1

ABE 412: ENGINEERING COMMUNICATION

COURSE OUTLINE:

Introduction

Principles of Effective Communication

Professional Use of the English Language

Principles of Technical Writing

Organization and Presentation of Technical Reports, Feasibility Studies, Technical Correspondence

Oral Presentation of Technical Reports/Ideas

Technical Aids in Presentation

Practical Applications

A. Introduction

Communication is a process whereby meaning is defined and shared between living organisms. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast distances in time and space. Communication requires that the communicating parties share an area of communicative commonality. The communication process is complete once the receiver has understood the sender.

Human communication

Human spoken and picture languages can be described as a system of symbols (sometimes known as lexemes) and the grammars (rules) by which the symbols are manipulated. The word "language" also refers to common properties of languages. Language learning normally occurs most intensively during human childhood. Most of the thousands of human languages use patterns of sound or gesture for symbols which enable communication with others around them. Languages seem to share certain properties, although many of these include exceptions. There is no defined line between a language and a dialect. Constructed languages such as Esperanto, programming languages, and various mathematical formalisms are not necessarily restricted to the properties shared by human languages.

A variety of verbal and non-verbal means of communicating exists such as body language; eye contact, sign language, paralanguage, haptic communication, chronemics, and media such as pictures, graphics, sound, and writing.

Nonverbal communication

Nonverbal communication describes the process of conveying meaning in the form of non-word messages through e.g. gesture, body language or posture; facial expression and eye contact, object communication such as clothing, hairstyles, architecture, symbols and infographics, as well as through an aggregate of the above. Non-verbal communication is also called silent language and

2

plays a key role in human day to day life from employment relations to romantic engagements. Speech also contains nonverbal elements known as paralanguage. These include voice quality, emotion and speaking style as well as prosodic features such as rhythm, intonation and stress. Likewise, written texts include nonverbal elements such as handwriting style, spatial arrangement of words and the use of emoticons to convey emotional expressions in pictorials.

Visual communication

Visual communication is the conveyance of ideas and information through creation of visual representations. Primarily associated with two dimensional images, it includes: signs, typography, drawing, graphic design, illustration, colours, and electronic resources, video and TV. Recent research in the field has focused on web design and graphically oriented usability. Graphic designers use methods of visual communication in their professional practice.

Oral communication

Oral communication, while primarily referring to spoken verbal communication, typically relies on words, visual aids and non-verbal elements to support the conveyance of the meaning. Oral communication includes discussion, speeches, presentations, interpersonal communication and many other varieties. In face to face communication the body language and voice tonality plays a significant role and may have a greater impact on the listener than the intended content of the spoken words.

A great presenter must capture the attention of the audience and connect with them. For example, out of two persons telling the same joke one may greatly amuse the audience due to his body language and tone of voice while the second person, using the exact same words, bores and irritates the audience. Visual aid can help to facilitate effective communication and is almost always used in presentations for an audience.

A widely cited and widely misinterpreted figure used to emphasize the importance of delivery states that "communication comprise 55% body language, 38% tone of voice, 7% content of words", the so-called "7%-38%-55% rule" (Mehrabian, 1971). This is not however what the cited research shows – rather, when conveying emotion, if body language, tone of voice, and words disagree, then body language and tone of voice will be believed more than words. For example, a person saying "I'm delighted to meet you" while mumbling, hunched over, and looking away will be interpreted as insincere.

Communication Model: Woven Written Oral Visual Electronic Non-verbal

Written communication and its historical development

Over time the forms of and ideas about communication have evolved through progression of technology. Advances include communications psychology and media psychology; an emerging field of study. Researchers divide the progression of written communication into three revolutionary stages called "Information Communication Revolutions".

During the 1st stage written communication first emerged through the use of pictographs. The pictograms were made in stone; hence written communication was not yet mobile.

3

During the 2nd stage writing began to appear on paper, papyrus, clay, and wax. Common alphabets were introduced and allowed for the uniformity of language across large distances. A leap in technology occurred when the Gutenberg printing-press was invented in the 15th century.

The 3rd stage is characterised by the transfer of information through controlled waves and electronic signals.

Communication is thus a process by which meaning is assigned and conveyed in an attempt to create shared understanding. This process, which requires a vast repertoire of skills in interpersonal processing, listening, observing, speaking, questioning, analyzing, and evaluating enables collaboration and cooperation (ruct/Communications/default.aspx "communication").

Barriers to successful communication include message overload (when a person receives too many messages at the same time), and message complexity (Montana and Charnov, 2008).

Communication cycle

Shannon and Weaver Model of Communication

Communication major dimensions scheme

4

Communication code scheme

Linear Communication Model

Interactional Model of Communication

Berlo's Sender-Message-Channel-Receiver Model of Communication

5

Transactional Model of Communication

The first major model for communication came in 1949 by Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver for Bell Laboratories (Shannon and Weaver, 1949). The original model was designed to mirror the functioning of radio and telephone technologies. Their initial model consisted of three primary parts: sender, channel, and receiver. The sender was the part of a telephone a person spoke into, the channel was the telephone itself, and the receiver was the part of the phone where one could hear the other person. Shannon and Weaver also recognized that often there is static that interferes with one listening to a telephone conversation, which they deemed noise.

In a simple model, often referred to as the transmission model or standard view of communication, information or content (e.g. a message in natural language) is sent in some form (as spoken language) from an emisor/ sender/ encoder to a destination/ receiver/ decoder. This common conception of communication simply views communication as a means of sending and receiving information. The strengths of this model are simplicity, generality, and quantifiability. Social scientists Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver structured this model based on the following elements:

1. An information source, which produces a message. 2. A transmitter, which encodes the message into signals 3. A channel, to which signals are adapted for transmission 4. A receiver, which 'decodes' (reconstructs) the message from the signal. 5. A destination, where the message arrives.

Shannon and Weaver argued that there were three levels of problems for communication within this theory.

The technical problem: how accurately can the message be transmitted?

The semantic problem: how precisely is the meaning 'conveyed'?

The effectiveness problem: how effectively does the received meaning affect behaviour?

Daniel Chandler critiques the transmission model by stating:

It assumes communicators are isolated individuals.

No allowance for differing purposes.

6

No allowance for differing interpretations.

No allowance for unequal power relations.

No allowance for situational contexts.

(Berlo, 1960) expanded on Shannon and Weaver’s (1949) linear model of communication and created the SMCR Model of Communication. The Sender-Message-Channel-Receiver Model of communication separated the model into clear parts and has been expanded upon by other scholars.

Communication is usually described along a few major dimensions: Message (what type of things are communicated), source / emisor / sender / encoder (by whom), form (in which form), channel (through which medium), destination / receiver / target / decoder (to whom), and Receiver. Schramm (1954) also indicated that we should also examine the impact that a message has (both desired and undesired) on the target of the message. Between parties, communication includes acts that confer knowledge and experiences, give advice and commands, and ask questions. These acts may take many forms, in one of the various manners of communication. The form depends on the abilities of the group communicating. Together, communication content and form make messages that are sent towards a destination. The target can be oneself, another person or being, another entity (such as a corporation or group of beings).

Communication can be seen as processes of information transmission governed by three levels of semiotic rules:

1. Syntactic (formal properties of signs and symbols), 2. Pragmatic (concerned with the relations between signs/expressions and their users) and 3. Semantic (study of relationships between signs and symbols and what they represent).

Therefore, communication is social interaction where at least two interacting agents share a common set of signs and a common set of semiotic rules. These commonly held rules in some sense ignore autocommunication, including intrapersonal communication via diaries or self-talk, both secondary phenomena that followed the primary acquisition of communicative competences within social interactions.

In light of these weaknesses, Barnlund (2008) proposed a transactional model of communication. The basic premise of the transactional model of communication is that individuals are simultaneously engaging in the sending and receiving of messages.

In a slightly more complex form a sender and a receiver are linked reciprocally. This second attitude of communication, referred to as the constitutive model or constructionist view, focuses on how an individual communicates as the determining factor of the way the message will be interpreted. Communication is viewed as a conduit; a passage in which information travels from one individual to another and this information becomes separate from the communication itself. A particular instance of communication is called a speech act. The sender's personal filters and the receiver's personal filters may vary depending upon different regional traditions, cultures, or gender; which may alter the intended meaning of message contents. In the presence of "communication noise" on the transmission channel (air, in this case), reception and decoding of content may be faulty, and thus the speech act may not achieve the desired effect. One problem with this encode-transmit-receive-decode model is that the processes of encoding and decoding imply that the sender and receiver each possess something that functions as a codebook, and that these two code books are, at the very least,

7

similar if not identical. Although something like code books is implied by the model, they are nowhere represented in the model, which creates many conceptual difficulties.

Bernard Luskin, UCLA, 1970, advanced computer assisted instruction and began to connect media and psychology into what is now the field of media psychology. In 1998, the American Association of Psychology, Media Psychology Division 46 Task Force report on psychology and new technologies combined media and communication as pictures, graphics and sound increasingly dominate modern communication.

Communication noise

In any communication model, noise is interference with the decoding of messages sent over a channel by an encoder. There are many examples of noise:

Environmental Noise: Noise that physically disrupts communication, such as standing next to loud speakers at a party, or the noise from a construction site next to a classroom making it difficult to hear the lecturer.

Physiological-Impairment Noise: Physical maladies that prevent effective communication, such as actual deafness or blindness preventing messages from being received as they were intended.

Semantic Noise: Different interpretations of the meanings of certain words. For example, the word "weed" can be interpreted as an undesirable plant in your yard, or as a euphemism for marijuana.

Syntactical Noise: Mistakes in grammar can disrupt communication, such as abrupt changes in verb tense during a sentence.

Organizational Noise: Poorly structured communication can prevent the receiver from accurate interpretation. For example, unclear and badly stated directions can make the receiver even more lost.

Cultural Noise: Stereotypical assumptions can cause misunderstandings, such as unintentionally offending a non-Christian person by wishing him/her a "Merry Christmas".

Psychological Noise: Certain attitudes can also make communication difficult. For instance, great anger or sadness may cause someone to lose focus on the present moment. Disorders such as Autism may also severely hamper effective communication (Berko, 2010).

Communication as academic discipline

Communication as an academic discipline, sometimes called "communicology," relates to all the ways we communicate, so it embraces a large body of study and knowledge. The communication discipline includes both verbal and nonverbal messages. A body of scholarship all about communication is presented and explained in textbooks, electronic publications, and academic journals. In the journals, researchers report the results of studies that are the basis for an ever-expanding understanding of how we all communicate.

Communication happens at many levels (even for one single action), in many different ways, and for most beings, as well as certain machines. Several, if not all, fields of study dedicate a portion of attention to communication, so when speaking about communication it is very important to be sure

8

about what aspects of communication one is speaking about. Definitions of communication range widely, some recognizing that animals can communicate with each other as well as human beings, and some are narrower, only including human beings within the different parameters of human symbolic interaction.

References

Mehrabian, A. (1971). Silent Messages (1st ed.), Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

(ruct/Communications/default.aspx "communication"). Office of superintendent of Public Instruction, Washington. ruct/Communications/default.aspx. Retrieved March 14, 2008.

Montana, P. J. and Charnov, B. H. (2008). Management (4th ed.), New York, Barron’s Educational Series, Inc. Pp. 333.

Shannon, C. E. and Weaver, W. (1949). The mathematical theory of communication. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press

Berlo, D. K. (1960). The process of communication. New York, New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.

Schramm, W. (1954). How communication works. In W. Schramm (Ed.). The process and effects of communication (pp. 3-26). Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press.

Barnlund, D. C. (2008). A transactional model of communication. In. C. D. Mortensen (Eds.), Communication theory (2nd ed., pp. 47-57). New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction.

Berko, R. M. (2010). Communicating. 11th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc., pp. 9-12

B. Principles of Effective Communication by Brenda Townsend Hall I’m sure this has happened to you: a colleague has just done the exact opposite of what you wanted him to do. How can that be, you ask yourself. I told him exactly what I wanted. Yes, maybe you told him but did you check that he was listening, that he understood, that he agreed and that he would carry out the required action? Obviously not. The first principle of effective communication is to get appropriate feedback. The second principle of effective communication is to really connect with your audience. It is a fallacy that the mere sending out of information is a communicative act. It isn’t, especially in the current climate where everybody is drowning in information that overwhelms on us all fronts. To connect with your audience you need to address their different needs as partners because communication is a two-way process. You have to decide what you want the outcome of your communication to be: are you trying to inform, persuade, shock, praise, criticize, shame, please, inspire? Whatever your aim you need to plan your message, and the medium for the message, to trigger the emotional and cognitive responses that will ensure you engage your audience. And how do you know you’ve done that? This is by getting the appropriate feedback.

