Conventions of Writing Papers

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WRITING PARADIGMS

TWO VIEWS OF WRITING

VIEW 1: WRITING AS COMMUNICATING INFORMATION

FOCUSING ON THE READER

1. THE CONVENTIONAL MODEL

Writing as a two step process

y First²figure out what you want to say

y Second²put it into language

In essence this model looks like:

y Figure out what you want to say

y Don¶t start writing until you do

y Make a plan

y Use an outline

y Now begin writing

Writing as communicating information is most commonly represented as

2. ³THE FIVE STEP WRITING PROCESS´

y Prewriting²organize your thoughts

y Writing²prepare a draft

y Revising²organizing the ideas in the draft

y Editing²correcting grammar, spelling«

y Publishing²developing a layout for the edited text

However this "communicating" model of writing is backwards

y Instead of a two-step or five-step translation of meaning into language, writing is an organic, transactional process. You start writing at the verybeginning²before you know your meaning at all

y Only at the end will you know what you want to say and the words you want to use

y You should expect to end up somewhere different from where you started²meaning is not what you start with but what you end up with

y Think of writing not as a way to transmit a message but as a way of allowing your meaning to grow and evolve

y Writing is a dynamic transaction with your thoughts, intentions, and words

VIEW 2: WRITING FROM THE INSIDE OUT

FOCUSING ON THE WRITER

1. METAPHOR: SHAPING AT THE POINT OF UTTERANCE

y Preparation ± reading, research, conversation, interviews,«

y Incubation ± the mulling around of ideas in the head

y Articulation ± the pen to paper phase of writing: drafting, amending, redrafting

SHAPING AT THE POINT OF UTTERANCE

y We focus on the end in view, shaping the utterance as we write; when a ³seam is played out´ or we are interrupted, we get started again by readingwhat we have written, running along tracks we have laid down

y Writers develop an inner voice capable of ³dictating´ in the forms of written language

y We cannot inspect the source of the words or the procedures by which they come; we just let them come, and they arrive²we can only decide whetheror not we want to use the words we have generated after they arrive

y We have no control at the instant of word production, but we have control before and after



Notice in this metaphor ³writing´ involves a transaction between drafting, amending, redrafting and that incubation goes on throughout the entireprocess. What we have is a description of the mental processes of the writer engaged in writing.

2. METAPHOR: WRITERS INSIDE THE PROCESS

y Writers aren¶t outside the process but an integral, interdependent part of it

y Writing is a process of transactions²

o We enter into the act

o We are changed during it, and

o In turn we change our perceptions of the text being produced

From this perspective, writing consists of ongoing writing episodes, based on both our global and focal intentions²our often vague inner sense of purpose,audience, possible form, and potential meaning.

In this metaphor there is dynamic interplay among reading, collecting, writing, connecting. It puts forth the idea that these activities occur in no particular orderand each is affected by development in the others.

WRITING EPISODES

y A writing episode involves physically producing words on paper or screen; it¶s an extended act of ³transacription´ which results in a progressivedevelopment of a piece of text

y Each writing act/episode influences our current thinking²what is written (or revised) becomes new information for us to reflect upon

y Writing episodes occur intermittently, although our thought is continuous²sometimes words flow, one writing act/episode immediately followinganother; more usually there are pauses of varying length between episodes because our thought is reorganizing for forthcoming episodes or because of interruptions or distractions

y Writing is a learning experience²we discover what we ³mean´ through the act of writing

SPECIFICATION OF INTENTIONS

y Intentions are the basis upon which a text is formed

y We have

o Global intentions²involving the purpose and overall form of a text

o Focal intentions²about the next word, phrase, sentence to be written

y None of these intentions is part of the text itself; the text remains to be produced

y These intentions are not a model of what the text will be like²many aspects of a text may be different from our original intentions

y We often have no intentions for what a text will be like until particular parts of the text are actually produced

y All the intentions represent the specification for the text

o The specification does not set out in detail what a text will be like

o The specification will be sketchy

o It includes:

Some general expectations or intentions for what the finished text will be like

Some guidelines about its form

o Some parts of the specification may be quite detailed and specific (certain points will be covered ina certain order, even certain words orphrases that will be used)

o In general, many details (whether something should be explained, how it should be explained) will be left until the actual moment of writing

y The specification lays out the writer¶s ³problem´²the emerging text is a solution to the problem if it meets our intentions and expectations

y The specification is never complete, it often has many blanks

y The specification must always be flexible; at no point will we know everything about what we are likely to write²

o We may have general ideas about a particular paragraph, but we can¶t find the words or get the sentences ordered satisfactorily

o Sometimes words flow but take us in directions we don¶t intend

o We must let the words come because they are relevant to the general concerns although we don¶t know how to organize of constrain aparticular paragraph

y The specification is not an outline²it does not set out in detail the content and organization of a particular text; the specification for a text sets out theproblems a writer has to solve in the process of writing



THE TRANSACTION BETWEEN SPECIFICATION AND TEXT

Composition is not simply a matter of translating a specification into words²the specification itself develops and changes as a text unfolds.

MYTHS OF WRITING

Adapted fromFrank Smith, 1983, Myths of Writing

In: Essays Into Literacy Exeter, NH: Heinemann Educational Books: 81-88

1. Writing is for the transmission of information.Reality: While in the end the writing may convey information, it¶s major function is to explore ideas. The danger of theinformation-transmission myth is that it focuses on how texts are presented from the point of view of the reader rather than onwhat the act of writing can accomplish for the developing thought of the writer. The writer is overlooked.

2. Writing is for communication.Reality: The writer is always the FIRST reader and may often be the only reader.

3. Writing involves transferring thoughts from the mind to paper.Reality: Thoughts are created in the act of writing, which changes the writer and changes the emerging text.

4. Writing is permanent.Reality: Speech, once uttered, can rarely be revised; writing can be reflected upon, altered, and even erased at will.

5. Writing is a linear process.Reality: Writing can be done in several places and directions concurrently and is as easily manipulated in space as it is in time.Texts can be constructed from writing done on separate pieces of paper; words, sentences, paragraphs, whole sections can beshuffled into different sequences. Writing is recursive.

6. Writing is speech plus spelling and punctuation.

Reality: Every kind of writing has its own conventions of form and expression quite different from speech. Spelling,punctuation, capitalization, paragraphing, indentation, word-dividing, layout, and so forth, are necessary aspects of transcription necessary to make written language readable for readers. For all writers, undue concern with transcription caninterfere with the exploratory aspects of writing.

7. You must have something to say in order to write.Reality: We need to write in order to have anything to say! Thought comes with writing, and writing may never come if it ispostponed until we are satisfied we have something to say. Write first, see what you had to say later.

8. Writing should be easy.Reality: Writing is often hard work²it requires concentration, physical effort, and a tolerance for frustration anddisappointment.

9. Writing should be right the first time.Reality: Writing generally requires many drafts and revisions to get ideas into a form that satisfies the writer. A separateeditorial polishing is required to make any text appropriate for another reader.

10. Writing should be unambiguous.Reality: There is no way writing can be unambiguous. ³The´ meaning of a text is not embedded in the words on the page but

constructed by readers.The sense a reader constructs depends on what the reader knows and brings to the text.

There is noway for any writer to know exactly what any reader brings to a text.

11. Writing can be done to order. Reality: Writing is most often reluctant to come when it is most urgently required, yet quite likely to begin to flow atinconvenient or impossible times.

12. A fixed period of ³prewriting´ should precede composing.Reality: Writing involves a lifetime of preparation²of experience, reading, reflecting and arguing. It is only from a transcriptionpoint of view that an author can say that work began on a particular text at a particular time. In fact, writing itself can beprewriting. As we draft one part of a text, we reflect on what we might write next or on what we have written already.

13. Writing is a solitary activity.Reality: Writing often requires other people to stimulate discussion, to listen to choice phrases, to provide feedback of variouskinds.

14. Writing is a tidy activity.Reality: Writing is messy, it spreads itself all over the writing surface, in many different files.

15. Writing should be the same for everyone.Reality: Each of us develops an idiosyncratic set of strategies we¶re comfortable with and that work for us.

ABOUT WRITING

WRITING IS CREATING MEANING

The wonderful thing about writing is that, contrary to popular belief, meaning is constructed as a result of writing not something worked out before you begin.

Writing isn't the transcription of pre-existent knowledge; every episode of writing requires an active construction of new meaning.

PURPOSE & AUDIENCE



You may not know the purpose of a particular piece of writing at the outset, although with most technical and business writing you usually have some generalpurpose as well as a specific or generic audience in mind. Whether you're writing an email or an in-depth technical report or proposal, at some point in the writingprocess you need to be able to articulate succinctly the purpose of a given piece of writing and you need to think about the assumptions you're making about youraudience. As writing proceeds, both purpose and audience will become clearer; by the time you're done you should be able to say what it is you want your readersto understand.

COMPOSING VS R EVISING / EDITING

Composing is a constructing process; it's not transcribing thought that's already in your head.

When you begin, you may have only vague ideas about what you want to say²it's through writing that you sort out your thoughts, flesh them out, and organizethem. Only after you've got a rough draft of your writing should you think about correctness: such things as spelling, punctuation, and grammar. That's why writingeducators make a distinction between composing and editing²composing involves developing the material to make an argument or presentation; revising andediting are what you do once you have a rough version of what you want to say.

However, the act of writing really does combine all three aspects of the process. You will certainly find yourself revising as you go along²the important thing is toresist the temptation to make correctness your focus too early in the process.

WRITING IS MESSY

Writing is a messy business.

I have notes to myself jotted on scraps of paper, on post-it notes, and on backs of envelopes. When I'm composing I keep paper handy so I can jot down ideas thatI'm not sure I want to use or where I might use them. I have piles of reference material all over the desk and sometimes on the floor²I need that informationhandy so I can refer to something if I need to.

I write all over printouts of text; I save the mess because I never know if something I've thought of might be useful later. When I cut sections from a document, I

paste them into an "out-takes" file so I won't regret having lost material.

There are false starts, and I get side-tracked but it's all part of the writing process. By the time I'm done, the document has been checked carefully for spelling,grammar and punctuation. It looks presentable; the mess is no longer visible. It's because the mess isn't visible in final versions that we forget that writing, of necessity, is a messy activity.

INVENTION TECHNIQUES

INITIATING AND SUSTAINING COMPOSING

There are probably an infinite number of invention techniques; some popular ones are described below. Read about each one to see whichworks for you. Experiment and try to have some fun.

FREEWRITING

y Set a timer for five to ten minutes (you can always keep going after the beeper's gone off but an initial time limit is great forkeeping you focused)

y Look at the topic and mull it over, roll it over your tongue, inhale it, let it bounce around the neural pathways of your brain for asecond or two

y Now ready? set? write! and don't stop! Keep your fingers typing or your pen moving on paper for the entire duration

y Get it all out; a sort of intellectual diarrhea or stream-of-consciousness writing where you write what you think as you'rethinking it

y Don't worry about grammar, spelling, or forming sentences. Some of it won't make sense and that's okay. If you find yourself drawing a blank at some point, then just write, "I'm drawing a blank" to keep the flow going or try and articulate why you thinkyou can't get very far with the subject

y There are no rules for this idea-generation technique except that1. you have to think (don't groan) and2. you can't censor yourself or read over what you've done until the timer has sounded (if you're doing this on a

computer, a neat trick is to darken the screen to prevent this kind of senseless cheating)

y BZZZZ

TTTT!Time's up: now you can finally look over your stuff. Freewriting is great because sometimes you'll find you'll beable to lift off entire sections and use them in your first draft

BRAINSTORMING

This is quite similar to freewriting but the organization²the way you jot down ideas²is a bit different. Instead of an endless, non-punctuated, free-flowing paragraph, you only note down key words or short phrases on a page.

Set a timer, take a deep breath, and go crazy. If you get stuck, look at one of the ideas you¶ve already written down and see if they don¶ttrigger something new. Assume nothing is self-explanatory²at this stage stating the obvious is the best way to tap into original territory.

When you're done, use your word processor's cut and paste features (or arrows or color coding for you paper planners out there) to re-organize your terms and find relationships and common threads that might form subheadings.



