brief: (“Low-
Cost Mechanisms”); avoid abbreviations; avoid common phrases such as
“novel”, “performance evaluation”; use positive nouns, action verbs and
adjectives that describe the features of your work , such as “reliable”,
“scalable”, “robust”, high complexity”; avoid shocking titles and wasted
words, such as “An investigation of…”, “Research on…”, “ On…”..)
The Author (s) (Include full name, affiliation, sometimes address.)
 The Abstract (State the objectives, the problem, your approach and solution,
and the main contributions/significance of the paper. Often, readers of
scientific journals read only the abstract and choose to read the full text only if
the abstract has valuable information for them.)
The Introduction (This section presents the works and results of previously
published studies, moving from general to specific information. In the
introduction answer the following questions: “What is the problem? Why is it
interesting and important? Why is it hard? Why hasn't it been solved before?
What are the key components of my approach and results?” Also include any
specific limitations. In the last part of the introduction, state objectives and
hypotheses. It is very important to cite sources, to bring evidence of the claims
you are making. Related Work (can be part of introduction, should be relevant
for the background).

The Methods or Materials (This section presents in a narrative form the steps
taken in the experiment. The narrative should be clear enough for another
researcher to be able to duplicate your work). Performance Experiments are
also included (Many conferences expect experiments. Experiments usually
measure sensitivity to parameters, scalability, showing absolute or relative
performance to previous approaches).
The Results (sets up notation and terminology, includes algorithms, system
descriptions, new language constructs, analyses, etc. It is important for the
reader to understand where the material is going).
Discussion (the author explains and interprets the results obtained from the
point of view of other published results included in the introduction, in
relationship with the objectives set and to the hypotheses). Presents problems
encountered in detail. Future Work (sets new directions) is also included here.
The Conclusions (in general, a short summarising paragraph of the entire
work).
The Acknowledgements
Bibliography and Citations (Be careful to make all citations needed in an
alphabetical order, complete and consistent. Cite recent documents. Do not
just copy randomly entries from various lists or sites. Check over your final
bibliography attentively and make sure every entry looks right. Do not include
ISBN number; avoid long URLs; )
Appendices (Appendices should contain detailed proofs and algorithms only.
Appendices should contain all material that most readers would not be
interested in)

Things to Avoid

too much motivational material

describing unnecessary and obvious details.
spelling errors
arial and other sans-serif fonts.
three reasons are enough -- and they should be described very briefly.

(adapted from:http://infolab.stanford.edu/~widom/paper-writing.html)
Tips from the authors:

The technique we use for composing starts with brainstorming, writing down in point
form what we think has been achieved and what the results are. Then we prepare a
skeleton, and we choose what results are to be emphasized and what material is to be
discarded. The following step is deciding what kind of sequence to choose (logical;
chronological order, from general to specific, from known to unknown, from accepted
to controversial, cause/effect, problem/solution. etc.). Then we decide the section and
their titles.

The order of working begins with writing the introduction, then we sketch each
section in the body either in point form or in text form so as to become aware of
sections whether these are of manageable size.

When the body and the closing summary or conclusions are complete, the
introduction usually needs substantial revision because the arguments presented in the
article mature and evolve as the writing proceeds. The final version of the abstract is
the last part to be written.

When we were beginner writers, we were taught to start by imitating. We were

advised to choose a paper whose results are similar to our own, to analyze its
organization, and sketch an organization for your results based on the same pattern.

EXTRA READING:

Read http://www-
net.cs.umass.edu/kurose/talks/top_10_tips_for_writing_a_paper. for more
information.

7.2 Abstracts

Abstracts summarise or condense the key aspects of a longer document, usually a

thesis, research article, conference proceeding. Their intention is to motivate the
readers to read the full document. Scientific and technical communication finds
abstracts in three areas:

a. as overviews of articles, accompanying the articles;

b. as summaries of Ph.D. theses or dissertations, usually put in the introduction;
c. as components of larger reports, also called “executive summaries”.

An abstract should be brief, between 200 and 500 words, it should convey the
essential details of the paper and can fall into two categories: descriptive or
informative.
Descriptive abstracts are very short, written in an informal tone.

e.g. This user manual describes the commands, statements, functions and uses of KPL
software. The software runs on Windows 2003 or higher.

Informative abstracts provide information from the body of the report, specifically,
the key facts and conclusions. A good informative abstract must:

summarize the key facts, conclusions, and other important information in the
body of the report.

be about 10 percent of the length of the full report, if a report is 5 pages long,
the abstract should be about half a page. There are situations when the
publisher requires a specific number of words, irrespective of the rule
mentioned.

be compact and dense as information; key statistical details are obligatory;

sentences are usually longer than normal. The most common mistake to avoid
is the omission of definite and indefinite articles.

omit introductory explanations and citations.

Parts of the abstract:

1. Motivation (This section should write briefly about the importance of your
work, the difficulty of the field and your work’s potential impact.)
2. Problem statement (Tell what exact problem you approach and what sphere
of application it has.)
3. Approach or methodology (Tell what experimental methods and approaches
you used and what your main findings are. Avoid vague expressions that could
diminish your results in the eye of the reader.)
4. Results (what solution resulted after the use of the method)
5. Major conclusions (Specify to what extent your results are general, or
specific for a particular case.)

In other sources, the content of an abstract is given as follows:

1. Purpose (specify the research objectives, in a precise statement);

2. Method (show the techniques used, describe the work performed, omit specific
details about procedure and results);
3. Results (describe the findings, do not include the discussion of the results);
4. Conclusions (evaluate your results);
5. Specialised information (new processes, hypotheses, materials).

To write an effective abstract follow these steps:

 1. Re-read the article/paper/report having in mind:
- look specifically at the main parts of the abstract,
- make notes using headings, subheadings, table of contents to guide you,
- read carefully the introduction and summary as they emphasise the main ideas
in the article/paper/report.
2. After having finished reading it, write a rough draft, but:
- do not copy sentences from the article/paper/report,
- rephrase and summarise the information you are abstracting.
3. Revise the draft and:
- eliminate unnecessary information,
- add information left out if you consider it important,
- eliminate wordiness,
- improve transitions, coherence and cohesion
- correct grammar, punctuation and spelling errors.

Grammar elements in abstracts

The abstract is characterised by the use of third person, passive, past tense and
lack of negatives. Adjectives (if any) do not take superlatives. Sentences avoid
repetition and meaningless expression. However, verb tenses vary with the nature
of information: statements about the content of the document and about the
findings are in the present tense. Statements about the steps and processes of the
research are in past tense.

Verbs used in present/past simple, active voice:

- the results show/establish/suggest or showed/established/suggested…

- the main idea is that…
- the focus is on…
- it shows/introduces/concludes/investigates/analyses/discusses…
Verbs used in present/past simple passive voice:
- it is proposed…
- it is identified…
- it is argued that…

Other Considerations

An abstract must be a fully self-contained description of the paper. Usually the

context of a paper is set by the publication it appears in. (for example, IEEE
Computer magazine's articles are generally about computer technology).

 Some publications request "keywords" to facilitate keyword index searches.

 Meet the word count limitation. An abstract word limit of 150 to 200 words is
common.
 Make sure that the phrases typical of an abstract appear in your abstract, so
that they will turn up at the top of a search result listing.
 Do not cite sources, figures, tables or graphs.
 Do not begin your abstract with the words “This paper”, “this report” write
about the research, not about the paper.
  Avoid acronyms, trade names, symbols and abbreviations.
 It is better to answer the following questions: Why did you do this
project/study? What did you do? How did you do it? What did you find? What
do your findings mean? With respect to a new method or apparatus, the last
two questions will be: What are the advantages of the method/apparatus? How
well does it work?

Examples of abstracts and comments

The examples of abstracts below show the requirements made on the authors to
observe the journal styles as well as the common features of abstracts irrespective of
the area they are intended for.

“We have developed an automatic abstract generation system for Japanese expository
writings based on rhetorical structure extraction. The system first extracts the
rhetorical structure, the compound of the rhetorical relations between sentences, and
then cuts out less important parts in the extracted structure to generate an abstract of
the desired length. Evaluation of the generated abstract showed that it contains at
maximum 74% of the most important sentences of the original text. The system is
now utilized as a text browser for a prototypical interactive document retrieval
system.” (http://portal.acm.org/citation).

