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Technical Writing A Practical Guide for Engineers, Scientists, and Nontechnical Professionals Second Edition What Every Engineer Should Know Series Editor Phillip A. Laplante Pennsylvania State University What Every Engineer Should Know about What Every Engineer Should Know about Product Liability Concurrent Engineering James F. Thorpe and William H. Middendorf Thomas A. Salomone What Every Engineer Should Know What Every Engineer Should Know about Inventing about Ethics William H. Middendorf Kenneth K. Humphreys What Every Engineer Should Know about Micro What Every Engineer Should Know about computer Systems Design and Debugging Software Engineering Bill Wray and Bill Crawford Phillip A. Laplante What Every Engineer Should Know What Every Engineer Should Know about about Robots Developing Real-Time Embedded Products Maurice I. Zeldman Kim R. Fowler What Every Engineer Should Know What Every Engineer Should Know about about Engineering Information Resources Business Communciation Margaret T. Schenk and James K. Webster John X. Wang What Every Engineer Should Know about What Every Engineer Should Know about Microcomputer Software Career Management Keith R. Wehmeyer Mike Ficco What Every Engineer Should Know about What Every Engineer Should Know about Computer Modeling and Simulation Starting a High-Tech Business Venture Don M. Ingels Eric Koester What Every Engineer Should Know about What Every Engineer Should Know about Practical Engineering Workstations MATLAB® and Simulink® Justin E. Harlow III Adrian B. Biran What Every Engineer Should Know about Green Entrepreneur Handbook: The Guide Practical Cad/cam Applications to Building and Growing a Green and Clean John Stark Business What Every Engineer Should Know about Eric Koester Data Communications Technical Writing: A Practical Guide for Carl Clifton E ngineers and Scientists What Every Engineer Should Know about Phillip A. Laplante Patents, Second Edition What Every Engineer Should Know about William G. Konold, Bruce Tittel, Donald F. Frei, and Cyber Security and Digital Forensics David S. Stallard Joanna F. DeFranco What Every Engineer Should Know about Quality Control What Every Engineer Should Know about Thomas Pyzdek Modeling and Simulation What Every Engineer Should Know about Raymond J. Madachy and Daniel Houston Microcomputers: Hardware/Software Design: What Every Engineer Should Know about a Step-by-step Example, Second Edition Excel, Second Edition William S. Bennett, Carl F. Evert, Jr., and J.P. Holman and Blake K. Holman Leslie C. Lander Technical Writing: A Practical Guide for What Every Engineer Should Know E ngineers, Scientists, and Nontechnical about Reliability and Risk Analysis P rofessionals, Second Edition Mohammad Modarres Phillip A. Laplante What Every Engineer Should Know about Accounting and Finance Jae K. Shim and Norman Henteleff For more information about this series, please visit: www.crcpress.com Technical Writing A Practical Guide for Engineers, Scientists, and Nontechnical Professionals Second Edition Phillip A. Laplante CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300 Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742 © 2019 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business No claim to original U.S. Government works Printed on acid-free paper International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-138-62810-6 (Paperback) International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-138-60696-8 (Hardback) Tis book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable eforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. Te authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint. Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, trans- mitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microflming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, please access www.copyright .com (http://www.copyright.com/) or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400. CCC is a not-for-proft organization that provides licenses and registration for a variety of users. For organizations that have been granted a photocopy license by the CCC, a separate system of payment has been arranged. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data Names: Laplante, Phillip A., author. Title: Technical writing : a practical guide for engineers, scientists, and nontechnical professionals / Phillip A. Laplante. Description: Second edition. | Boca Raton : Taylor & Francis, CRC Press, 2018. | Series: What every engineer should know | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifers: LCCN 2018008664| ISBN 9781138628106 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781138606968 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780429467394 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Technical writing. Classifcation: LCC T11 .L264 2018 | DDC 808.06/65--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018008664 Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com and the CRC Press Web site at http://www.crcpress.com This book is dedicated to Dr. Divyendu Sinha (1961–2010), a world- class scientist, writer, collaborator, and, most importantly, friend. http://taylorandfrancis.com Contents What Every Engineer Should Know: Series Statement ...................................xv Preface .................................................................................................................. xvii Acknowledgments .............................................................................................. xix 1. The Nature of Technical Writing ................................................................1 1.1 Introduction ...........................................................................................1 1.2 Who Writes Technical Documentation? ............................................2 1.3 Taxonomy of Technical Writing ..........................................................3 1.4 Technical Reporting ..............................................................................4 1.5 Business Communications...................................................................5 1.6 Scientifc Writing ...................................................................................6 1.6.1 Books..........................................................................................7 1.6.2 Journals .....................................................................................7 1.6.3 Magazines .................................................................................8 1.6.4 Conference Proceedings .........................................................8 1.6.5 Newsletters ...............................................................................9 1.6.6 Websites and Blogs ..................................................................9 1.6.7 Vignette: Nontechnical Writing .............................................9 1.6.8 Vignette: Technical Writing Sample ......................................9 1.7 Exercises ............................................................................................... 10 Endnotes .......................................................................................................... 11 References ....................................................................................................... 11 2. Technical Writing Basics ............................................................................. 13 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................... 13 2.2 Structuring Your Writing ................................................................... 13 2.3 Positioning Your Writing ................................................................... 16 2.3.1 Know Your Audience ............................................................ 16 2.3.2 Are You Talking to Me? ........................................................ 16 2.4 Choosing the Right Words ................................................................ 17 2.4.1 Conciseness ............................................................................. 17 2.4.2 Precision and Hedging.......................................................... 20 2.4.3 Universal and Existential Quantifcation ...........................23 2.4.4 Negatives ................................................................................. 24 2.4.5 Vignette: Brake Retarder Prohibitions ................................25 2.5 Avoiding Traps ....................................................................................25 2.5.1 Clichés ..................................................................................... 26 2.5.2 Anthropomorphic Writing ................................................... 