Two ways to approach brainstorming:

a. List Making Here you simply jot down a stream of words or thoughts in a list format. There are no "wrong" thoughts to be had here. Try tolimit the thoughts to a certain length. Also, try to commit to either a time or page goal²write three pages or write for fiveminutes, no more, no less.

b. Diagramming Great for people who work visually, diagramming can be a helpful way to provide structure to papers. Ignore the top to bottom,left to write motion of writing (or right to left, as the case may be) and simply write in a free fashion. Draw circles around yourideas, link them together using lines. Draw words in unusual shapes and liberally sprinkle your page with arrows, squares,question marks, and anything else you think might help represent your idea in a visual fashion.

The brainstorming process is about more than practicing writing, you should see certain patterns and questions begin to emerge. Place

your brainstorm writing aside for a while and then look at it later. You might be surprised at some of the things you've come up with. It'scommon for brainstorming and freewriting practitioners to wonder aloud, "Could I really have written that?"

CLUSTERING / WEBBING / MAPPING

Basically the same as brainstorming but you start with a central word written in the middle of an unlined piece of paper. As relatedconcepts pop in your head, you indicate them as branches, arrows, in bubbles, or however you like to cluster. Some branches will lead todead ends, others will flourish. At the end of a successful cluster session, you'll focus on the blossoming areas and will even be able todraw arrows between concepts to show their relationships.

Again, no self-censorship allowed but don't beat a dead horse either. If one spark dies, return to the central or other provocative pointsyou have scribbled in the lower right hand corner and try again.

CUBING

The general strategy of looking at your topic as you would a three-dimensional object with many sides. Sometimes you'll hear it called the ³Many Parts Strategy´ because it asks...no, pushes....you to consider your topic from a minimum of six different angles or avenues.

HEURISTICS

An impressive word that basically just means a learning aid or problem-solving technique that uses "self-education." Self-education is abizarre but appropriate concept here because what you essentially do with any heuristic is interview yourself, tap into your own wealth of knowledge with the right drills in the right places, as it were. This is done by using questions as prompts.

One popular heuristic is the list of journalistic 5 Ws (and one H!): who, what, when, where, why, and how:

y What am I writing about? (topic)

y What am I trying to say about my topic? (controlling idea)

y Why am I writing about my topic? (purpose)

y Why should my reader(s) be interested in my controlling idea? (audience)

y What knowledge do I have that makes me the right person to write about this topic?

THE R OLE OF TALK IN WRITING

All of the above activities can be done orally with one or more colleagues²nowhere is it cast in stone that you have to sort out your ideasentirely on your own.

You can brainstorm or cluster/web/map with other people. Chart paper is helpful here, but you could use an electronic notebook to jotdown ideas as they come up in discussion.

Sometimes, before attempting to capture your ideas in writing, it can be very useful to corner a colleague and say ³ Listen to me²³ andquickly lay out what you¶re going to write about and how you might approach it. Having an audience quickly forces clarity.

R EADING LIKE A WRITER

Not sure how you want to tackle a particular writing task?

Try ³Reading Like A Writer´²Find examples of the kind writing you¶re trying to do. Notice stylistic elements (tone of the writing, sentencevariation, flow of ideas, formatting, etc«.) and try reproducing them in your own writing as you write.

FINDING FOCUS

Sometime you¶ll find you have a focus before you begin; other times your focus will emerge during the writing; sometimes you have to



stand back and play with the emerging document to shape a focus.

FOCUSING QUESTIONS

y What¶s most important?

y What will my readers be looking for?

y What will my readers want to know more about?

y Can I identify a logical progression of ideas here?

y Might there be a better order for the content?

y Have I captured enough of the specifics?

DEVELOPING FOCUS

y Get yourself a set of colored highlighter pens

y Work with a hard copy of your document

y Take one pen, quickly read through your document, highlighting everything that seems to have some kind of common theme

y Take a second pen, again quickly read through the document marking other paragraphs/sections that seem to have a differenttheme.

y Repeat a third and fourth time, if necessary

y Now lay out your pages according to the predominant highlighting color

y Open your document file, ³Save As´ using a new file name²now cut all the information that¶s highlighted in other than thepredominant color (Be sure to paste this material into your out-takes file²you might well want it later!)

y Now read what you have ± it will certainly be shorter, and it ought to have a definite focus

USE A R EADER : ASK FOR FEEDBACK

y Have someone read what you¶ve written²it¶s useful to tell him or her just what kind of feedback you¶re looking for. Anotherperson often can see what you¶re driving at more easily than you can; you¶re too close to the writing

FOUR WAYS TO CLARIFY

You have a draft²the next step is to make it clear, first to yourself and then to other readers.

It¶s important to remember you are your own first reader. You have to read your own copy to make sure it¶s clear to you, that you are saying what you want to say.

Now you must become a critical reader.

There are four main ways to clarify:

y DISCARD²You sense the writing doesn't work, it hasn't gone anywhere. Rather than belabour it, file the draft away and start again

y RECONCEIVE²You've got a first draft; now you need to go back and recollect, refocus and/or reorder. Because writing is recursive (that is, it keepscircling back on itself) you need to stand back and consider the meaning of the whole; do a quick read with an eye to other ways of "telling your story"

y REWRITE²There are two aspects of rewriting:

o Revision²finding elements that require or warrant modification or elaboration in some way

o Editing²polishing the text to make it appropriate for readers

Revision and editing are two very different activities.

With revision, you review the draft of a text from your own point of view to discover what the text contains. Respond to the text as if it were written bysomeone else. Only the writer can do revision because what matters is the effect of the text on the writer.

The aim of editing is not to change the text but to make what is there optimally readable. It is not necessary for a writer to do the editing; in fact,writers who publish typically are not responsible for final editing. Editing is essentially a transcription skill. If you are editing yourself, you must try torespond to the text as a different reader.

The mistake most people make with editing is to plunge in and start editing the language of the text first, working from the written line back to form andthen to meaning. That's got it backwards! You need to start with the overall meaning. [See: Effective Editing]

y PROOF²When you have done all reconceiving and revising you have time to do, then it's time to go through the text and eliminate superficial problemsthat will interfere with readers making meaning



EFFECTIVE EDITING

WRITER AS R EADER

Developed from "Clarity"by Don Murray in "Write To Learn"

1984, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, pp. 166-182

Effective Editing is usually the result of three separate and distinct readings, each with its own pace, strategies, and techniques:

y The "First" Read is for meaning

y The "Second" Read is for order

y The "Third" Read is for voice, language & conventions

EDITING PRINCIPLES

y Build on Strength²Identify what you think is working well and carry it through the rest of the text

y Cut What Can Be Cut²Everything in the text must realte to the single dominant meaning of the text. If it doesn't, it shouldgo!

y Simplicity is Best²The writing should be as simple as possible; write so your readers understand what you want them to

y Listen to the Writing²Your ear is a better editor than your eye. Read aloud. The piece will tell you when it needs a definitionwoven in, some additional clarification, more evidence, a change of pace

CHECKLIST FOR A "FIRST" R EAD

READING FOR MEANING

Read the text fast²find a comfortable chair, put your pencil down, read as if you are a naive reader; try not to get too close to the text;instead, aim for a sense of the overall meaning.

y Can you write a short (a sentence or two) synopsis of what the piece is about?

y Do readers need more information?

y Is the piece too long? Is it too short?

y Does it go off on tangents that can be cut?

y Are there elements that should be cut, or developed more fully?

y Are readers' key questions answered?

y Does the piece deliver on the promise made in the title and lede?

y Is there scaffolding that was useful in shaping the piece but can now be cut?

Now pick up a pencil and make marginal notes²think about your overall meaning.

CHECKLIST FOR A "SECOND" R EAD

READING FOR ORDER

Continue reading at a good clip. Don't stop for language problems²that will come later. Now you're dealing with chunks to make sure eachsection is developed well and is in the right place.

y Is the title on target?

y Does the lede establish the voice for the piece?

y Does the draft "show" as well as "tell"?

y Is each section an answer to readers' questions?

y Is each piece of documentation appropriate for the point being made?

y Does the pace keep readers moving but allow time to absorb your argument?

y Does the end echo the lede and give readers a sense of completion?

y Does the argument follow logically?



y Have you tried rearranging elements?

CHECKLIST FOR A "THIRD" R EAD

PROOFREADINGor

READING FOR VOICE, LANGUAGE, AND CONVENTIONS

It's time to get out your sharpest pencil and be ruthless. It's generally useful to do a "third" read with hard copy in front of you, where youcan make actual marks on the paper. It's do-able on a screen but you're more likely to miss stuff you'd see if you were working on aprintout.

y Are inportant pieces of specific information at the ends and beginnings of key sentences, paragraphs, sections, and the entirepiece itself?

y Have you used "subject-verb-object" sentences?

y Have you cut unnecessary clauses?

y Are there sentences that announce what you're going to say, or sum up what you've already said²can you cut them?

y Do readers leave each sentence with more information than when they began?

y Is sentence length varied, with shorter sentences usually used for clarification or emphasis?

y Is each word the right word?

y Is each word the simplest word?

y Have you used strong verbs?

y Have unnecessary adverbs and adjectives been eliminated?

y Have you cut "to be" verbs wherever possible?

y H

ave you eliminated "-ings" wherever possible?y Have you used active voice?

y Is the simplest tense used?

y Are tenses consistent?

y What about pronoun agreement?

y Have you checked for parallel structure?

y Have you checked for gender-biased or racist language?

y Have you cut unnecessary words: that, would, quite, very...

y Have sentence elements been reorderred so they read naturally and smoothly?

y Have you used parallel structure in lists?

y Does each paragraph make one point?

y Have you developed that point fully?

y Do paragraphs vary in length, with shorter paragraphs used for clarification and emphasis?

y Are the paragraphs in order, do transitions make sense?

y Have you cut unnecessary introductory and concluding paragraphs?

y Can you think of questions readers might still ask?

y Have you checked punctuation?

y Have you checked spelling?

y Are the numbers correct?

TIPS FOR DOING A "THIRD" READ

y Read backwards. Begin at the end and work back through the text paragraph by paragraph or even line by line. This will forceyou to look at the surface elements rather than the meaning of the text

y Place a ruler under each line as you read it. This will give your eyes a manageable amount of text to read

y Know your own typical mistakes. Keep a running list of errors you typically make. Before you do a "third" read, look over yourlist

y Read for one type of error at a time. If commas are your most frequent problem, go through the writing checking just that oneproblem. Then read again for the next most frequent problem

y Read through your writing several times fast, once looking just at spelling, another time looking just at punctuation, and so on.This will help you focus so you'll do a better job

WRITING FAST

Writing fast is about uninhibited invention and good organization

y Allow yourself to start anywhere; you don't have to start at the beginning

y Move to some other aspect of the topic if you find yourself bogged down

y Let digressions happen; they may prove fruitful later



y Don't try getting it right the first time²draft / rewrite as many times as you need to make the writing clear

y Write down thoughts when they strike you even if you're doing something else

y Keep a separate "thoughts" file

y Try talking your thoughts out loud

y Write about your frustrations

y False starts and dead ends are normal; just pick up somewhere else

y Be willing to throw stuff away

y You have a reasonably good idea of what you want to write²then make an outline

y Don't let yourself be trapped by your outline; abandon it if you find it draining your energy

y Don't edit or proofread before you have a complete draft

y You can save time by putting in a placeholder and filling in a section later

y You don't need to wait until you've "completed" your "research" before you begin²research will still be necessary while you're drafting, rewriting, editingand even proofing!

y Allow yourself to be messy²spread paper all over your desk and floor; scribble, use arrows all over your printouts

y Talk out your ideas to someone else

y Just write and keep writing

y Make lists

y Use highlighters

y Always create a separate "references" file; fully record each reference (including page numbers) as soon as you've cited it in your writing

y Save all deleted sections to an out-takes file; that material might be useful

y Brainstorm on index cards²they're easy to move around

y Don't worry about order in your writing²you'll shift elements around later

y Use point form; it forces you to be succinct and it's easy to flesh out

y Revisit your thoughts file²there may be ideas there to strengthen what you've written

y While you're inventing / drafting: If in doubt²PUT IT IN!

y During rewriting: If in doubt²TAKE IT OUT!

