英语技术写作.docx

英语技术写作.docx

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英语技术写作

GuidelinestoSuccessfulTechnicalWriting

1.Revisingwithefficientsentences

Themainpurposeofatechnicaldocumentistoinformorpersuadethereaderthroughuseofefficientsentences,nottoimpressorentertainwithfancylanguagedisplays.So,technicaldocumentstransmitworthwhileinformation—evenhighlyspecializedinformation—inthemoststraightforwardwaytotheiraudience.

Readersoftechnicaldocumentsarebusyandimpatient.Theydonotwishtoputmoreintoreadingadocumentthantheycangetfromit.Theyhatewasteandexpectefficiency.Everysentenceinadocumentshouldberevisedtocarryitsownweight,inconveyingthewriter’smeaning.

Observethesameruleinadoptingsentencestyleasyouwouldinchoosingthedocument’scontent:

makeitlongenoughtobeunderstood,yetshortenoughtobetolerated.Whenwritingatechnicaldocument,consulttheguidelinesbelow,whichcanalsoserveasachecklistforyoursentencestyle:

Revisesentencestobeclearandavoidambiguity.

Aclearsentencecommunicatesitsprecisemeaningonfirstreading.Itsignalsrelationshipsamongitsparts,andemphasizesthekeythought.Intechnicalwriting,asentenceshouldhaveonlyonemeaning.Makesurethewords,phrases,andpunctuationareabsolutelyclear.

AmbiguousIcannotrecommendthiscandidatetoohighly.

RevisedThiscandidatehasmyhighestrecommendation.

AmbiguousManyexecutivesareskepticalaboutofficeautomationaswellasmanagers.

RevisedManyexecutivesaswellasmanagersareskepticalaboutofficeautomation.

AmbiguousBeingwell-knowninthecomputerindustry,ourprojectwouldbenefitalotfromtheTsinghuateam.

RevisedBecausetheTsinghuateamiswell-knowninthecomputerindustry,ourprojectwouldbenefitalotfromitshelp.

Useactiveratherthanpassivevoicemostofthetime.

Usually,theactivevoice（Joetestedthesoftware.）isbetterthanthepassivevoice（ThesoftwareistestedbyJoe.）,butincertainsituationsitcanmakesensetousethelessnaturalpassivestyle.However,manywritersroutinelyusethepassivestylesimplybecausetheybelieveitismore“formal”and“acceptable”.Itisnot.Usingthepassivestyleisthemostcommonreasonforpoorlystructuredsentencesanditalwaysleadstolongersentencesthanarenecessary.Unlessyouhaveaverygoodreasonforthechangeinemphasis,youshouldalwayswriteintheactivestyle.

Thefollowingexamplesshowtheimprovementachievedbyswitchingfrompassivetoactive:

FaultyThereportwaswrittenbyPeter,andwasfoundtobeexcellent.

CorrectPeterwrotethereport,anditwasexcellent.

FaultyThelidshouldbesealedwithwax.

CorrectSealthelidwithwax.

BadThevaluesweremeasuredautomaticallybythecontrolsystem.

GoodThecontrolsystemmeasuredthevaluesautomatically.

Weak&ImpersonalAnofferwillbemadebyusnextweek.

StrongerWewillmakeyouanoffernextweek.

Avoidunnecessarywordsandrepetition.

Manysentencescontainunnecessarywordsthatrepeatanideaalreadyexpressedinanotherword.Thiswastesspaceandbluntsthemessage.Oftenwritersuseseveralwordsforideasthatcanbeexpressedinone.Thisleadstounnecessarilycomplexsentencesandredundancy.

RedundantTheprinterislocatedadjacenttothecomputer.

RevisedTheprinterisadjacenttothecomputer.

RedundantTheusercanvisiblyseetheimagemoving.

RevisedTheusercanseetheimagemoving.

RedundantTheproductisnotofasatisfactorynature.

RevisedTheproductisunsatisfactory.

Makesentencesfluent.

Fluentsentencesarepolished,graceful,andeasytoread.Variedlengthandwordordermakethemfreeofchoppinessandmonotony.Seethefollowingsuggestions:

Needless“that”Thisisaproblemthatbothersme.

FluentThisproblembothersme.

NeedlessqualifierItseemsthattheyhaveavalidargument.

RevisedTheyhaveavalidargument./Theyseemtohaveavalidargument.

ChoppyJoggingcanbehealthfulifyouhavetherightequipment.Mostimportantarewell-fittingshoes.Theyareimportantbecausewithoutthemyoutakethechanceofinjuringyourlegs.Yourkneesareespeciallypronetoinjury.

RevisedJoggingcanbehealthfulifyouhavetherightequipment.Well-fittingshoesaremostimportantbecausetheypreventinjuriestoyourlegs,especiallyyourknees.

Technicalwritingexercises

1.Thefollowingsentencesareunclearorlackfluencybecauseofambiguousphrasing,incorrectwordorder,ortoomuchinformation.Revisethemsothattheirmeaningsareclear.

a）AmaneatingsharkwasspottedintheSouthSea.

b）Wearingspecialequipment,theradioactivematerialfailedtoinjuretheoperator.

c）Thatisawholenewapproachthatneedsattentionandresearch.

