scholarly journals How to be an Effective Technical Writer?

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Solaiman Ali ◽  
Dheya Al-Othmany
Keyword(s):  
Technical Writing ◽  
Word Count ◽  
The Past ◽  
Complex Syntax ◽  
Technical Accuracy ◽  
Technical Writer ◽  
Visual Impact ◽  
Engineering Career ◽  
Theses And Dissertations ◽  
Writing Task

Abstract--This paper has focused on technical writing as a skill for engineers. It has sought to define technical writing and throw light on the content and technique of writing the various components of successful technical reports (for example, articles, papers, or research reports, such as theses and dissertations). Then, it has highlighted other special features and principles of effective technical writing. The material in this paper is divided into seven major parts. Part 1 (Technical writing for engineers) stresses that a successful engineering career requires strong writing skills. Part 2 (How to write the major sections or elements of a report) describes the techniques of writing the abstract, introduction, literature review, procedure/methods & materials, results, discussion, conclusion, and recommendations. Part 3 (Special features of technical writing) brings into focus some of the special features of technical writing such as tables & graphs in the text, graphics in instructions, team writing, ethics (plagiarism), document sources, three citation styles and IEEE reference style. Part 4 (Technical usage) deals with writing abbreviations, initialisms and acronyms, numbers, units of measurement, and equations.Part 5 (Technical style) highlights the imperative writing style and other features of technical writing such as the use of active and passive voices, plain vs. complex syntax, avoiding redundant or superfluous expressions, and vague generalities, using words or expressions with visual impact, the past tense to describe experimental work, the present tense to describe hypotheses, principles, theories and truths, and breaking up the text of the report into short sections. Part 6 (Document specifications) emphasizes the technical writer’s need to conform to such document specifications as word count, format, font, number of words per line of text imposed. Part 7 (Reader-friendly technical writing) suggests choosing the varied writing modes (patterns of organization of information) to suit the technical writing task, checking for technical accuracy and following three levels of editing to help increase the readability of a technical text. Finally, in part 8 (Ethical/legal considerations for the technical writer), the authors suggest ways for the technical writer to overcome ethical/legal dilemmas on the job.

Defensive Aesthetics for the Technical Writer

1982 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Marder ◽  
Dorothy Margaret Guinn
Keyword(s):  
Technical Writing ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Verbal Form ◽  
Technical Accuracy ◽  
I And Thou ◽  
Technical Writer ◽  
Technical Discourse

Requirements of accuracy in technical writing overwhelm considerations of stylistic grace. Analysis of the resulting technical style, however, often reveals a discrepancy between technical and verbal accuracy. The object of verbal form is an accommodation between grace and accuracy. Several avenues to achieve this accommodation are presented from Martin Buber's I and Thou to psycholinguist theorists such as George Miller and Walter Kintsch. Linguistic theory and literacy analysis can also provide means of reestablishing grace, not as replacement, but in contention with technical accuracy. The aims of technical discourse, like that of all other discourse, should include the gracefulness of one human being speaking to another.

The Informational Sketch — A Major Vice of the Technical Writer

1982 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-13
Author(s):  
George H. Douglas
Keyword(s):  
Technical Writing ◽  
Technical Paper ◽  
Technical Writer ◽  
Narrative Functions

The author of this article argues that all too often teachers of technical writing spend too much time pressuring their students to write simply and without jargon, and that as a result they often get writing that is bad because it is skeletal and undeveloped writing lacking in continuity and narrative functions. The technical writer is often overjoyed to submit outline-writing because it requires small effort, not realizing that it shifts the burden of interpretation to the reader. The author recommends a number of cures for the skeletal technical paper.

Technical Writing in the Eighties

1974 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard W. Schmelzer
Keyword(s):  
Technical Writing ◽  
Information Storage And Retrieval ◽  
Information Storage ◽  
Major Influence ◽  
Nineteen Eighties ◽  
Storage And Retrieval ◽  
Interactive Lectures ◽  
Technical Writer ◽  
Information Bank

Three present-day developments are very likely to have a major influence upon technical writing in the nineteen eighties. These are: interactive lectures, information storage and retrieval, and the development of an ultra-small electronic camera for movies, television, and still pictures. Carefully tested interactive lectures will provide individual attention for learners at the time it is most needed. Under a perfected system of information storage and retrieval, the technical writer would suggest to the reader the kinds of information to request from a nation-wide information bank. He would also assist in the screening of information so that learners would not be deluged by surplus information. The small electronic camera will enable the technical writer to illustrate his instructions on the user's TV set. Thus, the technical writer of the eighties could well become a writer-producer.

scholarly journals 0101 Episodic Future Thinking Triggers Age-Related Differences in Spindles and Slow Oscillations

SLEEP ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. A40-A40
Author(s):  
J Diaz ◽  
P Fillmore ◽  
C Gao ◽  
M K Scullin
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Memory Consolidation ◽  
Word Count ◽  
Future Thinking ◽  
Future Tense ◽  
Slow Oscillations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The Future