“The accuracy of stated energy contents of reduced-energy restaurant foods and

frozen meals purchased from supermarkets was evaluated. Measured energy values
of 29 quick-serve and sit-down restaurant foods averaged 18% more than stated
values, and measured energy values of 10 frozen meals purchased from supermarkets
averaged 8% more than originally stated. These differences substantially exceeded
laboratory measurement error but did not achieve statistical significance due to
considerable variability in the degree of underreporting. Some individual restaurant
items contained up to 200% of stated values and, in addition, free side dishes
increased provided energy to an average of 245% of stated values for the entrees they
accompanied. These findings suggest that stated energy contents of reduced-energy
meals obtained from restaurants and supermarkets are not consistently accurate, and
in this study averaged more than measured values, especially when free side dishes
were taken into account. If widespread, this phenomenon could hamper efforts to
self-monitor energy intake to control weight, and could also reduce the potential
benefit of recent policy initiatives to disseminate information on food energy content
at the point of purchase.” (http://adajournal.org/article)

Be careful with verbal tenses. Look at the example below:

“Eleven steel-concrete composite beams, four under pure torsion, and seven
under combined bending and torsion were tested to study their torsional
behaviours. Torsion-dominated and bending-dominated failure modes were
observed, depending on the ratio between the applied bending and torsional
moments. Testing results also showed that the reinforced concrete slab
contributes mainly to the torsional resistance of composite beams and the
contribution of steel joists to torsion is negligible. However, the steel joist plays a
vital role in restraining the concrete slab from deforming longitudinally, which
enhances the torsional strength of the concrete slab. Based on the experimental
observations, a three-dimensional behavioural truss model capable of analyzing
composite beam sections subjected to the combined bending and torsion was
presented. In this model, the section is subjected to one- and two-dimensional
stresses separately. The former resists the longitudinal stresses due to bending
and torsion while the latter resists the shear stresses due to torsion. These two
systems are related based on the compatibility of strains and the equilibrium of
stresses in the longitudinal direction. The results predicted with this method are
in good agreement with those obtained from the tests. Additionally, the
interaction between bending and torsion strengths was discussed.”
Adapted from Journal of structural engineering, Sept 2009, vol 135, no 9, p. 1048

This is a shorter abstract that uses only present tense in order to highlight the novelty
of the findings:

“A multiprocessor scheduling scheme is presented for supporting hierarchical

containers that encapsulate sporadic soft and hard real-time tasks. In this scheme, each
container is allocated a specified bandwidth, which it uses to schedule its children
(some of which may also be containers). This scheme is novel in that, with only soft
real-time tasks, no utilization loss is incurred when provisioning containers, even in
arbitrarily deep hierarchies. Presented experiments show that the proposed scheme
performs well compared to conventional real-time scheduling techniques that do not
provide container isolation.”
(From Real Time Systems, vol 43, Sept 2009 Springer affiliated journal, p. 60-61)

The abstract below contains a lot of narrow-field specialised terminology and is made
more readable by the alternation of present and ing- verbal forms.

“Mobile ad hoc networks consist of freely moving nodes responsible of not only
forwarding packets for other nodes but can also perform extensive computations.
One of the most critical issues in these networks is the significant differences in terms
of processing and energy capacity between the nodes, inducing a load imbalance.
Thus, sharing the load between the overloaded and idle nodes is a necessity in ad hoc
networks. In this paper, we present a new load balancing algorithm based on
clustering where a subset of nodes “clusterheads” is elected to maintain some balance
within their respective clusters while minimizing the overall communication cost. Our
primary goal is to minimize the total execution time of the tasks by distributing the
workload among nodes. Another goal is to extend the overloaded nodes lifetime
inducing a stability of the network. The simulation results have shown that network
performance can be reached by distributing load to idle nodes within the network.”
from: Journal of computing and information technology, CIT 17 2009, 2 177-184

7.3 The User Manual

A user (’s) manual, also known as a guide, is a technical communication document
intended to give assistance to people using a particular system. Manuals explain how
to assemble, how to use, how to fix a system. Many companies produce manuals for
their products. Manuals can be found in electronic form or in print or in both. They
are usually written by a technical writer, although programmers, product or project
managers, or other technical staff, can also write one. The user manuals you can meet
on the market can be tutorials, training manuals used as textbooks, operator’s
manuals, service manuals, maintenance manuals for semiskilled technicians, and
repair manuals for service technicians performing extensive repairs (from Lindsell-
Roberts, 2001, p. 104). According to Blake and Bly (p. 144).Other common types of
manuals are installation manuals (explaining how to install a piece or equipment
correctly and safely), instruction manuals (telling how to operate equipment),
operations manuals (explaining how equipment works in theory and practice and
including diagrams, blueprints, tables of operating data, specifications), sales manuals
(containing product specifications, pricing and other information for sales persons),
system documentation (showing how the system is designed, what components it has)
and computer user’s manual (telling how to use software or computers).

Nowadays, hardware user manuals are shipped with the hardware product and are like
some industry standard. They most often include pictures that help best explaining
some of the things described. They are usually printed but because some products
require a very big amount of information detailing, certain hardware manuals also
include instructions and details on a CD or some sort of digital media. All producers
nowadays have a website where among other information the user can find the
manual and support for his specific product.

Software documentation or source code documentation is a text (written)

accompanying the computer software. It explains how the computer operates, how to
use it, what requirements it has. The software documentation includes the
requirements (attributes, capabilities, characteristics of a system), architecture/design
(the design principles for the components of the software), codes, algorithms,
interfaces, manuals for the end-user and how to market the product. A good software
user manual has a getting started section, very useful for a user that gets in touch for
the first time with that product, that’s why it should have the following characteristics:
Terms easy to understand: since it’s designed for the use of a novice, the
language should be unambiguous, and at the border of everyday language and
technical language;
Small steps: a beginner will gain a better understanding if he gets small pieces
of information, and properly understands it, rather than offering big chunks of
detailed information, that might confuse him;
Easy access: the user should be able to consult the getting started section at
any moment.
Expressive graphics, drawings, diagrams and photos are necessary to build a
text and strengthen understanding.
Avoid confusing the readers because of lack of consistency.
Emphasize and highlight text by means of bold text, capitalization, alternate
fonts and colour.
The sections of a user guide contain:

A cover page
A title page and copyright page
A preface (with details of related documents and information on how to reach
various aspects in the guide)
A contents page
A troubleshooting section (on errors and problems that could occur and how to
fix them)
A Frequently Asked Questions component
Where to find further help
A glossary and an index (in the case of very large documents).

Beside the clear communication guidelines given in the previous chapters, the
following suggestions can make your manual easily readable and comfortable to
apply.

1. Manual writing is mainly instruction writing. A manual or guide contains

instructions to complete a task. Tasks in technical fields are complex and
difficult to understand. That is why, to be effective, you must remember that
you need not impress or sell the product. The instructions must be clear and
easy to understand. Start, if you do not have experience, by writing
instructions or giving oral instructions to someone for non-technical activities.
For instance, cooking, sowing a button, putting on a necktie. If your
instructions can be followed without additional questions, you are on the right
way.
2. Make sure you give complete instructions. It is better to assume too little
knowledge or experience on the part of your reader, than leaving out valuable
information. Remember to write for the audience with least experience or
skill. On the other hand, it is reasonable to assume that electricians understand
what voltage is, and so you need not explain this concept in your manual. Do
not forget, in this sense, to state explicitly in the preface or introduction of
your manual what the intended audience is and the level of information and
knowledge you assume on their part.
3. Make instructions clear and correct. For this purpose, use simple and
conversational language everyone can understand. Do not use sophisticated,
highly specialized terms just because the subject is technical.
4. Be unambiguous. All the readers want to be sure they do things in the right
manner. In case it is necessary to repeat a procedure twice, repeat it, not to
leave your readers confused or uncertain.
5. Use warnings. Tell readers both what to do and not to do. Highlight warnings
in capital letters or with other graphic technique as in the example below:

e.g.

WARNING: Do not leave coins, screws, nails etc in pockets.

 You can also reinforce warnings and instructions as well with the words make
sure:

e.g. Make sure screws are tight.

6. Use imperative forms because they are direct. It is better to use imperatives
than passive forms with should:

e.g. Open the Tools menu and select Options as shown in Figure 1.

rather than:

The Tools menu should be opened and Options should be selected as shown in
Figure 1.

For instructions, it is advisable to use action verbs when the reader is asked to
perform a certain task:

Attach Make
Begin Make sure
Check Measure
Close Monitor
Connect Open
Detach Place
Determine Prepare
Disconnect Press
Examine Provide
Expose Push
Finish Remove
Fix Repair
Grasp Restore
Hold Screw
Increase Select
Install Set
Join Take
Let Test
Loosen Tighten
Lubricate Type

Table 9. List of action verbs

Although most of the text should be written in this imperative mode, an occasional
joke can break the monotony of the dull instructions. An example can be this
fragment from The IBM PC Guide (Wayne, Pa.: Banbury Books):

“Warning: Be certain your message is ready for the rest of the world—you can't get
it back once you press the Send button, can you?.”
Choose the organizational scheme appropriate to the task, audience and technology.
The organizational scheme can be sequential or functional. This has to be decided
upon and approved by the management before you begin writing.

In the sequential organization, you organize the materials according to the steps the
readers must take to complete the task or better understand the subject. For instance,
in word processing software, you can start with some quick instructions so the user
can immediately begin using the program to write a letter. Then, you can present more
sophisticated word processing, such as footnotes, page formatting, page numbering
etc. With sequential organization readers can achieve results quickly, but they need to
learn more and this is not of interest for experienced readers.

In functional organization, the manual is arranged around the functions of the system
or equipment. Such a manual has separate chapters for text processing, text moving,
on screen-graphics, exporting files, in the case of a word processing package. Its
advantages lie in easiness to outline and write as well as to be used for reference. Its
disadvantage is that it is not ideal for learning, because the process is not presented
step-by-step for achieving a specific result. One way to support the organizational
scheme is the use of table of contents, introduction, headings, page breaks, index, tab
or other guiding devices.

7. Present instructions in series of numbered steps. It is much easier for the

reader to understand and use a procedure in a clear order. Write most end-user
procedures in numbered steps and most programmers procedures in numbered
steps and paragraphs (see the example below related to a Samsung camera).

e.g.

“1. Read your camera manual before taking any photographs.

2. Check your batteries. Make sure to either recharge or replace them if you haven’t
used your camera as yet or for an extended period.

3. Insert your storage media card in the appropriate slot. If you forget to insert your
media card, you’ll get a "No Card" message.