9

I learnt this the hard way. As part of the induction for new staff, I used to produce a manual containing all the operational information they needed. As time was always short, I would go through the headings with them and tell them to study it at their leisure. But nobody ever did. I was constantly bombarded with simple questions that were addressed in the manual. But it was my own fault. I should have set up a properly interactive session and followed that up with subsequent opportunities to study and discuss the information. The third principle of effective communication is to listen and understand first. Don’t send out a message until you know what your audience needs. If you are concerned about the quality of somebody’s work, for example, don’t jump in and issue an official warning. First find out what the employee’s perception is. Use active listening skills to really probe the situation. Reformulate the employee’s words, for example, echo the last words of their sentences, and invite them to say a little more if they are hesitant. That way, if you discover the family has a seriously sick child or a big financial problem, you will start to understand what is behind the poor performance. You can then decide on the appropriate action to take. The fourth principle is to understand that communication is more than the surface meaning of words. You need to be able to interpret other people’s messages. This is just another form of feedback. Let’s say you make an announcement and your group is discussing the information with you. They may feel inhibited about disagreeing openly, but read the signs because you don’t have to be openly aggressive to show disagreement: note the body language, the kinds of words they use, the tone of voice. Somebody who is receptive will give you eye contact, will lean forward and will participate by asking questions, or offering to assist in some way. Those who are not in favor will look elsewhere, maybe fold their arms, use vague language instead of precise terms. The fifth principle is respect. I don’t want to go over the top here because you may well ask who is she to question the behavior of the world’s leaders? But it seems to me that many of the international political problems we experience are the result of lack of respect for the other party. Sure, it would be great if other nations didn’t want to develop nuclear weapons, if they had democratic governments, if they weren’t religious fanatics. But we don’t produce good outcomes by taking the view that western leaders know best. To communicate with those we want to persuade, we need to respect them. Just because they don’t agree with us, doesn’t make them inferior or wrong. They have cultural backgrounds and histories that have led them to a particular course of action. Only by respecting that hinterland can we expect to make progress towards cooperation. To translate that to the workplace, you will only gain the cooperation of employees if they know you respect them. If you base your communications on lies, if you try to mislead people, if you ignore their needs and rights, they will see that you don’t respect them and they will lose respect for you. So where does all this lead us? Simply to the point that if you are having communications problems, you can now start analyzing where you are going wrong. What sort of feedback do you allow for? Do you understand how to appeal to people’s emotions, their reasoning powers? Do you understand what makes your audience tick? Have you tried to find out about their real lives and what is important to them? And are you showing lack of respect by trying to hoodwink them? By addressing

10

these questions as fully as possible you will go a long way towards improving the outcomes of your communications.

C. PROFESSIONAL USE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE Improve Scientific Writing and Avoid Perishing

By LESLIE N. CARRAWAY

Nash 104, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis 97331

Abstract The purpose of scientific writing is to impart thoughts or ideas and their bases and implications in such a manner that a reading audience, with at least a moderate knowledge of science, can understand the material presented within a paper. This carries the necessity of using words in a manner that clearly impart the intended meaning of the author and not getting off the subject as reflected in the title. Also, the goal of scientific writing is to produce a manuscript written from the perspective of strength, rather than weakness. I discuss appropriate formation of titles such that the intended audience can find the title through bibliographic sources. Also included, to aid in the writing of scientific manuscripts, are discussions of words or sentences with unintended connotations, misuse of words, double entendres, slang, contrived acronyms, jargon, danglers or orphaned clauses and superfluous words. Finally, remember that the object of the art of scientific writing is to communicate in the most concise and precise manner possible, it is not to paint pretty word pictures. Introduction This discussion is my concept of the way that a scientific paper should or should not be written. It is not intended to criticize, but to improve precision and enhance communication. Not everyone will agree with me, but those who follow these suggestions likely will have fewer rejections and do less revising. In this era of ‘‘publish or perish,’’ it is imperative to produce manuscripts based on quality research, but even the best research may be lost to science if the scientific community is unable to understand the text in which it is presented. Furthermore, the goal of scientific writing is to produce a manuscript written from the perspective of strength, rather than weakness. Consequently, appropriate word usage, syntax and punctuation are imperative. Titles Many people, when asked what is the most critical or far-reaching part of a scientific paper, would answer: the results or conclusions drawn from the research conducted. I beg to differ. The single most critical item in any scientific paper is—the title. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people will read a title when searching for information on a particular topic in the various bibliographic services on the internet or in libraries. And, a smaller number of people will read a title in the Literature Cited sections of papers published in journals. So, unless readers can understand the meaning of the title, the paper will never be read. Thus, for the intended audience to be reached, clarity of intended meaning and proper order of words used in a title should be of paramount concern to authors. Furthermore, everything presented in a scientific paper must in some manner relate back to the title. If it does not, then the title not only is

11

inappropriate but the scientific paper will be buried in oblivion, a fate that no author desires. The ultimate goal of every author is for many people to read their published paper and have it of such a quality that it is cited often in papers by other authors. Titles should be composed of the fewest possible words that adequately describe the contents of the paper. This does not mean the fewest possible number of words—titles can be too short as well as too long. An example of too short a title is: ‘‘Predatory animal studies.’’ This title tells the reader only that predators were somehow involved in the conducted research. Titles should tell the reader ‘what,’ ‘where,’ ‘when’ and ‘on what species or group’ (if relevant) the research was conducted. Consequently, titles should form a single coherent concept actually related to the content of the paper: not a sentence, brief abstract, subtitle, hanging statement or, worst of all, a question. Also to be considered are the unintended meanings created by poor word-order and ‘‘watch-the-paw’’ tricks. Sentences—The primary problem with sentences for titles is they create dogma, for example: ‘‘Shrews (Soricomorpha: Soricidae) form an important component of ecosystems.’’ As any scientist should know, knowledge in science is ever evolving, consequently what is considered true today, probably will be questioned tomorrow, and may be rejected at some point in the future. Second, consider the words ‘important’ or ‘importance.’ Something simply cannot be ‘important’ without a reason, and usually it is the reason that is of interest to the reader. Also, to whom are the shrews ‘important?’ A better title would be: ‘‘Shrews (Soricomorpha: Soricidae) as a component of ecosystems.’’ For another example, think about the title: ‘‘Dandelions as an ‘important’ item in the diet of cottontails.’’ Are dandelions ‘important’ because more cottontails eat them? Are they ‘important’ because cottontails eat more of them? Are they ‘important’ because they provide some nutritional requirement of cottontails not available in other plants? Consider the title ‘‘Pollinator importance and temporal variation in a population of Phlox divaricata (Polemoniaceae)’’ published in The American Midland Naturalist. A pollinator can contribute to, aid in, expedite or promote something, but a pollinator will never be ‘important’ in and of itself. Also, what exactly do the authors mean by ‘temporal variation.’ Possibilities include: different times during which pollinators are active, seasonal or diurnal variation in occurrence or numbers of P. divaricata present in a particular habitat, changes occurring within a population of P. divaricata over a 24-h time period, among many others. A more appropriate title would be: ‘‘Contribution of pollinators to reproductive success of a population of Phlox divaricata (Polemoniaceae).’’ Brief abstract—Consider the title: ‘‘The role of rabbits in sylvatic plague epidemiology, with special attention to human cases in New Mexico and use of the flourescent antibody technique for detection of Pasteurella pestis in field specimens’’ published in Zoonoses Research. A 32-word title is totally unreasonable. The authors of the paper should have used a title like ‘‘The role of rabbits in sylvatic plague epidemiology’’ (8 words) or ‘‘Identification of Pasteurella pestis in rabbits by the flourescent antibody technique’’ (11 words) depending on which aspect of their research the authors wished to emphasize. Subtitles—Consider the title: ‘‘Phylogenetic studies of the rodent family Gerbillidae: I. Chromosomal evolution in the southern African complex.’’ What happens if number II is never published? I know of a series in which 1, 2 and 4 were published, but 3 was rejected. This means that the authors will forever be asked what happened to number 3. Also, the first part is too general and imparts little information to readers.

12

Hanging titles—The title ‘‘Sylvilagus nuttallii: a semiarboreal lagomorph’’ published in the Journal of Mammalogy is a good example. Just how is a computerized ‘Key Word’ finder for a bibliographic service supposed to determine how to file this title such that the intended audience would ever have a chance of finding the paper? A useful version of the title would have been: ‘‘Tree-climbing behavior by mountain cottontails (Sylvilagus nuttallii).’’ Authors use hanging titles to be dramatic; however, authors should keep in mind that readers find them terribly annoying and generally unintelligible. Questions—Why is a title written in the form of a question the worst form of title? The answer is simple. The entire manuscript can be stated as a single word: ‘‘Yes.’’ or ‘‘No.’’ (plus literature cited, tables and figures, of course)! Consider the following example: ‘‘Evaluating intraspecific ‘network’ construction methods using simulated sequence data: do existing algorithms outperform the global maximum parsimony approach?’’ published in Systematic Zoology. Not only does this title tell the reader little, if anything, about what the paper is about, but how would a computerized ‘Key Word’ finder file this title? If you were searching a bibliographic service, I doubt this title would ever appear no matter what key words were used. In terms of bibliographic services, this is a lost paper never to be heard of again. Poor word-order—Consider the title: ‘‘Unusual mortality in the depleted Cook Inlet beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) population’’ published in Northwestern Naturalist. This title actually means that something in Cook Inlet (wherever that is located) has been depleted. Also, the title includes the idea that something that normally does not kill belugas is now killing them. What the authors actually intended to state was: ‘‘Unusual mortality levels in the beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) population of Cook Inlet, Alaska.’’ Further, consider the example: ‘‘Observations on the fleas (Siphonaptera) of some small mammals in northwestern Illinois’’ published in The American Midland Naturalist. A reader would have the impression that the author had live fleas in a container of some sort and sat watching their behavior. A better title would have been: ‘‘Prevalence and occurrence of fleas (Siphonaptera) on some small mammals in northwestern Illinois.’’ Also, the use of freight-train wording absolutely should be avoided, e.g., ‘‘sheep red blood cells,’’ ‘‘current breeding evidence’’ or ‘‘mean total small mammal catch per unit effort,’’ in which adjective and noun modifiers are overused. This is a commonly used system of compounding nouns and adjectives as a shorthand means of communicating with colleagues that actually produces nothing more than incomprehensible jargon. Does ‘‘current breeding evidence’’ mean ‘evidence of current breeding’ or ‘current evidence of breeding?’ There could be a difference. A good rule is to put the precise subject first for emphasis and to use appropriate prepositions to indicate relationships. Also, appropriate use of hyphens to indicate which adjective or noun modifier is modifying which noun easily can solve any remaining misunderstandings. Watch-the-paw tricks—Many years ago I had a Springer Spaniel named Sam who was an expert at lulling me into a false sense of security that he was going to do only what he was supposed to do. Then, when my attention was focused on something else, he did whatever he pleased. Many authors do the same thing by having a title on one subject, but by the end of the Introduction they have reached an entirely different subject. The subject of the title is never again touched upon in the entire manuscript. After you drift off the title, you might as well be writing about Aunt Bessie’s lumbago and the flea population on your dog Rover, as you have lost your readers and likely will not get them back again. So, after discussing what not to do, what thoughts should be kept in mind when forming a title? A title should be short (10–12 words), specific and informative. It should include key words that will

13

aid in indexing. Irrelevant words should be eliminated (e.g., ‘‘A study of,’’ ‘‘Investigations of,’’ ‘‘Observations on’’). Do not create strings of modifiers that become incomprehensible—even if an editor or reviewer insists. Remember, it is your name on the byline, not the editor’s or reviewer’s names. Avoid ‘‘the’’ and other phraseology that might be construed to mean ALL aspects were studied or ALL species were studied. Finally, avoid abbreviations in titles, especially contrived acronyms and jargon. Text The purpose of scientific writing is to impart thoughts or ideas and their bases and implications in such a manner that a reading audience, with at least a moderate knowledge of science, can understand the material presented within a paper. This carries the necessity of using words in a manner that clearly impart the intended meaning of the author(s) and not getting off the subject as reflected in the title. Thus, words or sentences with unintended connotations, misuse of words, double entendres, slang, contrived acronyms, jargon, danglers or orphaned clauses and superfluous words have no place in scientific writing. Also, proper use of word tense, number and voice is imperative. When writing a manuscript, always remember that Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged is considered the final authority on the meanings and usages of words in the English Language. Placement of modifiers —Writing is stronger when split compound verbs (except with negatives) are avoided. Use ‘‘plots were monitored continuously’’ rather than ‘‘plots were continuously monitored.’’ Too much emphasis is placed on the adverb. Avoid unnecessary split infinitives. Use ‘‘to examine carefully’’ rather than ‘‘to carefully examine.’’ Again, too much emphasis is placed on the adverb. And, always use infinitives rather than gerunds. ‘‘To go is easier than to stay’’ rather than ‘‘Going is easier than staying.’’ Remember, word usage and order, syntax and punctuation are different in scientific writing than speaking. When speaking it is always possible for the listener to have a point clarified; however, a reader has only what is printed on a page. Also to be considered is the need for proper and judicious use of punctuation (i.e., commas, semicolons, colons, hyphens). The present trend is toward less punctuation (particularly fewer commas), but such requires careful writing without misplaced or dangling elements. Get-ready sentences —Many times in Introduction, Results or Discussion sections of papers, authors start a paragraph with a sentence that merely states what the author is going to tell the reader in the paragraph. This is called a ‘‘Topic Sentence’’ or a ‘‘Get-Ready Sentence’’ that actually only serves as filler in a manuscript. Such sentences may be appropriate literary style, but are too expensive for science writing. Further, it may be considered a delay tactic in writing while the author is trying to ascertain what to report to readers. There is no need to tell readers what they will read. Simply discuss the subject and analyses of the paper—as reflected in the title. Consider a paper with the title: ‘‘Sexual segregation in southern mule deer.’’ The introduction began with the sentence (literature citations omitted): ‘‘The role of sexual dimorphism in niche separation has been investigated for birds, fish, and plants.’’ An obvious question to ask is: ‘‘What does this have to do with mule deer?’’ Also, based on the title, the paper has nothing to do with sexual dimorphism or niche separation. Also is the problem of some authors who write about tables and figures in the text. Examples would be, ‘‘Table 1 contains the data collected on habitat characteristics’’ or ‘‘Figure 3 illustrates the change in population levels from 1900–2000.’’ Tables and figures should never be subjects of sentences. They should be used only as support, for or against, statements, contentions or hypotheses stated in the manuscript. Also, the text should be about the subject matter; do not use names of authors as the subject of sentences. Furthermore, avoid including great quantities of data and expecting readers to synthesize and interprete the information in the manner intended.