y Be sure to leave enough time to do a careful "third" read

y Solicit feedback from naive readers and from experts

y Develop an outline after you're finished; this lets you check the architecture of your piece

y Introductions are often best left to last! It's not until you're finished that you really know what the piece is about

y Remember, no part is done until the whole is done! Don't "finish" one part before working on another²the parts need to interact

y Set yourself deadlines

ON BEING STUCK There are two kinds of writing blocks:

y Procedural Blocks ² we have difficulty deciding what to write next

y Psychological Blocks ² we cannot bring ourselves to write anything

PROCEDURAL BLOCKS

y We can be in the position of not knowing what to write nextAt a global level we know and can specify clearly what we want to write about, and we have no trouble putting one word afteranother²we're lost in between²perhaps in deciding precisely what we want in the next paragraph

y Procedural blocks are particularly acute at the beginning²the problem arises because we can visualize a set of alternativeswithout obvious reason for selecting any particular one

y There are several reasons for procedural blocks

o Trying to pack too much information into a sentence, a paragraph, leaving too many directions to follow at once

o Digressions which we've been led into by our developing ideas

o Our proliferating intentions getting ahead of us

o Crossing into a new section of the writing

PSYCHOLOGICAL BLOCKS

y We can't let words come²the most difficult moment with any piece of writing is at the beginning when the first words shouldcome

y It's not a matter of having no words, but we can't bring ourselves to let them appear on paper or screen

y There are three major reasons for not being able to write:

o The magnitude of the task seems overwhelming

o Anxiety regarding our fears that what we produce won't be good enough



o Being afraid we don't have anything worthwhile to say²being reluctant to write anything

STRATEGIES FOR OVERCOMING BLOCKS

y Write!

y Write anything, no matter how irrelevant you think it is

y If in doubt, PUT IT IN!

y Open a new file and experiment

y Too many directions at once?List them and flesh each one out (brainstorm, make lists...)

y Don't have a beginning?Start somewhere else.

y Can't get what you want to say next from what you've just written?Write what you want to say anyway (later you'll figure out how to handle the transition)

y Not sure how to shape the next part?Try a couple of alternatives

y Don't have the next bit sufficiently clear in your head?Take a walk, cook a meal, watch TV, sleep on it...Our brain doesn't solve problems under pressure, give yourself incubation time

y Can't pick up from where you left off?Begin rewriting the last paragraph, or just start somewhere else

y Avoiding a particular writing project by answering mail?Stop procrastinating and make yourself write on the task you're avoiding

y DON'T EXPECT WRITING TO COME OUT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME Anything you write can be thrown away (or put in an "out-takes" file for later rescue if necessary)

y Deadlines help!Set a time for completing a particular writing assignment

y Writing blocks are resolved ONLY by writing!

UNDERSTANDING R EADERS

THERE ARE THREE IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF READING WHICH WRITERS MUST KEEP IN MIND:

y The Reading Process

y Interpretive Community

y Intertextuality

THE R EADING PROCESS

R EADING IS A COMPLEX CONSTRUCTIVE PROCESS INVOLVING BOTH VISUAL AND NON-VISUAL INFORMATION²WHAT'SIN FRONT OF THE EYES AND WHAT'S BEHIND THEM. THE ESSENTIAL SKILL ALL COMPETENT READERS LEARN IS TO DEPEND

ON THEIR EYES AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE. OF COURSE, YOUR EYES HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY IN READING, BUT VISUAL

INFORMATION IS NOT ENOUGH IN ITSELF. YOU BRING TO ANY ENCOUNTER WITH WRITTEN TEXT YOUR UNDERSTANDING

OF THE PARTICULAR LANGUAGE A TEXT IS WRITTEN IN, BOTH WORD MEANINGS AND ITS GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE, AS

WELL AS AS YOUR FAMILIARITY WITH THE SUBJECT MATTER , YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH READING, AND ESPECIALLY WHAT

YOU KNOW ABOUT READING DIFFERENT KINDS OF WRITING.BECAUSE READING IS INHERENTLY DEPENDENT ON WHAT READERS KNOW, THERE CAN BE NO "LITERAL" MEANING OF

ANY TEXT²THERE WILL BE AS MANY MEANINGS AS THERE ARE READERS; NO ONE OF THEM IS LITERAL. WHEN A GROUP OF

READERS HAS COMMON KNOWLEDGE, THEIR INTERPRETATIONS OF A PARTICULAR TEXT WILL CONVERGE, BUT THERE IS

NO GUARANTEE THAT ALL READERS WILL CONSTRUCT THE SAME MEANING.

INTERPRETIVE COMMUNITY

WHAT'S IMPORTANT FOR TECHNICAL WRITERS TO JUDGE IS THE BREADTH OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE SUBJECT THEIR

READERS ARE LIKELY TO HAVE. IF THE AUDIENCE IS LARGE, IT'S UNREALISTIC TO EXPECT ALL OF YOUR READERS TO COME

TO YOUR TEXT WITH THE SAME BACKGROUND. R EALIZE THERE ARE LIKELY TO BE GAPS; DO YOUR BEST TO ANTICIPATE

THEM.



WHAT WORKS IN YOUR FAVOUR IS THE INTERPRETIVE COMMUNITY²THE POTENTIAL SHARED MEANING OF A GROUP OF

PROFESSIONAL READERS. YOUR SENSE OF WHAT YOUR INTERPRETIVE COMMUNITY IS LIKELY TO KNOW ALLOWS YOU TO

MAKE SOME ASSUMPTIONS AS YOU WRITE.

BUT REMEMBER , THERE IS NO GUARANTEE ANY PARTICULAR READER SHARES YOUR INTERPRETIVE COMMUNITY. THERE

IS NO WAY YOU CAN WRITE A TEXT THAT MAKES A PARTICULAR INTERPRETATION A CERTAINTY! SO TRY OUT YOUR

WRITING ON BOTH NAIVE AND EXPERT READERS.

INTERTEXTUALITY

WHAT'S IN ANY PARTICULAR TEXT ITSELF CAN ONLY HINT AT THE INFERENTIAL MEANING A READER IS INVITED TO

MAKE. TO PARTICIPATE FULLY IN READING ANY TEXT REQUIRES A SENSE OF INTERTEXTUALITY. R EADERS RELATE THE

CURRENT PIECE THEY'RE READING TO OTHER TEXTS THEY'VE READ ON THE SAME SUBJECT, AS WELL AS CONNECTING

INFORMATION FROM THINGS THEY'VE READ ON RELATED SUBJECTS.R EADERS MUST BE FAMILIAR IN ADVANCE NOT ONLY WITH THE GENERAL CONTENT, BUT HAVE SOME PARTICULAR

BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE OF THE SPECIFIC DOMAIN OF THE TEXT. THIS IS A KEY ASPECT OF THE TRANSACTIONAL

NATURE OF READING ALONG WITH TECHNICAL, CULTURAL, AND LINGUISTIC CONTEXTS AND THE MORE WIDELY READ THE

AUDIENCE, THE MORE LIKELY THEY WILL MAKE SENSE OF YOUR WRITING²ALTHOUGH NOT NECESSARILY THE SENSE YOU

INTEND THEM TO MAKE.

TO THE EXTENT THAT THE WRITER AND READER SHARE SUCH CONTEXTS, THERE WILL BE CONVERGENCE OF

INTERPRETATION. TEXTS ARE NOT TRANSPARENT; THEY DON'T DIRECTLY REVEAL THEIR MEANING. R EADERS CONSTRUCT

MEANING BASED ON A LARGE NUMBER OF FACTORS. WRITERS HAVE TO REMEMBER READING IS A PROCESS OF MAKING

INFERENCES.

R ESPONDING TO WRITERS

Adapted fromWriting Without Teachers

Peter Elbow, 1973, London: Oxford University Press

All writers experience trepidation when they contemplate showing their writing to someone else! That¶s a by-product of what happened to your writing in school²your teachers told you what they thought were the weak and strong points and suggested things you should change.

However, to improve your writing you DON¶ T need advice about what changes to make. You DON¶ T need theories of what is good and bad writing. What you needto know is what sense your readers have made, what questions they have, where they got confused, what digressions they took off on when they read your words.You need what Peter Elbow calls ³movies of people¶s minds´.

Here are some suggestions for giving movies of your mind when reading for another writer. This is the same feedback you¶ll find helpful from your readers, aswell.

y Start by simply pointing to the words and phrases which stood out for you, either because they seemed particularly apt or because they were jarring forsome reason.

y Summarize the writing:

o Tell quickly what you thought were the main points, the center of gravity of the piece

o See if you can summarize the whole thing in a single sentence

o Don¶t plan or think too much about it; the point is to help the writer see what stood out in your head²it¶s not a test to see if you got themeaning ³right´!

y Tell the writer everything that happened to you when you read the writing²it¶s useful to tell it as a story: ³I felt confused about «, but then I saw aconnection«. I especially liked« I found myself going back after «´

The important thing in telling is not to get too far away from talking about the actual writing; remember the writer is interested in how his or her writingworked.

y When you read something you have perceptions and reactions that you¶re not fully aware of and therefore can¶t ³tell´ about. However, you may be ableto SHOW them:

o Talk about the writing as if you were describing voices: it lectured, it droned, it ran«

o Talk about the writing as if you were talking about weather: it was foggy, clear, crisp«

o Talk about the writing as if you were talking about motion: it marched, strolled«

o Describe what you think the writer¶s intentions were

o Writing is like a lump of clay²tell what you¶d do with that clay

o Paint the picture the writing conjured up for you

y Try writing a quick synopsis and share it with the writer

Telling is like looking inside yourself to see what you can report; showing is like installing a window in the top of your head so the writer can see for himor herself.

SOME GENERAL ADVICE TO R EADERS



y Make sure you¶ve had enough time to read the piece through twice, taking a bit of time between each reading to let the words and ideas sink in. Don¶tlet yourself be hurried

y Remember no kind of reaction is wrong, insufficient, perhaps, but not wrong. So don¶t struggle with your reactions²just let them happen

y Try to avoid giving advice; on the other hand, if the interaction between you and the words produces some suggestions, don¶t hold back

y Like advice, evaluation in itself has no value; it doesn¶t provide insight into your experience as a reader

y Your job as reader is to offer the writer your immediate impressions; you¶re not trying to fix the writing but to help the writer understand yourexperience of it.

SOME GENERAL ADVICE TO WRITERS

y Be quite and listen!

y After you have a reader¶s reactions you can explain what you intended or what you think you¶ve put into the writing

y Don¶t reject what readers tell you²listen to what they say as if it were all true. You can consider their responses later

y Listen openly and take it in, but don¶t be paralyzed by what they tell you

y You¶re not looking for readers to tell you HOW to write; you need them to tell you what thought processes your writing evoked

y Remember, it¶s their job to give you their experience; it¶s your job to decide what to do with that information²you don¶t have to act on any response,you just have to consider what it tells you about your writing

Make sure your readers know what you want from them²SPELL IT OUT. If there¶s some particular kind of feedback you would find helpful, ask for it.

IT DEPENDS

There are no absolute rules for writing!

The "good news" is writing is a transactional process²you are changed by what you write just as the writing changes as you're producingit.

That means:

y You're free to experiment

y You're free to invent your own way of expressing your thoughts

y You can break the "rules" in grammar books and style guides

y The sky's the limit

The "bad news" is writing involves making decisions. When you ask yourself a question about some aspect of writing, the answer will be "Itdepends...."

Your decisions are affected by many factors:

y The purpose of the writing

y Who you're writing it for

y How expert your audience is

y How widely it will be disseminated

y How much time you have to work through it

Remember, style guides only offer suggestions. Even spelling isn't absolute²are you using American, British or Canadian English? Whilethere is pressure towards standard grammar and spelling, understand that these aspects of language are constantly changing.

Your best resource is other authors. Read to see how other authors have done what you're trying to do. There's a wide range of writingavailable²some of it reader friendly, a lot of it puts obstacles in the reader's way. Try to "feel" what those authors who make it easy foryou to understand have done with their writing. Emulate it.

COMPUTERS: HELP & HINDRANCE

Computer technology has revolutionized writing. It¶s made it much easier to generate ideas, to reorganize writing, even to check spellingand grammar. However, computers can be both a source of help and a hindrance.

