Technical Writing
Presentation to AES Grad Students
Feb 16, 2011 - ECCR 105
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
How Important is Personal Communication?
Depends on job type & level. For industry:






Janitor
Assistant
Junior Engineer
Senior Engineer
Midlevel Manager
CEO
5%
20%
50%
70%
90%
100%
 Likewise in academia & research labs, but written
communication then becomes more important
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Our Focus
In this seminar we shall focus on one
communication component:
Writing
with emphasis on
Technical Writing
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Where Does It Matter?
Technical Writing is a component of
communication, in research and/or
teaching intensive jobs in science and
engineering.
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
It Appears in Many Forms





$
$
Journal articles
Books, theses, chapters
Presentations, speeches
Lectures, seminars
Web documents
Project proposals
Project reports
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
The Four Levels of Writing Quality
L
K
J
JJ
Incompetent
Competent
Good
Great
As explained later, your key goal should be Level 1. Levels
2-3 are for professional writers or artists.
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Why competent writing matters?
 Incompetency may be a major hurdle
to professional advancement
(I am assuming you want to advance)
 I have been in NSF panels ...
If your proposal shows sloppy
writing in the Preface,
you are out!
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Technical Writing Blends Three Ingredients
Content
Organization
Writing
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Which Part of the COW is Toughest?
Writing
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Why?
Competent writing is very hard to teach ... can
only be gradually achieved by selective reading,
osmosis & practice
Here I can give you only basic rules and some
advice
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Your document (chapter, article, proposal,
report, thesis, speech, etc ...) has three
parts
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
 Beginning: Introduction
 Middle:
Body
 End:
Conclusions
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
... those correspond to the old adage
Tell what you are going to tell’em
Then tell’em
Then tell’em what you told’em
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Of the three, which is the most
important
part of your document?
The Introduction
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
An experienced author puts it this way
The introduction is the most important part of
your paper, because few of your readers will
ever read beyond it. And there's not much
hope that any of them will if you don't grab
their attention from the start.
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Composition Pointers







Use plain language - avoid hype
Get to the point!
One paragraph = one theme
Contrast to highlight arguments
Use recurring themes & images
Address reader directly
Finish forcefully
Some examples that illustrate these pointers follow
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Use Plain Language - Avoid Hype
If Shakespeare had written a Structures
Lab Report ..
Alas, poor specimen! I knew it, Horatio.
A hollow tube of infinite jest, of most excellent
fancy ...
NG, why?
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Get To The Point!
Criticize this (actual) Structures Lab Report sample:
OBJECTIVE
Structures are an important component of
modern aerospace engineering. Weight savings is an
essential part of designing effective aerospace
structures. The use of thin wall structural members
helps us to achieve those weight savings.
Furthermore ...
Grandmothering BS. We know that
about
University of Colorado Now,
- Dept ofhow
Aerospace
Engrg.the
Sci -lab?
Technical Writing
- Feb’11
Is This One Better?
OBJECTIVE
The experimental tests for this lab were used to verify
and compare analytical models for torsion of thin-wall
sections with experimental data. Both open thin wall
(OTW) and closed thin wall (CTW) sections are tested on
a Tinius-Olsen torsion machine at ITLL.
Yes. It skips the BS. One common
grammar error, can you spot it?
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Common Grammar Error
OBJECTIVE
The experimental tests for this lab were used to
verify and compare analytical models for torsion of
thin-wall sections with experimental data. Both
open thin wall (OTW) and closed thin wall (CTW)
sections are tested on a Tinius-Olsen torsion
machine at ITLL.
verb tense mismatch
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Two Masters of Getting to the Point
Two households, both alike in dignity,
in fair Verona, where we lay our scene.
Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet
Ramona, come closer,
shut softly your watery eyes.
The pangs of your sadness
shall pass as your senses will rise.
Bob Dylan: To Ramona (the first waltz-rock)
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Four Pointers Illustrated
Next sample ilustrates 4 rules:
 Get to the point!
 Contrast to highlight arguments
 Use recurring themes & images
 Address reader directly
From an invited keynote (Einstein Lecture) given by a pure mathematician
(Freeman Dyson) who became a famous physicist at Princeton (Fermi Prize
1993 for contributions to solid-state physics)
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Get to Point, Contrast, Recur Images, Address
Some mathematicians are birds, others are frogs. Birds fly
high in the air and survey broad vistas of mathematics out
to the far horizon. They delight in concepts that unify our
thinking and bring together diverse problems from different
parts of the landscape. Frogs live in the mud below and see
only the flowers that live nearby. They delight in the details
of particular objects, and they solve problems one at a time.
I happen to be a frog, but some of my best friends are birds.
Freeman Dyson, Of Birds and Frogs, Einstein Lecture (2008), first paragraph
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Contrast, Recurring Images & Directly Address Reader
Some mathematicians are birds, others are frogs. Birds fly
high in the air and survey broad vistas of mathematics out
to the far horizon. They delight in concepts that unify our
thinking and bring together diverse problems from different
parts of the landscape. Frogs live in the mud below and see
only the flowers that live nearby. They delight in the details
of particular objects, and they solve problems one at a time.
I happen to be a frog, but some of my best friends are birds.
Freeman Dyson, Of Birds and Frogs, Einstein Lecture (2008), first paragraph
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Four Pointers Illustrated
Next sample is not from a scientist but a famous
songwriter (Dylan). It illustrates 5 rules:




