How to write well• Many students appear not to realize how

difficult it is to write well. • Any type of writing is difficult, but technical

writing is particularly hard • Help is available in English Learning Centre • Reference:

– Robert Barrass, ``Scientists Must Write'', E & Fn Spon (sic) (1982)

Precision• You must strive first to be absolutely precise. • When you write, it is not sufficient that you know what you

mean; • What you write must not be capable of misinterpretation. • Take exceptional care to choose the right word for the

occasion. • Do not, for example, write ``optimum'' if you mean ``good''.

``Approximate'' means ``close'', so ``very approximate'' means ``very close'‘– What is “the result is good”– The error is small or the error is acceptable

Precision?

Vigour ( 活潑地 ; 果斷的 )

• Prefer short sentences to long sentences. • Prefer short words to long words, provided that the

short word has the meaning you need• Passive voice ?– “a program was written ...'' rather than ``I wrote a program

...''. Many of your examiners might share this preference for, or prejudice in favour of, the passive voice, but this style is passing out of favour in all technical writing?

Vigour

• Use of “royal we” ?– (``we wrote a program'' when you mean ``I wrote

a program'') – By adding three and five, we obtain eight.

Spelling and grammar

• Poor spelling is a distraction to the proficient reader. There is very little excuse nowadays for spelling errors; there are many excellent spell-checker programs which make a good job of finding the errors for you

• Be especially careful with words whose common misspelling is a correct spelling of a different word– For example: form/from; with/will

Illustrations• Your report should generally contain illustrations (figures or

diagrams), but they must be relevant. Ask yourself if the illustration helps the reader to understand the text.

• If the text is readily comprehensible without the illustration, delete the illustration. If it is not, it is usually better to make the text clearer than to add a diagram.

• All illustrations should be prepared by an appropriate program, such as visio, pic, xfig or grap.

• If possible, include figures close to the text which refers to them, rather than all together in an appendix.

• It is normal to list tables and figures at the beginning of the report, after the table of contents.

Good illustration?

Language of each chapter

• INTRODUCTIONS– The following has been suggested as a general

framework for the Introduction section of research articles (Swales, 1990). This may also provide you with a framework for the Introduction section of your proposal

Introduction• First: Establish a territory– this means establish that the topic of your project is

significant, interesting, or relevant. • Provide some general background information

about your topic.• You may want to reference some literature, to

support your claims that the topic is important, or as a source for some of your general information about the field.

   

Establishing the territory

        

   

INTRODUCTIONIntroduction

Education and training traditionally occurs through lectures and tutorials and relies heavily on the assessment of students by teachers. In recent years, due to the technological revolution learning through computers and multi-media packages has become very popular. Multi-media is a way of integrating different types of media such as videos, pictures, tasks and sound into one platform. There is a great deal of software available for the development of multi-media teaching material, such as: Pspice, Matlab, Labview, Flash, FrontPage, Dreamweaver, etc. This project mainly uses Pspice, Matlab and Labview to design and implement an Interactive Computer-Aided Learning (CAL) package for students.

Background • What is the purpose of this section?– The aim of this chapter is for you to demonstrate that you

understand the theory and the scope of previous research/work carried out in relation to your chosen project.

– Do not plagiarise from sources but try to write in your own words.

– Cite all sources. – All definitions must follow the way definitions are written. – Clear links between ideas have to be made to show the

context clearly– Start with general issue related to your topic and then

become more specific

Citations• Why do we reference other authors/research?

– Explain what others have contributed in terms of knowledge about the field of your research.

– You must acknowledge others who are the sources of this information.

– You can indicate in the way you reference their work, the extent to which you agree with the ideas you are reporting. In other words you take a stance or a position on the research and knowledge you are reporting.

Citation• You can refer to an author's work in two ways: by integral or

non-integral citation. • In integral citation, the author's name is integrated in your

sentence, usually with a reporting verb like 'suggests' or 'argues‘

• In non-integral citation it only appears in footnote or in brackets

• Non-integral citation has the disadvantage that the original author is almost invisible in your text, therefore there is a greater risk of the reader confusing the author's ideas with your comments and interpretations.

• Integral citation avoids this problem by giving prominence to the author's name.

Non-integral

• There were distinct perceptions of family and caste in 19th century accounts of bathing resorts (1) , which on closer analysis can reveal a great deal about the nature of perceptions of caste in society generally.

• (1) Somloi, G. "Spa Resorts in 19th Century Hungary", Hungarian Historical Journal Vol.23, no.4 Budapest 2001

Integral• There were, as Somloi has rightly pointed out,

distinct perceptions of family and caste in 19th century accounts of bathing resorts (1) . Closer analysis of these perceptions can reveal a great deal about the nature of perceptions of caste in society generally.

