Journal Article•
The Science of Scientific Writing
TL;DR: The authors argue that complexity of thought need not lead to impenetrability of expression, and demonstrate a number of rhetorical principles that can produce clarity in communication without oversimplifying scientific issues.
Abstract: Science is often hard to read Most people assume that its difficulties are born out of necessity, out of the extreme complexity of scientific concepts, data and analysis We argue here that complexity of thought need not lead to impenetrability of expression; we demonstrate a number of rhetorical principles that can produce clarity in communication without oversimplifying scientific issues The results are substantive, not merely cosmetic: Improving the quality of writing actually improves the quality of thought
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: A workshop on scientific publication was presented at the 2013 ISFG conference by the author, who has written four widely used textbooks and 150 peer-reviewed articles and invited book chapters.
2 citations
Cites background from "The Science of Scientific Writing"
...George Gopen and Judith Swan wrote a classic article in 1990 [5] with useful recommendations to improve the accessibility of written scientific communication....
[...]
01 Jan 2020
TL;DR: This paper presents a meta-novel based on a model derived from a large number of examples that were previously published in “Commentary on Grammar,” a posthumous publication based on material originally written by Gordon C. Dickinson and then edited by David I. Dickinson.
Abstract: Skilled researchers develop their craft as writers beyond compliance with grammar. Their tools of trade include precision in word choice, logic in structure, clarity of style, and manipulation of syntax for accurately placed emphasis.
1 citations
25 Jun 2017
Abstract: Abstract The development of the four language skills has always been hard work for teachers as well as for students, the writing skill being a particularly challenging one. Writing in English for achieving various goals is certainly a major activity of all civilian and military higher education institutions throughout the world. In their daily activities, army leaders convey their intent, ideas, purpose and vision to superior echelons, peers and subordinates in oral or written form. Military officers perform many of their duties by means of intelligible, concise, coherent, and meaningful written messages. The need for writing correctly is an absolutely indispensable skill in itself. Therefore, teachers working in the military system of education should be concerned with developing, improving and practising the writing skill which is an important quality of leadership. Military work is very complex, the military system being based on officers’ ability to lead and manage military organizations. The paper focuses on the specific characteristics of military writing and provides some formats, with the respective writing tasks and assignments.
1 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: The publication at hand, Technical Writing, is an elaborate, dense textbook for intermediate students at a university setting, particularly suited for engineering students and professionals alike in which they will be able to find materials from different sources so that what authors propose as being an integrative approach may be fulfilled.
Abstract: Writing a book review entails a certain amount of responsibility, particularly towards readership and, above all, towards prospective teachers and faculty who may be deciding which book to select for their courses The publication we present today, Technical Writing A Guide for Effective Communication, is an elaborate, dense textbook for intermediate students at a university setting The publication is particularly suited for engineering students and professionals alike in which they will be able to find materials from different sources so that what authors propose as being an integrative approach may be fulfilled This course book intends to familiarize students, first, with the different types of scientific texts and, second, with the characteristics of technical writing The history of technical writing goes back a good number of decades According to Brockman (1998), Joseph D Chapline is considered to be the first technical writer to introduce software documentation to the rest of the world Early in the 1940s, while working for Eckert and Mauchley, he became the first technical writer employed to document the way an operating system worked He first wrote the Binac Computer User Guide (1949) and later an eight-page pamphlet called Technical Writing (1950) During the sixties and seventies, numerous publications appeared in which their main concern was technical writing, and including journals such as the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication with its first issue in 1971, all of which have provided information to professionals on writing for technical purposes The course book we have at hand is another excellent link in this chain of manuals for prospective technical writers Authors of course books, in their pre-planning activities, purposefully analyze the scope and range of their texts in an effort to foresee what their intended readers might need As Gopen and Swan (1990: 550) wrote, “[i]f the reader is to grasp what the writer means, the writer must understand what the reader
1 citations
References
More filters
Book•
07 Aug 2002TL;DR: The Style: Ten Lessons in clarity and grace as mentioned in this paperocusing on the single most serious problem that mature writers face: a wordy, tangled, too-complex prose style, is a useful resource for any mature writer.
Abstract: In his preface, Joseph M. Williams says that Style: ten lessons in clarity and grace focuses on “the single most serious problem that mature writers face: a wordy, tangled, too-complex prose style.” His book deals with that problem admirably. Indeed, the advice and examples furnished by Williams are varied and sophisticated enough to make it a useful resource for any mature writer — even the mature writer whose prose is clear and concise.
381 citations