4. Remove the lens cap.

5. Turn the camera on by either an on-off switch or a sliding lens cover.

6. Turn off the LCD. (See your camera manual for instructions)

7. Make sure your camera is set for automatic mode. Set the image quality to the
size image desired–HQ (high quality) or less (to take more pictures on the same card).

8. Bring the camera up to your eye and look through the viewfinder. Positioning the
target mark in the centre of the viewfinder on your subject will assure that it will be in
focus.”
 8. Headings alert the readers to upcoming topics and subtopics, help them find
their way in long documents and break up long texts.

9. Test drive your manual. The true test of a manual’s effectiveness is to see if
the user can follow it. Many technical writers advise to test drive the written
instructions in the manual before publishing them in large numbers of copies. You
can do this by giving the manual to a typical user and asking for reactions. If the
user can follow it, the manual is a success. If not… go back to the word processor.

Bibliography http://www.io.com/hcexres/textbook/feas.html

7.4 Technical reports

Technical reports are the documents in which engineers, scientists, and managers
describe the process, progress and/or the results of their research, field work or other
activities to people in their organisation. The reports are used to present a specific
content – often the results of experiments – to a specific audience, private or public.
Sometimes, reports are the only tangible products of hundreds of hours of work. In
fact, the quality of work is judged by the quality of the written report. While the form
of the report can vary according to the domain of use, the content is defined by the
audience reading it. The content should, however, be clear, accurate and not providing
means to misinterpret the information given in it. In engineering, a report can outline
a proposal for a project, the progress of the project as well as the present research and
findings, detailed technical aspect of an innovation or patent. Today, technical reports
are a major source of technical information. Prepared for internal or larger distribution
for sponsors of research projects

There are more types of reports, each of them having a specific purpose. Thus, the
periodic report provides information on the activities in the organisation at regular
intervals. Primary research reports present findings and interpretation of findings in
laboratory or research work. Annual reports are examples of such periodic reports.
Progress reports present updates on an ongoing activity, while field reports present
results on an on-site inspection or evaluation. Research reports refer to the results of
studies, research or experiments carried out in a lab or in a certain field.
Recommendation reports are submitted to management as the basis for decisions and
actions. Feasibility reports look at the feasibility of undertaking a particular project,
action, or alternative. Feasibility, evaluation and recommendation reports compare
several opinions against a set of requirements, discuss an idea in terms of its
feasibility, be it technically, practically or socially possible. Technical background
reports focus on a technical topic and give background to that topic. They never
include recommendations or new and original information.

All these types of reports should contain the following sections:

 Cover and title page. They should be neat, clear, and simple. Avoid
impressing the reader with fancy pictures.
Abstract. It is an informative, concise statement of the work, objectives, scope
and major conclusions. It should be written in only one paragraph.
Table of contents. It must include all headings and subheadings, with the page
number on which they are written. Tables, graphs, figures and charts are listed
separately at the end.
Summary. Different from abstracts, summaries cover the purpose of the work,
the goal, the scientific or commercial objective, the work or research progress
and its results, in about one page. It represents 10% of the written report and is
often also called synopsis.
Introduction. It provides background material, theory, findings of previous
research, methods of investigation, key results of the research.
Body. The body of the report contains detailed theory, procedures, equipment
used.
Results. Here are included all the experimental data, observations, and results,
and their meaning is discussed.
Conclusions (and recommendations). Results are usually presented clearly, in
numbered statements.
Symbols and units of measurement.
References. All sources used by the author should be given in alphabetical
order.
Appendices. Samples of calculations, measurements, computer printouts, and
other data (shown as tables, charts, maps, photographs, questionnaires,
statistics) that were too long to be presented in the body of the report are
included here.

This is the basic format of reports. Many companies have devised their own
format or style. In case you have to write a report, check with your supervisor or
publishing department the guidelines for reports. It is incredible how many
reports fail because they do not provide the basic information.

Tips for writing an effective report:

a. understand your objectives: before beginning writing, make sure you fully and
clearly understand why and for whom you have to write the report;
b. keep it short, make clear and short sentences, easy to be read by the busy
reader; be detailed and factual;
c. organise the text, with headings/subheadings to help the readers find the
information relevant to them in the special standard format;
d. start with important information and add additional information with scarcity;
e. use a relaxed style, easy to read, rather informal, but professional;
f. use graphics, sources and data remembering that people trust statistics more
than opinions;
g. make your report attractive by sticking to the same fonts (Times New Roman
font at 11pt or 12pt), acceptable spacing (usually 1.5) and wide margins as
well as right justify.
h. number sections and subsections; Remember that each section should be
structured as follows:
1. Tell readers what you are going to tell them.
2. Tell them it.
3. Tell them what you have told them.

i. type and print the report neatly;

j. ideally, each page should have a header and a footer (in Microsoft Word you
create headers and footers and footers from the View menu). The header
should contain the author, title, and version number. The footer should contain
the date and page number. Page numbers should appear preferably in the form
“Page n/m” where m is total number of pages.
k. any report that is subject to a review procedure should also contain a ‘change
history’ page, where the version numbers and dates are listed with the main
changes that were made.

7.5. Specification sheet

Specification sheets or spec sheets cover a wide range of products and equipment,
including software. They are written by engineers, technicians, programmers or other
technical specialists. According to Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts, (2001, p. 122), spec
sheets are written in teams, are always work-in-progress and need updating as the
project changes.

A product is introduced on the market or updated with the help of the requirement
specs. They include the detailed definition of the application of the product, a list with
functions and capabilities, and an estimated cost as they mirror the needs of the
market for the product in question. Functional specs give very detailed information of
the objectives, methods, system operation, output, file descriptions, calculations,
dealing with the capabilities mentioned in the requirement specs. A more complex set
of specs refers to the design specs, including all documents relevant for the
application or product, interfaces and functions, programming issues, reliability,
diagnostic issues, and alterations in progress. At a higher level, test specs add
documents related to similar products or applications, testing methods and warnings
for the tester. End-user specs give information about operating the product or running
the application, including features, weaknesses, other characteristics of the products,
information on the vendor.
8. ORAL PRESENTATIONS
8.1 Preparing for the oral presentation
8.1.1 The topic
8.1.2 The presenter
8.1.3 The visual support
8. 2. Delivering the oral presentation
8.3 The language of presentations

There are more reasons for giving a presentation, ranging from presenting a paper
or report, asking the management to increase the budget of your research, being
the representative of a research and development team that has to demonstrate a
new process, innovation, product or running a training session. In all these
situations, the ability to speak effectively is as crucial as the ability to write
effectively. But most people are not really wishing to deliver a presentation in
front of an audience, though they are aware that a good presentation is an
opportunity to grow professionally and to enhance one’s reputation within an
organisation. One way of avoiding failure in presentations is considering every
speaking opportunity as an opportunity to sell not only one’s ideas but also one’s
competence and your value to the organisation.

There are some principles that should be carefully followed in order to deliver a
successful presentation. Let us take the example of the delivery of a paper. Paper
means, in this case, a study, a report, an article defended in front of an audience in
conferences, conventions, or meetings. All technical professions are often asked to
speak on a topic in which they are experts. The findings are first written and then
are reported at a professional meeting. A well planned and well written technical
paper helps presentation. Do not read the well written paper, speak about that
paper, rely on notes, slides and other visual aids that can enhance your audience’s
understanding of the topic.

8.1 Preparing for the oral presentation

A successful presentation is centred on two main aspects:
1. Preparing for the oral presentation
2. Delivering the oral presentation

1. Preparing for the oral presentation requires three distinct preparation

stages:
a. the topic
b. the presenter
c. the visual support

a. The topic

Purpose and objectives

First of all, you should define the purpose of your presentation. The purpose tells
what the objectives will be. Purpose can be to instruct (for example, to explain
how to run a text editing program on a computer), to persuade (to convince your
management that the budget for your innovation should be increased), or simply to
inform on a new development in a certain area. Objectives can be more
measurable and specific, ranging from training, amusing or simply explaining. The
purpose is determined by the message sent to the audience and the questions you
have to answer are:
 Why do I deliver this presentation?
Why do I deliver this presentation now?
What do I want to get from it?
What will change after my presentation?
The purpose defines the rhythm, pace, approach and intonation of your
presentation. When your presentation has an instructional purpose keep in
mind that adults have a memory span of 45 minutes that they can remind about
a third of what they have heard, if the number of main ideas does not exceed
seven. This means that you have to be concise, coherent and clear, that you
have to reduce these ideas and repeat them at the beginning, in the middle and
at the end of your presentation.

The presentation room

A professional presenter should take into consideration the size of the room,
its light, number of chairs and their position, position of plugs and switches,
availability of electronic and electrical devices. If possible, set up an
environment that could increase the impact of your presentation. For this
purpose, check the room and the devices at least in the evening before the
presentation. Stay in front of the microphone, try to get used to it. Get
comfortable with the room. Check the chairs (they may screech or you may
want to arrange them in circles, in U form, in lines), check for the light
switches and plugs to be functional, for wire cables to be long enough for your
purpose, for the microphone to run. Test your voice on the microphone to
become aware of the voice volume needed. Test the room echo, even more if
there is no microphone, you may need to adapt the voice to the room size and
echo.

The audience
The logistical organisation, the material, its structuring and selection depend
on the audience: number of participants, professional level, motivation, social
relationship with the presenter. The minimum questions to be put about the
audience are:
What do they know about you?
What do they know about the topic?
What motivated them to attend your presentation?
Why do they come to your presentation? What are their objectives
(to get informed, to make personal contacts)?