HELP

Computers can help you write in many different ways. Here are some suggestions:

y When you begin, create three files: your working document, a references file, and an out-takes file. You might also want afourth²notes²which you use as a handy notepad (it¶s also a place where you can cut and paste stuff you pick up from othersources)



y When you¶re stuck it¶s helpful to do one of three things:

o start a blank page and just write anything²because it¶s in a separate place you lose the inhibitions that werestopping you from keeping ideas flowing

o go to your ³notes´ file and do the same thing²sometimes having other notes nearby triggers ideas

o turn the screen off and just let ideas come²you can do this either on a new blank page or where you happen to bewriting

You can do all of the above using scrap paper or a yellow writing tablet, but the wonderful thing about doing this writing on thecomputer is you can cut and paste what you produce directly into your document²you don¶t have to type it over!

y Some writing tasks you do over and over again. Automate them by building a template which outlines the major categories of

information you want to include. It may take some time to set up a good template but it¶s worth it in the long run

HINDRANCE

There are three major pitfalls to writing on a computer:

y A major trap is revising and editing too soon.Rather than just letting ideas come when you¶re inventing, you can find yourself caught up by how the words on the screenlook, see something you want to change, and lose your flow of thought.

Resist at all costs the temptation to ³fix´ your writing when you¶re generating a draft

y A second danger is forgetting to SAVE!Be sure to set your Autosave to backup your writing every 5 minutes or so (in MS Word you find that function in the

Preferences / Properties under ³Save´).

That way you can recover most of what you¶ve written. It¶s worse than discouraging tohave your word processing software freeze and lose everything you¶ve done for the last hour.

Also be careful to save the file to the location you intend. Some word processors remember the last place you saved to²thatmay not be where you wanted to save your current document.

y Be wary of the spell checker.Either it won¶t recognize the word you intend and prompt you with words that have no relationship to the one you want, or itaccepts what you¶ve written because it doesn¶t differentiate homophones²words that sound the same but are spelleddifferently such as ³mayor´ and ³mare´ or ³their´, ³there´, and ³they¶re´ .

On the other hand the Thesaurus is often useful, although often it won¶t give you as many alternatives as a good dictionary of synonyms will.

TECHNICAL WRITING

The first step in any kind of non-fiction writing is to collect information²to do research. For the medical writer that can involve actually conducting experiments, orpatient trials. It usually involves reading relevant research papers, clinical trials, and review articles. It can also include obtaining data from adverse event andother databases. Relevant information may come from interviews with researchers, discussions with colleagues, or from notes made at critical meetings....

It's a good idea to begin by asking yourself "What am I trying to achieve?" If you can't answer that question. the chances of writing a good piece are slim. If youcan identify your global intentions, then you can evaluate your information, arguments, and recommendations against those intentions.

You don't have to wait until all of your "research" is done before you start sorting through the evidence/ information²start immediately to identify main issues, tothink about how to organize them, to make some notes, to brainstorm, and so on.

By focusing your thoughts, you've started to think about what your readers might want or need to know.

SOME THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN DOING TECHNICAL WRITING

1. Understand the type of report/memo/synopsis you are writing²find examples and notice the structure and organization other authors have used

2. Write down your global intentions²a phrase or two that captures the gist of your potential writing

3. Tentatively identify possible sections and subsections²this is a brainstorming or clustering activity

4. Try writing some headings using strong verbs and specific nouns²it may be too soon for this activity; however, it will allow you to see where you needto do more research or identify where you have holes you'll want to think about later. You will certainly revisit headings and subheadings after you'vegot a draft

5. Think about your readers' knowledge and needs²this is crucial! Try to imagine what the reader knows and expects from such a text

6. Keep information specific rather than general²it's the details that pursuade, so be sure you've provided enough "data" for your readers to understandthe issues as you see them



7. Try beginning with lists in simple English²this will likely take several attempts, the lists may expand or become smaller on each successive go-around,items may be moved to other lists...

8. Keep your list items or points short

9. Turn your lists into prose²keep your language as direct as you can

10. Use active verbs rather than passive voice constructions

11. Vary sentence length

12. Avoid jargon

13. Keep technical terms to a minimum (or provide an explanation in the text itself)

14. A helpful hint when you're drafting: If in doubt, PUT IT IN!

15. Another helpful hint: When you quote from other writing or make an attribution, make sure you put the complete citation (including page numbers) ina separate file. This "references" file doesn't have to be in any kind of order at this point²it will be easy to order it later²but it's invaluable not to haveto track down an obscure citation after you've forgotten where you got it from!

16. A third hint: Instead of deleting passages from your evolving text, cut and paste them into a separate "out-takes" file²that way you can review whatyou've deleted and have it on hand should want or need it later

17. Once you have a draft, ask some readers for feedback²at this point you're interested in what meaning they make, you're not interested in editing help,so be sure to let them know what information you're looking for

18. Test your document with the intended audience

19. Revise based on their feedback

20. Remember that editing / revision isn't just about errors. You want to polish your sentences at this point, making them smooth, interesting, and clear.Watch for very long sentences, since they may be less clear than shorter, more direct sentences

21. Pay attention to the rhythm of your writing; try to use sentences of varying lengths and patterns. Look for unnecessary phrases, repetition, andawkward spots

22. When you're revising²if in doubt, TAKE IT OUT!

23. Published authors usually have access to editors; if you have to edit your own work here are some things to think about: Effective Editing

24. Think about layout

25. Use examples and illustrations; consider tables and visuals that might explain your arguments

26. Use diagrams, flowcharts, and graphs

27. Don't forget to proofread: Checklist for a "Third" Read

AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

The audience of a technical report²or any piece of writing for that matter²is the intended or potential reader or readers. For most technical writers, this is themost important consideration in planning, writing, and reviewing a document. You "adapt" your writing to meet the needs, interests, and background of the readerswho will be reading your writing.

The principle seems absurdly simple and obvious. It's much the same as telling someone, "Talk so the person in front of you can understand what you're saying."It's like saying, "Don't talk rocket science to your six-year-old." Do we need a course in that? Doesn't seem like it. But, in fact, lack of audience analysis andadaptation is one of the root causes of most of the problems you find in professional, technical documents²particularly instructions where it surfaces mostglaringly.

TYPES OF AUDIENCES

One of the first things to do when you analyze an audience is to identify its type (or types²it's rarely just one type). Audiences are commonly categorized as:

y Experts:These are the people who know the theory and the product inside and out. They designed it, they tested it, they know everything about it.Often, they have advanced degrees and operate in academic settings or in research and development areas of the government and business worlds. The

nonspecialist reader is least likely to understand what these people are saying²but also has the least reason to try. More often, the communicationchallenge faced by the expert is communicating to the technician and the executive.

y Technicians: These are the people who build, operate, maintain, and repair the stuff that the experts design and theorize about. Theirs is a highlytechnical knowledge as well, but of a more practical nature.

y Executives: These are the people who make business, economic, administrative, legal, governmental, political decisions on the stuff that the expertsand technicians work with. If it's a new product, they decide whether to produce and market it. Executives are likely to have as little technical knowledgeabout the subject as nonspecialists.

y Nonspecialists: These readers have the least technical knowledge of all. Their interest may be as practical as technicians', but in a different way. Theywant to use the new product to accomplish their tasks. Or, they may just be curious about a specific technical matter and want to learn about it²but forno specific, practical reason.

AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

It's important to determine which of the four categories the potential readers of your document belong to, but that's not the end of it. Audiences, regardless of category, must also be analyzed in terms of the following characteristics:



y Background-knowledge, experience, training: One of your most important concerns is just how much knowledge, experience, or training you canexpect in your readers. If you expect some of your readers to lack certain background, do you automatically supply it in your document? Consider anexample: imagine you're writing a guide to using a software product that runs under Microsoft Windows. How much can you expect your readers to knowabout Windows? If some are likely to know little about Windows, should you provide that information? If you say no, then you run the risk of customers'getting frustrated with your product. If you say yes to adding background information on Windows, you increase your work effort and add to the pagecount of the document (and thus to the cost). Obviously, there's no easy answer to this question²part of the answer may involve just how small asegment of the audience needs that background information.

y Needs and interests: To plan your document, you need to know what your audience is going to expect from that document. Imagine how readers willwant to use your document; what will they demand from it. For example, imagine you are writing a manual on how to use a new microwave oven²whatare your readers going to expect to find in it? Imagine you're under contract to write a background report on global warming for a national real estateassociation²what do they want to read about; and, equally important, what do they not want to read about?

y Other demographic characteristics: And of course there are many other characteristics about your readers that might have an influence on how youshould design and write your document²for example, age groups, type of residence, area of residence, gender, political preferences, and so on.

Audience analysis can get complicated by at least two other factors: mixed audience types for one document, wide variability within audience, and unknownaudiences.

More than one audience. You're likely to find that your report is for more than one audience. For example, it may be seen by technical people (experts andtechnicians) and administrative people (executives). What to do? You can either write all the sections so that all the audiences of your document can understandthem (good luck!). Or you can write each section strictly for the audience that would be interested in it, then use headings and section introductions to alert youraudience about where to go and what to stay out of in your report.

Wide variability in an audience. You may realize that, although you have an audience that fits into only one category, there is a wide variability in itsbackground. This is a tough one²if you write to the lowest common denominator of reader, you're likely to end up with a cumbersome, tedious book-like thing thatwill turn off the majority of readers. But if you don't write to that lowest level, you lose that segment of your readers. What to do? Most writers go for the majorityof readers and sacrifice that minority that needs more help. Others put the supplemental information in appendixes or insert cross-references to beginners' books.

AUDIENCE ADAPTATION

Okay! So you've analyzed your audience. What good is it? How do you use this information? How do you keep from writing something that will still beincomprehensible or useless to your readers?

The business of writing to your audience may have a lot to do with in-born talent, intuition, and even mystery. But there are some controls you can use to have abetter chance to connect with your readers. The following "controls" have mostly to do with making technical information more understandable for nonspecialistaudiences:

y Add information readers need to understand your document. Check to see whether certain key information is missing²for example, a criticalseries of steps from a set of instructions; important background that helps beginners understand the main discussion; definition of key terms.

y Omit information your readers do not need. Unnecessary information can also confuse and frustrate readers²after all, it's there so they feelobligated to read it. For example, you can probably chop theoretical discussion from basic instructions.

y Change the level of the information you currently have. You may have the right information but it may be "pitched" at too high or too low atechnical level. It may be pitched at the wrong kind of audience²for example, at an expert audience rather than a technician audience. This happensmost often when product-design notes are passed off as instructions.

y Add examples to help readers understand. Examples are one of the most powerful ways to connect with audiences, particularly in instructions. Even

in noninstructional text, for example, when you are trying to explain a technical concept, examples are a major help²analogies in particular.y Change the level of your examples. You may be using examples but the technical content or level may not be appropriate to your readers.