14

Unintended connotations —Some words, such as ‘mean’ can impart a different meaning than intended if the writer is not careful. For example, ‘‘Mean deer lengths . . . ..’’ Are these longer than docile deer lengths? Try ‘‘Mean lengths of deer . . . ..’’ Be careful of ‘average’ for the same reason. Exceptional deer may not be longer than average deer. Another commonly misused word is ‘since.’ It has a time connotation, i.e., from some time in the past to the present. Thus, for clarity, do not use ‘since’ as a synonym for ‘because’ or ‘as.’ In morphometric and ecological studies commonly misused words are ‘taken’ and ‘made.’ Examples are: ‘‘Bilateral measurements . . . were ‘taken’ on both sides and averaged . . .,’’ ‘‘Five dimensions were ‘made’ from each tree [or stream, prairie],’’ or ‘‘Measurements were ‘taken’ from 25 skulls.’’ Dimensions, characters or features can be recorded or described, but they can never be extracted or formulated. Misuse of words —Certainly, the word ‘using’ is responsible for more ludicrous assertations in the literature than any other. Consider the example ‘‘Cottontails were caught ‘using’ live traps.’’ Although cottontails may be caught in live traps, they do not use them. Try the prepositions ‘in’ or ‘with,’ or the phrase ‘by use of’ to avoid ambiguous meanings (i.e., dangling or orphaned clauses). Think of the title: ‘‘Using a fiberoptic bronchoscope, dogs were immunized with sheep red blood cells.’’ This title actually states that the dogs used the fiberoptic bronchoscope. What the authors intended to state was: ‘‘Dogs were immunized with sheep red-blood cells inserted through a fiberoptic bronchoscope.’’ Think of the statements: ‘‘Cottontails ‘prefer’ brushy habitats’’ or ‘‘The habitat ‘preference’ of mule deer was investigated.’’ Likely what was intended was: ‘‘Brushy habitats support more cottontails’’ and ‘‘The dispersion of a mule deer population in relation to vegetation was investigated.’’ Avoid use of ‘prefer’ or ‘preference’ when implications of cognitive ability in animals are not desired or not relevant. Always be sure to use correct word opposites: less than/greater than, lower/higher, fewer/more than, thin/thick, narrow/wide. Many times authors mix these pairings (e.g., less than/higher). Not only is the mixing unacceptable in scientific writing, but it can create confusion. Additional examples of commonly misused words are provided in Appendix I. Double entendres —The sentence ‘‘Without human intervention to reduce the concentration of CH4, the 2 million people along the Lake Kivu shoreline may suffer a catastrophic gas release’’ appeared in a recent issue of Science. The sentence should have been written: ‘‘Without human intervention to reduce the concentration of CH4 in Lake Kivu, thus averting the release of lethal quantities of the gas, 2 million people living along its shoreline will suffer an enormous loss of life.’’ Another example in the same issue of Science is: ‘‘Geneticists . . . analyzed 3 decades of records from the Fourth People’s Hospital, the only psychiatric hospital in the Wuhu region of eastern China, which was hit hard by the famine.’’ Was it the Fourth People’s Hospital or the Wuhu region of eastern China that was ‘hit hard’ by the famine? Either meaning is possible. Double entendres are an example where reading a manuscript aloud probably would alert an author to the possible double meanings of the sentences, thus allowing the opportunity to correct them. Slang or Colloquialisms are expressions considered more appropriate to familiar conversation than to formal speech or science writing; they belong to local or regional dialects. Thus, their use in scientific writing results from lazy thinking and a wish to avoid consulting a Thesaurus for the correct term. These include expressions like: ‘‘On the one hand . . .,’’ ‘‘On the other hand . . .,’’ ‘‘. . . studies that are carried out . . .,’’ ‘‘. . . which side of the balance a bat falls on . . .,’’ ‘‘as a matter of fact’’ and ‘‘It should be mentioned [noted, pointed out, emphasized] . . . ..’’ Another commonly used slang term is ‘‘on average.’’ What would ‘‘off average’’ mean? It is better to write ‘‘The average length of . . . was greater’’ or ‘‘The distance between traps averaged 1.5 m greater on the new grid.’’ Contrived acronyms are acronyms that lazy authors use to avoid having to write out the names of study or collection areas, dimensions examined, measurements recorded, laboratory techniques and names of organisms, among others. Apparently, many writers believe that

15

use of contrived acronyms will greatly shorten a manuscript making it more acceptable to editors. Even if some editors find them acceptable, it is the readers who suffer. What contrived acronyms actually do is make reading a paper cumbersome and particularly annoying. Some published papers contain so many contrived acronyms that the reader is forced to refer back to earlier sections of the paper repeatedly to determine the meanings of sentences—this is unacceptable scientific writing. Consider the sentence: ‘‘A total of 1701-m2 quadrants from 14 Mbeds yielded 3621 mussels’’ published in The American Midland Naturalist. Mbeds stands for ‘major beds.’ The contrived acronym saved no space in the sentence, but it added confusion. Jargon —Every word is a good word when it is used in an established meaning available to all. Every term is a good term if its meaning can be derived from the definition of the words from which it is formed. However, terminology created to serve as a short-hand means of communicating with coworkers (e.g., ‘‘group tree harvest’’; ‘‘400 head cow–calf year around’’) or others within a select group is jargon. I contend that jargon, particularly undefined jargon, has no place in scientific writing. Contrary to what you might think, I do not wish to prevent normal evolution of the language, but clarity and precision in communication should be the greatest concern of any author or editor. If it is absolutely necessary to coin new terms, then they must be defined clearly and precisely in text at first usage. Furthermore, if words are used in other than their standard dictionary meaning, they also need to be defined clearly and precisely in text. Consider the example: ‘placental scars.’ Almost all wildlife biologists know what ‘placental scars’ are, but I will not use the term in a manuscript that I publish because the special meaning of the jargon cannot be derived from the dictionary meaning of ‘placenta’ and ‘scars.’ The proper term is ‘pigmented sitesof implantation.’ Think of the poor foreign researcher whose first language is not English who looks up ‘placenta’ and ‘scars’ in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged—and still cannot decipher what is meant. Lastly, consider the example: ‘‘Though these dens were some of the first discovered and logged during the study . . . ..’’ The word ‘logged’ has a variety of meanings including cutting down or writing down. The word ‘recorded’ or ‘noted’ should have been used instead. Danglers or orphaned clauses —These are words or phrases that modify something implied, but not stated in a sentence. The sentence ‘‘While browsing on a shrub, a deer was stalked by a cougar’’ implies that the cougar was browsing AND stalking at the same time. What was intended was: ‘‘While a deer was browsing on a shrub, it was stalked by a cougar.’’ Other examples are: ‘‘A large mass of literature has accumulated on ground squirrel burrows,’’ and ‘‘How many animals were tested, broken down by sex?’’ [rewritten from Day (1979:114–115, How to write and publish a scientific paper)], ‘‘Mice were caught using live traps,’’ and ‘‘Habitat utilization of bighorn sheep.’’ So, what is the best method of avoiding danglers or orphaned phrases? Always read sentences aloud while thinking about what actually was written. Superfluous words—These are words that act only as filler, add nothing to the meaning of sentences, and sometimes unintentionally change the meaning of sentences. Consider the sentences: ‘‘A total of six sampling stations were [sic] created in salt water pools . . .’’ and ‘‘In order to compare differences between sites . . .’’ published in The American Midland Naturalist. The same meaning would occur if the sentences read as: ‘‘Six sampling stations were created in salt water pools . . .’’ and ‘‘To compare differences between sites . . . ..’’ The words ‘‘A total of’’ and ‘‘In order to’’ add nothing to the meanings of the sentences. An example of an unintentional change in meaning would be the sentence ‘‘A total of 24 species was identified with richness ranging from. ..’’ Not only does it contain the superfluous ‘A total of,’ but by including those words the meaning was changed from ‘richness’ referring to ‘24 species’ to ‘richness’ referring to ‘total.’ Additional examples of superfluous words are provided in Appendix I.

16

Tense—Use of the simple past, present, or future tense is always recommended. However, do not change tense within paragraphs. Also, avoid use of the emphatic mood (use ‘‘When they occurred . . .’’ not ‘‘When they ‘did’ occur. . .’’) and the passive voice (use ‘‘Skunks produce musk’’ not ‘‘Musk was produced by skunks’’), and be careful to use the subjunctive (use ‘‘If the bait ‘were’ fresh, it would attract animals’’)—it takes a plural verb. Remember, scientific names at all taxonomic levels take singular verbs. Lastly, collective nouns take singular verbs when the group is regarded as a unit, but plural verbs when the individuals of the group are regarded separately. Good examples would be: ‘‘One thousand shrews ‘is’ an adequate sample; however, fewer than 500 shrews ‘were’ trapped’’ or ‘‘To the mixture, 10 g ‘was’ added.’’ Probably, the most common misuse of word tense is when authors refer to an area where a study was conducted. Consider the examples: ‘‘. . . the Rockerfeller Native Prairie is a 4.0-ha remnant of mesic prairie that supports more than 165 native plant species,’’ ‘‘The small prairie is surrounded by dense woody vegetation . . .’’, or ‘‘The Little River estuary . . . consists of 1.54 km2 of Spartina patens-dominated high marsh . . .’’ published in The American Midland Naturalist. If volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, fires, floods and ecological succession have taught scientists anything, it is that environments, including study areas, can be referred to in the present tense only when standing in the study area. Ecosystems are dynamic! So, refer to characteristics of study areas as they were when the study was conducted—always in the past tense. Number —This refers to whether a word is singular (1 item) or plural (more than 1 item). Within a sentence, never change number as this will create confusion. I am sure that the most misused and misunderstood word, relative to number, is ‘data.’ Singular, you would refer to a ‘datum.’ The word ‘data’ is a plural noun that agrees with a plural verb or pronoun. Examples would be: ‘‘These data . . .’’ or ‘‘Data were . . . ..’’ ‘‘This data . . .’’ or ‘‘Data was . . .,’’ used so commonly by the media, are wrong and when used with an active verb produce a ludicrous image, for example, ‘‘The data show . . ..’’ Data may be interpreted by an investigator or the investigator may draw inferences from data, but data never show anything. Also, data do not have size, so avoid ‘too little data’ to describe inadequate samples, try ‘too few data.’ Years ago, an anonymous reviewer of a manuscript in which the author kept using the word ‘data’ with singular verbs, finally just wrote the following poem in a margin of the manuscript:

I never saw a little data, I hope I never see some, For they may be so small, as to appear a single datum.

