Technical English: Fewer is better! John Morris Faculty of Engineering, Mahasarakham University Computer Science/ Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Auckland Iolanthe II leaves the Hauraki Gulf under full sail – Auckland-Tauranga Race, 2007

Bad habits I - References Referring to other’s work by numbers: In [1], it was shown that … There are several reasons why this is bad! 1)The people who wrote paper [1] probably put a lot of work into it.. Acknowledge this by writing their names! Smith and Jones showed that …. [1]. 2)If you only write [1], then I’m forced to go to your reference list to find out what your source is! 3)However, if I know the field well, ‘Smith and Jones’ may well be enough to tell me which paper you used as a source

References Where do the reference labels go?  Smith and Jones[1] showed that …..  Smith and Jones showed that …. [1]. The label [1] should go after the statement from the source. This clearly separates information from your source from any comments that you might make! Smith and Jones showed that …. [1] but they did not consider …..

References Bad style, not concise In [1], it was shown that … Better..

References Bad style, not concise In [1], it was shown that … Better.. It has been shown that …[1] Shorter Has the label in the right place!! Note perfect tense here – the work has been reported, so assumed complete! or, even better.. X et al showed that …[1] Direct – active voice instead of passive always reads better!

References Abstracts Avoid references in abstracts wherever possible Definitely do NOT use reference labels! An abstract will often be read alone Readers will not have access to the reference list, so the number is useless to them If you really must.. This study improves A et al’s result … Use the name(s) of the authors You do not need to give the full reference for A et al’s work. Readers can get this from the full paper (or by Google )

References Names English convention Refer to other authors by family name (surname) alone Smith measured …[32]. Do not write B. Smith measured …[32]. David Smith measured …[32]. Only use given names if there are two authors with the same family name B. Smith reported …[32] but J. Smith provided conflicting data[33].

References Non-English names Try to determine a family name and use it! Be careful with Chinese It’s not always clear which is the family name! Chinese often reverse from their native order Family name + two syllable given name, eg Xie Jingling ‪to an ‘English’ form Jingling Xie Here family name is Xie, so write Xie reported …[32]. If in doubt, ask a Chinese colleague! Other Asian languages, eg Japanese, Korean,.., present similar problems.. Seek advice from a native speaker!

Words to avoid Functionality –Much loved by computer scientists! –An appalling abuse of English!! –This word was formed in this way Take a verb (or noun) ‘function’ Turn it into an adjective ‘functional’ Turn it back into a noun ‘functionality’ And use it a synonym for a much simpler word that already existed ‘capability’!! Worse - use it in place of ‘functions’ Use ‘capability’ or ‘functions’ instead!!

Words to avoid Utilize –Use ‘use’ instead!

Words to avoid Proved –Formal scientific theory …. –Use ‘use’ instead!