1. the art sc of tech writ

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The Art and Science of

Technical Writing

Presented for:HS 63002 class of Spring 2012

(Chakraborty & Singh)



S/DHSS/IIT-KGP 2

Technical/Scientific Writing

In science the credit goes to the man who

convinces the world, not to the man to whom

the idea first occurs.

- Sir Francis Darwin



Presentation Objectives

Impor tance of Scientific W riting

Key Pr inciples

audience

purpose

occasion



Impact of Career

How well you communicate affects your career

Successful scientists spent 25% of work weekwriting (Davis 1997)

Professional scientists found writing their most

useful subject (University of Wisconsin)

MSU CANR Alumni need most work on theirwriting (Suvedi, 2001)



Impact on Others

Explosion was caused byfailure of O-rings in the solidrocket boosters

Engineers knew of O-ringproblems well before fatallaunch

Engineers failed tocommunicate seriousness of problemSpace Shuttle

Challenger(January 28,

1986)



A Matter of Difference

1. Subject Matter

4. W riting Style

2. W riting Con straints

audience

purpose

occasion

3. Pur pose of Wr iting

To inform

To persuade



Communication Needs

specifictechnicalaudiences

non-technicalaudiences

generaltechnicalaudiences

Reports ArticlesProposals W eb Pages

ConferencesLecturesMeetingsPosters



Writing Stages

2. W riting the First Draft

4. Finishing3. Revising, Revising, Revising

1. Getting in the Moo d



In the Beginning

Begin by analyzing your constraints Audience

Who they are

What they know

Why they will read How they will read

Occasion Format

Formality

Politics and ethics Process and deadline

Purpose To inform

To persuade



Aspects Affecting Reader

Content

Style

Form



Style What You Control

Structure

Illustration wordswordswords wordswordswords wordswordswords wordswordswords

words wordswords

wordswordswords wordswordswordswords

Language



Broad Content Issues

Check your use of supporting evidence.

Check your use of sources.

Check to see that you achieve your

purpose.

Check your attention to audience. Check for overall impression.



Organization & Presentation

Check the overall organization.

Check sentence structure and style.

Check paragraph structure.

Check format.

Check documentation.



20 Most Common Errors

1. Missing comma after an introductory

element.

Frankly, we were baffled by the findings.

In fact, agricultural education…

Determined to get the job completed, we

worked all weekend.

Though I gave advice for revising, his draft

only became worse.




2. Vague Pronoun Reference

Transmitting radio signals by satellite is a

way of overcoming the problem of scare

airwaves and limited how, they are used.

Company policy prohibited smoking, whichmany employees resented.

the airwaves

a policy




3. Missing comma in a compound sentence

We wish dreamily upon a star and then we

look down to find ourselves standing in mud.

The words “I do” may sound simple but they

mean a life commitment.

,

,




4. Wrong word

The Pacers played there best, but that was not

good enough.

Paradise Lost contains many illusions to

classical mythology.

their

allusions




5. Missing comma(s) with a nonrestrictive

element.

Susan who was the president of the club was

first to speak.

John’s first doll Malibu Barbie is still his

favorite.

, ,

, ,




6. Wrong or missing verb ending

Ernesto use feline imagery throughout the

poem.

The United States drop two atomic bombs on

Japan in 1945.

uses

dropped




7. Wrong or missing preposition.

We met in Union Street at San Francisco.

Who called the game yesterday?

on in

off




8. Comma Splice

I was strongly attracted to her, she had special

qualities.

They always had ham for Easter, this was a

family tradition.

for

Having




9. Missing or misplaced possessive

apostrophe.

AEE is pleased to announce it’s new graduate

students. its




10. Unnecessary shift in tense

Abby laughs until she cried during the class.

Brian is in charge of finance; he will always

keep his office locked.

cries

keeps




11. Unnecessary shift in pronoun

When one first sees a painting by Cathy,

you are impressed by a sense of power.one is




12. Sentence fragment

The old aluminum boat sitting on its trailer.

We returned to the drugstore. Where we

waited for our parents.

was




13. Wrong tense or verb form

Luke Reese has broke many soccer records.

By the time Jim arrived, Mikel left.

had broken




14. Lack of subject-verb agreement

A central part of my life goals have been to

go to graduate school. has




15. Missing comma in a series

AEE Graduate students study mostly

teaching, methods, writing and other

research activities.,




16. Lack of agreement between pronoun and

antecedent

Neither Nadja nor Kari felt that they had been

treated fairly. she




17. Unnecessary comma (s) with a restrictive

element.

People, who wanted to preserve wilderness

areas opposed the plan to privatize national

parks.




18. Fused sentence

The current was swift he could not swim to

the shore.

.He




19. Misplaced or dangling modifier.

She had decided she wanted to be an

agriscience teacher when she was ten yearsold.

When she was ten years old, she had decidedshe wanted to be an agriscience teacher.




20. Its/It’s confusion

The car is lying on it’s side in the ditch. Its a

white 2000 Audi.

its It’s



Select a Writing Mentor

Review Journals for writing style.

Identify a writing mentor to assist with

thinking through and reviewing paper.



Final Thoughts

Our greatest battles are that with our ownminds. - Jameson Frank

Education is not filling a bucket, butlighting a fire. - William Yeats

There is one thing stronger than all thearmies in the world, and that is an ideawhose time has come. - Victor Hugo



S/DHSS/IIT-KGP 36

SOURCE :

www

Stevenson’s Strategies for Engineering

Communication - John Wiley



THANK YOU

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