Although the hapless author was quite upset to be the recipient of this poem, appropriate modifiers were applied in the published paper. Active/passive voice —Consider the sentence: ‘‘It was concluded that humans ate more berries than bears’’ written in passive voice. Reader’s of this sentence might think that the authors are attempting to reduce their accountability for the results of their research. When scientists produce a manuscript describing their research results they need to be willing to take responsibility for the content of the manuscript. Thus, a stronger sentence in active voice is: ‘‘We (or I) concluded that humans ate more berries than bears.’’ Sentences are strengthened by use of the active voice in which the writer asserts that the person or thing represented by the grammatical subject performs the action represented by the verb. Although popular in prose writing, scientific writing is weakened by use of passive voice because it asserts that the person or thing represented by the grammatical subject is subjected to or affected by the action represented by the verb. Conclusions

17

When all the analyses and writing are done, and a ‘finished’ manuscript is in the author’s hands, if at all possible, it should be set aside for at least 1 wk (a month is better) while other research is being conducted. This allows time for the author’s mind to ‘forget’ what was implied in the writing of the set-aside manuscript. Then, read the manuscript aloud and carefully when not in a hurry. Many times authors will find statements that suddenly make no sense or paragraphs that do not flow properly or as intended. Thus, an opportunity is presented that allows the author to refine the writing before editors and reviewers demolish a manuscript for poor and unclear writing. The last thing any author should do before sending the manuscript to a managing editor of a journal for consideration for publication is to read the manuscript aloud to a critical listener. It is truly amazing how many strange sentence structures, typographical errors, punctuation errors and omissions are discovered by such a simple process. Finally, remember that the object of the art of scientific writing is to communicate in the most concise and precise manner possible, it is not to paint pretty word pictures. Appendix I Following is a selection of superfluous and often misused words in scientific writing not included in text. A flyer distributed by the Iowa State University Experiment Station on word usage served as a starting point. ABOVE.—‘‘. . . the above method’’ or ‘‘as mentioned above.’’ A term often used in reference to something preceding, but not necessarily ‘above’; a loose reference, convenient for writers, but not for readers. Also, remember, if something was mentioned previously, to do so again is redundant. Compare with ‘below.’ ACCURATE.—‘‘. . . an accurate estimate . . . ..’’ ‘Accurate’ implies complete freedom from error or absolute exactness. An ‘estimate’ is an approximation. Try ‘‘. . . a reliable estimate . . . ..’’ AFFECT/EFFECT.—‘Affect’ is a verb that means to influence. ‘Effect,’ as a verb, means to bring about; as a noun, it means result. ALIQUOT.—Means contained an exact number of times in something else. Commonly misused to mean ‘subsample.’ ALONG WITH.—Just ‘with’ will suffice. ALL OF/BOTH OF.—Just ‘all’ or ‘both’ will suffice in most instances. ALTERNATE/ALTERNATIVE.—‘Alternate’ implies first one then the other. ‘Alternative’ implies a choice among 2 or more incompatible objects, situations, or courses of action. AMONG.—Use when comparing more than 2 items. Compare with ‘between.’ AND, HENCE/AND, THEREFORE/AND, THUS.—‘‘The food supply was reduced and, thus, the population declined.’’ Use either the conjunction OR the conjunctive adverb, not both. APPARENTLY/APPARENT.—Mean obviously, clearly, plainly, evidently, seemingly, ostensibly, or observably. Choose other wording to make the intent clear. APPEAR/APPEARS.—Use ‘seem(s).’ ‘‘He always ‘appears’ on the scene, but never ‘seems’ to know what to do.’’ AS.—A conjunction used in reference to a comparison; always associated with a verb [e.g., ‘‘Pocket mice carry seeds in their cheekpouches as (NOT like) do kangaroo rats’’]. Do not use in place of ‘that’ or ‘whether.’ Compare with ‘like.’ ASSUME.—An active verb often used with an inanimate subject to produce a ludicrous statement. ‘‘The hypothesis ‘assumes’ that . . .’’ or ‘‘The model ‘assumes’ . . . ..’’ Hypotheses and models cannot ‘assume’ anything. However, to test a hypothesis or to use a model certain ‘assumptions’ often are required. The person who tests the hypothesis or uses the model must make the ‘assumptions.’ AS WELL AS.—Use ‘and’; it means the same. AT THE PRESENT TIME/AT THIS POINT IN TIME.—Use ‘currently’ or ‘now’; they mean the same.

18

BELOW.—See comments about ‘above.’ Directions do not change ambiguity. BETWEEN.—Use when comparing only 2 items. Compare with ‘among.’ BY MEANS OF.—Just ‘by’ will suffice in most instances. CASE.—Can be ambiguous, misleading, or ludicrous because of different connotations. ‘‘In the ‘case’ of Scotch whiskey . . ..’’ Often used in padded sentences. If absolutely necessary, use ‘instance’ (e.g., ‘in this instance’). CHARACTER/CHARACTERISTIC.—‘Character’ refers to a variable feature (e.g., condition of the tail). ‘Characteristic’ refers to a condition of a character (feature or dimension) of an organism (e.g., tail absent). Also, it can refer to a unique and diagnostic condition of a character (or feature) found in a taxon. CHECKED.—Imprecise word because of the variety of possible meanings. Commonly used as a synonym for ‘examined’ or ‘verified.’ An example would be, ‘‘The traps were checked . . ..’’ Choose the more precise words so that clarity of meaning is maintained. CLEAR-CUT/CLEAR-CUTTING.—‘Clear-cut’ may be used as an adjective to mean precise, definite, or distinct, or as a transitive verb to mean to remove all trees from an area. However, the word (commonly with the hyphen omitted) has become a jargon term among foresters and others to mean clear-cutting or even-aged forest management. ‘Clear-cut’ may be used only as an adjective or verb, never as a noun; ‘clear-cutting’ is the noun that means the area from which all trees were removed. COMPARE WITH/COMPARE TO.—To ‘compare with’ means to examine differences and similarities; to ‘compare to’ means to represent as similar. Usually, one ‘compares with’ and ‘contrasts to.’ COMPRISE.—Before common misuse, ‘comprise’ meant to contain or include, but not to constitute or to compose. The distinction seems useful and worth preserving. Therefore, ‘‘The whole ‘comprises’ the parts, but the parts do not ‘comprise’ the whole.’’ DECREASED.—Do not use in place of ‘lesser.’ ‘Decreased’ means to diminish (as in, size, amount, or strength). ‘Lesser’ is used primarily as an adjective when making a comparison. DIFFER FROM/DIFFER WITH.—One thing ‘differs from’ another, although you may ‘differ with’ your colleagues. DIFFERENT FROM/DIFFERENT THAN.—Always use ‘Different from.’ DONE.—Commonly stated as: ‘‘Research was ‘done’ in the spring.’’ Could mean either the research was completed or conducted in the spring. Use the correct term to clarify your intended meaning. DUE TO.—‘Due’ is an adjective often mistakenly used as a preposition. ‘Due to’ implies causality when only a relationship may be intended. Try ‘related to’ or, if causality is intended, use ‘because of.’ DURING THE COURSE OF/IN THE COURSE OF.—Just ‘during’ or ‘in’ will suffice. EITHER . . . OR/NEITHER . . . NOR.—Apply to no more than 2 items or categories. EQUALLY AS GOOD/EQUALLY AS GOOD AS.—Use ‘equally good.’ ESTROUS/ESTRUS.—‘Estrous’ is an adjective, ‘estrus’ is a noun. ‘‘Among species that have ‘estrous’ cycles, females are receptive only during ‘estrus.’’’ FALL.—This word has several meanings including to descend, to hang freely, to drop suddenly and involuntarily, to flow down, sink, slump, subside, to come or occur at a certain time, and commonly is used as a synonym for the season of Autumn. Always use the word ‘Autumn’ for the season occurring between summer and winter to remove any doubt as to intended meaning. FARTHER/FURTHER.—‘Farther’ is used as an adverb to mean to a greater distance in space or to a more remote place; it is used as an adjective to mean more divergent in character or relationship or more remote in time. ‘Further’ is used as an adverb to mean in addition or moreover; it is used as an adjective to mean going or extending beyond what exists; or as a verb to mean to help forward, promote, or advance. FAST.—‘‘Foxes were ‘fasted’ . . . ..’’ To ‘fast,’ meaning to starve is an intransitive verb. ‘‘You may

19

‘fast,’ but you cannot ‘fast’ another organism, you ‘starve’ it.’’ FELT.—‘‘It was ‘felt’ that . . ..’’ One feels cloth, but ‘believes’ ideas. FORMER/LATTER.—These words refer only to the first and second of only 2 items or categories. GIVEN.—Commonly stated as: ‘‘At a given time . . ..’’ This word has several meanings including fixed, specific, or specified. Use the more precise term. HIGH(ER)/LOW(ER).—These words are used far too often. Commonly used imprecisely or ambiguously for ‘greater,’ ‘less(er),’ ‘larger,’ ‘smaller,’ ‘more,’ or ‘few(er).’ Sometimes gobbledygook is produced, such as, ‘‘Occurrences of higher concentrations were lower at higher levels of effluent outflow.’’ I have no idea what the authors actually meant. INCIDENCE/PREVALENCE.—‘Incidence’ means the number detected or reported per unit of time. ‘Prevalence’ means the number or proportion per sample. ‘‘The ‘prevalence’ of rabies in skunks in 1961 was 23 per 1000 examined’’ or ‘‘The reported ‘incidence’ of rabies in skunks in northeastern Illinois averaged 23 per year.’’ INCREASED.—‘Increased’ means an addition or enlargement (as in, size, quality, extent, number, intensity, value, or substance). Do not use in place of ‘greater.’ ‘Greater’ means to be large in spatial dimension, or remarkable in intensity, magnitude, power, or effectiveness. IN ORDER THAT.—Overly wordy, use ‘to.’ INTERESTING/INTERESTING TO NOTE.—Let the reader decide what is ‘interesting.’ What is ‘interesting’ to you may not be to the reader. IN VIEW OF THE FACT THAT.—Overly wordy, use ‘because.’ IRREGARDLESS.—Actually, this word does not exist! Use ‘regardless’ or ‘irrespective.’ LAY/LIE.—‘Lay (laid, laid, laying)’ is a transitive verb that requires an object to complete its meaning. It means to put or set down, to produce and deposit, or to dispose over or along a surface. ‘‘Researchers ‘lay’ traps on the ground’’ or ‘‘Traps were ‘laid’ on the ground.’’ ‘Lie (lay, lain, lying)’ is an intransitive verb that does not take an object. It means to be or stay in a horizontal position, to have direction, or to occupy a certain place or position. ‘‘The neonates ‘lie’ in their nest’’ or ‘‘Traps were ‘lying’ on the ground.’’ LESS(ER)/FEW(ER).—‘Less’ refers to quantity; ‘few’ refers to number. ‘‘He drank ‘less’ beer today, so there were ‘fewer’ empty cans.’’ LIKE.—A preposition, always associated with an object (nouns, pronouns, or noun phrases). Used correctly when it replaces the phrases ‘similar to’ or ‘similarily to.’ ‘‘Grasshopper mice howl like [NOT as] coyotes.’’ Compare with ‘as.’ LIVETRAP/LIVE TRAP.—‘Livetrap’ (1 word) is a verb, whereas ‘live trap’ (2 words) is a noun. Therefore, animals are ‘livetrapped’ in ‘live traps.’ Hyphenate ‘live trap’ only when used as a noun modifier as in ‘live-trap grid.’ MAJORITY/VAST MAJORITY.—‘Majority’ means more than half. ‘Vast’ suggests immensity of extent. Usually, ‘most’ will be more precise. MASS/WEIGHT.—These 2 words often are confused. Bodies have ‘mass,’ whereas forces are measured in units of ‘weight.’ Thus, ‘‘The average ‘mass’ of adult Microtus oregoni from the Coast Range is 19.1 g’’ or ‘‘The pregnant Peromyscus weigh 6 g more than the heaviest nulliparous specimen.’’ That is, the pregnant one exerted a force greater than the heaviest nulliparous one equivalent to the Earth’s pull on a 6-g mass. MOISTER.—Better to use ‘more moist,’ ‘more mesic,’ or ‘wetter.’ NON.—A prefix, usually not hyphenated. Avoid overuse. Do not use ‘non’ to substitute for established negative prefixes or where ‘not’ will serve. Use ‘incorrect’ or ‘not correct,’ ‘never noncorrect.’ Similarly, use ‘unreliable’ or ‘not reliable,’ ‘uninfected’ or ‘not infected,’ and ‘not significantly different.’ NOT INCORRECT/NOT CONSISTENT WITH/NOT UNCOMMON.—Double negatives become incomprehensible. Use ‘correct,’ ‘consistent with,’ or ‘common’ to express positive concepts of correctness, consistency, or commonness.