Abstract Introduction In young adults, sleep spindles are theorized to represent memory consolidation. Spindle density may be especially prominent when young adults encode information that has future relevance. Older adults, on the other hand, show reduced capacity for future thinking and deficits in sleep-dependent memory consolidation. To advance these literatures, we investigated whether the process of mentally simulating the future (versus remembering the past) was associated with subsequent alterations to sleep microarchitecture in young and older adults. Methods 64 healthy adults aged 18–84 completed a polysomnography adaptation night followed by two in-laboratory experimental nights. On both nights, participants completed the Modified Future Crovitz Test (MFCT) in which they mentally simulated only future events or remembered only past events (night order counterbalanced). To quantify the extent of future/past thinking, we conducted linguistics analyses on tense (future/past) using LIWC 2015 software. Results On the future-thinking night, young adults with greater future-tense MFCT scores showed significantly greater spindle density across frontal, midline, and central sites (r=.42 to r=.51), even when controlling for age, gender, and total word count (all ps < .01). The opposite was true for middle-to-older aged adults; greater future-tense MFCT scores were associated with less spindle density across midline and central sites after controlling for age, gender, and word count (r=-.44 to r=-.46, ps<.05). However, while spindle density decreased, frontal slow oscillations increased in older adults with greater future-tense MFCT scores (r=.39, p<.05). On the past-thinking night, spindle density and slow oscillations were unrelated to past-tense or future-tense MFCT scores for either age group. Conclusion Age-related deficits in memory consolidation may be due to impaired tagging of information as having future relevance, or impaired physiological responses during sleep to wake-based tagging. Addressing encoding—spindle interactions may inform why cognitive functioning declines in some adults more than others. Support Sleep Research Society Foundation

Readability and Creativity in Technical Writing

1980 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 329-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bert Edens
Keyword(s):  
Technical Writing ◽  
Technical Writer

The work of a technical writer must be readable and easy to understand. Indeed, we have methods to teach students how to be readable. But is it reasonable to request creativity in their work? There are differences between the style of a technical writer and of a novelist. But there are also similarities. To be creative in his technical writing, the technical writer must be influenced by the novelist. I advise especially the study and writing of essays and poems.

Fictional Techniques in Technical Writing

1974 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-98
Author(s):  
Richard S. Ruch ◽  
Jan C. Robbins
Keyword(s):  
Technical Communication ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Intended Audience ◽  
Technical Writer

Technical papers should be constructed as coherent wholes, using those organizational, stylistic, and informational devices necessary to communicate their intended message to the intended audience. Since messages and audience vary tremendously, so also must techniques of technical writing. The technical writer will find that techniques normally associated with the writing of fiction, including creation of hypothetical situations, composite characters, invented dialogue, and dramatic story lines, aid greatly in achieving improved technical communication.

New Directions in Teaching Technical Report Writing

1975 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. Jordan
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Traditional Instruction ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Report Writing ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
Technical Report ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Technical Writer

The traditional instruction of technical report writing leans heavily on the conventions of English grammar and on principles advocated by grammarians, journalists, and literature scholars. The effect has been so strong—particularly in North America—that the word “technical” in technical writer, technical writing, and technical reports has literally become almost meaningless. This article discusses a few important differences between technical and nontechnical writing. It also explains some shortcomings of the traditional instruction and suggests methods of improvement.

scholarly journals Electronic theses: some recent developments

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (77) ◽  
pp. 35-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Copeland
Keyword(s):  
Digital Library ◽  
New Ventures ◽  
The Past ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Humboldt University ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Theses And Dissertations

The Autumn 1999 edition - LIRN 75 - included an article by the author which examined activities relating to the production and use of electronic theses in the UK and the USA. Since that review was written there have been several significant developments in terms of progress with existing projects and enthusiasm for new ventures. This article considers the expansion of the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) over the past two years, UNESCO support for developments in this area, the 'Digital Dissertations' project at Humboldt University in Berlin, the Australian DigitaiTheses project,and related activities in the UK.

scholarly journals Problems in Writing Spoof Texts

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Nurma Dhona Handayani ◽  
Khairul Harha
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Random Sample ◽  
Social Function ◽  
Research Instrument ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Past ◽  
Text Organization ◽  
Good Writing ◽  
Sample Technique ◽  
Writing Task

A spoof tells a story with a humorous twist or an unpredictable and usually funny ending. It is usually a story that could have happened in the past which has a social function to entertain and give a moral message to the readers/listeners. This research used a mix method to find out students’ problems in writing spoofs, especially problems with text organization and language features. The results are expected to be useful for other teachers and for students faced with writing a spoof. The population for this study was the third year students at a high school in Padang and the sample two classes were selected by using a stratified cluster random sample technique. The researcher used a writing task as the research instrument to obtain the data. Based on the data, it was found that more than 50% of the students in the sample had problems in writing a spoof.  It can be suggested that writing comprehension and characteristic of texts should be taught in various techniques and strategies so that the students are able to understand and apply them in a good writing.

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