2.Thefollowingsentencesneedtoberewrittenintheactiveorpassivevoiceforbetteremphasis,moredirectnessorgreatereconomy.Makenecessarychangesandgivereasonsforeach.

a）Itisbelievedbyusthatthecontractisfaulty.

b）Specialhelmetsshouldbewornatalltimesduringthisproject.

c）Itwasreportedbythemanagerthattheprojectwasintrouble.

d）Careshouldbetakenintheoperationofthemachine.

GuidelinestoSuccessfulTechnicalWriting

2.Choosingtherightwordsandexpressions

Yourchoiceofwordsultimatelydeterminesthequalityofyourwriting.Keepyourexpressionsimple,jargon-free,original,convincing,precise,concreteandspecific.

Replacedifficultwordsandphraseswithsimpleralternatives.

Flowerydictionandneedlessjargonobscureyourmessageandforceyourreaderstoworktoohardforunderstanding.WorditinplainEnglish,andavoidinflateddiction.Donotusethreesyllableswhenonewilldo.Hereisalistofanumberofwordsandexpressionsthatshouldgenerallybeavoidedinfavorofthesimplealternative.

approximately

=

about

ascertain

=

find

assist,assistance

=

help

commence

=

start

demonstrate

=

show

dwelling

=

house

effectuate

=

do

（to）endeavor

=

（to）try

endeavor

=

effort

enquire

=

ask

facilitate

=

help

inconsequence

=

so

inexcessof

=

more

inrespectof

=

about

intheeventof

=

if

initiate

-

begin

multiplicityof

=

many

necessitate

-

need

phenomenon

=

event

terminate

=

end,stop

transmit

=

send

utilize

=

use

Owingtothesituationthat...=Because,since…

Shouldasituationarisewhere...=If…

Takingintoconsiderationsuchfactorsas...=Considering…

Also,unlessyouarediscussingbuildingmaintenanceorcomputergraphics,neverusetheverb“render”.

FaultyThetestingstrategyrendereditimpossibletofindallthefaults.

CorrectThetestingstrategymadeitimpossibletofindallthefaults.

Inotherwords,ifyoumean“make”thenwrite“make”not“render”.

Countthesyllablesandtrimwhenyoucan.Thefollowingisanexampleofbaddictioninflation:

InflatedRe-evaluatethedesignoftheentireuserinterfacetominimizedesignfactorswhichareresultinginsensitiveand/orcriticalmaintenanceandinspectionprocedures.

RevisedRedesigntheUIsotheyareeasiertomaintainandinspect.

Useverbsinsteadofnounsifpossible.

Lookatthefollowingsentence:

HalftheteamwasinvolvedinthedevelopmentofsystemY.

Thissentencecontainsaclassicexampleofacommoncauseofpoorwritingstyle.Thesentenceisusingtheabstractnoun“development”inplaceoftheverb“develop”.Thesimplerandmorenaturalversionofthesentenceis:

HalftheteamwasinvolvedindevelopingsystemY.

Turningverbsintoabstractnounsalwaysproducessentenceslongerthannecessary,soavoiddoingit.Thefollowingexamplesshowtheimprovementyoucanachievebyreplacingnounswithverbs:

FaultyHeusedtohelpinthespecificationofnewsoftware.

RevisedHeusedtohelpspecifynewsoftware.

FaultyClickingtheiconcausestheexecutionoftheprogram.

RevisedTheprogramexecuteswhentheiconisclicked.

FaultyTheanalysisofthesoftwarewasperformedbyFred.

RevisedFredanalyzedthesoftware.

FaultyItwasreportedbyJonesthatmethodZfacilitatedtheutilizationofinspectiontechniquesbythetestingteam.

RevisedJonesreportedthatmethodZhelpedthetestingteamuseinspectiontechniques.

Usejargononlyifithelpsyoucommunicatebetter.

ExpressionslikeMS/DOS,UI,ODBCandglitchareexamplesofjargon.Ingeneral,jargonreferstoaspecialvocabularyofaparticulargrouporactivity.Itisoftenshorthandorabbreviations,withspecializedusage.Ifyouareconfidentthateveryreaderofyourreportunderstandsthespecialty,thenitmaybeused.Forexample,ifyouronlypotentialreadersarecomputerspecialists,itisappropriatetosaythatacomputerisdownwithouthavingtoexplainwhat“down”means.Inallothercases（whicharealmostalways）jargonshouldbeavoided.Ifyoucannotavoidusingsuchexpressions,thendefinethetermthefirsttimeyouuseitorreferthereadertoaglossarywhereitisdefined.

NeedlessjargonIntercomutilizationwillbeusedtoinitiateovertimeprogrammer

operativeinvolvement.

RevisedProgrammerswhohavetoworkovertimewillbenotifiedonthe

intercom.

Beconsistentinnamingthesamesubjectorobject.

Therule“Neverusethesamewordtwice.”doesnotapplytoallformsofwriting.Somepeoplemayfeeltheymustusedifferentwordstodescribethesamething.Intechnicalwritingtheoppositeruleapplies:

“Youshouldalwaysusethesamewordtorefertothesamething.”Failingtodosomayconfuseandannoyreaders.

Consider,forexample,thefollowingparagraphthatwaswritteninagroupprojectfinalreport:

Inthefirstthreeweeksoftheprojectwewroteaprojectplanforthesystem.

Wewereambitiousinourrequirementsbecausewewantedthegroupprojectt