Get to the point!
One paragraph = one theme
Contrast to highlight
Use recurring themes & images
 Finish forcefully
Note here:
paragraph unit -> verse
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
First Verse
My love she speaks like silence
without ideals or violence
she doesn’t have to say she’s faithful
yet she’s true, like ice, like fire.
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Get to the Point!
My love she speaks like silence
without ideals or violence
she doesn’t have to say she’s faithful
yet she’s true, like ice, like fire.
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
One Paragraph, One Theme
My love she speaks like silence
without ideals or violence
she doesn’t have to say she’s faithful
yet she’s true, like ice, like fire.
Theme: voice
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Contrast to Highlight
My love she speaks like silence
without ideals or violence
she doesn’t have to say she’s faithful
yet she’s true, like ice, like fire.
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Stress Recurring Theme
My love she speaks like silence
without ideals or violence
she doesn’t have to say she’s faithful
yet she’s true, like ice, like fire.
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Finish Forcefully: Last Verse
The wind blows like a hammer
the night grows cold and rainy
my love she's like a raven
at my window with a broken wing.
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Dont Feel Depressed ...
If you can write like that naturally,
what are you doing here?
But there is help for the not-so-gifted
rest of us. In fact engineers can be more
modest. Lets explain.
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Why my emphasis on writing ability?
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
If you are an incompetent writer,
your technical writing will also be
incompetent. Nothing else matters
If you are a competent writer,
you might be able to become also
a competent technical writer.
First things first
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Ergo, One of Your Professional
Goals Should Be
Become at least a competent writer
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Can You Go Beyond Competent?
No, unless you are
naturally gifted
~ 1 in 100 competent writers may become good
~ 1 in 1000 good writers may become great
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
How do you Achieve Competency?
Courses & books may help
but not in isolation
Unless you are naturally gifted the
best route is
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Osmosis




read good authors
learn their patterns *
develop appreciation for style *
imitate until you can fly solo
 For these, books may help
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Testing Your Ear
Compare 5 versions of a famous sentence
These are trying times for men’s souls
Times like these try men’s souls
These are the times that try men’s souls
How trying it is to live in these times!
Soulwise, these are trying times
Which one do you prefer, and why?
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
 read good authors
Yes, but which authors?
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
My personal opinions on writing ability
in science & engineering
Scientists write better than engineers
British [often] better than American
Of science writers, physicists are tops
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
My favorite textbook?
Gravitation, by Misner, Thorne &
Wheeler American (!) physicists
Absolutely amazing exposition of
General Relativity Theory - not the easiest
topic for undergraduates.
I learned a lot from their didactic style
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
Any useful how-to-write books?
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
There’s a ton out there, of varying quality
Searching on www.addall.com engine on
‘technical writing’ -> 51 books in press
Searching ‘style’ -> 48 books in press
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
What can you buy for about $9
that would make a difference?
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
1st ed 1935!
also available on line from
http://www.bartleby.com/
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11
What You May Want to Remember from this Talk
Your professional goal?
writing competency
little else matters
Recommended method? selective osmosis
Can you go beyond competent?
only if gifted
How to start? get the little book
University of Colorado - Dept of Aerospace Engrg. Sci - Technical Writing - Feb’11