Homespun examples may not be useful to experts; highly technical ones may totally miss your nonspecialist readers.

y Change the organization of your information. Sometimes, you can have all the right information but arrange it in the wrong way. For example,there can be too much background information up front (or too little) such that certain readers get lost. Sometimes, background information needs towoven into the main information²for example, in instructions it's sometimes better to feed in chunks of background at the points where they areimmediately needed.

y Strengthen transitions. It may be difficult for readers, particularly nonspecialists, to see the connections between the main sections of your report,between individual paragraphs, and sometimes even between individual sentences. You can make these connections much clearer by adding transitionwords and by echoing key words more accurately. Words like "therefore," "for example," "however" are transition words²they indicate the logicconnecting the previous thought to the upcoming thought. You can also strengthen transitions by carefully echoing the same key words. In technicalprose, it's not a good idea to vary word choice-use the same words so that people don't get any more confused than they may already be.

y Write stronger introductions²both for the whole document and for major sections. People seem to read with more confidence andunderstanding when they have the "big picture"²a view of what's coming, and how it relates to what they've just read. Therefore, make sure you have astrong introduction to the entire document²one that makes clear the topic, purpose, audience, and contents of that document. And for each majorsection within your document, use mini-introductions that indicate at least the topic of the section and give an overview of the subtopics to be covered inthat section.

y Create topic sentences for paragraphs and paragraph groups. It can help readers immensely to give them an idea of the topic and purpose of asection (a group of paragraphs) and in particular to give them an overview of the subtopics about to be covered. Roadmaps help when you're in adifferent state!

y Change sentence style and length. How you write²down at the individual sentence level²can make a big difference too. In instructions, forexample, using imperative voice and "you" phrasing is vastly more understandable than the passive voice or third-personal phrasing. For some reason,personalizing your writing style and making it more relaxed and informal can make it more accessible and understandable. Passive, person-less writing isharder to read²put people and action in your writing. Similarly, go for active verbs as opposed to be verb phrasing. All of this makes your writing moredirect and immediate²readers don't have to dig for it. Obviously, sentence length matters as well. An average of somewhere between 15 and 25 wordsper sentence is about right; sentences over 30 words are to be mistrusted.

y Work on sentence clarity and economy. This is closely related to the previous "control" but deserves its own spot. Often, writing style can be sowordy that it is hard or frustrating to read. When you revise your rough drafts, put them on a diet-go through a draft line by line trying to reduce theoverall word, page or line count by 20 percent. Try it as an experiment and see how you do. You'll find a lot of fussy, unnecessary detail and inflatedphrasing you can chop out.

y Use more or different graphics. For nonspecialist audiences, you may want to use more graphics²and simpler ones at that. Writing for specialistsand experts tends to be less illustrated, less graphically attractive²even boring to the eye! Graphics for specialists tend to be more detailed, moretechnical. In technical documents for nonspecialists, there also tend to be more "decorative" graphics²ones that serve no strict informative orpersuasive purpose at all.



y Break text up or consolidate text into meaningful, usable chunks. For nonspecialist readers, you may need to have shorter paragraphs. Noticehow much longer paragraphs are in technical documents written for specialists. (Maybe a 6- to 8-line paragraph is the dividing line.)

y Add cross-references to important information. In technical information, you can help nonspecialist readers by pointing them to backgroundsources. If you can't fully explain a topic on the spot, point to a book or article where it is.

y Use headings and lists. Readers can be intimidated by big dense paragraphs of writing, uncut by anything other than a blank line now and then.Search your rough drafts for ways to incorporate headings²look for changes in topic or subtopic. Search your writing for listings of things²these can bemade into vertical lists. Look for paired listings such as terms and their definitions²these can be made into two-column lists. Of course, be careful not toforce this special formatting²don't overdo it.

y Use special typography, and work with margins, line length, line spacing, type size, and type style. For nonspecialist readers, you can dothings like making the lines shorter (bringing in the margins), using larger type sizes, and other such tactics. Certain type styles are believed to befriendlier and more readable than others. (Try to find someone involved with publishing to get their insights on fonts.)

These are the kinds of "controls" that professional technical writers use to finetune their work and make it as readily understandable as possible. And in contrast,it's the accumulation of lots of problems in these areas²even seemingly minor ones²that add up to a document being difficult to read and understand.Nonprofessionals often question why professional writers and editors insist on bothering with such seemingly picky, trivial, petty details in writing²but they allcontribute to making your document readable.

GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS

Graphic organizers are visual illustrations of verbal or written statements. One common trait found among graphic organizers is that theyshow the order and completeness of a writer¶s thought process. Many graphic organizers show different aspects of an issue or problem²inclose and also the big picture. Since many graphic organizers use short words or phrases, they are ideal for many types of writing andreading tasks.

Graphic organizers show at a glance the key elements of the whole and their relationships. They are very useful for sorting out thestructure of an argument or the architecture of a piece of writing. They represent a handy tool when your read²you can quickly sketch anoutline of a piece.

They¶re helpful if you¶re reading for someone else, they focus you directly on questions about content. They are useful at various pointsduring your own writing, most particularly when you¶ve just finished a draft, to check that you¶ve included all the elements you need tomake your arguments clear.

Here are the seven structural patterns commonly used in technical writing showing their ³generic´ graphic forms.

Pattern Clues to Pattern Strategies Suggested Diagram

Enumeration y introductory statement

contains a number word orwords like "many" or"several"

y subtopics signalled by"first", "second", "third",

"more", "also", etc.

1. look for topic2. look for sub-topics3. organize details

related to topics

Question/Answer

y introductory question

y answer signalled by wordslike "first", "second","one", "another"

1. look for question2. note words that

signal answers3. isolate answer

GeneralStatement/

Elaboration

y most common pattern

y offers generalizationfollowed by supportingexamples

1. look forgeneralization

2. look for supportingspecifics

Cause / Effect y causes leading to effects

y words like "cause","reasons for", "first","second", "finally", etc.

1. look for effect2. look for cause (must

answer "why" aboutthe effect)



Sequence y steps in a process

y chronology

y events leading to aspecific outcome

1. look for introductionwhich sets purposeand lists steps tofollow

2. look for steps3. look for order of

steps ____________

4. look for steps insequence

5. separate backgroundinformation fromsteps

6. look for meaning of

sequence

Comparison/

Contrast y always more than one

topic

y uses cues: "in the sameway", "on the other hand","although", "yet","however", "even though"

ProblemStatement

y lays out details of aproblem

1. look for the problem2. look for significant

details

MANAGING INFORMATION

We¶re all swamped with information during the day ± email, memos, ordinary mail, articles, synopses, instructions, manuals« the list goeson and on. It¶s not all equally important²the challenge is prioritizing what comes in and deciding what to do about it.

A useful system is comparable to the ³triage´ system used by the medical community:

1. TRIAGE

y Urgent: Deal with it immediately

y Important: Put it in a dated TO DO pile/folder/bin and deal with it when you have time

y Unimportant: Discard ± if it is really important it will come back to you

Here¶s another way of handling information:

2. SIX THINGS TO DO WITH ANY PIECE OF INFORMATION

y Discard: Get rid of it

y Delegate: Pass it on to someone else

y Do: Take care of it immediately

y Date: Put it aside in a daily file so you can get to it later

y Drawer: Store it



y Deter: Keep it from getting to you in the first place

The point is, you need some system for managing information. The hardest thing is to discard stuff for fear it might be important.DISCARD as much as you can²if you¶ve made an error, whatever it is will come back to you! You¶ll have a second and third chance todeal with it.

SUMMARIZING-GET TO THE POINT

Summarizing involves giving the "gist" of a chosen passage, using your own words and not the author's. Summaries are generally informative and descriptive.While an effective summary emphasizes all of the main points in a selection, it is significantly shorter than the original.

PURPOSE

Being able to summarize succinctly is a valuable skill for academic, personal, and professional writing, and can be used for many purposes. For example,summaries can:

y convey a general idea

y give only necessary information

y shorten material

y reference material

y set up quoted material

y provide support

y add credibility

y establish background

y offer an overview of a topic

y describe common knowledge

WHAT A SUMMARY SHOULD CONTAIN

Effective summaries are made up of concise, coherent sentences that communicate the key information of a passage. Summaries may involve simply deletingextraneous material, highlighting key points, synthesizing the overall meaning, or miniaturizing primary ideas.

It is important to remember that a summary must remain faithful to the author's interpretation and emphasis. Summaries should focus on what the author issaying, not on how he or she is proving it. Also, you should not give your own opinions about the author's message; instead, maintain a neutral tone. The only timeyour summary should be biased is if the original passage is biased.

HOW TO SUMMARIZE

1. Read the passage you are going to summarize at least twice so that you fully comprehend what the author is saying.2. Isolate the thesis, or main idea of the passage to be summarized.3. Work through the text to identify the portions that support the author's main idea; highlight or underline these sections4. Rephrase the main points into your own sentences, but remember to keep the author's intended purpose and message. It is generally not necessary to

include examples and details.5. Make up a new thesis that explains the essential idea of the passage. You should not simply restate the author's thesis; you want to prove that you

understand the information in the passage by forming your own sentence. Writing in this way helps you to re-create the meaning of the original in a waythat makes sense for you.

6. While you are summarizing, you must remember to change sentence structure, vocabulary, and the thesis in order to avoid plagiarism. Also, yoursummary does not have to be in the same order as the original passage unless arrangement is necessary for comprehension.

7. Always remember to cite the passage's original source information. You can do this somewhere in the body or at the end of your summary.8. Finally, revise and edit to ensure accuracy and correctness.

CHECKLIST

1. Is the main idea clear and accurate?2. Is your summary concise?3. Are there few (if any) details and examples?4. Does your summary include only information found in the original?5. Does your summary read like a unified paragraph?6. Did you include bibliographic information?

R EMEMBER

y Always write a summary with the author's purpose in mind.

y The length of a summary depends on what is being summarized.

y Summarizing can always be improved with practice!



TEMPLATES Developing templates for different writing tasks is one way to speed up your writing. An effective template provides you with a ready madearchitecture for your document; it reminds you to include specific information. A template is easily adapted if your categories change.

Here is an example for doing synopses of clinical trial studies:

REPRINT REVIEW FOR CLINICAL TRIALS

TITLE

AUTHORS

JOURNAL

OBJECTIVE

DESIGN Duration of Study

PATIENTS Population

Exclusion

METHODS

RESULTS

ADVERSE EVENTS

KEY QUOTES

KEY CONCLUSIONS

INSTRUCTIONS

Instructions, in general, are simply steps explaining how to do a particular task. However, instructions shape a reader's attitude toward a process, a product, or thewriter of the instructions. Therefore, good instructions are not necessarily easy to write. First, they must be clear and able to be followed. Second, they must becorrect. Third, they must contain the appropriate amount of information.

Many people do not like reading, interpreting, and following instructions, yet you may have a very good reason for wanting people to follow your instructions.Therefore, you must persuade the reader to use your instructions. You can do this by creating instructions that have an inviting and clear visual design, precise andpertinent information, and a good balance between reading and doing.

Visual design and page layout are very important. Your instructions must be easy to read, and readers must be able to find their places again if they set theinstructions aside to perform a step. It should be obvious where the reader is to begin and what the next step might be, and the connections between steps shouldbe easy to grasp. Therefore, be kind to your readers and use plenty of white space and visual aids. Also, number the steps within your instructions clearly and placeillustrations near the text to which they are related.

Precision and correctness are also important. Once instructions are written, they must be tested. Testing is best done by someone who is representative of yourintended audience or readers.

Finally, instructions must contain the appropriate amount of information for the reader or audience. You must carefully consider the group for whom you arewriting. What do they know? What is their background? How basic must your instructions be? What steps in a process can you safely skip? How much detail shouldyou include? What assumptions can you make? How much background must you give? Sometimes, if you are writing for two very different audiences, you mustwrite both a detailed and an abreviated set of instructions. This is also true if you are writing instructions intended to train a set of readers who, after training, referto the instructions for reminders of important steps.

INSTRUCTIONS GENERALLY CONTAIN THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS

y Introduction

o an announcement of the subject or topic

o a declaration of what can be achieved by following the instructions

o a description of the intended readers (those for whom are the instructions intended)

o information about the scope of the instructions--what they cover

o details about the organization of the instructions and how to use the instructions effectively

y Description of the equipment (if the instructions are for running a piece of equipment)

y Background information or any necessary theory of operation

y List of materials or equipment necessary to follow the instructions

y Directions (step-by-step details--the heart of your instructions)

y Guide to troubleshooting (potential problems and their solutions)



THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN WRITING INSTRUCTIONS

y Present the steps of your directions in a numbered or bulleted list. People are accustomed to reading about one step, performing the step, reading thenext step, performing that step, etc. If you present your instructions in a numbered or bulleted list, your readers can read, perform, then find the nextstep easily.

y Number or label the sub-steps clearly. Often, a major step is numbered 1, and the sub-steps are numbered 1.1 and 1.2. The sub-sub-steps arenumbered 1.1.1 and 1.1.2, etc.

EXAMPLE

1. FirstM

ajorS

tep

1.1 First Sub-step

1.2 Second Sub-step

1.2.1 First sub-sub-step

1.2.2 Second sub-sub-step

2. Second Major Step

2.1 Sub-step

2.2Sub-step

2.3 Sub-step

2.3.1 Sub-sub-step

2.3.2 Sub-sub-step

y Restrict each step, sub-step, or sub-sub-step to one, individual piece of information. Steps should never, never be multiple bits of information orparagraphs.

y Make liberal use of headings and subheadings.

y Use the active voice and imperative mood. Begin each step with a verb.

y Use illustrations to show where things are, how to perform a step, and what should result.

y Place warnings where readers will see them--surrounded with plenty of white space--before the step to which they apply. Use the words WARNING or

CAUTION and consider using a graphic or symbol with the warning to catch the reader's eye. Warnings are used to signal danger to self or others,potential or real damage to equipment, and destruction of or bad results.

y Tell your readers what to do in case of a mistake or unexpected result.

y List alternative steps if readers may take them. Place the alternative steps where readers can find them easily.

y Provide the appropriate amount of details for your audience or readers.

y Include a troubleshooting guide at the end of your instructions. The guide will list potential problems and their solutions. Troubleshooting guides oftenuse a table format with the problem in the left column and the solutions to the right

Writing Conventions

CORRECTNESS:

SPELLING, PUNCTUATION, GRAMMAR & STYLE Spelling, punctuation, grammar and style are often the primary concern of many writers²that's a holdover from school days whereteachers emphasized "correctness".