20

ONCE/WHEN/AFTER.—Avoid use of ‘once’ to mean when or after as ‘once’ can mean one time, formerly, simultaneously, or immediately. ‘‘When (or After) [NOT once] the mouse located the cache it began to fill its cheek pouches.’’ OUT/IN.—‘‘. . . 14 ‘out’ of 17 . . .,’’ ‘‘. . . 14 ‘in’ 17 . . .,’’ or ‘‘. . . to find ‘out’ if . . ..’’ In most instances, ‘out’ or ‘in’ can be omitted without altering the meaning. Use ‘‘. . . 14 of 17 . . .,’’ ‘‘. . . to find . . .,’’ or ‘‘. . . to determine . . ..’’ PARAMETER.—A perfectly good word that means an arbitrary constant each of which values characterizes a member of a system or a characteristic element or constant factor. However, the word is misused in so many ways that it might be better to avoid its use. Try ‘characteristic,’ ‘dimension,’ or ‘distance.’ PARTIALLY/PARTLY.—‘Partially’ implies bias in favor of one or the other. ‘Partly’ is the more precise term when the concept of proportion or portion is meant. PERCENT/PERCENTAGE.—Use the percent sign (%) with numerals; use percentage in reference to proportion of the whole expressed in hundredths. Compare with proportion. PREDOMINATE/PREDOMINANT.—‘Predominate’ is a verb, ‘predominant’ an adjective. The adverb is ‘predominantly’, not ‘predominately.’ PRIOR TO/PREVIOUS TO/SUBSEQUENT TO.—‘Previous’ and ‘prior’ are adjectives that modify nouns. There are ‘prior’ and ‘previous’ events, that occur before something else. Likewise, there are ‘subsequent’ events that occur after something else. However, events do not occur ‘prior to,’ ‘previous to,’ or ‘subsequent to’ something else. Use ‘before,’ ‘proceeding,’ or ‘after’ as usage requires. PROBLEM.—Indicates a question open to inquiry or a proposition stating something to be done. Often misused. ‘‘The potassium ‘problem’ in deer caused . . ..’’ Instead, try ‘‘Inadequate potassium in deer caused . . .’’ or ‘‘Failure to meet potassium requirements in deer caused . . ..’’ PROPORTION.—Use in the sense of ‘part’ (e.g., the relation of one part to another or to the whole with respect to magnitude, quantity, or degree). Compare with percent. PROVEN.—‘Proven’ is an adjective, but ‘proved’ is the past participle. Be careful of this word; rarely is anything ‘proven’ in science. Hypotheses are tested and sometimes rejected, but this is not ‘proof.’ PROVIDED/PROVIDING.—‘Provided’ usually followed by ‘that’ is the conjunction. ‘Providing’ is the participle. REASON WHY.—Omit ‘why.’ The ‘reason’ is the ‘why.’ SAID.—Often used incorrectly as, ‘‘Jones (1950) ‘said’ . . .’’ or ‘‘Nothing was ‘said.’ ’’ Instead, use ‘wrote,’ ‘suggested,’ ‘reported,’ or ‘recorded.’ SCAT.—Commonly used as a synonym for fecal dropping. Consider substituting ‘feces,’ ‘fecal droppings,’ ‘fecal passage,’ ‘fecal pellets,’ or ‘excrement’ for greater clarity. Scat is imprecise because of numerous other meanings: a tax, a shower of rain, to scatter, to smash, to beat, to go away quickly, to move rapidly, to sing with meaningless syllables, and is the vernacular name of the argusfish. SMALL IN SIZE/RECTANGULAR IN SHAPE/GREEN IN COLOR/TENUOUS IN NATURE.—Something is a size, shape or color; the added words are superfluous. Use ‘small,’ ‘rectangular,’ ‘green,’ or ‘tenuous.’ THAT/WHICH.—‘‘These are 2 words ‘that’ can help, when needed, to make intended meanings and relationships unmistakable, ‘which’ often is of prime importance in science writing.’’ If the clause can be omitted without leaving the modified noun incomplete, use ‘which’ and enclose the clause with commas or parentheses, otherwise, use ‘that.’ THIS/THESE.—These pronouns (among others) commonly are used to begin sentences when the antecedants to which they refer are unclear. ‘‘Elephants, whales, and bats are mammals, although bats fly like birds. These animals are endothermic.’’ It is unclear whether just the mammals are

21

endothermic, just the birds, or both the birds and mammals. Make sure the antecedants of ‘these’ pronouns are clear. TO SEE.—‘‘More research is needed ‘to see’ if foxes kill cats.’’ ‘To see’ means to perceive by the eye. Substitute ‘to determine,’ ‘to ascertain,’ or ‘to detect.’ TRAPPED.—‘Trapped’ means to capture in traps. Therefore, ‘‘. . . study areas were trapped’’ produces a ludicrous assertion. Use ‘‘Traps were set for 3 nights on 4 study areas.’’ UTILIZATION/UTILIZE.—‘Use’ will suffice. VARY/QUITE/SOMEWHAT/CONSIDERABLE.—Avoid use of modifiers that impart indefinite measure. For example, ‘‘A ‘very’ large bear . . .’’ does not provide an indication of how large or provide a scale for judging the relative size of the bear. Either write ‘‘A large bear . . .,’’ or better, ‘‘A 3-m tall bear . . ..’’ VARYING/VARIOUS/DIFFERING/DIFFERENT.—Commonly misused as synonyms. ‘Varying’ amounts or ‘differing’ conditions imply individually changing amounts or conditions rather than a selection of ‘various’ amounts or ‘different’conditions. WHERE.—Implies a locality, position, or direction. Do not use for ‘in which’ or ‘for which.’ ‘‘Direct relationships in which [NOT where] muskrats and minks . . ..’’ WHICH IS/THAT WERE/WHO ARE.—Usually superfluous. ‘‘The data ‘that were’ related to age were analyzed first.’’ Omit ‘that were’; it does not change the meaning. ‘‘The site ‘which is’ located near Corvallis, . . ..’’ Omit ‘which is’ for the same reason. WHILE/WHEREAS.—‘While’ implies simultaneity. Often misused for ‘although’ or ‘whereas.’ Examples are: ‘‘Dipodomys merriami has 4 toes on each hind foot, whereas [NOT while] D. ordii has 5’’ or ‘‘Although [NOTwhile] deer sometimes chase coyotes, rabbits never do.’’ WHO/WHOM.—‘Who’ is used with a relative clause, thus it serves to ask for specification. When you write about animals it is not ‘who’ it is ‘which.’ ‘‘The coyote, ‘which’ [NOT who] caught the rabbit, also chased a skunk.’’ ‘‘Researchers ‘who’ discovered the structure of DNA received the Nobel Prize.’’ ‘Whom’ is used with direct objects. ‘‘Whom’ can I trust? Researchers who are ethical.’’

D. Principles of Technical Writing

A technical report (also: scientific report) is a document that describes the process, progress, or results of technical or scientific research or the state of a technical or scientific research problem.[1] It might also include recommendations and conclusions of the research. Unlike other scientific literature, such as scientific journals and the proceedings of some academic conferences, technical reports rarely undergo comprehensive independent peer review before publication. Where there is a review process, it is often limited to within the originating organization. Similarly, there are no formal publishing procedures for such reports, except where established locally.

Description

Technical reports are today a major source of scientific and technical information. They are prepared for internal or wider distribution by many organizations, most of which lack the extensive editing and printing facilities of commercial publishers. Technical reports are often prepared for sponsors of research projects. Another case where a technical report may be produced is when more information is produced for an academic paper than is acceptable or feasible to publish in a peer-reviewed publication; examples of this include in-depth experimental details, additional results, or the architecture of a computer model. Researchers may also publish work in early form as a technical

22

report to establish novelty, without having to wait for the often long production schedules of academic journals. Technical reports are considered "non-archival" publications, and so are free to be published elsewhere in peer-reviewed venues with or without modification.

In Engineering, one of the major forms of communication is the technical report. This is the conventional format for reporting the results of your research, investigations, and design projects. At university, reports are read by lecturers and tutors in order to assess your mastery of the subjects and your ability to apply your knowledge to a practical task. In the workplace, they will be read by managers, clients, and the construction engineers responsible for building from your designs. The ability to produce a clear, concise, and professionally presented report is therefore a skill you will need to develop in order to succeed both at university and in your future career.

While reports vary in the type of information they present (for example, original research, the results of an investigative study, or the solution to a design problem), all share similar features and are based on a similar structure.

Note: This document contains general engineering report-writing guidelines only. For specific departmental requirements, see your unit or study guide.

Key features of reports

Reports:

are designed for quick and easy communication of information are designed for selective reading use sections with numbered headings and subheadings use figures and diagrams to convey data.

E. Organization and Presentation of Technical Reports

A report usually has these components:

Title page Summary Table of Contents Introduction Middle sections with numbered headings (i.e., the body of the report) Conclusions References Appendices

Hints on Technical Report Writing by John Ringwood School of Electronic Engineering, Dublin City University

Abstract

23

This note gives a number of pointers to writing professional, structured technical reports. It is loosely aimed at engineers producing technical papers, reports, dissertations and theses. The ideas contained herein are necessarily subjective, but are based on writing and correcting reports over a period of about 16 years. Though writing style is inevitably individual, and refreshingly so, some basic principles are useful in guiding the prospective author in order to obtain a sound starting point and ease the daunting perspective of writing a lengthy document. Sub-sections 1. Document Structure One major difficulty with a large document is the rather onerous task of addressing a full pad of blank paper. Additionally, the task of achieving good structure from the start is compounded by the myriad of thoughts which one juggles, in an attempt to sort out the logical progression of the document. Failure in this endeavour will surely result in structural changes at a later stage, which are the most costly of revisions. The key to achieving both good structure (from the start) and decomposing the initially large problem into bite-sized chunks lies in the contents list.

1.1 The contents list

For most people, the contents list is a summary of the chapter and section headings, together with a page index, and is normally written when the document is already complete. However, the contents list is the one place in the document where overall structure can be examined, so why not get the structure right at the start? Early organisation of the contents list is certainly not a trivial problem and may take up to a few days to draft. The level of detail should go down to (probably) sub-subsections, where the final level contains one key idea and takes up, at most, two to three paragraphs of text. It may even be useful to title each paragraph, though this may not appear in the final contents list as a formal heading.

Again, it is important to stress that laying out the contents list is not easy. However, some hard work at this stage will save a lot of grief later on and is pro-active in ensuring good structure. A badly structured document inherits its own inertia and will be very difficult (and laborious) to correct at a later stage.

1.2 Logical structure

By logical structure is meant the natural unfolding of a story as the reader progresses through the document. This is achieved by going from the general to the specific, with the background material preceding the technical expose, which should lead logically to the conclusions. Consider a good joke. It has the structure as shown in Fig.1: Context Detail (Core) Punchline Fig. 1: Joke Structure

In our case, the punchline is the set of conclusions. Everything should support the conclusions and naturally lead up to them. Remember this when constructing your contents list! A typical technical report has the following progression:

24

Introduction Background and Context Technical detail Results Discussion and Conclusions

If some of the detail is standard, but possibly difficult to obtain, it can be included as an appendix. More information on appendices is given in Section 1.5.

1.3 Bite-sized chunks

From the hierarchical structure in the contents list, it should now be possible to write each of the sub-subsections (or paragraphs) as a more-or-less independent entity, observing however, the relationship between different sections. The a priori establishment of the contents list also allows section numbers to be assigned to the different document sections, making cross-referencing relatively simple.

1.4 Chapter order

With a technical document, it is often beneficial to write the technical chapters first i.e., the core material, leaving the introduction, discussion and conclusions until the end. This is especially important when some results are still not available and the time has come to begin writing your document. Even in cases where all results are available, leaving the introduction until the end allows a better perspective to be had on the document as a whole. 1.5 Appendix material Many authors are uncertain as to what to include in the appendix section. Generally, appendices should contain relatively standard derivations and perhaps lists of parameter values, which would interfere with the continuity of the main body of the document. In particular, the appendix section should not contain:

All the figures corresponding to the document. Ideally these should appear alongside the appropriate text, or else after the references in a separate section.

Photocopies of data sheets, or other easily-accessible material. Any material which is crucial to the continuity or flow of the `story' in the main technical

sections.

As with the main document sections, the appendices should reference all material which is not the authors original work (see Section 2.5). All appendices should be numbered consecutively, for example Appendix A1, Appendix A2, etc., in order to allow cross-referencing from the text.

1.6 Typical report sections

Depending on the nature of your document, it may (optionally) have the following sections: Title page

with name, affiliation, date, etc. Dedication

to a friend, family member, or loved one Declaration

25

that the material in the report is the author's own work Acknowledgement s

to those who have helped or influenced your work Contents list

which lists items from here on with appropriate page references, see Section 1.1 Abstract

which summarises the report contents Introduction

which introduces the work, provides the motivation and context and outlines other related work

Main technical chapters which document the core technical work

Conclusions which may also identify appropriate future work, see Section 2.6

References see Section 2.5

Appendices see Section 1.5

2. Writing Style Writing style is probably the most individual aspect of a report, but again there are useful guidelines which aid the readability, professionalism, objectiveness and impact of a report.

2.1 Who is the rapporteur?

All reports should be written in the third person i.e., as an objective observer! Avoid using terms such as ``I did this experiment and..". Instead substitute terms, such as ``The experiment was performed ...''. Note that the best written description is not necessarily the same as the best verbal description.

2.2 Who is the reader?

Decide, in advance of writing, who the likely reader of the document is. The document must be pitched at an appropriate level with sufficient background to allow understanding by the target audience. Examples of target audiences are shown in Table 1. Table 1: Example target audiences

Report type Target audience

Final year project report Engineers not specifically au fait with your project area

MEng/PhD thesis Researchers familiar with the subject area, but not necessarily with your approach

Research paper Researchers familiar with the approach, but not your specific results

26

Failure to pitch the level correctly will also inevitably result in failure to communicate your ideas effectively, since the reader will either be swamped with complexity, or bored with blandness!