• (1) Somloi, G. "Spa Resorts in 19th Century Hungary", Hungarian Historical Journal Vol.23, no.4 Budapest 2001

Reporting verbs• When we cite others’ work, we can use one of

a number of ‘reporting’ verbs – X claims that Y is the case– X suggests that Y is the case– X argues that ….– X reports that…..– X presents the case that ….– X shows/indicates/ points out that…

Reporting verbs• The style used in the reporting verbs may also

reflect your level of commitment (support) to reference materials– Claims, suggests (low-level)– Agrees, shows, demonstrates (high-level)– Argues, reports (neutral)

Tense• There are no strict rules about what tense to

use, but there are a number of factors to consider

• You may want to refer to more recent references by using the present tense

• References from older publications by using the past tense

Tense to use• Generality– This means that you may want to use the

present tense to indicate that the information or ideas you are reporting on are considered to be generally true

– Use the past tense to report on some specific finding from the research being referenced, especially if this finding did not support your own research

• Level of support the reference offers for your own argument.– if the information or research findings you are reporting

on, support what you believe, then you are more likely to use present tense. This way you are establishing that information as currently ‘true’.

– If the information or research findings you are reporting on, do NOT support what you believe, then you are more likely to use past tense. This way you establish them as belonging to the past, but not necessarily presently ‘true’.

• To signal to the reader to expect further discussion of the topic– The present perfect tense can operate as a signal

to the reader to expect further discussion of the topic (Swales 1990:152), and to claim generality about past literature (Oster 1981)

Expressing your opinion

• Avoid such explicit coding of your opinion as – "Personally I think"; "In my opinion"; "I believe“– Based on my own experience, it seems that … – My own experience would suggest that…

Objectives or hypotheses

– This is where you state exactly what it is that you are going to do.

– You will already have provided a brief outline of your topic in your introduction. In this section you need to present your formal objectives or hypotheses.

– If you have several objectives each one must be set out separately in full detail even if this involves some repetition.

– Your aim is to make your objectives absolutely clear both to yourself and to your readers. You may also make clear which aspects of the topic lie outside the limits of your project. Stating what is not included can sharpen the focus on what your intentions actually are.

Examples• This research project focuses upon two different

approaches which can be used to measure relative humidity. The first approach is to use an Electronic Thermo-Hygrometer to measure the humidity directly. The second approach is to use a humidity sensor. The aim of the study is to test and improve a sensing circuit previously designed by a fellow student as part of his final year project last year.

Example

• The objective of the research is to investigate the problems of tapping points of the transformer winding. Data will be collected from the tapping points of the transformer winding and an analysis will be undertaken.

Example• The objectives of the study are to– Investigate the process involved in designing and

implementing a computer assisted learning package .

– Show the basic design plan.– Find out the problems involved in designing and

implementing a computer assisted learning package.

Avoid listing• Your procedures should not be written in the

form of instructions or as a list of materials as in a laboratory manual.

• Instead, it is written as a narrative describing, either in first person active voice or in passive voice, what you did.

Student Text Improved Version

Chapter 3 Experimental Procedure 3.1.Sample Preparationi. The circular glass sheet was cleaned by washing with tap

water and then dried with a cleaning cloth. ii. The amount of soluble particles (salt) and non-soluble

particles (alumna) used for the test was measured using and electronic Scale

iii. The soluble and non-soluble particles were then mixed in a bottle.

iv. The mixture was sprinkled on the cleaned circular glass sheet uniformly using a bottle with holes on its cover.

v. …

Chapter 3 Experimental Procedure In this chapter I will present the procedure adopted for the

research. The aim of the research is to study the behaviour of surface conductance of an insulator in coastal areas such as Hong Kong. The steps taken for the experiment will be outlined below, first I will describe the sample preparation before I move on to demonstrate the testing procedures and low voltage circuit. Then the process of the experiment will be presented in detail in Section 3.5. The apparatus used in the experiment will be outlined in Chapter 4.

3.1. Sample PreparationBefore conducting the test to examine the conductance of

insulation certain experiment preparations needed to be made. These were as follows:

i. The circular glass sheet was cleaned by washing with tap water and then dried with a cleaning cloth.

ii.  

Explanation

In the student text there is no introduction to the chapter or the contents of that chapter. Headings, sub-headings and lists are presented in isolation. There are no signals between sections and to the preceding or following chapters.

Chapter 3 Experimental Procedure 3.1.Sample Preparation

1. The circular glass sheet was cleaned by washing with tap water and then dried with a cleaning cloth.

2. The amount of soluble particles (salt) and non-soluble particles (alumna) used for the test was measured using and electronic Scale

3. The soluble and non-soluble particles were then mixed in a bottle. 4. The mixture was sprinkled on the cleaned circular glass sheet

uniformly using a bottle with holes on its cover.

In the student text there is no introduction to the chapter or the contents of that chapter. Headings, sub-headings and lists are presented in isolation. There are no signals between sections and to the preceding or following chapters.

In this chapter I will present the procedure adopted for the research. The aim of the research is to study the behaviour of surface conductance of an insulator in coastal areas such as Hong Kong. The steps taken for the experiment will be outlined below, first I will describe the sample preparation before I move on to demonstrate the testing procedures and low voltage circuit. Then the process of the experiment will be presented in detail in Section 3.5. The apparatus used in the experiment will be outlined in Chapter 4.

• Proof reading for accuracy– It is also a good idea to make sure that the

important sections of your project, such as the objectives, are written in accurate language.

– Readers will not be impressed by careless grammatical mistakes at this stage in your work

• Sentence structure– Try to avoid very long sentences. You are less likely

to make mistakes if you keep your sentences to a reasonable length.

– It is also easier for readers to follow your discussion if the sentences are fairly brief and clear