In actual fact, a writer's first concern should be fluency²developing the ideas of any piece of writing. The second concern then becomesclarity²making the writing make sense to others. Finally comes correctness²making the text conform to the conventions of standardwritten English.

In other words, the developmental sequence for any piece of writing ought to be:

y fluency

y clarity



y correctness

These three dimensions, of course, continually overlap; even experienced writers can have problems with fluency²particularly whenwriting on a new topic or in a new genre. Under those circumstances, focusing on correctness won't help with the problem; what you haveto do is focus on invention and shaping ideas.

Once you have your ideas sorted out, the writing more or less clear, it does become appropriate, even mandatory, to think about theconventions of standard written English²to proofread to make sure spelling is correct, that grammar is conventional, that punctuation aidsin making meaning, that word usage (or style) is acceptable.

GRAMMAR

SOME BACKGROUND

Grammar refers to the system of structural rules which describes how words combine with each other to form sentences. In this sense, as a speaker of English, youalready have an instinctive knowledge of English grammar. It is this knowledge which enables us to distinguish a well-formed English sentence from one which isclearly ill-formed.

For example, native speakers know that the following sentence is well-formed and `grammatical':

David plays the piano

Native speakers can produce and understand a sentence like this without ever thinking about its grammar. Conversely, in the course of everyday communication,no native speaker would ever produce this:

*piano plays David the

We know there is something wrong with this second example, not least because it doesn't make sense. It is ill-formed²we say it's `ungrammatical'.

Now if it's true that native speakers have a functional grammer, then it is reasonable to ask why we need to study grammar at all. If we know instinctively that thefirst is acceptable and the second example is nonsense, then what more do we need to know?

In the most general terms, a knowledge of grammar is part of our knowledge of the world and of ourselves. The use of language is a distinctively human activity,so it is appropriate for us to understand how it works. The study of grammar enables us to say why example 1 is acceptable and the second is not. It enables us toexternalise and formalise our instinctive knowledge of our own language.

The study of grammar helps us to communicate more effectively. Quite simply, if we know how English works, then we can make better use of it. For mostpurposes, we need to be able to construct sentences which are far more complicated than David plays the piano. A knowledge of grammar enables us to evaluatethe choices which are available to us during composition. In practice, these choices are never as simple as the choice between the first and second example above.

If we understand the relationship between the parts of a sentence, we can eliminate many of the ambiguities and misunderstandings which result from poorconstruction.

In the interpretation of writing, too, grammatical knowledge is often crucially important. The understanding of literary texts, for example, often depends on carefulgrammatical analysis. Other forms of writing can be equally difficult to interpret. Scientific and academic writing, for instance, may be complex not just in the ideasthey convey, but also in their syntax. These types of writing can be difficult to understand easily without some familiarity with how the parts relate to each other.

The study of grammar, then, enables us to go beyond our instinctive, native-speaker knowledge, and to use English in an intelligent, informed way.

DANGLING MODIFIERS

DEFINITION

A dangling modifier is a word or phrase that modifies a word not clearly stated in the sentence. A modifier describes, clarifies, or gives more detail about a concept.

Consider this sentence:

Having finished the assignment, Jill turned on the TV.

"Having finished" states an action but does not name the doer of that action. In English sentences, the doer must be the subject of the main clause that follows. Inthis sentence, it is Jill. She seems logically to be the one doing the action ("having finished"), and this sentence therefore does not have a dangling modifier.

Now consider this sentence:

Having finished the assignment, the TV was turned on.

H aving finished is a participle expressing action, but the doer is not the TV set (the subject of the main clause): TV sets don't finish assignments. Since the doer of the action expressed in the participle has not been clearly stated, the participial phrase is said to be a dangling modifier.



Examples of dangling modifiers and revisions:

dangling modifier:

After reading the original study, the article remians unconvincing.(The article--the subject of the main clause--did not read the original study.)

possible revisions:

After reading the original study, I find the article unconvincing.

-or-

The article remains unconvincing in light of the original study. ( no modifying phrase)

dangling modifier:

Relieved of your responsibilities at your job, your home should be a place to relax.(Your home--the subject of the main clause--is not relieved of your responsibilities.)

possible revision:

Relieved of your responsibilities at your job, you should be ablet o relax at home.

CHARACTERISTICS OF DANGLING MODIFIERS

They most frequently occur at the beginning of sentences (often as introductory clauses or phrases) but can also appear at the end.

dangling modifier at end of sentence:

The experiment was a failure, not having studied the lab manual carefully.(The experiment--the subject of the main clause--is not supposed to study the lab manual.)

possible revision:

They failed the experiment, not having studied the lab manual carefully.

They often have an -ing word (gerund) or a to+verb (infinitive) phrase near the start of the sentence.

Squinting modifiers:

Related to dangling modifiers, squinting modifiers occur when the word modified is not clear or could be more than one word. These problems can usually be solvedby rearranging the elements already present in the sentence.

squinting modifier:

The mystery has been solved after ten years of the missing portrait.

possible revisions:

After ten years, the mystery of the missing portrait has been solved.

-or-

The mystery of the missing portrait has been solved after ten years.

STRATEGIES FOR REVISING DANGLING MODIFIERS

1. Name the appropriate or logical doer of the action as the subject of the main clause:

dangling modifier: Having arrived late for practice, a written excuse was needed.W ho arrived late? This sentence says that the written excuse arrived late. To revise, decide who actually arrived late.

possible revision: Having arrived late for practice, the captian of the team needed a written excuse.The main clause now names the person ( the captain) who did the action in the modifying phrase ( arrived late).

2. Change the phrase that dangles into a complete introductory clause by naming the doer of the action in that clause:

dangling modifier: Without knowing his name, it was difficult to introduce him.W ho didn't know his name? This sentence says that "it" didn't know his name. To revise, decide who was trying to introduce him.



possible revision: Because Maria did not know his name, it was difficult to introduce him.The phrase is now a complete introductory clause; it does not modify any other part of the sentence, so is not considered "dangling."

3. Combine the phrase and main clause into one:

dangling modifier: To improve his results, the experiment was done again.W ho wanted to improve results? This sentence says that the experiment was trying to improve its own results. To revise, combine the

phrase and the main clause into one sentence.

possible revision: He improved his results by doing the experiment again.

SENTENCE FRAGMENTS

Fragments are incomplete sentences.

Usually, fragments are pieces of sentences that have become disconnected from the main clause. One of the easiest ways to correct them is to remove the periodbetween the fragment and the main clause. Other kinds of punctuation may be needed for the newly combined sentence.

Below are some examples with the fragments shown in red. Punctuation and/or words added to make corrections are highlighted in blue. Notice that the fragmentis frequently a dependent clause or long phrase that follows the main clause.

Fragment

(phrase or dependent clause)

Possible Revision

Dalhousie offers many majors in engineering.Such as electrical, chemical, and industrial

engineering.

Dalhousie offers many majors in engineering,such as electrical, chemical, and industrial

engineering.

Coach Dietz exemplified this behavior bywalking off the field in the middle of a game.Leaving her team at a time when we neededher.

Coach Dietz exemplified this behavior bywalking off the field in the middle of a game,leaving her team at a time when we neededher.

I need to find a new roommate. Because theone I have now isn't working out too well.

I need to find a new roommate because the oneI have now isn't working out too well.

The current city policy on housing is incompleteas it stands. Which is why we believe theproposed ammendments should be passed.

Because the current city policy on housing isincomplete as it stands, we believe theproposed ammendments should be passed.

You may have noticed that newspaper and magazine journalists often use a dependent clause as a separate sentence when it follows clearly from the precedingmain clause, as in the last example above. This is a conventional journalistic practice, often used for emphasis. For technical writing and other more formal

writing situations, however, it's a good idea to avoid such journalistic fragment sentences.

Some fragments are not clearly pieces of sentences that have been left unattached to the main clause; they are written as main clauses but lack a subject or mainverb.�

Fragment(incomplete main clause)

Possible Revisions

No main verb:A story with deep thoughts and emotions.

Appositive:Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper," a story withdeep thoughts and emotions, has impressedcritics for decades.Direct object:She told a story with deep thoughts andemotions.

Toys of all kinds thrown everywhere. Complete verb:Toys of all kinds were thrown everywhere.Direct object:They found toys of all kinds thrown

everywhere.

A record of accomplishment beginning whenyou were first hired.

Direct object:I've noticed a record of accomplishmentbeginning when you were first hired.Main verb:A record of accomplishment began when youwere first hired.

No subject:With the ultimate effect of all advertising is tosell the product.

Remove preposition:The ultimate effect of all advertising is to sellthe product.

By paying too much attention to polls can makea political leader unwilling to propose innovativepolicies.

Remove preposition:Paying too much attention to polls can make apolitical leader unwilling to propose innovativepolicies.



For doing freelance work for a competitor gotPhil fired.

Remove preposition:Doing freelance work for a competitor got Philfired.Rearrange:Phil got fired for doing freelance work for acompetitor.

These last three examples of fragments with no subjects are also known as mixed constructions, that is, sentences constructed out of mixed parts. They start oneway (often with a long prepositional phrase) but end with a regular predicate. Usually the object of the preposition (often a gerund, as in the last two examples) isintended as the subject of the sentence, so removing the preposition at the beginning is usually the easiest way to edit such errors.

VERB TENSE CONSISTENCY

CONTROLLING SHIFTS IN VERB TENSE

Writing often involves telling stories. Sometimes we narrate a story as our main purpose in writing; sometimes we include brief anecdotes or hypothetical scenariosas illustrations or reference points in an essay. Even an essay that does not explicitly tell a story involves implied time frames for the actions discussed and statesdescribed. Changes in verb tense help readers understand the temporal relationships among various narrated events. But unnecessary or inconsistent shifts intense can cause confusion. Generally, writers maintain one tense for the main discourse and indicate changes in time frame by changing tense relative to thatprimary tense, which is usually either simple past or simple present. Even apparently non-narrative writing should employ verb tenses consistently and clearly.

General guideline:Do not shift from one tense to another if the time frame for each action or state is the same.

Examples:

y The ocean contains rich minerals that washed down from rivers and streams.Contains is present tense, referring to a current state; washed down is past, but should be present (wash down) because the minerals are currentlycontinuing to wash down.Corrected: The ocean contains rich minerals that wash down from rivers and streams.

y About noon the sky darkened, a breeze sprang up, and a low rumble announces the approaching storm. Darkened and sprang up are past tense verbs; announces is present but should be past (announced) to maintain consistency within the time frame.Corrected: About noon the sky darkened, a breeze sprang up, and a low rumble announced the approaching storm.

y Y esterday we had walked to school but later rode the bus home.Had walked is past perfect tense but should be past to maintain consistency within the time frame (yesterday); rode is past, referring to an actioncompleted before the current time frame.Corrected: Y esterday we walked to school but later rode the bus home.

General guideline:Do shift tense to indicate a change in time frame from one action or state to another.

Examples:

y The children love their new tree house, which they built themselves. Love is present tense, referring to a current state (they still love it now;) built is past, referring to an action completed before the current time frame(they are not still building it.)

y Before they even began deliberations, many jury members had reached a verdict.Began is past tense, referring to an action completed before the current time frame; had reached is past perfect, referring to action from a time framebefore that of another past event (the action of reaching was completed before the action of beginning.)

y W orkers are installing extra loudspeakers because the music in tonight's concert will need amplification. Are installing is present progressive, referring to an ongoing action in the current time frame (the workers are still installing, and have not finished;) willneed is future, referring to action expected to begin after the current time frame (the concert will start in the future, and that's when it will needamplification.)

CONTROLLING SHIFTS IN A PARAGRAPH OR EXTENDED DISCOURSE

General guideline:Establish a primary tense for the main discourse, and use occasional shifts to other tenses to indicate changes in time frame.