2.3 Form

This section deals with items related to general appearance and professionalism of the report.

2.3.1 Spelling

This may seem a small an unimportant point for an engineering text, but poor spelling makes a document seem sloppy and may convey an impression that the engineering content is as loose as the general appearance! There are spelling checkers in virtually every word processor now, so use them! However, don't assume that a spelling checker will get all your typos, so long as the word is in its dictionary, it won't flag an error. These checkers are good, but they can't read your mind (yet!). If the report language is not your first language, get a natural speaker to check your document (see Section 5.2).

2.3.2 Grammar

This is same here as for spelling. Many word processors now have grammar checkers as well as spell checkers, but the usefulness of these is debatable, so don't rely on them. If in doubt, keep your sentences short and don't be afraid to ask somebody how to use punctuation correctly.

2.3.3 The capital dilemma

Avoid excessive use of capital letters. One recommendation is to only use capitals for proper nouns (such as place names, company names, etc) and in places where acronyms are being defined, e.g., Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). Acronyms should be defined at the first point of usage and the acronym can then be used freely. Try to avoid the use of capitals for emphasis, use boldfacing or italics instead. Capitals can be used effectively to differentiate between different section heading levels, such as in this document i.e., the next level up uses capitals to start each word in the subsection title. However, if you wish to do this, or differentiate between different heading levels in a different way, make sure you are consistent in the way you do this.

2.4 Justification and rationale

Engineers and scientists are constant sceptics and need to be constantly re-assured that your work is pragmatic. For each idea presented, you should establish some rationale or motivation for its undertaking and any assumptions made must be justified. Similarly, critical assessment should be made of your results.

2.5 Observing the outside world

Plagiarism is an unacceptable breach of copyright, where an author presents methods, text or results as his/her own, without reference to the original source. Ignorance of the original source or a forgetful omission is no excuse and the consequences for plagiarism are serious where it appears in

27

examinable documents. However, in addition to referencing work which is included in your report, it is also necessary to be aware (as fully as possible) of other work which has been carried out which relates to your research. This becomes very important in MEng/PhD theses and research papers, which sit on the world stage and require that the author be aware of all related works. Searching for related literature can be performed by computerised searches through databases, such as INSPEC and Compendex, or by directly searching through journals. The Internet can also sometimes be a useful source of information.

Make sure that your referencing method is one of the popular ones (such as the Harvard or MLA styles [1]). There's absolutely no point in inventing another system of your own. Ensure you know how to correctly reference:

A journal paper [2] A conference paper [3] A PhD/MEng thesis, final-year project or research report [4,5] A book [6] An Internet source (via the URL) [7].

As a basic requirement, you should provide enough information to allow the reader to access the source of your material. The examples shown follow the general form used by the IEEE: numerical order, in order of appearance. This form is frequently used in other engineering journals and books, though the Harvard style [1] is also popular.

2.6 Writing conclusions

Conclusions must conclude! They must give some overall insight into the value of your work in general and inform the reader of what the major impact is, together with any caveats which the reader should be aware of. A popular `cop-out' is to fill the conclusions section with a summary of what's in the technical chapters. This concludes nothing! The summary (if present) should be at the start of the document as an abstract. It may be helpful to flag items on a list, which are appropriate for the conclusions section, while writing the technical chapters. The key to your conclusions is then provided by the list.

F. Technical Aids in Presentation

Multimedia and Visual Balance A technical report can contain information in a variety of forms. These include text, figures, tables and equations. The following subsections contain some information regarding the appropriate use of each. However, choosing different means of representation can also be used to give visual balance to the document, for example by breaking up long sections of text with equations, tables or figures. In cases where several options are available for representing a particular piece of information, the author can choose appropriately to make the document a less daunting prospect to the reader through

28

visual balance. In most cases, however, the appropriate choice of medium is dictated by the type of information to be communicated.

Figures

``A picture tells a thousand words''? There is great substance in this statement, and nowhere more obvious than in technical reports. Use figures liberally to communicate specific results (graphs) and show an overview of the system being described through block diagrams, etc. Where possible, put multiple plots on the same axes, so that comparative conclusions can be drawn. Ensure that each figure has a number and a title, so that it can be referenced from the text.

Tables

Tables are an excellent means of giving an overview of numerical results or providing information in a form which lends itself to comparison. Again, ensure that each table has a number and a title, so that it can be referenced from the text.

Equations

Some authors shun the formality of equations, preferring to describe the required relationships in textual form. However, it is generally possible to encapsulate a whole paragraph of such text in a single equation. Use equations in a technical report where possible! Number all equations consecutively to allow reference from the text. Be careful that all the notations you use are defined and beware of using the same mnemonic for two different variables!

Text

Text is the `filler' and provides the bridge between the equations, figures, tables and references. See Section 2 for more information on the form of the text.

Choosing a Word Processor There is currently a great variety of word processor software available. Two of the popular packages for producing technical documents are briefly reviewed here, along with comparative advantages and disadvantages. See Table 2 for some itemised comparisons.

Microsoft Word

This popular piece of bloatware (you can tell that this author is not a great fan!) from Bill Gates is by far the most popular worldwide. It sits happily in the WindowsTM environment and provides inter-operability between other WindowsTM applications, giving you the opportunity to pull in graphs (e.g., from MATLABTM) or tables (e.g., from Excel) from other WindowsTM applications. The main benefit

29

is that Word is WYSIWYG i.e., your document appears on the screen as it will be (barring a few Microsoft funnies) in printed form. Word also has an equation editor and an in-built drawing package (neither of which this author is very fond of) and a table `wizard', for easy generation of tables. Overall, easy to use and quick to learn, but the `intelligent' automatic corrections it does are particularly infuriating with a technical document, which may have a lot of non-standard text. The major drawbacks are the relatively large file sizes, which can lead to other problems, such as unexpected software crashes, with possible loss of input. This author's personal experiences with Word wouldn't be a major sell for Bill Gates!

LaTeX

LaTeX [8] is a suite of (largely shareware) typesetting software, which gives excellent output. The main drawback is that it isn't WYSIWYG, a mark-up language (similar to HTML) being used to specify formatting commands, math symbols, etc. As a result, the learning curve for LaTeX is considerably longer than for Word, explaining its relative lack of popularity. However, some context-sensitive editors are available for LaTeX (such as WinEdt), which are a considerable help for people used to a WindowsTM menu-based system. It is probably true to say that the LaTeX system has been adopted by the majority of researchers in the area of mathematical sciences for the preparation of technical documents. The main advantages are that file sizes are small and it has excellent (and easy-to-use) cross referencing systems for: References, Equations, Tables, and Figures. It also has good facilities for producing mathematical mark-up (symbols, equations, etc).

Table 2: Comparison of word processing software

Facility Word LaTeX

Drawing Poor (inbuilt) Good (LaTeXCad)

Equations Poor Excellent

WYSIWYG Excellent V. Poor

Speed of input Good Good

Storage format Proprietary Text (ASCII)

Output Any printer Postscript only

File sizes Rel. Large Rel. Small

Quality Control Having completed the major chore of writing the document, you may consider that your work is complete. If there is a higher authority to whom the project/document is done under the guidance of, you may consider that it is their duty to do the quality control on it. Wrong! While your supervisor may suggest modifications to structure or provide suggestions on some technical points, it is not their job to correct spelling, grammar, etc. The primary responsibility for the quality of your document lies with yourself. It is worth taking that extra small amount of time to ensure that your document is professional and is free from grammatical and spelling mistakes.

30

The schizophrenic author?

In proof-reading the document yourself, you should attempt to look at the document in a fresh light as a reader completely new to the material. The capacity to adopt this `schizophrenic' stance will greatly aid your ability to improve the document. Don't be tempted to gloss over sections or speed-read the text, happy in the knowledge that you know what's in there!

Some friendly help

If you are fortunate to have a colleague or friend from the target reader group who is willing to give you a little time, the view of an objective and completely fresh reader can be of great benefit. This person may also be able to pick up spelling or grammatical errors which you yourself are unaware of. The use of a friend or colleague at this stage is vital in cases where the document is not written in the author's first language.

Your supervisor

Given that the document is a clear read (ensured by the two previous stages of quality control), your supervisor can provide some help regarding the technical accuracy of your report. The converse is also true, in that the lack of clarity in the first place will inhibit the refinement of the technical content! If you want to get the best, in terms of advice on possible technical improvement, the document must be relatively error free. If a supervisor is prepared to correct typos, grammar, etc., it is unlikely that he/she is going to have time to focus on the more important technical points. In short, you should get the best out of your document by ensuring that you observe the 3 stages of quality control. When you become well practiced at technical documents, just reviewing the document yourself (critically) may suffice.

3. Conclusions This note has attempted to highlight the salient features of technical report writing. It is not a comprehensive guide. It is motivated by a large number of reports which this author has seen which have not nearly done justice to the work which they were intended to report on. It is as important to report well on the work as to perform good technical work. Consider the case of a BEng project report in the School of Electronic Engineering at DCU, as an example, where 60% of the marks are allocated on the basis of the report alone. This mark is indicative of the relative importance attached to reporting in the wider industrial community. For further reading see, for example, the volume by Beer [10].

Learn by example! Make sure you have a critical look at a similar type of document before you take your first steps. Is this report, in your opinion, clear and well written? Try not to make the same mistakes as that author made!

Finally, this report was specifically structured to demonstrate sections, subsections and the use of tables, figure and references. It was written according to the methodology in Section 1, where each subsection has a core idea, making it very easy to write. No doubt, it has imperfections - here's your chance to improve on it! Aim to excel at your report writing. The professional nature of your reports

31

will stand to you. Remember that ideas committed to print will potentially be perused by a considerable number of people (including potential employers!) over a considerable period into the future.

Bibliography

1 Byrne, N. Citing and Referencing - A Guide for Students, Dublin City University Library, 1998. 2 Hirschorn, R.M. and Miller, G. Control of nonlinear systems with friction, IEEE Trans. on Control System Technology, Vol.7, No.5, Sept. 1999. 3 Whitfield, A. and Wallace, F.J. Study of incidence loss models in radial and mixed-flow turbomachinery, Proc. Cong. Heat Fluid Flow in Steam and Gas Turbine Plant, Univ. Warwick, Coventry, UK, April 1973, pp 122-32. 4 Murray, F. Time Series Forecasting Methodologies for Electricity Supply Systems, PhD Thesis, Dublin City University, 1997. 5 O'Connor, M. Computer-Based Control of Time Delay Systems Using a Smith Predictor, BEng Project Report, School of Electronic Engineering, Dublin City University, 1989. 6 Kreyszig, E. Advanced Engineering Mathematics (7th Ed.),, Wiley, 1993. 7 Ringwood, J. and Galvin, G. Artificial Neural Networks - An Introduction, Available from: http://www.eeng.dcu.ie/~annet/ [Accessed 15th Nov. 1999]. 8 Lamport, L. LaTeX : A Document Preparation System : User's Guide and Reference Manual (2nd Ed.), Addison-Wesley, 1994. 9 Gratzer, G. Math into TeX : : A Simple Introduction to AMS-LaTeX, Birkhauser, 1993. 10 Beer, D.F. (Ed.) Writing and Speaking in the Technology Professions - A Practical Guide, IEEE Press, 1992. G. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: YOUR FINAL YEAR PROJECT REPORT

A typical final year project report will normally have the following contents.

Cover page: An example of a cover page is:

ANALYSIS OF NUTRITIONAL CONTENTS OF ACHA (Digitaria exilis and Digitaria iburua)

BY

ABDULKADIR JOY AMINAT

MATRIC No. 2003/17488EA

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL & BIORESOURCES ENGINEERING

FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, MINNA

NOVEMBER, 2007

Title page: An example of a title page is:

ANALYSIS OF NUTRITIONAL CONTENTS OF ACHA (Digitaria exilis and Digitaria iburua)

BY

32

ABDULKADIR JOY AMINAT

MATRIC No. 2003/17488EA

BEING A FINAL YEAR PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING (B. ENG.) DEGREE IN AGRICULTURAL & BIORESOURCES ENGINEERING, FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, MINNA, NIGER STATE

NOVEMBER, 2007

Declaration page:

I hereby declare that this project work is a record of a research work that was undertaken and written by me. It has not been presented before for any degree or diploma or certificate at any university or institution. Information derived from personal communications, published and unpublished work were duly referenced in the text.

Abdulkadir, Joy Aminat Date

Certification page:

This is to certify that the project entitled “Analysis of Nutritional Contents of Acha (Digitaria exilis and Digitaria iburua)” by Abdulkadir, Joy Aminat meets the regulations governing the award of the degree of Bachelor of Engineering (B. ENG.) of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, and it is approved for its contribution to scientific knowledge and literary presentation.

