Transcript An Excellent Writing Reference

Prof Rickus’ Rules of Writing
An Excellent Writing Reference:
“The Elements of Style”
4th Edition
Strunk and White
Also Check out … “The Grammar Trap”
http://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/agcomm/ontarget/grammartrap/
The Key:
Knowing and Capturing your Audience!!
 Consider your reader with every word
 You must keep their attention
 This means clear language and clear organization!
 You must walk them through your thought process
with logical steps
 You must not talk down to them
 You must not talk over them. This will impress no
one!
1. Simple Sentences
 NO Run-on Sentences
 One Subject Noun – One Verb
 Avoid unusual words.
 You will not impress anyone by forcing them to
use a dictionary to understand your paper.
2. Paragraphs
 ONE main point per paragraph!!
 Write a topic sentence for each paragraph
 helps to provide a clear organization
 Avoids reader confusion
 If your reader is confused he/she will stop
reading!
3. Document Organization
 Have a logical organization and flow
 Use Headers (for longer papers)
 this is an easy way to direct your reader
 in technical papers the reader is more likely to
jump around
 you will also have a high percentage of
“skimmers”
4. Use Active Voice!!
 Passive voice
 “A new method is being developed …”
 vague. who is developing it?
 The noun that is doing the action is
missing
 Active Voice
 “A research team at Purdue University is
developing a new method …”
 The reader doesn’t have to guess
5. Ambiguous use of “This”
 Avoid
 “This detected the antigen.”
 This what? This refers back to the proceeding
sentence, but often it is ambiguous what you
intend to refer to.
 Too vague! Does not clearly communicate what you
want to say
 Keeps the reader guessing
 If the reader has to guess, he/she slows down
 If the reader slow down, the reader looses interest
 Instead try
 “This antibody detected the antigen.”
6. Avoid Extraneous Words
 Avoid
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“The fact that”
“It is believed that”
“We feel that”
“It is clear that”
 Reasoning
 These phrases do not add content or value.
 More words for you reader to read without
value.
 Again slows down the reader
7. Abbreviations
 Always spell out abbreviations and
acronyms the first time you use them
 “Biological engineering (BE) is a growing
discipline at Purdue. BE is fun. BE is cool”
 Do not overuse
 Exceptions. Don’t have to spell out a few
where the acronym or abbreviation is
ubiquitous
 e.g. DNA
 Another example: IBM vs. International Business
Machines Corp. Just use IBM. More people know the
acronym compared to the full name.
8. Citations & References

Use citation software such as endnote if you are writing a
longer paper with numerous citations

Better to use Author Date i.e. (Rickus et al 2005) citation
unless the publisher or instructor specifically asks for number
citations
 Easier for reader
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For multiple citations in one place, order them in chronological
order with oldest first.

Try to use original references (if you can get or understand
them) rather than only review articles
9. Avoid switching tense
 try to stick with one tense (present, past
etc).
 don’t switch around especially in one
sentence or paragraph.
 it is very distracting and slows down the
reader.
10. However

However is a “conjunctive adverb” meaning it joins words
together
If you are using “however” in this way, it means “nevertheless”.
For this use, avoid placing it at the beginning of the
sentence.
 Avoid. I am disappointed. However, I will not deduct points.
 Try: I am disappointed; however, I will not deduct points.
 Note here it requires a semicolon because it is joining two
complete phrases (each have a noun and a verb)
 Don’t think of “however” as a replacement for “but”
Correct: I like chocolate, but it has too many calories.
Incorrect: I like chocolate, however, it has too many calories.
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When however is used at the beginning of a sentence it really
means “in which ever way”.
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“However I choose to play the game, I will not win.”
So avoid using “however” at the beginning of a sentence if you
really mean “nevertheless”.
11. Few Other Common Mistakes
 It versus It’s
 It’s is a contraction of It is
 Its is possessive
12. Which versus that
 “That” is defining
 The amino acid in the sequence that is
hydrophobic.
 Tells you the specific amino acid that you are
pointing out
 No comma with “that”
 “Which” adds information
 Isoleucine, which is hydrophobic, is in position
29.
 Which requires a comma before it!
13. genes versus protein
 genes: lower case italicized
 period or per
 proteins: capitalized and no italics
 Period or Per or PER
 The per gene codes for the Period
protein.