H ints:

Rely on past tense to narrate events and to refer to an author or an author's ideas as historical entities (biographical information about a historical figure ornarration of developments in an author's ideas over time).

Use present tense to state facts, to refer to perpetual or habitual actions, and to discuss your own ideas or those expressed by an author in a particular work. Alsouse present tense to describe action in a literary work, movie, or other fictional narrative. Occasionally, for dramatic effect, you may wish to narrate an event inpresent tense as though it were happening now. If you do, use present tense consistently throughout the narrative, making shifts only where appropriate.

Future action may be expressed in a variety of ways, including the use of will, shall, is going to, are about to, tomorrow and other adverbs of time, and a widerange of contextual cues.

USING OTHER TENSES IN CONJUNCTION WITH SIMPLE TENSES



It is not always easy (or especially helpful) to try to distinguish perfect and/or progressive tenses from simple ones in isolation, for example, the difference betweensimple past progressive ("She was eating an apple") and present perfect progressive ("She has been eating an apple"). Distinguishing these sentences in isolationis possible, but the differences between them make clear sense only in the context of other sentences since the time-distinctions suggested by different tenses arerelative to the time frame implied by the verb tenses in surrounding sentences or clauses.

Example 1: Simple past narration with perfect and progressive elements

On the day in question...

By the time Tom noticed the doorbell, it had already rung three times. As usual, he had been listening to loud music on his stereo. H e turned the stereo down and stood up to answer the door. An old man was standing on the steps. The man began to speak slowly, asking for directions.

In this example, the progressive verbs had been listening and was standing suggest action underway at the time some other action took place. The stereo-listeningwas underway when the doorbell rang. The standing on the steps was underway when the door was opened. The past perfect progressive verb had been listeningsuggests action that began in the time frame prior to the main narrative time frame and that was still underway as another action began.

If the primary narration is in the present tense, then the present progressive or present perfect progressive is used to indicate action that is or has been underwayas some other action begins. This narrative style might be used to describe a scene from a novel, movie, or play, since action in fictional narratives isconventionally treated as always present. For example, we refer to the scene in Hamlet in which the prince first speaks (present) to the ghost of his dead father orthe final scene in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, which takes place (present) the day after Mookie has smashed (present perfect) the pizzeria window. If theexample narrative above were a scene in a play, movie, or novel, it might appear as follows.

Example 2: Simple present narration with perfect and progressive elements

In this scene...

By the time Tom notices the doorbell, it has already rung three times. As usual, he has been listening to loud music on his stereo. H e turns the stereo down and

stands up to answer the door. An old man is standing on the steps. The man begins to speak slowly, asking for directions.

In this example as in the first one, the progressive verbs has been listening and is standing indicate action underway as some other action takes place. The presentperfect progressive verb has been listening suggests action that began in the time frame prior to the main narrative time frame and that is still underway asanother action begins. The remaining tense relationships parallel those in the first example.

In all of these cases, the progressive or -ing part of the verb merely indicates ongoing action, that is, action underway as another action occurs. The generalcomments about tense relationships apply to simple and perfect tenses, regardless of whether there is a progressive element involved.

It is possible to imagine a narrative based on a future time frame as well, for example, the predictions of a psychic or futurist. If the example narrative above werespoken by a psychic, it might appear as follows.

Example 3: Simple future narration with perfect and progressive elements

Sometime in the future...

By the time Tom notices the doorbell, it will have already rung three times. As usual, he will have been listening to loud music on his stereo. He will turn the stereodown and will stand up to answer the door. An old man will be standing on the steps. The man will begin to speak slowly, asking for directions.

In this example as in the first two, the progressive verbs will have been listening and will be standing indicate ongoing action. The future perfect progressive verbwill have been listening suggests action that will begin in the time frame prior to the main narrative time frame and that will still be underway when another actionbegins. The verb notices here is in present-tense form, but the rest of the sentence and the full context of the narrative cue us to understand that it refers to futuretime. The remaining tense relationships parallel those in the first two examples.

GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR USE OF PERFECT TENSES

In general the use of perfect tenses is determined by their relationship to the tense of the primary narration.

y If the primary narration is in simple past, then action initiated before the time frame of the primary narration is described in past perfect.

y If the primary narration is in simple present, then action initiated before the time frame of the primary narration is described in present perfect.

y If the primary narration is in simple future, then action initiated before the time frame of the primary narration is described in future perfect.

Past primary narration corresponds to Past Perfect (had + past participle) for earlier time frames Present primary narration corresponds to Present Perfect (hasor have + past participle) for earlier time frames

Future primary narration corresponds to Future Perfect (will have + past participle) for earlier time frames

The present perfect is also used to narrate action that began in real life in the past but is not completed, that is, may continue or may be repeated in the present orfuture. For example: "I have run in four marathons" (implication: "so far... I may run in others"). This usage is distinct from the simple past, which is used foraction that was completed in the past without possible continuation or repetition in the present or future. For example: "Before injuring my leg, I ran in fourmarathons" (implication: "My injury prevents me from running in any more marathons").

Time-orienting words and phrases like before, after, by the time, and others--when used to relate two or more actions in time--can be good indicators of the needfor a perfect-tense verb in a sentence.



y By the time the Senator finished (past ) his speech, the audience had lost (past perfect) interest.

y By the time the Senator finishes (present: habitual action) his speech, the audience has lost (present perfect) interest.

y By the time the Senator finishes (present: suggesting future time) his speech, the audience will have lost (future perfect) interest. After everyone had finished ( past perfect ) the main course, we offered ( past ) our guests dessert.

y After everyone has finished ( present perfect ) the main course, we offer (present: habitual action ) our guests dessert.

y After everyone has finished ( present perfect) the main course, we will offer ( future: specific one-time action) our guests dessert.

y Long before the sun rose ( past ), the birds had arrived ( past perfect ) at the feeder.

y Long before the sun rises ( present: habitual action ), the birds have arrived ( present perfect ) at the feeder.

y Long before the sun rises ( present: suggesting future time ), the birds will have arrived ( future perfect ) at the feeder.

SAMPLE PARAGRAPHS

The main tense in this first sample is past. Tense shifts are inappropriate and are indicated in bold.

The gravel crunched and spattered beneath the wheels of the bus as it swung into the station. Outside the window, shadowy figures peered at the bus through thedarkness. Somewhere in the crowd, two, maybe three, people were waiting for me: a woman, her son, and possibly her husband. I could not prevent myimagination from churning out a picture of them, the town, and the place I will soon call home. Hesitating a moment, I rise from my seat, these images flashingthrough my mind. (adapted from a narrative)

Inappropriate shifts from past to present, such as those that appear in the above paragraph, are sometimes hard to resist. The writer becomes drawn into thenarrative and begins to relive the event as an ongoing experience. The inconsistency should be avoided, however. In the sample, will should be would, and riseshould be rose.

The main tense in this second sample is present. Tense shifts--all appropriate--are indicated in bold.

A dragonfly rests on a branch overhanging a small stream this July morning. It is newly emerged from brown nymphal skin. As a nymph, it crept over the rocks of the stream bottom, feeding first on protozoa and mites, then, as it grew larger, on the young of other aquatic insects. Now an adult, it will feed on flying insectsand eventually will mate. The mature dragonfly is completely transformed from the drab creature that once blended with underwater sticks and leaves. Its head,thorax, and abdomen glitter; its wings are iridescent in the sunlight. (adapted from an article in the magazine W ilderness)

This writer uses the present tense to describe the appearance of a dragonfly on a particular July morning. However, both past and future tenses are called for whenshe refers to its previous actions and to its predictable activity in the future.

WORD CHOICE

WHENEVER POSSIBLE, USE A SHORTER , SIMPLER WORD

You can use a thesaurus to jog your memory when you are trying to come up with a better synonym, but never use a word with which you are not already familiar.Words often have connotations and nuances of meaning that you can appreciate only after having seen them in context, so you are taking a great risk if you use aword that you do not know well.

Even if you do feel comfortable with more complex vocabulary, you should use the simpler synonym if that captures your meaning just as well. For example,instead of "ameliorated the situation," you could just as easily state "improved the situation." On the other hand, a word such as "exasperated" is more intensethan a synonym like "frustrated," and so you should use it if that is the sense you are trying to convey.

USE PRECISE LANGUAGE

Choose words that capture your experience fully and accurately. For example:

y Vague: W hen we first started the business, I performed a range of duties to get the company going.

y Precise: W hen we first started the business, I took the initiative to contact potential partners, evaluate the service of our competitors, and tailor our planto local markets.

USE NOUNS AND VERBS R ATHER THAN ADVERBS AND ADJECTIVES

Inexperienced writers think that using fancy adverbs and adjectives will make their writing look more eloquent, but in fact they just bog down your rhythm andusually sound like fluff. They also tend to make your writing sound abstract because they are not actual physical substances. Good writers stick to concrete nounsthat the reader can grasp, and even more importantly, vivid verbs that are the lifeblood of active, engaging language.

y Before: I ran quickly to the board where the results would be posted, with many curious people standing around waiting anxiously to see their scores.

y After: I rushed to the board to find people crowded around muttering prayers to themselves as they awaited the deanís arrival with their score results.

The phrase "ran quickly" has become the more succinct and punchy "rushed." Instead of "many curious people standing around," we have substituted "peoplecrowded around muttering prayers to themselves." Thus we gain a more vivid verb in "crowded" and a concrete image of people muttering prayers instead of theabstract adjective "curious" and the clunky adverb "anxiously." In focusing on nouns and verbs, we have succeeded in showing instead of telling.

AVOID R EPETITION



Do not use words twice in close proximity, and avoid using the same words regularly throughout an essay. The problem usually comes in overusing the same nounthat is central to your topic. Although precision is important when you are describing the details of experiences, you can get away with synonyms when writingmore broadly about themes and topics.

PUNCTUATION

When we talk we pause, wave our hands about, roll out eyes to let people know what meaning we intend. When we write, however, we can't rely on such hints. Soin order to give readers clues about how to interpret the text we use punctuation.

PRINCIPLE PUNCTUATION MARKS

INTERNAL MARKS These are used to separate, inclose, or indicate the relation between elements within a sentence:

y Comma (,) the most common mark, indicates a separation between words, phrases, and clauses

y Semicolon (;) separates constructions of equal rank, not with the finality of a period but more definitely than a comma

y Colon (:) is a mark of anticipation, pointing to what follows: formal quotations, series too long or too complex to be prefaced by commas, andoccationally before explanatior statements

y Dash (²) is a mark of separation or interruption, more emphatic than a comma, less frequently used

y Hyphen (-) is used to connect one part of a word to another, or to connect several words

y Parentheses ( ) are used to enclose explanatory statements not built into the structure of a sentence

END STOPSThese are used to mark the end of a sentence:

y Period (.) at the end of statments, after abbreviations, in decimals, and in dollars and cents

y Question mark (?) after direct questions (How are you?) but not after indirect questions (He asked me how you were.)

y Exclamation mark (!) is used at the end of an exclamation or a vigorously stressed sentence; often overused

OTHER MARKS

y Quotation Marks (" ") are used to enclose speech in conversation and words or statements quoted from other sources

y Apostrophe (') is used in contractions (words made up of two words pushed together: isn't); they are used to show posession (judge's decision)

y Ellipses (...)are used when you leave words out; for example, in quotations when you want to quote only part of what someone has said. They are alsoused to show a thought has trailed off...

y Brackets ([ ]) are used to enclose words inside a quotation; they indicate that the words enclosed are the writer's own words and not the words usedin the source. They are also used when you have parentheses within parentheses

y Slash (/) most commonly used to indicate two possible words can be used in a sentence (and/or)

y Asterix (*) / Dagger (�) are used to signal further explanation in either a foot note or an endnote

Most questions about punctuation arise when you have a choice of one mark or another, or perhaps of using no mark at all.

There are no precise rules about punctuation (contrary to what you might have heard in school)²there is some general advice, but you will find different practicesin books, magazines, and newspapers. The general practice, today, is to keep punctuation use relatively light.

Nobody remembers how to use all punctuation marks all the time. People who write a lot become familiar with certain punctuation marks, especially the commonones such as periods, question marks, and commas. They often have to look up how to use brackets, colons, apostrophes, dashes, even semi-colons.

Much of the time, punctuation is a matter of common sense: use the marks to make the sentence should closest to the way you speak.