If the audience is made up of highly skilled professionals, the presentation

must be concise, determined, positive in tone and extremely accurate. If
presenting to peers, professionalism and good presentation are prerequisites,
but aggressiveness and showing off should not exist. When in front of people
with a lower background than that of the presenter, authority, confidence,
experience and knowledge on behalf of the presenter can generate enthusiasm.
If the audience is heterogeneous, (speaking of background, age, social status),
the presenter should adapt the presentation so as to set a common interest
environment.
A perfect communication between the presenter and the audience is another
prerequisite. In this sense, the presenter has to clearly state the basic concepts,
to avoid too much jargon and to make short breaks to remind the audience of
the main ideas of the presentation. The advantage of the presenter is his/her
information, openness and tolerance.

The number of people attending a speech can vary from 10 to over one
hundred. When speaking in front of a smaller audience (10/15 people), the
presenter can be less formal, must keep a permanent contact with the public. In
a group between 15 and 30 people, the presenter will approach a more formal
presentation, the pronunciation should be clearer, the voice stronger.
Audiences between 30 and 100 persons require microphones. The presenter is
in front of an amorphous mass, difficult to approach. He should become an
actor or at least a director. The personality of the presenter affects the audience
not only the information to be conveyed.

The material

Pick the method of preparing for the talk that best suits your comfort level with
public speaking and with your topic.

Here are the obvious possibilities for preparation and delivery:

Write a script, practice it, and keep it around for quick-reference during
your talk.
Set up an outline of your talk, practice with it, and bring it for reference.
Set up cue cards, practice with them, and use them during your talk.

Of course, oral and written texts differ. Sentences should be clear, examples
and analogies should be given as support. Do not give too many examples or
figures, join facts with figures, avoid acronyms and abbreviations of all kind.
Use visual to demonstrate and strengthen your main ideas. A brilliant speech
can go down in history. But most of us write words the world will never listen
to. Forget those unnecessary words from the written text. They can make a
presentation dull, while you should give a clear, understandable, well-planned,
organized, and informative speech.
Speech is the language of persuasion. The way words are put together makes
all the difference. It is often thought that great speakers are blessed with a gift,
but they all use the same techniques. What makes people stand out is how
often they use them. Study great speeches and you will soon see a formula that
suits you. While some are more complex, others are relatively simple. The
rules and techniques of good communication work on all levels - if you're on a
stage speaking to thousands of people, asking your boss for a pay rise, trying to
buy a new house, or teaching a class of 10 year olds.

So what are the best techniques?

CONTRASTS

Using contrasts is a real winner (remember John F Kennedy’s "Ask not what
your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.") Research
 shows 33% of the applause a good speech gets is when a contrast is used. This
is because you are often using a negative and then a positive and that has
impact. It makes your point bigger and better.

LISTS OF THREE ITEMS

Three really is the magic number. A list can be as simple as "here, there and
everywhere". It's a technique used not only in politics (US President Barrack
Obama used 29 three-part lists in roughly 10 minutes during his victory speech
on election night). The theory behind the technique is that a list of two can be
ambiguous, while three is the first point at which a possible list of similar
words can become unequivocal. No other word needs to be added to make it a
list. Three shows completeness and confirmation. Winston Churchill was very
aware of the power of three in speeches. Who can forget his "blood, sweat and
tears"?

IMAGERY AND ANECDOTES

Using imagery and telling anecdotes takes people on a memorable journey, as

the speaker personalises the things presented.

BREAK THE RULES

There is always room for the unexpected associations. Another way of

breaking rules is to speak with passion. For me that is the difference between a
good and a great speech.

b. The presenter

To convey your message with confidence and competence, you need to prepare
and rehearse your presentation. Be natural. Take care of the first impression on
the audience. To be successful, you have to rehearse not only your topic of
presentation, but also the following:

Permanent eye contact signals interest in others and increases the speaker's
credibility. Speakers who make eye contact open the flow of communication
and convey interest, concern, warmth, and credibility.

If you smile frequently you will be perceived as more likable, friendly, warm,
and approachable. The audience will react favourably, will feel more
comfortable will want to listen to you more.

Speak lively, make gestures to facilitate understanding and not to be perceived

as stiff.

Standing erect and leaning forward communicates that you are

approachable, receptive, and friendly. Face your audience to suggest
interpersonal closeness. Speaking with your back turned or looking at the floor
or ceiling communicates your own disinterest. Avoid such behaviour.
 Intercultural communication dictates a comfortable distance for interaction
with others. Move around the room to increase interaction with your audience,
to make better eye contact and to stimulate others to speak. However, do not
gaze or pat on the shoulder your audience.

One of the major criticisms of speakers is that they speak in a monotone voice.
Listeners regard this type of speaker as boring and dull. Mainly, when
presenting in a foreign language, speakers use a monotonous voice, often in an
alert rhythm. Speak at a normal pace. If you are not sure of the pronunciation
of some words, do not rush over them, it is preferable to avoid. Emphasize,
when necessary, by means of your voice. Forget about err... mh… or… and the
similar.

c. The visual support

Visual support can be overhead projection transparencies (OHPs), 35mm

slides, computer projection (PowerPoint, other applications such as Excel, etc),
video, and film, even real objects, flip-chart or blackboard. Audio-visual
means strengthen and intensify the impact of the verbal message. Among the
more recently used means, the flipchart (a paper variant of the black or white
board) has the benefit of offering the audience the chance to see on-the-spot
noted down information and this makes the topic easier to understand. It is
recommended to be used in front of a small number of people. The overhead
projector (OHP) gives the impression of professionalism, as images projected
from the transparent foils can be designed earlier, but are still and two-
dimensional. It is advisable to use it in front of a varied audience. Remember:
a. Place the OHP at 90° or use adjustable screens to avoid distortions;
b. Choose a position of the screen and OHP respectively so that all the people
can see the images;
c. Do not stand in front of the projected image;
d. Use a pointer to show a piece of information on the foil placed on the OHP
and not on the screen;
e. Cover the information you do not speak about. Release the image step by
step to make the people more interested in your topic.

The multimedia projector

Colour, motion, size can be better rendered with the multimedia projector.
PCs, video, camera, Internet can be connected to it. Though requiring a
complex system, prior installation and no power outage, its main advantage
lies in that the presenter can use it both during preparation and presentation, so
that he/she is more comfortable with the device. Varied types of audiences can
benefit from it.

Tips:
Learn and practise with the entire system, and mainly with remote control;
Make sure everyone in the room can see the screen;
The rule of three items applies for each slide or picture. Do not use more
than three main ideas for a page, diagram, chart, picture;
 Choose short clips, the audience wants to see and listen to you not to the
screen;
After presenting a short film, let the audience some seconds before getting
back to you;
Do not speak while presenting a film; in case you want to make comments,
stop the frame and comment;
Keep the hardware and software simple - a complex set of hardware can
result in confusion for speaker and audience and you may not have state-of-
the-art software everywhere you go.
Edit your slides as carefully as your talk - if a slide is superfluous then
leave it out. If you need to use a slide twice, duplicate it.
Check your slides - for typographical errors, consistency of fonts and
layout.

Last but not least:

Make a copy of the electronic materials before the oral
presentation;
Use a simple or electronic laser pointer;
Check if you have the necessary things with you and if they work
well;
Check the electricity in the room.

Slides and transparencies

Should contain the minimum information necessary not to divert your
audience's attention.
Try to limit words per slide to a maximum of 10.
The title of the presentation shall be readable, placed either in the
middle or in the upper-lower corner of the slide.
The paragraph shall contain only one idea, in not more than six lines of
six words (if it is necessary to write more than 10 words).
Use a reasonable size font and a typeface which will enlarge well.
Typically use a minimum 18pt Times Roman on OHPs, and preferably
larger. Communication gurus say that if you can read the OHP from a
distance of 2 metres (without projection) then it's probably OK.
The distance between lines should be 20 % larger than the capital
letters size.
Do not write all the words with capitals. It tires the audience.
Do not use all kind of complex fonts just because you like them. In
sides, Arial is favoured.
Avoid using a technical diagram from the original technical report, as it
will be too detailed and difficult to read.
Use colour on your slides but avoid orange and yellow which do not
show up very well when projected.
For text only, white or yellow on blue is pleasant to look at and easy to
read. Books on presentation techniques often have quite detailed advice
on the design of slides.

Room lighting should be considered. Too much light near the screen will make
it difficult to see the detail. On the other hand, a completely darkened room can
 send the audience to sleep. Try to avoid having to keep switching lights on and
off, but if you do have to do this, know where the light switches are and how to
use them.

Comment on the three slides below:

Bad Better
• Both engineers and
academics teaching
science and technology Engineers and academics
need the same skills in science and technology
• Sharing results is an need the same skills.
important part of the
scientific process. By
discussing your results -- Why is sharing of results
and your interpretation of important for the
your results -- with others,
you let the world know scientific process?
about your important
findings.

What are the problems of this slide?

Slide 4

Sample javascript implementing this:

<html>
<head>
<title>...</title>
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
var began_loading = (new Date()).getTime();

function done_loading() {
(new Image()).src = '/timer.gif?u=' + self.location +
'&t=' +
(((new Date()).getTime() - began_loading) / 1000);
}
// -->
</script>
<!--
Reference any external javascript or stylesheets after
the above block.
// -->
</head>
<body onload="done_loading()">
<!--
Put your normal page content here.
// -->
</body>
</html>
This will produce web log entries of the form:
10.1.2.3 - - [28/Oct/2006:13:47:45 -0700] "GET
/timer.gif?u=http://example.com/page.html&t=0.971
HTTP/1.1" 200 49 ...

in this case, showing that for this user, loading the rest of http://example.com/page.html took
0.971 seconds. And if you know that the combined size of everything referenced from that
page is 57842 bytes, 57842 bytes * 8 bits per byte / 0.971 seconds = 476556 bits per second
effective bandwidth for that page load. If this user should be getting 1.5Mbit downstream
bandwidth, there is substantial room for improvement.