26 2.5.3 Malapropisms ......................................................................... 27 2.5.4 Erroneous Heterographs ....................................................... 27 vii viii Contents 2.5.5 Opinion versus Fact ............................................................... 29 2.5.6 Acronyms, Domain-Specifc Terms, and Jargon ............... 29 2.5.7 The Laziness of “Very” .............................................................. 31 2.5.8 Other Pitfalls ........................................................................... 32 2.6 Making Your Technical Writing More Interesting .........................33 2.6.1 Humor .....................................................................................33 2.6.2 Vignette: The Joy of Spam ....................................................34 2.6.3 Allegory ...................................................................................35 2.7 The 5 Cs of Technical Writing ...........................................................36 2.7.1 Qualities of Good Writing ....................................................36 2.7.2 Correctness ............................................................................. 37 2.7.3 Clarity ......................................................................................38 2.7.4 Completeness ..........................................................................38 2.7.5 Consistency ............................................................................. 39 2.7.6 Changeability ......................................................................... 39 2.7.7 An Example ............................................................................ 39 2.8 Referencing .......................................................................................... 41 2.8.1 Choose the Right References ................................................ 41 2.8.2 Web References ......................................................................42 2.8.3 Reference Styles ......................................................................42 2.9 Exercises ...............................................................................................43 Endnotes ..........................................................................................................44 References .......................................................................................................45 3. The Writing Process ..................................................................................... 47 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................... 47 3.2 The Traditional Writing Process .......................................................48 3.2.1 Brainstorming......................................................................... 49 3.2.2 Drafting ...................................................................................50 3.2.3 Revising ...................................................................................50 3.2.4 Editing ..................................................................................... 51 3.2.5 Publishing ...............................................................................54 3.2.6 Vignette: A Paper on Software Control on Oil Rigs .........54 3.3 Environment ........................................................................................58 3.4 Dealing with Writer’s Block ...............................................................58 3.5 Meeting Deadlines .............................................................................. 59 3.6 Writing Tools ....................................................................................... 59 3.7 Permissions and Plagiarism ..............................................................60 3.7.1 Permissions .............................................................................60 3.7.2 Plagiarism ............................................................................... 62 3.7.3 Self-Plagiarism .......................................................................63 3.7.4 Detection Tools .......................................................................64 3.7.5 Paper Generators ....................................................................64 3.7.6 Vignette: Determining Authorship—The Federalist Papers ....................................................................... 67 Contents ix 3.8 Making Your Writing Understandable to All .................................68 3.8.1 Hofstede’s Metrics ..................................................................68 3.8.2 British versus American English ......................................... 70 3.9 Exercises ............................................................................................... 71 Endnotes ..........................................................................................................72 References .......................................................................................................72 4. Scientifc Writing ..........................................................................................75 4.1 Introduction .........................................................................................75 4.2 Technical Reports ................................................................................ 76 4.3 Tutorials ................................................................................................77 4.4 Opinion ................................................................................................. 79 4.5 Research Papers ................................................................................... 81 4.5.1 Survey of the Field ................................................................. 81 4.5.2 Based on Survey Data ...........................................................84 4.5.3 Based on Experimentation ................................................... 87 4.6 Reviews of Books, Papers, and Reports ........................................... 91 4.6.1 Reviews ................................................................................... 91 4.6.2 Journal and Conference Paper Reviews ............................. 91 4.6.3 Book Reviews ......................................................................... 93 4.6.4 Blind Reviews ......................................................................... 95 4.6.5 Vignette: Scientifc Proposal................................................. 97 4.7 Exercises ............................................................................................... 97 Endnotes .......................................................................................................... 98 References .......................................................................................................99 5. Business Communications ....................................................................... 101 5.1 Introduction ....................................................................................... 101 5.2 Résumés .............................................................................................. 101 5.2.1 Name ...................................................................................... 102 5.2.2 Contact Information ............................................................ 103 5.2.3 Summary ............................................................................... 103 5.2.4 Statement of Objective ......................................................... 104 5.2.5 Experience ............................................................................. 104 5.2.6 Education and Training ...................................................... 104 5.2.7 Licenses and Certifcations ................................................. 105 5.2.8 Consulting. ............................................................................ 105 5.2.9 Hardware and Software ..................................................... 105 5.2.10 Foreign Languages .............................................................. 106 5.2.11 Security Clearance ............................................................... 107 5.2.12 Military and Other Service ................................................. 107 5.2.13 Awards and Honors ............................................................ 107 5.2.14 Publications ........................................................................... 108 5.2.15 Affliations ............................................................................ 108 5.2.16 Interests ................................................................................. 108

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