Style Basics

Writing: Have Something to Say

“No one can teach a clear style by rule, simple or not, especially to those who have nothing to say and no reason to say it, …” (Williams)

Once you have something to say, work hard at saying it clearly, precisely, and concisely. Style will follow.

What is Style?

Not grammar, not rules, …

It’s about communicating well.

It’s about reducing the effort required of readers.

Value of Style Some forms of presentation are

Difficult to understand Boring

(Style should rectify these problems.)

“Lively writing suggests a lively mind with interesting ideas to discuss.” (Zobel)

Poor usage Distracts Suggests disorganized thinking Prejudices readers negatively

Aims of Scientific Writing

Be clear. Be unambiguous. Be correct. Be interesting. Be direct.

Good Style

Economy: “Text should be taut.” Tone

One idea per sentence Simple, logical organization Short words; short sentences with simple structure Omit unnecessary material … Break these rules if there is good reason to do so.

Examples: add clarification; worth a thousand words Motivation: definitions or theorems or lemmas without

indicating why they are useful are a problem Balance: treat each topic with similar depth

Good Style …

Voice Avoid passive voice Prefer “we” over “the authors”—can use “we” for “I”, can use “I”.

The upper hand: don’t show off (example) Obfuscation (making obscure)

Avoid vague statements (Prefer: “savings of 12%–33%” over “large savings”.)

Omit “very”—“very large savings” says nothing Analogies: be carefulthe analogy must work Straw men (What are strawman arguments?)

“Described for the sole purpose of criticizing” “Contrasting a new idea with an impossibly bad alternative” “Comparison between new and ancient“

Good Style … Reference and citation

Should be relevant (don’t “drop names”) Avoid perjorative (belittling, disparaging, derogatory) statements

about the work of others. Avoid “anonymous” references

Not: “Other work [24] shows …” Instead: “Baker [24] shows …” ?: “[24] shows …” or “[Baker06] shows …” or “Baker shows …

[Bak06].” Quotation: avoid [sic]; it’s not polite. Acknowledgements Grammar

Should be observed, “but not at the cost of clarity or meaning.” “Sloppy grammar” annoys. Don’t break rules to be cute. Know the rules, even if you break them. “Well-crafted text is a pleasure to read.”

Style Specifics Titles and headings

Often the only part of the paper that’s read Concise, informative, accurate, specific rather than general

Opening paragraphs Usually affects reader’s attitude most Intelligible to any likely reader “What”, without “how” Avoid saying that the topic is “popular” or “important” or

“interesting”. Instead, convince the reader that it is interesting

Style Specifics … Paragraphing

Single topic Topic sentence first Every sentence should be about the topic (don’t wander) Put impact in the last sentence Avoid long paragraphs Use lists, but only for material that is “significant or needs

enumeration.” Ambiguity (examples from pg. 35:)

No: “The compiler did not accept the program because it contained an error.”

No: “The next stage was the test of the complete system, but it failed.”

No: “In addition to skiplists we have tried trees. They are …” No: “We collated the responses from the users, which were

usually short, into the following tables.”

Style Specifics … Sentence structure

No more than a line or two Zobel’s “cute” example on pg. 38”

Tense Present tense for almost everything—you’re stating “truths”—

including reviewing work of others Past tense for describing experimental results and summarizing

Repetition and parallelism Write complementary concepts in parallel. No: “Access is fast, but at the expense of slow update.” Yes: “Access is fast but update is slow.”

Emphasis “Don’t italicize words unnecessarily.” “DON’T use capitals for emphasis.”

Style Specifics … Definitions: formally defined words require emphasis. Choice of words

Prefer short words, but use the most precise word. Avoid contractions in formal writing. Avoid repetitious wording, but do repeat technical words that

must be understood. Avoid excessive claims about your own work: not: “great idea”,

“marvelous solution”, “remarkable” Qualifiers

Not: “perhaps impossible”, “may likely” Omit “very”, “quite”

Misused words (Strunk and White’s list is betterlater) Spelling conventions

British/US spelling: e.g., “…ise” vs. “…ize” Watch out: form/from, trail/trial, too/to, …

Style Specifics … Jargon

Essential for technical communication More jargon: smaller audience Introduce names sparingly and thoughtfully: there are already

too many “intelligent” algorithms. Don’t change terminology and notation without a really good

reason. Foreign words

Yes: vice versa, ad hoc (in common usage – not italicized) No: de rigueur, prima facie Foreign names: “Børstëdt” not “Borstedt”

Overuse of words Annoying to read the same phrase twice Avoid “tics” (excessive reuse of a common word or phrase): “so”,

“note that”, “hence”, …

Style Specifics …

Padding Avoid wordy expressions “note that” is not padding, but it must actually be possible for the

reader to infer “of course” can be insulting

Plurals Oops: “set of positive matches are …” Prefer newer plurals: “formulas” not “formulae”, “indexes” not

“indices” Abbreviations

“e.g.” and “i.e.” are OK?, but not “w.r.t.” Avoid “etc.” unless the reader really can complete the list

Style Specifics …

Acronyms Don’t introduce unless used frequently Changes over time: “WWW” is now simply “the web” Be careful of surrounding words—not: “the DBMS system”, “local area

LAN network” Sexism

Avoid! Not: “a user fails when he encounters …” Not even: “a user fails when they encounter …” Use a plural: “users fail when they encounter …” Often best to simply rewrite: “a user who encounters … fails.

Don’t use “he”—sexism; don’t use “she”—reverse sexism Don’t use “he or she” or “he/she” or “she/he” or “s/he”