8.2. Delivering the oral presentation

In spite of a serious preparation, during the delivery of your presentation you

must stick to the following:
Greet the audience (for example, 'Good morning, ladies and gentlemen'),
and tell them who you are.
o Tell them how important the topic is.
o Give the main focus of the topic.
o Give examples.

Good presentations then follow this formula:

- tell the audience what you are going to tell them,
- then tell them,
- the end tell them what you have told them.
End with something to bear in mind!
Don’t forget to frame your presentation with a discernible introduction and
conclusion.

The introduction should

a. get the audience’s attention
b. present the topic in a clear and compelling fashion
c. show the topic's importance, relevance, or interest
d. forecast the main points or major ideas of your
presentation

The conclusion should

a. inform the audience that you are about to close;

b. summarize the main points of your presentation;

c. leave the audience with an idea or concept to remember or ponder.

Good presentations remember the KISS (keep it short and simple) formula.
A British lord used to say that he did not object to people looking at their watches
when he was speaking, “but I strongly object when they start shaking them to
make certain that they are still going".

Dress comfortably, but appropriately.

Don't read your presentation. Talk to your audience. Use your notes on
the cue cards as prompts if needed. So prepare cue cards which have key
words and phrases (and possibly sketches) on them. Postcards are ideal for
this. Don't forget to number the cards in case you drop them. Mark on your
cards the visual aids that go with them so that the right OHP or slide is shown
at the right time.
Visual aids are supplements to what you say, not replacements for what
you say.
Maintain eye contact. Shift your eye contact around the room so that
everyone feels that you are talking to them.
Involve your audience. Ask, for instance, questions that you are confident
your audience will be able to answer.
Use your voice effectively. Vary the tone of your voice and be careful not
to talk too quickly.
End on a high note. Leave your audience feeling upbeat about what they
have just heard.
Keep to the time allowed. As a rule of thumb, allow 1.5 minutes for each
transparency or PowerPoint slide you use.
Leave time for discussion and clarification of points.

Other do’s and don’ts:

Speak clearly. Don't shout or whisper.
Don’t rush, or talk deliberately slowly. Be natural. Slow speech tends to add
dignity to your speech.
Make pauses at key points to emphasize a particular point.
Avoid jokes - always disastrous unless you are a natural expert.
Use your hands to emphasize but not too much. It can irritate the audience.
Don't face the display screen behind you and talk to it.
Don’t stand so as to obscure the screen.
Some animation is desirable; however avoid moving about too much.
Keep an eye on the audience's body language. Know when to stop and also
when to cut out a piece of the presentation.

Answering Questions
Anticipate questions the audience might pose and prepare brief responses.
Listen carefully to each question, waiting to respond until you are sure that
you understand what’s being asked.
Repeat questions before responding to them to ensure that the entire
audience has heard them.
Keep your responses brief; don’t digress.
Be honest—if you don’t know the answer, say so.
Try to deflect loaded questions.
 Don’t let one person dominate the question-and-answer period or give a
mini-speech.
Use the last question to summarize your key points or reinforce your main
idea.

8.3 The language of presentations

If you want your audience to understand your message, your language must be simple
and clear. Use short words and short sentences. Do not use jargon, unless you are
certain that your audience understands it. In general, talk about concrete facts rather
than abstract ideas. Use active verbs instead of passive verbs.

The technique of signposting (or signalling)

Signposting or signalling language refers to the words and phrases used by speakers
to guide their listeners through the presentation. If the presenter uses a lot of signpost
language (that is fairly informal) the listener can easier understand what has just
happened or will happen soon.

The table below lists useful expressions that you can use to signpost the various parts
of your presentation.

Function Signposting language

Introducing oneself (It is a good idea to
put your name, company’s name,
company logo, title and date of the
presentation on all the transparencies
and handouts).
transparencies or handouts
Introducing a guest speaker
Introducing the subject
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, let
me introduce myself.
Good morning everyone, I'd like to start
by introducing myself.
My name is...
I am a student at the Technical University
of Cluj-Napoca
I am a doctoral candidate,
I am X. Y. from third year Computer
Science.
I'm the manager of…
I am a researcher from … I've been
working on the subject now for X years...
I've had wide experience in the field of ...
I am very pleased and proud to introduce
…who is…. He/she is
known for…
Now I'll turn the floor over to today's
speaker. (to take the floor, to have the
floor, to give the floor to someone.)
I'd like to start by...
Let's begin by...

Overview (outline of presentation)
DO NOT SAY:
I will not speak about...
I have limited my speech to
My talk will last about 15 minutes
Finishing one subject...
...and starting another
Analysing a point and
recommendations
First of all, I'll...
Starting with...
I'll begin by...
The subject/topic of my talk is ...
I'm going to talk about ...
My topic today is…
My talk is concerned with …
I plan to speak about...
Today I'm going to talk about...
The subject of my presentation is...
The theme of my talk is...
I've been asked to give you an overview
of...
I’m going to divide this talk into four
parts.
There are a number of points I'd like to
make.
Basically/ Briefly, I have three things to
say.
I'd like to begin/start by …
Let's begin/start by ...
First of all, I'll...
… and then I’ll go on to …
Then/ Next ...
Finally/ Lastly ...
Well, I've told you about...
That's all I have to say about...
We've looked at...
So much for... That's all I have to say
about...
We've looked at...
So much for...
Now we'll move on to...
Let me turn now to...
Next...
Turning to...
I'd like now to discuss...
Let's look now at... Moving on now to …
Turning to...
Let’s turn now to …
The next issue/topic/area I’d like to focus
on …
I’d like to expand/elaborate on …
Now we'll move on to...
I'd like now to discuss...
Let's look now at...
giving Where does that lead us?
Let's consider this in more detail...
What does this mean for ABC?
Translated into real terms... Where does
 that lead us?
Let's consider this in more detail...
What does this mean for...?
Translated into real terms...
Why is this important?
The significance of this is...
Giving an example For example...
A good example of this is...
As an illustration...
To give you an example...
To illustrate this point... Where does that
lead us?
Let's consider this in more detail...
What does this mean for...?
Let us see this through an example…
Dealing with questions We'll be examining this point in more
detail later on...
I'd like to deal with this question later, if I
may...
I'll come back to this question later in my
talk...
Perhaps you'd like to raise this point at
the end...
I won't comment on this now... I’m
happy to answer any queries/ questions.
Does anyone have any questions or
comments?
Please feel free to ask questions.
If you would like me to elaborate on any
point, please ask.
Would you like to ask any questions?
Any questions?
Summarising and concluding In conclusion...
Right, let's sum up, shall we?
I'd like now to recap...
Let's summarise briefly what we've
looked at...
Finally, let me remind you of some of the
issues we've covered...
If I can just sum up the main points... To
sum up ...
To summarise...
Right, let's sum up, shall we?
Let's summarise briefly what we've
looked at...
If I can just sum up the main points...
Finally, let me remind you of some of the
issues we've covered...
To conclude...
Briefly said,

Ordering
Paraphrasing and clarifying
9. HOW TO WRITE NUMBERS, UNITS OF MEASURE,
EQUATIONS AND SYMBOLS
In conclusion ...In short ...
So, to remind you of what I’ve covered in
this talk, …
Unfortunately, I seem to have run out of
time, so I’ll conclude very briefly by
saying that …..
I'd like now to recap...
Firstly...secondly...thirdly...lastly...
First of all then. .next. .after
that...finally...
To start with...later...to finish up...
Simply put…
In other words.......
So what I’m saying is....
To put it more simply....
To put it another way....
9.1. Numbers
9.2. Units of Measure
9.3. Equations
9.4. Symbols

9.1. Numbers
In technical writing, numbers, units of measure, equations and symbols are more used
than in everyday writing. The reason is that they communicate much of the data. Their
use should be then very clear and consistent. Of course users have many ways of
writing numbers. For instance we can write 1800 pounds, or 1800 lb or 1,800 lbs, not
to say anything about cost expression or weight.

In spite of these doubts, the writer should keep in mind the following rules:

e. all numbers under 10 must be written in letter:

e.g. zero quality defects, seven trial runs

exception: numbers used with units of measure, age, time, dates, page numbers,
percentages, money and proportions
e.g. 4 percent, 9 pounds, 3 seconds

f. all numbers over 10 are written with numerals

e.g. We received 235 abstracts for our conference.

g. When more than two numbers appear in a text, write them with numbers and be
consistent throughout the text
e.g. The table contains 45 words, 21 phrases and 16 symbols.

h. Separate thousands by commas to make them easier to understand, in British and

American English.
e.g. 12,167
5,000
5,611
The rest of Europe uses the full stop instead of a comma. So they write: 5.000 not
5,000.

i. Where mathematics is included in the text, use the scientific notation: 2.3 x 105,
instead of 2.3 million.

j. Place a hyphen between the number and unit of measure:

e.g. 15,000-volt charge, 45-foot-long feed-pipe.

k. Use a singular verb when the fraction or decimal is less than one:
e.g. 0.6 pound, ¼ mile

l. Do not write decimals and fractions as words, write them as numerals:

e.g. 0.34, ½;
m. For accuracy purposes, use maximum three or four digits in a decimal, being
attentive at rounding.

n. A certain degree of certainty/uncertainty can be reached using the words About,

up to, almost, more or less, roughly, approximately, on the order of before the
number:
e.g. almost one- third less energy

o. DO NOT BEGIN SENTENCES with numerals, write them out.

e.g. Two hundred car brakes have been tested. (Not: 200 car brakes have been tested).

