Writing Skills

[Dry Ice]

Many of us have gone through the task of writing studies/reports either at school, university or work. For some it is a straightforward task while for others it might seem a bit harder.

What about you? How do you see studies/reports writing and what kind of tips/advice would you share concerning this topic...

Cheers

[Frisbeetarian]

Many of us have gone through the task of writing studies/reports either at school, university or work. For some it is a straightforward task while for others it might seem a bit harder.

What about you? How do you see studies/reports writing and what kind of tips/advice would you share concerning this topic...

Cheers

I would suggest, for the people having difficulties writting, to broaden their vocabulary. It may seem redundant but it will help out in the long run; for it will make finding the right word to describe something easier and will yield out better grades.

[Amirkani]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Many of us have gone through the task of writing studies/reports either at school, university or work. For some it is a straightforward task while for others it might seem a bit harder.

What about you? How do you see studies/reports writing and what kind of tips/advice would you share concerning this topic...

Cheers

A worthwhile consideration: pay a few $ to Shadow and have him do it for you.

This is what I do. He even writes my posts as a bonus.

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[Diabolo_7]

It is technical writing you are talking about.

wikepedia Technical writing, a form of technical communication, is a style of formal writing, used in fields as diverse as computer hardware and software, chemistry, the aerospace industry, robotics, finance, consumer electronics, and biotechnology. Good technical writing clarifies technical jargon; that is, it presents useful information that is clear and easy to understand for the intended audience. Poor technical writing, on the other hand, often creates unnecessary technical jargon, and sows seeds of confusion and misunderstanding in the readers' minds. Technical writers often labour under titles that include phrases like Information Development, Technical Documentation, or Technical Publications. For example, in some organizations, Technical Writers may be called Information Developers, Documentation Specialists, Documentation Engineers, or Technical Content Developers. Technical writers explain complex ideas to technical and nontechnical audiences. This could mean telling a programmer how to use a software library, or telling a consumer how to operate a television remote control. Technical writers gather information from existing documentation, and from subject matter experts. A subject matter expert (SME) is any expert on the topic the writer is working on. Technical writers usually are not SMEs themselves—unless they're writing about creating good technical documentation. Workers at many levels, and in many different fields, have a role in producing and distributing technical communications. A good technical writer needs strong language skills, and must understand the highly evolved conventions of modern technical communications. For technical documents to be useful, readers must understand and act on them without having to decode wordy and ambiguous prose.

Each field has its own set of criteria to what is considered sound writing practice.

A small example will be the difference in resumes between academia and industry. In Academia, it is very common to run across a 10 page resume, while in industry, if it goes over 2 pages, then you are sure that your resume is trashed.

In addition, you should take into consideration the objective. Grant writing is different than report writing, different than publications...

Also, requirements differ (this has to do more with format rather than style), for example a grant submitted to the National Institute of Health (NIH) has a different format than a grant submitted to the National Science Foundation (NSF). If you are writing a journal article, each journal will have their own criteria (referencing...)

Usually in Universities, there should be resources to help you out. Usually a writing center is set up (within the library) to help people.

here is something I found online: http://www.io.com/~hcexres/textbook/

[General my General!]

There is no easy way to improve your writing skills...its mostly about practice. If it comes to reports or formal work...a good job will definitely need more than one draft.

The best I advice I ever had many years ago was not to write to impress. People are often stuck for hours trying to make huge opening sentences to impress readers, when its best to just write it out straight as it comes to your mind, then later come back to it and re-draft.

If its a case of journal publication, then doing some regular reading of other articles would give a good idea the writing style expected.

Cheers!