1. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Technical Communication: Strategies for College and the Workplace by Dan Jones & Karen Lane Chapter 7: Achieving an Effective Style

2. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Style Style is your manner of writing Style is determined by your audience The genre of the document also shapes the style & level of formality

3. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Plain Style short, commonly used words concise, simple sentences second-person “you” style a friendly tone, rather than an impersonal one dominant style in technical prose

4. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Complex Style technical vocabulary complex or compound-complex sentence structure long paragraphs describing complex concepts a distant, more impersonal tone

5. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Improving Writing Style at the Word Level

6. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Diction Your choice of words Four levels include: –formal –informal –colloquial –slang Choose the level that best suits your audience

7. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Denotation & Connotation Denotation is the dictionary meaning of the word Connotation deals with other associated meanings

8. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Usage Choose appropriate & accurate language

9. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Abbreviations, Acronyms, Initialisms Consider your readers’ knowledge Define the unfamiliar

10. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Action Verbs Good writers use action verbs Action verbs make your writing more direct and forceful

11. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Active Voice places the actor in the subject position Example: The chemist analyzed the samples in less than three hours.

12. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Passive Voice weakens the impact of the verb can be useful when appropriate Example: The samples were analyzed in less than three hours.

13. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Noun Strings too many modifiers often a problem in technical prose

14. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Nominalizations occur when a verb is used as a noun occur when nouns do the work of other parts of speech Example: The production of the technical documentation is on schedule.

15. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Jargon Avoid jargon unless you are certain that your audience is familiar with the specific terms

16. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Improving Writing Style at the Sentence Level

17. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Technical Terms Readers will understand a technical term better if it is placed at the end of a sentence

18. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Emphasis Create emphasis by: trimming the end of the sentence shifting less important ideas to the front of the sentence shifting more important ideas to the end of the sentence

19. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Improving Writing Style at the Paragraph Level

20. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. In general... Write on one topic per paragraph Develop that topic Ensure cohesion and coherence — continued — Graduate School of Journalism: Second bullet – deleted “paragraph” Replace “use” with “ensure” Graduate School of Journalism: Second bullet – deleted “paragraph” Replace “use” with “ensure”

21. Copyright ©2002 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman publishers. All rights reserved. Provide adequate details Consider your audience and genre Avoid ambiguous references “This, they, and these” are common offenders In general...