9.2. Units of Measure

a. Be consistent with the units of measure. In this way readers can compare data.
Think what can happen if you start giving temperatures in Kelvin degrees and then
you switch to Celsius. Choose between the English and metric system and stick to the
system chosen.

b. Units of measure can be written as a word, as a symbol or as an abbreviation. For

instance for the “ampere”, the other two variants are “A” or “amp”.
Recommendations are to use the full word for the basic units (e.g. 12-inch ruler) and
abbreviated forms or symbols for the derived units (e.g. 250 J,32 m3/s).

c. Indicate multiplication of units by a raised dot (·) and division by slash (/) or use the
word per (e.g. The car speed is 50 miles per hour).

9.3. Equations
Equations communicate more effectively than words, but their production is
nightmare.

a. When including equations in your work these should be set out on a separate line,
and preferably labelled. Otherwise, the readers may find it difficult to understand
where the text is separated from the equation;

e.g.
Wrong: The value of x can be computed as x = 1/y + f(z). In this equation f(z)
represents a particular function of z.
Correct: The value of x can be computed as:
x = 1/y + f(z) Equation (1)
In Equation (1) f(z) represents a particular function of z.

b. The only exceptions are when the equation involves just 2 variables separated by an
operator, such as x=y or x>2y. In these cases you do not need to leave a space between
the symbols, so there is no chance the equation will run over the line.

c. Be attentive at the punctuation of an equation. It works like a sentence; if the

equation is in the middle of a sentence and not at its end, no period is placed after the
equation.

9.4. Symbols
When mathematical symbols and formulas are included in an article or report, it is
important to make sure your report will be easier to read and understand. You can do
this by keeping in mind the following:

1: All variables should be in italics to distinguish them from normal text:

Wrong: The value of a increases when a is less than 100.

Correct: The value of a increases when a is less than 100.

2: Never start a sentence with a mathematical symbol of any kind, since this can
create genuine ambiguity as well as just being hard to read. For example:

Wrong: We have computed the value of x in terms of y and z. z is in turn expressed as

a function of another variable.
Correct: We have computed the value of x in terms of y and z. The variable z is in turn
expressed as a function of another variable.

3. Define the symbols you use and avoid duplication of symbols.

There are many instances when the writer has to make a list of symbols and to write
their definition and units of measure to help the reader. On the other hand, the writer
may have to use the same symbol for various and differing variables or units. In such
a situation, writing terms as symbols can bring confusion and the solution lies in
writing out all terms as words.
10. USEFUL PHRASES

Writing is a requirement for all the students in higher education. In the form of a
process, writing starts from understanding the task given or assumed, goes on with
reading and making research and only then planning and writing the piece of
document asked for. The way to the final document is long, including more than one
draft, proof-reading and editing. My experience in teaching writing tells that most of
the students avoid using standard phrases to express functions in English, considering
that the topic can go without using these standard phrases.

Below you will find a long list of such phrases that have to be used during the writing
process. They operate as signposts for the reader and also help the writer better
organise his/her ideas. The examples given below are used in all types of academic
and technical writing. Of the most reliable and detailed sources of phrase banks for
academic purposes can be found at: http://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/. What
we give to you as examples below is the result of classroom work based on this
phrase bank. We found that most of these phrases are avoided by our students
considering them too standard as they ignore their value or signal for the reader.

Writing introductions

The most useful description of the steps in writing an introduction is given by Swales
(1990, pp. 137-165):

1. Establish a research territory

Show that the general research area is important, central, interesting, problematic, or
relevant in some way; introduce and review items of previous research in the area.

2. Establish a niche
Indicate a gap in the previous research by raising a question about it, or extending
previous knowledge in some way.

3. Occupy the niche

Outline purposes or stating the nature of the present research.
Indicate the structure of the RP.

Phrases used to establish the three steps mentioned above are:

It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the...

X is the leading cause of... in …
X plays a key role in Y …
In the new global economy, X has become a central issue for...
The increasing interest in... has heightened the need for...
Recent developments in X have heightened the need for...
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in...
Recent developments in the field of X have led to a renewed interest in...
The development of... has led to the hope that...
The study of... has become an important aspect of...
Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in...
The past decade has seen the rapid development of X in many...
Over the past century there has been a dramatic increase in...
One of the most important events of the 1970s was...
Traditionally, Xs have subscribed to the belief that...
X proved an important literary genre in the early Y community.
The changes experienced by Xs over the past decade remain unprecedented.
The increasing interest in... has heightened the need for...
Many recent studies have focused on...
The research has tended to focus on...,rather than on...
These studies have emphasised..., as opposed to...
Although considerable research has been devoted to …, rather less attention has been
paid to...
The previous research... has concentrated on...
Most studies have been content to...
So far, investigations have been confined to...
The purpose of this paper is to...
The purpose of this investigation is to...
The aim of this paper is to...
This paper reports on the results obtained...
This study was designed to...
In this paper, we give results of...
In this paper, we argue that...
This paper argues that...
We have organised the rest of this paper in the following way...
This paper is structured as follows...
The remainder of this paper is divided into five sections...

Outlining the structure:

The main questions/issues addressed in this paper are: a), b and c).
This paper has been divided into four parts. The first part deals with...
We have organised the rest of this paper in the following way...
This paper is structured as follows...
The remainder of this paper is divided into five sections...
The essay has been organised in the following way.
This paper first gives a brief overview of the recent history of X.
This paper begins by... . It will then go on to...
The first section of this paper will examine...
Finally/in the last chapter...

Referring to literature
All the sources used by the writer need to be indicated, not only in the bibliography at
the end of the document, but also in or along the text. Some authors mention sources
in brackets, others in footnotes. The way of writing sources and citations depends on
the discipline. However, the writer has to use certain phrases to make reference to
these sources found in literature.

During the past 20 years much more information has become available on...
In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of literature on...
A large and growing body of literature has investigated...
Many researchers have argued that... (for example/e.g. give names and years of
publication)
Numerous studies have attempted to explain... (for example/e.g. give names and years
of publication)
Recent evidence suggests that... (for example/e.g. give names and years of
publication)
Surveys such as that conducted by X (1988) have shown that...
Several studies have revealed that...
Several biographies of A have been published. X presents an... account, whilst Y...
Several studies investigating X have been carried out on...
Previous studies have reported... (for example/e.g. give names and years of
publication).
Previous research findings into X have been inconsistent and contradictory (for
example/e.g. give names and years of publication,...
A number of studies have found that... (for example/e.g. give names and years of
publication).
The relationship between X and Y has been widely investigated (for example/e.g. give
names and years of publication,...
The causes of X have been widely investigated (for example/e.g. give names and years
of publication).
It has been suggested that (Smith et al., 1995)
It has conclusively been shown that X and Y increase Z (Smith et al., 1999; Jones,
2001...
It has been demonstrated that X results in damage to... (Smith, 1998;...
X found/showed/demonstrated/reported/published that …
X analysed/investigated/surveyed/studied/measured that …
X (2008) has recently developed ...
A study of … was undertaken by/reported by/ first carried out by/…
X (year of publication) points out/argues/claims/concludes/suggests that…

Introducing quotations

In …, X writes: "..."
X concludes: " …" (author, year of publication: page).
As X argues/states: "..." (author, year of publication: page).
As X (year of publication: page) states: "…".

Introducing questions, problems and limitations

One of the limitations with … is that it does not explain why...

One criticism of much of the literature on X is that...
The key problem with this explanation is that...
X's interpretation overlooks much of the historical research...
One major criticism of X's work is that...
Many writers have challenged X's claim on the grounds that...
Perhaps the most serious disadvantage of this method is that...
One major drawback of this approach is that...
However, this method of analysis has a number of limitations.
However, approaches of this kind carry with them various well known limitations.
All the studies reviewed so far, however, suffer from the fact that...
All the previous mentioned methods suffer from the following
drawbacks/limitations/disadvantages:

Describing or indicating methods chosen

A variety of methods are used to assess X. Each has its advantages and drawbacks.
Previous studies have based their criteria for selection on...
It was decided that the best method to adopt for this investigation was to...
A case study approach was chosen to allow a...
The design of the questionnaires was based on...
The X method is one of the more practical ways of...
For this study the X was used to explore …

Expressing purpose

In order to...
In order to understand how…
To see if...
To control for …
To measure X, a question asking... was used
To determine whether /To establish whether...,
For the purpose of measurement,...
For the purpose of analysis ,...
For the estimation of …

Writing definitions

Academic and technical writers generally define terms so that readers understand
exactly what is meant by the key terms used.

Besides the classical words and phrases expressing a definition (is, are, is/are/can/may
be defined as) we often use the following:

It is necessary here to clarify exactly what is meant by...

The term X is generally understood to mean...
The term X is a relatively new name for a Y, commonly referred to as ….
A generally accepted definition of fluency is lacking.
In this paper, the term that will be used to describe this phenomenon is X.
The term "blahblah" is used by X (2001) to refer to...

Giving examples
Examples are used by writers or speakers to support a general statement or claim.
Usually examples come after a general statement, to make it cleared to understand.
Signpost language for exemplifying can be:

For example / instance,…

By way of illustration,…
A classic / well-known example of this is...
An example of this is the study carried out by Smith...
X is a good example / illustration of...
X illustrates this point / shows this point clearly.
This can be illustrated briefly by...

