Tips on Technical Writing

Simple tips for creating lively prose—even on technical subjects!

By Beatrice Levin 

George Orwell (the author of Animal Farm) prescribed five easy rules for writing: never use a cliché, never use a very long word, never use an unusual word, never use the passive voice, and cut whenever possible.  That is about all you need to know.

            But lets talk about it anyway.  Write simply and clearly.  Writing is not an ego trip.  Writing is a gift of self.

            How long should your article be?  An article should be like a woman's skirt: long enough to cover the subject and short enough to be interesting.

            Most how-to articles are organized to a formula: Introduction, Theory, Experiment, Observations, and Conclusions.  Convey information about your experiences, techniques, or your knowledge of one special subject.  Be specific when describing your innovative practices and techniques.

            Trouble getting started?  Just before you fall asleep, compose a first sentence in your mind.  This may be a given for when you start to write the next day.  Or try beginning a letter to a friend or colleague with What I’ve done is…or My research revolved around…Or tape a conversation about your subject and use the highlights as a first draft.

            An active anecdotal voice contributes to readable writing.  Avoid starting too many sentences with it or there.  At the beginning of a sentence, it has no antecedent.

            The words it and there are dead words, used partly to avoid the first person.  Rewrite those sentences.  There have been rewards in publishing our magazine becomes We found publishing our magazine a rewarding experience.

            It was not long before the Senator was in deep trouble reads better as The Senator soon floundered in hot water.

            There are signs that bode well for the healing process between warring ethnic factions.  That is a perfunctory sentence.  Try this: Certain sugns bode well for healing between warring ethnic peoples.  Note that when you write a stronger sentence, you usually have a conciser one.

            Be yourself.  Each of us has a unique voice.  Unique is not a synonym for very unusual.  Something in unique if there’s nothing else like it.  It means perfect.  You wouldn’t say very perfect—would you?  Nor can anything be less unique.  Unique is an absolute word.  The show promised to be the most unique of the season will be frowned upon as a sentence by grammarians.  Uniqueness is a noun, meaning unparalleled.

            Other absolute words include infinite, certain, perfect, imperative, essential, and necessary.  Using absolutely to intensify an absolute word is redundant.

            Avoid starting a new paragraph with secondly or thirdly.  Unless you think it’s all right to say firstly.  Say, second, third, and so on.

            Note: all right.  Almost, already, and always are all right, but alright is incorrect.

            Don’t shy away from the first person.  But avoid the redundancy of I personally.  Don’t start with I’m writing.  The reader knows that already.

            Headings.  Break up a page of solid type with headings.  These little flags help the reader move along.  Major headings may be in capital letters.  Lesser headings may be capital or small letters and underlined.  Puns in headlines are fun for the reader.  For example, a story about Sunday morning services in church parking lots was headed DRIVE-IN CHURCHES: SPIELS ON WHEELS.

            Define words requiring explanations.  No one will be insulted if you explain an unfamiliar word.  (Use brackets.)

            Some English words that may give you pause: Cannot is one word; under way two words.  Anywhere is one word; any more and any time are two words.

            Many writers and newscasters make no distinction between fewer and less.  Fewer is countable.  We required fewer sandwiches than anticipated.  Use less when you mean degree of quantity.  The new car used less than the old one.  (Or you’d say used fewer gallons of gas.)

            Take my advice.  Advice (not a synonym for inform) is a noun.  Advise is a verb.  I’d advise you to pay attention to the overuse of the passive voice.

            Check your dictionary when you have doubts.

            Say cancel, not cancel out.  Two words frequently confused: affect, effect.  Use effect as a noun and affect as a verb meaning to have an effect upon.

            Sometimes confused are while and a while.  The project went swimmingly for a while, and then we hit a major snag.  When used as an adverb, awhile may be either one word—The mechanical appliance worked awhile and then fell apart—or two: Through this maneuver, we made the valve function a while.

            While I was able to hire several recent graduates, what we needed were engineers who understood high-tech construction.  That could mean during the time we were hiring…if you mean Whereas I was able to hire, use whereas—a better word to express that idea more precisely.

            Avoid jargon.  Now is better than at this point in time.  Forget laundry list.  Say list.  You can ruin your style with outmoded words such as herein.

            Hopefully has become commonplace as a sentence modifier, but I avoid it.  I prefer I hope.

            Anxious and eager are not synonyms.  Anxious implies anxiety; you’re worried.  Eager suggests looking forward to something.

            Infer and imply are not interchangeable.  Infer is to conclude from evidence or premises.  I infer you are interested or you would not be reading this.  Imply is something suggested or indicated.  The philanthropist implied that the situation was hopeful.

            Very.  If you want to emphasize something, use strong words.  Go through your final draft of text and cross out very every time.  Your prose will read more smoothly.

            Foreseeable future.  Who is this genie who can see the future?

            Possessive Case of Nouns.  The possessive case of a noun is usually formed by adding an apostrophe and s in the singular:  The author’s brilliance, the book’s introduction, the engineer’s ability, Einstein’s theory.  The plural, the possessive case of a noun, is formed by adding an apostrophe to the plural form of the noun.  Add an apostrophe and s if the plural form of the noun doesn’t end in s.  Examples: children’s school, women’s studies, men’s hopes.

            When a singular noun ends in s or the sound of s, add an apostrophe and s: Columbus’s voyage, Burns’s experiment.

            Possessive Pronouns.  With a few exceptions, the possessive of personal pronouns is not formed by adding an apostrophe.  My, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, your, yours, their, theirs, whose.  The exceptions: one’s and someone else’s and somebody else’s.

            Note that it’s is the contraction of it and is and it and has…Who’s is the contraction of who has or who is.

            Pronouns as Object.  When a pronoun is used as the object of a verb or as a preposition, use the objective case: between you and me, instead of them.  They gave the award to her and me.

            Abbreviations.  Abbreviations are acceptable.  When trying to decide whether to use a or an before an abbreviation, choose the article based on how the abbreviation is pronounced.