THE COMMA

The comma was designed to help readers. Without it, sentence parts collide into one another unexpectedly, causing ambiguity for the reader.

You should use a comma in the following situations:

y Before a coordinating conjunction joining independent clauses

y After an introductory word group

y Between items in a series

y Between coordinate adjectives

y To set off a nonrestrictive element

y To set off transitional and parenthetical expressions, absolute phrases, and contrasted elements

y To set off nouns of direct address, the words "yes" and "no", interrogative tags, and mild interjections

y To set off direct quotations introduced with expressions such as "he said"

y With dates, addresses, titles



Don't use a comma:

y Between compound elements that are not independent clauses

y To separate a verb from its subject

y Between cumulative adjectives

y To set of restrictive elements

y After a coordinating conjunction

y After "such as" or "like"

y Before "than"

y Before a parenthesis

y To set off an indirect (reported) quotation

y With a question mark or an exclamation point

THE APOSTROPHE

The apostrophe has three uses:

y to form possessives of nouns

y to show the omission of letters

y to indicate certain plurals of lowercase letters

Apostrophes are NOT used for possessive pronouns or for noun plurals, including acronyms.

FORMING POSSESSIVES OF NOUNS

To see if you need to make a possessive, turn the phrase around and make it an "of the..." phrase. For example:

y the boy's hat = the hat of the boy three

y days' journey = journey of three days

If the noun after "of" is a building, an object, or a piece of furniture, then no apostrophe is needed!

y room of the hotel = hotel room

y door of the car = car door

y leg of the table = table leg

Once you've determined whether you need to make a possessive, follow these rules to create one.

y add 's to the singular form of the word (even if it ends in -s):the owner's car, James's hat

y add 's to the plural forms that do not end in -s:the children's game, the geese's honking

y add ' to the end of plural nouns that end in -s:houses' roofs, three friends' letters

y add 's to the end of compound words:my brother-in-law's money

y add 's to the last noun to show joint possession of an object:Todd and Anne's apartment

SHOWING OMISSION OF LETTERS

Apostrophes are used in contractions. A contraction is a word (or set of numbers) in which one or more letters (or numbers) have been omitted. The apostropheshows this omission. Contractions are common in speaking and in informal writing. To use an apostrophe to create a contraction, place an apostrophe where theomitted letter(s) would go. Here are some examples:

y don't = do not

y I'm = I am

y he'll = he will

y who's = who is

y shouldn't = should not

y didn't = did not

y could've = could have (NOT "could of"!)

y '60 = 1960



FORMING PLURALS OF LOWERCASE LETTERS

Apostrophes are used to form plurals of letters that appear in lowercase; here the rule appears to be more typographical than grammatical, e.g. "three ps" versus"three p's." To form the plural of a lowercase letter, place 's after the letter. There is no need for apostrophes indicating a plural on capitalized letters, numbers,and symbols (though keep in mind that some editors, teachers, and professors still prefer them). Here are some examples:

y p's and q's = a phrase indicating politeness, possibly from "mind your pleases and thankyous"?N ita's mother constantly stressed minding one's p's and q's.

y three Macintosh G4s = three of the Macintosh model G4There are two G4s currently used in the writing classroom.

y many &s = many ampersands

That printed page has too many &s on it.

Don't use apostrophes for possessive pronouns or for noun plurals.

Apostrophes should not be used with possessive pronouns because possessive pronouns already show possession -- they don't need an apostrophe. His, her, its,my, yours, ours are all possessive pronouns. Here are some examples:

y wrong: his' book

y correct: his book

y wrong: The group made it's decision.

y correct: The group made its decision.

(Note: Its and it's are not the same thing. It's is a contraction for "it is" and its is a possesive pronoun meaning "belonging to it." It's raining out= it is raining out.A simple way to remember this rule is the fact that you don't use an apostrophe for the possesives his or hers, so don't do it with its!)

y wrong: a friend of yours'

y correct: a friend of yours

y wrong: She waited for three hours' to get her ticket.

y correct: She waited for three hours to get her ticket.

PROOFREADING FOR APOSTROPHES

A good time to proofread is when you have finished writing. Try the following strategies:

y If you tend to leave out apostrophes, check every word that ends in -s or -es to see if it needs an apostrophe.

y If you put in too many apostrophes, check every apostrophe to see if you can justify it with a rule for using apostrophes.

QUOTATION MARKS

QUOTING PROSE

Direct quotations are another person's exact words--either spoken or in print--incorporated into your own writing.

y Use a set of quotation marks to enclose each direct quotation included in your writing.

y Use a capital letter with the first word of a direct quotation of a whole sentence. Do not use a capital letter with the first word of a direct quotation of part of a sentence.

y If the quotation is interrupted and then continues in your sentence, do not capitalize the second part of the quotation.

M r. and M rs. Allen, owners of a 300-acre farm, said, " W e refuse to use that pesticide because it might pollute the nearby wells."

M r. and M rs. Allen stated that they "refuse to use that pesticide" because of possible water pollution.

" H e likes to talk about football," she said, "especially when the Super Bowl is coming up."

Indirect quotations are not exact words but rather rephrasings or summaries of another person's words. Do not use quotation marks for indirect quotations.

According to their statement to the local papers, the Allens refuse to use pesticide because of potential water pollution.

Below are some further explanations and examples of how to integrate quoted prose into your own writing.

QUOTATION WITHIN A QUOTATION

Use single quotation marks for a quotation enclosed inside another quotation. For example:



The agricultural reporter for the newspaper explained, " W hen I talked to the Allens last week, they said, ' W e refuse to use that pesticide.' "

OMITTED WORDS IN A QUOTATION

If you leave words out of a quotation, use an ellipsis mark to indicate the omitted words. If you need to insert something within a quotation, use a pair of bracketsto enclose the addition.

For example:full quotation

The welfare agency representative said, " W e are unable to help every family that we'd like to help because we don't have the funds to do so."

omitted material with ellipsisThe welfare agency representative said, " W e are unable to help every family . . . because we don't have the funds to do so."

added material with bracketsThe welfare agency representative explained that they are "unable to help every family that [they would] like to help."

BLOCK QUOTATIONS

A quotation that extends more than four typed lines on a page should be indented one inch from the left margin (the equivalent of two half-inch paragraphindentations). Maintain double spacing as in the main text, and do not use quotation marks for the block quotation.

QUOTING POETRY

SHORT QUOTATIONS

When you quote a single line of poetry, write it like any other short quotation. Two lines can be run into your text with a slash mark to indicate the end of the firstline. Use quotation marks.

In his poem "Mending Wall," Robert Frost writes: "Something there is that doesn't love a wall, / That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it."

LONG QUOTATIONS

If the quotation is three lines or longer, set it off like a block quotation (see above). Some writers prefer to set off two-line verse quotations also, for emphasis.Quote the poem line by line as it appears on the original page, and do not use quotation marks. Indent one inch from the left margin.

In his poem "Mending Wall," Robert Frost questions the building of barriers and walls:Before I built a wall I'd ask to knowWhat I was walling in or walling out,And to whom I was like to give offense.

WRITING DIALOGUE

Write each person's spoken words, however brief, as a separate paragraph. Use commas to set off dialogue tags such as "she said" or "he explained." Closelyrelated narrative prose can be included in a paragraph with dialogue. If one person's speech goes on for more than one paragraph, use quotation marks to open thespeech and at the beginning--but not the end--of each new paragraph in the speech. To close the speech, use quotation marks at the end of the final paragraph.

QUOTATION MARKS FOR TITLES OF MINOR WORKS AND PARTS OF WHOLES

Use quotation marks for:

y titles of short or minor works, such as songs, short stories, essays, short poems, one-act plays, and other literary works that are shorter than a three-act play or a complete book.

y titles of parts of larger works, such as chapters in books; articles in newspapers, magazines, journals, or other periodical publications; and episodes of television and radio series.

Use underlining or italics for

y titles of major works or of works that contain smaller segments such as books; plays of three or more acts; newspapers, magazines, journals, or otherperiodical publications; films; and television and radio series.

Do not use quotation marks for referring to the Bible or other sacred texts or to legal documents.

QUOTATION MARKS FOR WORDS

Use quotation marks to indicate words used ironically, with reservations, or in some unusual way.

The great march of "progress" has left millions impoverished and hungry.



For words used as words themselves or for technical or unfamiliar terms used for the first time (and defined), use italics.

The English word nuance comes from a M iddle French word meaning "shades of color."

PUNCTUATION WITH QUOTATION MARKS

Use a comma to introduce a quotation after a standard dialogue tag, a brief introductory phrase, or a dependent clause, for example,

" H e asked," "She stated," " According to Bronson," or " As Shakespeare wrote."

Use a colon to introduce a quotation after an independent clause.

As D. H . N achas explains, "The gestures used for greeting others differ greatly from one culture to another."

D. H . N achas explains cultural differences in greeting customs: "Touching is not a universal sign of greeting. W hile members of European cultures meet and shakehands as a gesture of greeting, members of Asian cultures bow to indicate respect."

Put commas and periods within closing quotation marks, except when a parenthetical reference follows the quotation.

H e said, "I may forget your name, but I never remember a face."

H istory is stained with blood spilled in the name of "civilization."

M ullen, criticizing the apparent inaction, writes, "Donahue's policy was to do nothing"

Put colons and semicolons outside closing quotation marks.

W illiams described the experiment as "a definitive step forward"; other scientists disagreed.

Benedetto emphasizes three elements of what she calls her "Olympic journey" : family support, personal commitment, and great coaching.

Put a dash, question mark, or exclamation point within closing quotation marks when the punctuation applies to the quotation itself and outside when it applies tothe whole sentence.

Philip asked, "Do you need this book?"

Does Dr. Lim always say to her students, " Y ou must work harder"?

Sharon shouted enthusiastically, " W e won! W e won!"

I can't believe you actually like that song, "If Y ou W anna Be M y Lover"!

UNNECESSARY QUOTATION MARKS

y Do not put quotation marks around titles.

y Do not use quotation marks for common nicknames, bits of humor, technical terms that readers are likely to know, and trite or well-known expressions.

SPELLING

Standardized spelling is a convenience for reminding readers of the words they know. The chief reason for conventional spelling is the fact that the majority of people consider it a sign of literacy and even social respectability! People take for granted that the spelling of educated people will be conventional; even peoplewho are careless about their own spelling are quick to detect and condemn misspelled words in the writing of others.

If you're one of those whose spelling is unconventional, now is a good time to analyze your common erros and working to eradicate them. A spell checker helps butit isn't infallable. You have to have a sense to how a word is spelled to make sure the spell checker has inferred the word you intend.

What makes spelling in English difficult is the fact that we have only 26 letters to represent ~80 sounds. Therefore the same letter or letter combination mayrepresent a variety of sounds

a as in aha, fare, hat, many, lay, far, was, idea...ou as in though, bough, enough, cough, rough, through...

The converse is also true²one sound may be represented in a variety of ways:

bee, believe, precede, sea, receive...



In addition, a number of words are written with letters that are not pronounced, and others (homophones) sound alike but are spelled differently because they havedifferent meanings.

These inconsistencies are the result of how English has evolved²but that doesn't make them easier to remember. Absolute correctness in spelling is impossible toachieve²the goal is to develop a sense of what are the probabilities that a given word is spelled a particular way.

STYLE

Style means all kinds o' things.

At its grandest, it means everything about your way of presenting yourself in words, including grace, clarity, and a thousand undefinable qualities that separategood writing from bad. At its narrowest, it includes mechanics such as spelling, punctuation, usage, and grammar.

Questions about style have no definitive answers, only competing standards used in different places. There are differences in spelling and punctuation in variouscountries. In fact, each publishing house develops what it refers to as "house style"²the choices about (mostly minor) matters that it sets on its own. Newspaperpublishers, for instance, often use different rules than book publishers do. It's not a question of which is "right" or "wrong"; you need to learn to suit yourmechanics to the forum for which you're writing.

Be aware that there are a good many differences within written language, just as there are in spoken English. Words and constructions vary a good deal in what weread. It's important to become aware of the "standards" of usage expected of a proficient technical writer; to become sensitive to the style demands of the typicalgenres used in technical writing.

The best way to sensitize yourself to style is to read widely the kinds of material you find yourself having to write so that you develop a feel for what is acceptable.

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