Engr. Dr. O. Chukwu Date

Supervisor

Engr. Dr. A. A. Balami Date

Head of Department

External Examiner Date

Dedication page:

Acknowledgements page:

Abstract page:

Table of Contents page: This page looks like this:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover page

33

Title page i

Declaration ii

Certification iii

Dedication iv

Acknowledgements v

Abstract vi

Table of Contents vii

List of Tables viii

List of Figures ix

List of Plates x

Abbreviations or Symbols or Notations xi

List of Appendices xii

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

1.2 Statement of the Problem

1.3 Objectives of the Study

1.4 Justification of the Study

1.5 Scope of the Study

CHAPTER TWO

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPTER THREE

3.0 MATERIALS AND METHODS 3.1 Materials

3.2 Methods

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Presentation of Results

4.2 Discussion of Results

CHAPTER FIVE

34

5.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Conclusions

5.2 Recommendations

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

List of Tables page

List of Figures page

List of Plates page

Abbreviations or Symbols or Notations page

List of Appendices page

FORMATTING YOUR PROJECT WORK

Heading in text: The chapter and heading shall be written in bold and capitalized (not underlined) and at the top of the page. The sub-heading shall be in bold, title case but not capitalized and shall appear as marginal heading and not underlined.

Spacing and typing: The project should be typed DOUBLE spaced on good quality paper using Times New Roman and Font size 12. Size of paper should be A4, including engineering drawings which must be in AutoCAD.

Pagination: Each page of the bound project shall be numbered consecutively, except the cover page which shall not bear the Roman number i. The title page bears the number i. After the preliminary pages all other pages must bear Arabic numbers, starting with Chapter One as page 1.

Abstract: The abstract must be written in one block paragraph without indentation. It should contain: what you did, how you did it, results you obtained, what you conclude from your results and recommendation(s) you have made.

Captions/Titles for Plates/Figures/Tables:

(a) Plates: All plates shall be given a number and a suitable title and must be placed below the plate e.g. Plate 2.1: Refuse Dump at Gidan Kwano Campus of FUT, Minna

(b) Figures: All figures (graphs, charts, histograms, maps, and engineering drawings) included in the body of the write-up must be numbered consecutively and a suitable self-explanatory title of the figure given below the figure on the same page. The word figure shall be abbreviated Fig. and then followed by the number of the figure e.g. Fig.3.1: Variation in Annual Rainfall in Minna.

(c) Tables: Each table shall be numbered with a suitable title written on top of (not below) the table, e.g. Table 1.1: Proximate Compositions of Banana Fruit. All vertical lines must not been shown and only three horizontal lines are necessary. For further details on formatting tables, COME TO CLASS.

Citation of References:

35

(i) Citation in the text

Beginning or inside text

Examples:

Single author: Chukwu (2009)

Double authors: Chukwu and Alabadan (2008)

Multiple authors: Chukwu et al. (2007)

End of statement e.g. (Balami, 2006) or (Idah and Orhevba, 2008) or (Balami et al., 2005)

(ii) List of references

This section should be arranged alphabetically by author; chronologically (from earliest to the latest); by form of publication (this is not strictly followed) at the end of the project. It should contain the author’s or authors’ surname followed by the initials; date of publication; title of article; name of journal with volume and number (or conference organizers with place of conference or publishers with edition in case of textbooks), and page(s) consulted.

Examples:

(a) Journal:

Chukwu, O. (2009): Influences of Drying Methods on Nutritional Properties of Tilapia Fish. World Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 5 (2): 256 – 258.

Chukwu, O. and Ismail, D. A. (2009): Effect of Hydrothermal Treatments on Proteins from Acha (Digitaria exilis) and Wheat (Triticum durum). Asian Journal of Foods & Agro-Industry, 2 (2): 93 – 101.

Chukwu, O., Mustapha, H.I.and Adbul-gafar, B. (2008): The Effect of Minna Abattoir Waste on Surface Water Quality I. Environmental Research Journal, 2 (6): 334 – 338.

(b) Proceedings:

Ajisegiri, E.S.A., Chukwu, O., Odigure, O.J., Jimoh, O.D., Adeniyi, O.D. and Olagunju, R.O. (2002) : Environmental Impacts from Industrial Operations: Case Study of Food Processing Industries in Nigeria. Proceedings of 15th Annual Conference of Nigerian Association of Teachers of Technology, Federal University of Technology, Minna, 2002, pp. 368 – 371.

(c) Textbook:

Frank, P.I. and David, P.D. (1990): Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer. John Wiley and Sons Inc., 250pp, New York, USA.

(d) Parts of Books, Pamphlets and Reports:

Labuza, T.P. (1975): Sorption-phenomenon in Foods: Theoretical and Practical Aspects. In Theory, Determination and Control of Physical Properties of Food Materials, (D. Chokyum Rha, ed.) pp. 197 – 219, Reidel Pub. Co. Holland.

For further details see Section H of this Course.

36

H. APA Reference List: Basic Rules APA (American Psychological Association) is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 6th edition, second printing of the APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition, second printing.

Your reference list should appear at the end of your paper. It provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any source you cite in the body of the paper. Each source you cite in the paper must appear in your reference list; likewise, each entry in the reference list must be cited in your text. Your references should begin on a new page separate from the text of the essay; label this page "References" centered at the top of the page (do NOT bold, underline, or use quotation marks for the title). All text should be double-spaced just like the rest of your essay.

1. Basic Rules ● All lines after the first line of each entry in your reference list should be indented one-half

inch from the left margin. This is called hanging indentation.

● Authors' names are inverted (last name first); give the last name and initials for all authors of a particular work for up to and including seven authors. If the work has more than seven authors, list the first six authors and then use ellipses after the sixth author's name. After the ellipses, list the last author's name of the work.

● Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last name of the first author of each work.

● If you have more than one article by the same author, single-author references or multiple-author references with the exact same authors in the exact same order are listed in order by the year of publication, starting with the earliest.

● When referring to any work that is NOT a journal, such as a book, article, or Web page, capitalize only the first letter of the first word of a title and subtitle, the first word after a colon or a dash in the title, and proper nouns. Do not capitalize the first letter of the second word in a hyphenated compound word.

● Capitalize all major words in journal titles.

● Italicize titles of longer works such as books and journals.

● Do not italicize, underline, or put quotes around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles or essays in edited collections.

2. Reference List: Author/Authors

37

The following rules for handling works by a single author or multiple authors apply to all APA-style references in your reference list, regardless of the type of work (book, article, electronic resource, etc.)

Single Author

Last name first, followed by author initials.

Berndt, T. J. (2002). Friendship quality and social development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 7-10.

Two Authors

List by their last names and initials. Use the ampersand instead of "and."

Wegener, D. T., & Petty, R. E. (1994). Mood management across affective states: The hedonic contingency hypothesis. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 66, 1034-1048.

Three to Seven Authors

List by last names and initials; commas separate author names, while the last author name is preceded again by ampersand.

Kernis, M. H., Cornell, D. P., Sun, C. R., Berry, A., Harlow, T., & Bach, J. S. (1993). There's more to self-esteem than whether it is high or low: The importance of stability of self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 1190-1204.

More Than Seven Authors Miller, F. H., Choi, M. J., Angeli, L. L., Harland, A. A., Stamos, J. A., Thomas, S. T., . . . Rubin, L. H.

(2009). Web site usability for the blind and low-vision user. Technical Communication 57, 323-335.

Organization as Author American Psychological Association. (2003).

Unknown Author Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary (10th ed.).(1993). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.

NOTE: When your essay includes parenthetical citations of sources with no author named, use a shortened version of the source's title instead of an author's name. Use quotation marks and italics as appropriate. For example, parenthetical citations of the source above would appear as follows: (Merriam-Webster's, 1993).

Two or More Works by the Same Author

Use the author's name for all entries and list the entries by the year (earliest comes first).

Berndt, T. J. (1981). Berndt, T. J. (1999).

When an author appears both as a sole author and, in another citation, as the first author of a group, list the one-author entries first.

38

Berndt, T. J. (1999). Friends' influence on students' adjustment to school. Educational Psychologist, 34, 15-28.

Berndt, T. J., & Keefe, K. (1995). Friends' influence on adolescents' adjustment to school. Child Development, 66, 1312-1329.

References that have the same first author and different second and/or third authors are arranged alphabetically by the last name of the second author or the last name of the third if the first and second authors are the same.

Wegener, D. T., Kerr, N. L., Fleming, M. A., & Petty, R. E. (2000). Flexible corrections of juror judgments: Implications for jury instructions. Psychology, Public Policy, & Law, 6, 629-654.

Wegener, D. T., Petty, R. E., & Klein, D. J. (1994). Effects of mood on high elaboration attitude change: The mediating role of likelihood judgments. European Journal of Social Psychology, 24, 25-43.

Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year

If you are using more than one reference by the same author (or the same group of authors listed in the same order) published in the same year, organize them in the reference list alphabetically by the title of the article or chapter. Then assign letter suffixes to the year. Refer to these sources in your essay as they appear in your reference list, e.g.: "Berdnt (1981a) makes similar claims..."

Berndt, T. J. (1981a). Age changes and changes over time in prosocial intentions and behavior between friends. Developmental Psychology, 17, 408-416.

Berndt, T. J. (1981b). Effects of friendship on prosocial intentions and behavior. Child Development, 52, 636-643.

Introductions, Prefaces, Forewords, and Afterwords

Cite the publishing information about a book as usual, but cite Introduction, Preface, Foreword, or Afterword (whatever title is applicable) as the chapter of the book.

Funk, R. & Kolln, M. (1998). Introduction. In E.W. Ludlow (Ed.), Understanding English Grammar (pp. 1-2). Needham, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

3. Reference List: Articles in Periodicals Basic Form

APA style dictates that authors are named last name followed by initials; publication year goes between parentheses, followed by a period. The title of the article is in sentence-case, meaning only the first word and proper nouns in the title are capitalized. The periodical title is run in title case, and is followed by the volume number which, with the title, is also italicized or underlined.

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages.

Article in Journal Paginated by Volume

Journals that are paginated by volume begin with page one in issue one, and continue numbering issue two where issue one ended, etc.

39

Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals for preparing psychology journal articles. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55, 893-896.

Article in Journal Paginated by Issue

Journals paginated by issue begin with page one every issue; therefore, the issue number gets indicated in parentheses after the volume. The parentheses and issue number are not italicized or underlined.

Scruton, R. (1996). The eclipse of listening. The New Criterion, 15(30), 5-13.

Article in a Magazine Henry, W. A., III. (1990, April 9). Making the grade in today's schools. Time, 135, 28-31.

Article in a Newspaper

Unlike other periodicals, p. or pp. precedes page numbers for a newspaper reference in APA style. Single pages take p., e.g., p. B2; multiple pages take pp., e.g., pp. B2, B4 or pp. C1, C3-C4.

Schultz, S. (2005, December 28). Calls made to strengthen state energy policies. The Country Today, pp.1A, 2A.

Note: Because of issues with html coding, the listings below using brackets contain spaces that are not to be used with your listings. Use a space as normal before the brackets, but do not include a space following the bracket.

Letter to the Editor Moller, G. (2002, August). Ripples versus rumbles [Letter to the editor]. Scientific American, 287(2), 12.

Review Baumeister, R. F. (1993). Exposing the self-knowledge myth [Review of the book The self-knower: A

hero under control, by R. A. Wicklund & M. Eckert]. Contemporary Psychology, 38, 466-467.

4. Reference List: Books Basic Format for Books

Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Location: Publisher.

Note: For "Location," you should always list the city and the state using the two letter postal abbreviation without periods (New York, NY).

Calfee, R. C., & Valencia, R. R. (1991). APA guide to preparing manuscripts for journal publication. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Edited Book, No Author Duncan, G. J., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (Eds.). (1997). Consequences of growing up poor. New York, NY:

Russell Sage Foundation.

Edited Book with an Author or Authors Plath, S. (2000). The unabridged journals K.V. Kukil, (Ed.). New York, NY: Anchor.

40

A Translation Laplace, P. S. (1951). A philosophical essay on probabilities. (F. W. Truscott & F. L. Emory, Trans.).

New York, NY: Dover. (Original work published 1814).

Note: When you cite a republished work, like the one above, in your text, it should appear with both dates: Laplace (1814/1951).

Edition Other Than the First Helfer, M. E., Kempe, R. S., & Drugman, R. D. (1997). The battered child (5th ed.). Chicago, IL:

University of Chicago Press.

Article or Chapter in an Edited Book Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In A. Editor & B. Editor (Eds.),

Title of book (pages of chapter). Location: Publisher.

Note: When you list the pages of the chapter or essay in parentheses after the book title, use "pp." before the numbers: (pp. 1-21). This abbreviation, however, does not appear before the page numbers in periodical references, except for newspapers.

O'Neil, J. M., & Egan, J. (1992). Men's and women's gender role journeys: Metaphor for healing, transition, and transformation. In B. R. Wainrib (Ed.), Gender issues across the life cycle (pp. 107-123). New York, NY: Springer.