Classifying

Classifying is a common activity in everyday life and science as well. Facts and data
are collected and arranged in groups, categories or classes with related characteristics.
When we arrange similar data in groups, we are classifying them. The most common
words used to express classifications are: to classify, to divide, to categorize, to
group, types, categories, groups, classes, kinds, examples, species, components

Describing causes and effects

Some of the language useful to explain causes and effects is listed below:

Verbs: may/can cause, lead to, result in, give rise to, stem from, may be linked/may be
associated with;
Nouns: cause, consequence, influence, reason, factor;
Prepositional phrases: owing to, because of, as a result of;
Sentence connectors and adverbials: therefore, consequently, as a result of, because of
X, thus, thereby.

Comparing and contrasting

To help your reader keep track of where you are in the comparison/contrast, you'll
want to be sure that your transitions and topic sentences are especially strong. Your
thesis should already have given the reader an idea of the points you'll be making and
the organization you'll be using, but you can help her/him out with some extra cues.
The following words may be helpful to you in signalling your intentions:

like, similar to, also, unlike, similarly, in the same way, likewise, again, compared to,
in contrast, in like manner, contrasted with, on the contrary, however, although, yet,
even though, still, but, nevertheless, conversely, at the same time, regardless, despite,
while, on the one hand … on the other hand.

Describing trends and projections

Usually trends and projections are illustrated in graphs, pies, diagrams, against the
horizontal line representing time. As change over time and potential future changes
cover a longer or shorter time interval, the tenses used range from past, to present
perfect, present and future, dependent on the sentence context. Some of the language
commonly used for describing trends and projections is given below:

slight increase
gradual rise
steady decrease
The graph shows that there has been a marked fall in…
steep decline
sharp drop

Text coherence and cohesion

Most readers are aware that some texts, whatever their content, are easier to read. This
is due to the writer observing the function of text coherence. Coherence normally
refers to discourse relations which may or may not be explicitly signalled. Other
indicators of the text readability are the cohesive devices found at the surface level of
the text. There are four basic mechanical considerations in providing moving from
one idea towards the other: using transitional expressions, repeating key words and
phrases, using pronoun reference, and using parallel form. Coherence relations may
be inferred or explicitly signalled by conjunctions or other devices. Whereas
coherence is assigned to a text by a reader, cohesion is a property of the text itself.
Cohesion ensures that the written text flows smoothly. Cohesion enhances clarity as
the reader is able to follow the development of ideas in a text more easily.

The most common cohesive devices are reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction
and lexical.

In order to facilitate readability the writer should consider the following:

highlighting conjunctions or other relation signalling devices;

providing questions designed to provoke thought about the relations which
hold;
giving a relational map of the text;
adding conjunctions of other signalling devices where appropriate;
marking relations by means of lists, enumerations, etc.;
checking that where text has been edited (e.g. sentences inserted), that anaphor
- antecedent links are still clear;
"filling out" obscure ellipsis and using repetition rather than substitution.
11. GRAPHS, FIGURES AND TABLES
Illustrations give the reader more insight of ideas and results. Among illustrations,
graphs, diagrams, tables, algorithms are the most common with technical texts.
These figures should be numbered to allow easy reference and should have a caption.
It is preferable to introduce and discuss a figure just before or on the page on which it
occurs.

Graphs best present numerical results. Use them, however, sparingly. Avoid too
much statistics even in the form of graphs. Keep graphs simple, with a few plotted
lines and a minimum of clutter. The x or horizontal axis should be used for the input
or variable parameter. The vertical or y/line should be used for the output or function
of the parameter. Mark with circles, boxes, triangles discrete data. Use software
packages to draw graphs.

Diagrams illustrate processes or architectures, relationships or examples of interfaces

in an artistic manner. Though it is recommended to hand draw a diagram first to check
if it is proportionate, never submit a paper with a hand-drawn diagram, and keep it
meaningful (with the help of labels).

Tables are useful for the presentation of information that cannot be shown in the form
of graphs or diagrams. A good table is hierarchical.

The figures mentioned earlier have to be accompanied by captions and labels.

12. STYLE
We can express an idea in many ways, ranging from verbose, to plain, from poetic to
cryptic. The manner of expression is the writing style. Style is not grammar. Style
tells how well the text communicates with the reader. Science and engineering writing
is accurate and clear by its nature, but this does not mean that is must be dull and
boring. In general, technical writing style is characterised by objectivity and accuracy
as well as by economy. It is inappropriate to find ambiguity and metaphors in a
technical writing as it is inappropriate to be pompous. Good technical writing style
means to delete superfluous words and sentences, to transmit only the information and
to be of the size that is suitable to the topic and to the demand of the reader. Simple
writing means short, plain and exact words, used in short sentences with a simple
structure. Sentences should be included in short paragraphs, with one idea per
paragraph and one topic per section. Use direct statements, and specific information.
Add examples for clarification as well as illustrations.

You will find below a list of ideas concerning referencing, citation and quotation. The
list is not exhaustive. There are two reasons for this. First, when a document is
published in a journal, the editors have their specific requirements related to
referencing, quotation, bibliography. More than that the various manuals of style can
give you the most detailed information concerning these topics.

12.1 Reference and citation

Authors should be careful to relate and connect their new work with the work
performed by other authors, showing how they build on previous knowledge and how
they are different from other results in the same area. The work produced by other
authors is identified by reference to published materials.

The purpose of the references is to show that the authors are informed of the area
researched, and indirectly, to prove that he points made are reliable and to include
their new work in the framework of existing work. A reference has to be up-to-date,
accessible and necessary. Refer to original documents and sources, to published
documents rather than to information provided in conferences and talks, which cannot
be verified. Common knowledge needs not be cited. Self-reference is good if
establishes a research history for the author.

Basics for references:

1. Mark this section with a heading: References.

2. Included page numbers for all articles in journals and in collections.

3. Use italics (or underlining in handwriting) for titles of books, periodicals,
newspapers etc.

4. Use alphabetical order. Alphabetise works with no author by the first significant
word in the title.

5. All co-authors should be listed.

6. Indent second etc. lines

7. Use (n.d.) if no date is given.

8. If the author of a document is not given, begin the reference with the title of the
document.

Examples:
a. Book with one author
Haines, S. (2008) Real writing with answers,, Cambridge, University Press, 2008

b. Book with more authors

Ioani, M., Vlaicu, R., Grănescu, M. (2002), Tehnici de comunicare pentru viitorii
ingineri, Cluj-Napoca, UTPRES

c. edited collections
Kinsella, V. (Ed.). (1978). Language teaching and linguistics: Surveys. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
d. Periodical articles
Grănescu, M. (1988). Paralanguage. British Journal of Disorders of Communication,
3, 55-59.

e. Documents obtained from the Internet

All references should begin with printed sources. The WWW is placed at the end of
the reference in the same way as publishing information is given for books. It is
important to give the date of retrieval if the document on the Web may change in
content, move, or be removed from a site altogether.

Jacobson, J. W., Mulick, J. A. Schwartz, A. A. (1995). A history of facilitated

communication: Science, pseudoscience, and antiscience: Science working group on
facilitated communication. American Psychologist, 50, 750-765. Retrieved from
http://www.apa.org/journals/jacobson.html

In the Phrasesbank chapter you are given a list of phrases and words used to refer to a
source. Remember however that wording is very important in referencing. To avoid
mistakes or formulations based on opinion rather than on statement, it is preferable to
quote . Do not use:” X thinks that…” because it has a pejorative note. It is preferable
to say “X has argued that…”.

Citation can be made in the ordinal-number style: “Other work [6] has used the …”.
The other type of citation is the name-and-date style: “Fleming [6] has used the…”.
12.2 Quotation
The quoted text is put between double quotes.

Globalisation is generally defined as “the network of connections of organisations and

peoples […] across national, geographic and cultural borders and boundaries. These
global networks are creating a shrinking world where local differences and national
boundaries are being subsumed into global identities”.

Journal articles. The journal articles should be given in full with author names, paper
title, year, volume, number, pages.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
The list of bibliography below represents about 5 % of our readings. Some of the
books are referred to in this book, others are not.

1. Marie-Laure Attal Fougier, et al, Progresser en communication, Presses

Universitaires de Grenoble 2006, Grenoble
2. Gary Blake and Robert W. Bly, The Elements of Technical Writing,Longman New
York, 1993
3. Eduard de Bono, Lateral Thinking for management, Penguin Books, London, 1990
4. Septimiu Chelcea, Cum sa redactăm, ed a IVa, ed. Comunicare.ro, 2007, Bucuresti

5. Monica Matei Chesnoiu, Writing Clues for Students, ed Cartea Universitară, 2004,
Bucureşti
6. The Chicago Manual of Style, thirteenth edition, University of Chicago Press, 1985
7. Csomay Enikop, Szerdahely Judit, Writing, Nemzeti Tankonnyvkiada, Budapest,
1997
8. Umberto Eco, Cum se face o teză de licenţă, 2000, Ed. Pontica, Constanţa
9. Simon Haines, Real writing with answers, Cambridge, University Press, 2008
10. Thomas N. Huckin, Leslie A. Olsen, Technical Writing and Professional
Communication for Nonnative speakers of English, McGraw-Hill, 1991, New
York1991, p.4 ).
11. M. Ioani, R. Vlaicu, M. Grănescu, Tehnici de comunicare pentru viitorii ingineri,
UT PRES, Cluj-Napoca, 2002
12. Writing for Computer Science: the art of effective communication, Justine Jobel,
Melbourne, Australia, Springer Verlag.Ltd. 2000
13. R.R. Jordan, Academic Writing Course (Collins, 1980).
14. R.R. Jordan, Academic Writing Course (Nelson, 1992).
15. Leon Levitchi, Lexicologie, EDP, Bucureşti, 1970, p 22
16. Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts, Technical Writing for Dummies, Wiley Publishing, Inc,
Indianapolis, USA, 2001,
17. Liz Hamp-Lyons and Karen Berry Courter, Research Matters (Newbury House,
1984)
18. Microsoft manual of Style, third edition, Microsoft Press, Redmond, 2004
19. William Strunk and E.B. White, The Elements of Style, Macmillan, 1979
20. Chris Shevlin, Writing for Business, Penguin Books, London, 2005
21. Andra Ştefănescu, Cum se scrie un text, ed. II, Iasi, 2001, ed. Polironm
22.Ruth Thornton, Adult Learners’ writing guide, Chambers, Edinburgh, 2006
23. http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/academic/academicoffice/ugmatters/ughand2003
24. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionary
25. http://infolab.stanford.edu/~widom/paper-writing.html)
26. http://www.io.com/hcexres/textbook/feas.html
27. Swales (1990, pp. 137-165Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research
Settings (Cambridge, 1990
FINAL CONCLUSION

No matter how poor you think your writing skills are, you really can learn how to
improve them. Good technical writing means using plain English. You do not have to
know and use long words and complicated phrases. You do not have to make your
writing more ‘interesting’ as the simpler and shorter you make things, the more likely
you are to be understood. Remember that the essential points that could help you
write well are:
• Set a clear objective in your mind before you start writing and continuously check
for the objective while writing.
• Keep things as simple as possible by using language that is concrete and familiar.
• Keep sentences and paragraphs short.
• Avoid long, pompous words and phrases, redundant phrases, clichés.
• Avoid repetition.
• Use verbs rather than nouns, and active rather than passive style.
• Use personal rather than impersonal style.
• Be consistent in terms.
• Make sure all documents fit the structure required by the readers (title page with
appropriate details, page numbers, appropriate section numbering, and introductions
and summaries where appropriate).
• Use examples and analogies before introducing abstract concepts.
• Use a dictionary, and make sure you learn the words that are commonly miss-spelt
or misused;
• Write informative (rather than descriptive) abstracts.
• If your writing includes mathematical symbols and formulas follow the rules about
how these should be displayed.
Finally do not forget to ask someone to read your document before you submit it and
make changes according to the recommendations made to you.

EXERCISES

Writing skill can be acquired only by practice. The exercises below

are dedicated to both beginners in writing and to more experienced
writers who would like to improve their skills.
1. Choose a paper from your research area and answer the following
questions:

2. Choose two papers on a related topic. Compare their results Think of the
organisation.

3. Choose a paper with a substantial technical content in your field of research.

Usually such works place their results in the context of other results in the
area. Read only the way in which the authors present the context and
comment upon the ethical character of the survey made by these authors.

4. Choose an article from a journal. Read only the introduction. Identify the
working hypothesis and imagine what organisation should the paper have,
considering the topic of the research. Include headings and subheadings.

5. Jot down the most important aspects in a text of your interest. From these
notes, write your own version of the text, without making reference to the
original text.

6. Take an article. Cut out all the information that is not compulsory to
understand the text. Be ware of the results. Then take another article on the
same topic. Perform the same text reduction. After reaching the skeleton of
the two texts, try to write one article, based on the results found in the two
articles, but expressing your own opinion.
7. Write a summary of an article in 300 words today. Leave it aside. After two
days, read it again and review it. Did you include all the important
information?

8. Take a passage of 500 words. Edit the passage four times. Progressively,
reduce its length to 400, then 300, then 250, then 150 words. Keep the
information content intact, not the wording.

9. Choose a verb from the list that reduces the informality of each sentence:

assist – reduce – create – investigate – raise – establish – increase – determine –

fluctuate – eliminate

1. Expert systems can help out the user in the diagnosis of problems.
2. This program was set up to improve access to medical care.
3. Research expenditure has gone up to nearly $350 million.
4. The use of optical character readers (OCRs) should cut down the number of
problems with the US mail service.
5. Researchers have found out that this drug has serious side effects.
6. Building a nuclear plant will not get rid of the energy problem completely.
7. Researchers have been looking into this problem for 15 years now.
8. This issue was brought up during the investigation.
9. Engineers can come up with better designs using CAD.
10. Emission levels have been going up and down.

10. Reduce the informality of the following five sentences by

substituting a single verb for the one in italics:

1. The implementation of computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) has brought

about some serious problems.
2. The process should be done over until the desired results are achieved.
3. Plans are being made to come up with a database containing detailed environmental
information for the region.
4. Subtle changes in the earth's crust were picked up by these new devices.
5. Proposals to construct new nuclear reactors have met with great resistance from
environmentalists.
11. Rewrite the following sentences to make them more suitable for an
academic paper:

1. The government has made good progress in solving environmental problems.

2. We got encouraging results.
3. The results of a lot of different projects have been pretty good.
4. A loss of jobs is one of the things that will happen if the process is automated.
5. The reaction of the officials was sort of negative.
6. The economic outlook is mighty nice.
7. The future of Federal funding is up in the air.
8. America 's major carmakers are planning to get together on the research needed for
more fuel-efficient cars.

12. Use the more appropriate formal negative forms:

1. The analysis didn't yield any new results. Vs. The analysis yielded no new results.
2. The government did not allocate much funding. Vs. The government allocated little
funding.
3. The problem doesn't have many viable solutions. Vs. The problem has few viable
solutions.

Adapted from (http://leijen.wdfiles.com/local--files/enter-autumn-2008-group-

homepage/Formal%20Informal%)

14. In the Table below, you will find either formal words and their informal
counterpart or viceversa. Complete the table below keeping in mind that
formal words are longer than informal words, formal words are single words
not multi-words and formal words are of French/Latin origin rather than
their informal equivalents which are of Anglo-Saxon origin. Some have been
solved for you.

Formal Informal
empty
transparent
better
cease
depart go
seem
use
decrease
want
end
tell
free
preserve
reject
repair mend
require
retain
inexpensive
inferior
amiable
energetic
integral whole
finally in the end
initially
at once
understanding
opportunity
decline

a. Write at least 10 abbreviations you use in English when writing a message to a

friend and think about other 10 abbreviations used in your specialized courses in the
university. With your peer, comment upon the types of abbreviations, their use, their
scope.

b. The following short fragment is not gender neuter. Improve it by replacing the
gender specific terms with neuter ones.

She does not GO SHOPPING - She is MALL FLUENT.

14. This exercise aims at making you aware of the context, purpose and audience
for whom you could write. Complete the list called Technical Brief, with respect
to the job of writing instructions for the new telephone devised by your
company.

(adapted from Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts, Technical Writing for Dummies, Wiley

Publishing, Inc, Indianapolis, USA, 2001, pp. 26-32))

TECHNICAL BRIEF

About the document

1. Type of document (abstract, spec sheet, proposal, report etc.)
2. Presentation context (for training, for literature, specs etc.)
3. Target date for completion (real drop-dead date)

Reader profile
1. Who are the readers? (experiences, educational background, technical,
non-technical or a combination)
2. Are they only working for the company or they could also be external
to the company?
 3. What is their level of computer knowledge? (greenhorns, sporadic
users, aces)
4. What is their level of subject knowledge? (think of what they need to
know)
5. What jobs do they perform? (managers, CEOs, shop floor personnel
etc.)
6. How do they process information? (process or answer oriented)
7. What is their attitude toward the subject? (favourable, neutral,
opposing)
8. What are the key issues to convey?

Project team
1. Who is who on the project team?
2. What is the approval cycle?

Executional considerations:
1. Will this document be in print, electronic or both?
2. if electronic: monitors, modems, readability, budget constraints
3. if on paper: quantity, printing, binding, budget constraints

15. Read this paragraph carefully and discuss how the paragraph was developed.
Read the following paragraph. Take notes on the way it was developed. Revise
notes carefully. Compare your notes with a colleague’s and discuss similarities
and differences. One of you will present your conclusions to the class

“Traffic data are the main input for pavement design. (topic sentence) The role of
traffic in pavement design is based on damage caused by vehicle loads. In general, all
methods reduce traffic data to a cumulative number of equivalent standard axles, Po.
Each real axle, P1, is converted into an equivalent number of standard axles, Po, using an
aggressiveness factor:
A = k(PilPo)a

For bitumen-bound pavements, the power a is usually equal to 4, or sometimes to 5.

Table 1. summarises the different standard axles and aggressiveness factors. To
convert the data from traffic or taunting studies, the same approach is used in all
methods. The basic data are annual daily mean traffic figures, the percentage of heavy-
duty vehicles and the traffic growth rate. Usually, the pavement designer must design a
structure with a lifetime of 20 years for flexible pavements or 30 to 40 years for rigid
ones. The main differences between the various methods are as follows….:”

16. This exercise is for development. Go to the following

address: http://elc.polyu.eduhk/cill/grammar/htm. Select the aspects
you are confident you know. Solve the exercises related to
these aspects. Assess your work to see if you evaluated
yourself correctly. If the self-assessment is correct, try to
develop. If the self-assessment shows many mistakes and
errors, try to improve by working on the issues you found
problematic.