Multivolume Work Wiener, P. (Ed.). (1973). Dictionary of the history of ideas (Vols. 1-4). New York, NY: Scribner's.

5. Reference List: Other Print Sources An Entry in an Encyclopedia

Bergmann, P. G. (1993). Relativity. In The new encyclopedia britannica (Vol. 26, pp. 501-508). Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica.

Work Discussed in a Secondary Source

List the source the work was discussed in:

Coltheart, M., Curtis, B., Atkins, P., & Haller, M. (1993). Models of reading aloud: Dual-route and parallel-distributed-processing approaches. Psychological Review, 100, 589-608.

NOTE: Give the secondary source in the references list; in the text, name the original work, and give a citation for the secondary source. For example, if Seidenberg and McClelland's work is cited in Coltheart et al. and you did not read the original work, list the Coltheart et al. reference in the References. In the text, use the following citation:

In Seidenberg and McClelland's study (as cited in Coltheart, Curtis, Atkins, & Haller, 1993), ...

Dissertation Abstract Yoshida, Y. (2001). Essays in urban transportation. Dissertation Abstracts International, 62, 7741A.

41

Dissertation, Published Lastname, F.N. (Year). Title of dissertation. (Doctoral disseration). Retrieved from Name of database.

(Accession or Order Number)

Dissertation, Unpublished Lastname, F.N. (Year). Title of dissertation. (Unpublished doctoral disseration). Name of Institution,

Location.

Government Document National Institute of Mental Health. (1990). Clinical training in serious mental illness (DHHS

Publication No. ADM 90-1679). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

For information about citing legal sources in your reference list, see the Westfield State College page on Citing Legal Materials in APA Style.

Report From a Private Organization American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Practice guidelines for the treatment of patients with eating

disorders (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Conference Proceedings Schnase, J. L., & Cunnius, E. L. (Eds.). (1995). Proceedings from CSCL '95: The First International

Conference on Computer Support for Collaborative Learning. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

6. Reference List: Electronic Sources (Web Publications) Please note: There are no spaces used with brackets in APA. When possible, include the year, month, and date in references. If the month and date are not available, use the year of publication. Please note, too, that the OWL still includes information about print sources and databases for those still working with these sources.

Article from an Online Periodical

Online articles follow the same guidelines for printed articles. Include all information the online host makes available, including an issue number in parentheses.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Online Periodical, volume number(issue number if available). Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

Bernstein, M. (2002). 10 tips on writing the living Web. A List Apart: For People Who Make Websites, 149. Retrieved from http://www.alistapart.com/articles/writeliving

Online Scholarly Journal Article: Citing DOIs

Because online materials can potentially change URLs, APA recommends providing a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), when it is available, as opposed to the URL. DOIs are an attempt to provide stable, long-lasting links for online articles. They are unique to their documents and consist of a long alphanumeric code. Many-but not all-publishers will provide an article's DOI on the first page of the document.

42

Note that some online bibliographies provide an article's DOI but may "hide" the code under a button which may read "Article" or may be an abbreviation of a vendors name like "CrossRef" or "PubMed." This button will usually lead the user to the full article which will include the DOI. Find DOI's from print publications or ones that go to dead links with CrossRef.org's "DOI Resolver," which is displayed in a central location on their home page.

Article From an Online Periodical with DOI Assigned Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number,

page range. doi:0000000/000000000000 Brownlie, D. (2007). Toward effective poster presentations: An annotated bibliography. European

Journal of Marketing, 41(11/12), 1245-1283. doi:10.1108/03090560710821161

Article From an Online Periodical with no DOI Assigned

Online scholarly journal articles without a DOI require the URL of the journal home page. Remember that one goal of citations is to provide your readers with enough information to find the article; providing the journal home page aids readers in this process.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number. Retrieved from http://www.journalhomepage.com/full/url/

Kenneth, I. A. (2000). A Buddhist response to the nature of human rights. Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 8. Retrieved from http://www.cac.psu.edu/jbe/twocont.html

Article From a Database

Please note: APA states that including database information in citations is not necessary because databases change over time (p. 192). However, the OWL still includes information about databases for those users who need database information.

When referencing a print article obtained from an online database (such as a database in the library), provide appropriate print citation information (formatted just like a "normal" print citation would be for that type of work). By providing this information, you allow people to retrieve the print version if they do not have access to the database from which you retrieved the article. You can also include the item number or accession number in parentheses at the end, but the APA manual says that this is not required. For articles that are easily located, do not provide database information. If the article is difficult to locate, then you can provide database information. Only use retrieval dates if the source could change, such as Wikis. For more about citing articles retrieved from electronic databases, see pages 187-192 of the Publication Manual.

Smyth, A. M., Parker, A. L., & Pease, D. L. (2002). A study of enjoyment of peas. Journal of Abnormal Eating, 8(3), 120-125.

Abstract

If you only cite an abstract but the full text of the article is also available, cite the online abstract as other online citations, adding "[Abstract]" after the article or source name.

Paterson, P. (2008). How well do young offenders with Asperger Syndrome cope in custody?: Two prison case studies [Abstract]. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36(1), 54-58.

43

Bossong, G. Ergativity in Basque. Linguistics, 22(3), 341-392.

Newspaper Article Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Title of Newspaper. Retrieved from

http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/ Parker-Pope, T. (2008, May 6). Psychiatry handbook linked to drug industry. The New York Times.

Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

Electronic Books

Electronic books may include books found on personal websites, databases, or even in audio form. Use the following format if the book you are using is only provided in a digital format or is difficult to find in print. If the work is not directly available online or must be purchased, use "Available from," rather than "Retrieved from," and point readers to where they can find it. For books available in print form and electronic form, include the publish date in parentheses after the author's name.

De Huff, E. W. (n.d.). Taytay’s tales: Traditional Pueblo Indian tales. Retrieved from http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/dehuff/taytay/ taytay.html

Davis, J. (n.d.). Familiar birdsongs of the Northwest. Available from http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=1- 9780931686108-0

Chapter/Section of a Web document or Online Book Chapter Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. In Title of book or larger document

(chapter or section number). Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/ Engelshcall, R. S. (1997). Module mod_rewrite: URL Rewriting Engine. In Apache HTTP Server

Version 1.3 Documentation (Apache modules.) Retrieved from http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/mod/mod_rewrite.html

Peckinpaugh, J. (2003). Change in the Nineties. In J. S. Bough and G. B. DuBois (Eds.), A century of growth in America. Retrieved from GoldStar database.

NOTE: Use a chapter or section identifier and provide a URL that links directly to the chapter section, not the home page of the Web site.

Online Book Reviews

Cite the information as you normally would for the work you are quoting. (The first example below is from a newspaper article; the second is from a scholarly journal.) In brackets, write "Review of the book" and give the title of the reviewed work. Provide the web address after the words "Retrieved from," if the review is freely available to anyone. If the review comes from a subscription service or database, write "Available from" and provide the information where the review can be purchased.

Zacharek, S. (2008, April 27). Natural women [Review of the book Girls like us]. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/books/review/Zachareck -t.html?pagewanted=2

Castle, G. (2007). New millennial Joyce [Review of the books Twenty-first Joyce, Joyce's critics: Transitions in reading and culture, and Joyce's messianism: Dante, negative existence, and the messianic self]. Modern Fiction Studies, 50(1), 163-173. Available from Project MUSE Web site: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/modern_fiction_studies/toc/ mfs52.1.html

44

Dissertation/Thesis from a Database Biswas, S. (2008). Dopamine D3 receptor: A neuroprotective treatment target in Parkinson's disease.

Retrieved from ProQuest Digital Dissertations. (AAT 3295214)

Online Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

Often encyclopedias and dictionaries do not provide bylines (authors' names). When no byline is present, move the entry name to the front of the citation. Provide publication dates if present or specify (n.d.) if no date is present in the entry.

Feminism. (n.d.). In Encyclopædia Britannica online. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/724633/feminism

Online Bibliographies and Annotated Bibliographies Jürgens, R. (2005). HIV/AIDS and HCV in Prisons: A Select Annotated Bibliography. Retrieved from

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/alt_formats/hpb-dgps/ pdf/intactiv/hiv-vih-aids-sida-prison-carceral_e.pdf

Data Sets

Point readers to raw data by providing a Web address (use "Retrieved from") or a general place that houses data sets on the site (use "Available from").

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. (2008). Indiana income limits [Data file]. Retrieved from http://www.huduser.org/Datasets/IL/IL08/in_fy2008.pdf

Graphic Data (e.g. Interactive Maps and Other Graphic Representations of Data)

Give the name of the researching organization followed by the date. In brackets, provide a brief explanation of what type of data is there and in what form it appears. Finally, provide the project name and retrieval information.

Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment. (2007). [Graph illustration the SORCE Spectral Plot May 8, 2008]. Solar Spectral Data Access from the SIM, SOLSTICE, and XPS Instruments. Retrieved from http://lasp.colorado.edu/cgi-bin/ion-p?page=input_data_for_ spectra.ion

Qualitative Data and Online Interviews

If an interview is not retrievable in audio or print form, cite the interview only in the text (not in the reference list) and provide the month, day, and year in the text. If an audio file or transcript is available online, use the following model, specifying the medium in brackets (e.g. [Interview transcript, Interview audio file]):

Butler, C. (Interviewer) & Stevenson, R. (Interviewee). (1999). Oral History 2 [Interview transcript]. Retrieved from Johnson Space Center Oral Histories Project Web site: http:// www11.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_histories/oral_ histories.htm

Online Lecture Notes and Presentation Slides

When citing online lecture notes, be sure to provide the file format in brackets after the lecture title (e.g. PowerPoint slides, Word document).

45

Hallam, A. Duality in consumer theory [PDF document]. Retrieved from Lecture Notes Online Web site: http://www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ501/Hallam/ index.html

Roberts, K. F. (1998). Federal regulations of chemicals in the environment [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://siri.uvm.edu/ppt/40hrenv/index.html

Nonperiodical Web Document, Web Page, or Report

List as much of the following information as possible (you sometimes have to hunt around to find the information; don't be lazy. If there is a page like http://www.somesite.com/somepage.htm, and somepage.htm doesn't have the information you're looking for, move up the URL to http://www.somesite.com/):

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of document. Retrieved from http://Web address

Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderland, L., & Brizee, A. (2010, May

5). General format. Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

NOTE: When an Internet document is more than one Web page, provide a URL that links to the home page or entry page for the document. Also, if there isn't a date available for the document use (n.d.) for no date.

Computer Software/Downloaded Software

Do not cite standard office software (e.g. Word, Excel) or programming languages. Provide references only for specialized software.

Ludwig, T. (2002). PsychInquiry [computer software]. New York: Worth.

Software that is downloaded from a Web site should provide the software’s version and year when available.

Hayes, B., Tesar, B., & Zuraw, K. (2003). OTSoft: Optimality Theory Software (Version 2.1) [Software]. Available from http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/hayes/otsoft/

E-mail

E-mails are not included in the list of references, though you parenthetically cite them in your main text: (E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2001).

Online Forum or Discussion Board Posting

Include the title of the message, and the URL of the newsgroup or discussion board. Please note that titles for items in online communities (e.g. blogs, newsgroups, forums) are not italicized. If the author's name is not available, provide the screen name. Place identifiers like post or message numbers, if available, in brackets. If available, provide the URL where the message is archived (e.g. "Message posted to..., archived at...").

46

Frook, B. D. (1999, July 23). New inventions in the cyberworld of toylandia [Msg 25]. Message posted to http://groups.earthlink.com/forum/messages/00025.html

Blog (Weblog) and Video Blog Post

Include the title of the message and the URL. Please note that titles for items in online communities (e.g. blogs, newsgroups, forums) are not italicized. If the author’s name is not available, provide the screen name.

J Dean. (2008, May 7). When the self emerges: Is that me in the mirror? [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://www.spring.org.uk/the1sttransport. (2004, September 26). Psychology Video Blog #3 [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqM90eQi5-M

Wikis

Please note that the APA Style Guide to Electronic References warns writers that wikis (like Wikipedia, for example) are collaborative projects which cannot guarantee the verifiability or expertise of their entries.

OLPC Peru/Arahuay. (n.d.). Retrieved from the OLPC Wiki: http://wiki.laptop. org/go/OLPC_Peru/Arahuay

Audio Podcast

For all podcasts, provide as much information as possible; not all of the following information will be available. Possible addition identifiers may include Producer, Director, etc.

Bell, T. & Phillips, T. (2008, May 6). A solar flare. Science @ NASA Podcast. Podcast retrieved from http://science.nasa.gov/podcast.htm

Video Podcasts

For all podcasts, provide as much information as possible; not all of the following information will be available. Possible addition identifiers may include Producer, Director, etc.

Scott, D. (Producer). (2007, January 5). The community college classroom [Episode 7]. Adventures in Education. Podcast retrieved from http://www.adveeducation.com