Readability

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Readability

• Part IV

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Readability, Few Issues

• Writing is readable if it provides the
  information that the readers need, located where
  they can quickly find it, in a form in which they
  can easily use it.
• You need to provide new information, organize
  your document according to readers needs, and
  apply forms that can easily be used.
• You should do your best to make your writing easy
  to skim-read.
• It is easy to make things difficult, but
  difficult to make things easy

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A- Writing Paragraphs

• A good paragraph should
• Have unity focuses on one idea or theme, that
  also help skim-reading
• Have coherence one sentence lead to the next in
  some kind of logical sequence.
• Have adequate supporting material it contains
  some details to support the main idea of the
  paragraph.
• Fit in with the overall structure of points being
  made in the text as a whole.
• For this you can use certain tools such as a
  good topic statement, an appropriate pattern of
  organization, and appropriate functions and
  emphasis. These tools will be discussed in
  details.

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A-1 A Good Topic Statement

• The topic of a paragraph is the main idea or
  theme, what the paragraph is about.
• There are two ways of presenting the topic of a
  paragraph
• Deductive-Pattern the opening sentence
  introduces the topic, the introduction can be
  extended to -and maybe beyond- the second
  sentence. It is the most common strategy in
  scientific writing. It allows the reader to guess
  what is coming and thus digest it more easily,
  and it allows them to skip the paragraph if the
  subject matter holds no interest to them.
• You should include key words that are related to
  the topic, and be a complete statement of the
  topic.

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• 2. Inductive-Pattern in which you delay the
  topic statement until the end or near the end of
  the paragraph.
• Can be used in special cases, for example if you
  are laying out the logic of an important point in
  a step-by-step fashion and want the reader to
  follow it each step of the way. Or, if you want
  to delay the bad news till the end!!
• Example of an effective topic statement
• Unlike the gasohol-powered cars, the fuel cell
  alternative is virtually pollution-free What do
  you expect this paragraph to say??
• Bad example
• Example (1)
• Utility costs for the argon process are 75
  greater than for the proposed hydrogen process.
  Initial capita cost is 5.4 million, roughly
  three times the hydrogen process cost. However,
  annual income from

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• the sale of argon, increased ammonia
  production, and reduced natural gas requirements
  elsewhere in the plant is 160 higher than that
  generated by the hydrogen process. Present-worth
  analysis shows that the argon process is the
  better investment. The present worth of the argon
  process is 10.25 million. The present worth of
  the hydrogen process is 4.14 million.
• What is the main problem with paragraph above?
• How would you restructure this paragraph to be
  more effective?

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A-2 A Clear Pattern of Organization

• A topic statement is followed up by a number of
  supporting statements, they should follow a
  consistent pattern of organizations, some of the
  most commonly used patterns in scientific
  research are
• 1. Chronological description use a time frame
  to tie the sentences together in 1981 .last
  week, soon after the project begun . First
  then. Finally..
• originally we wantednow we .
• Example (2)
• 2. Cause and effect analysis when you want to
  make a logical argument, explain a process,
  explain why something happened the way it did, or
  predict some future sequence of events.
• Mention the cause first and then the result.

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• Use some of the signals such as
• Therefore, thus, consequently, accordingly, as
  a result, so, since, because of, due to, causes,
  result in, when, where, if, or then.
• Example (3)
• A-3 Comparison and Contrast
• When it is necessary to compare two or more
  things that are similar in some ways but
  different in others.
• Use Characteristic features of comparison and
  contrast such as however, on the other hand,
  conversely, similarly, likewise, in contrast to,
  more than, -er, less than, as as, rather than,
  is different from, while, whereas, but.

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• Avoid
• Jumping back and forth from one alternative to
  another. For example if you are comparing two
  kinds of material X and Y using four criteria A,
  B, C, and D. Suppose that the first three
  criteria favor X and the fourth favor Y. You
  should present the comparison in terms of these
  two criteria groups first A through C and then
  D.
• Do not routinely make neutral statements of
  comparison. For example, instead of saying item
  X weighs 3.2 Kilos, and item Y weighs 2.7 kilos
  consider saying item X weighs 3.2 kilos,
  whereas item Y weighs only 2.7 kilos. The second
  sentence helps the reader follow your point, you
  favor item X.
• Example (4)

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A-4 Listing

• Sometimes you need to present the information in
  the form of a list such as a list of equipment,
  list of things done, list of reasons why you are
  recommending something, etc.
• A list is a set of items all of which have
  something in common and yet are independent of
  each other.
• Lists can be
• Formatted the list is set off the from the rest
  of the paragraph by means of indentation and
  numbering or lettering. They use alphanumeric
  sequencing and vertical alignment. For Example
• REFS
• Government invoice 79
• Bonded Stores invoice 20
• DECADS letter 5/20/79

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• Partially Formatted they either use alphanumeric
  sequencing or vertical alignment but not both,
  for example
• Factors taken into consideration include the
  following (1) size of lot, (2) parking
  requirements, (3) cost per gross square foot, and
  (5) need for elevator.
• Unformatted lists the list does not have such
  visual cues as the formatted lists, no
  alphanumeric sequence or vertical alignment.
  Sometimes hard to identify. Example
• compared to standard bipolar types, VMOS
  transistors offer higher input impedance, faster
  switching times, wider operating range, and
  smaller chip area
• All items in a list must be cast in parallel
  grammatical form, this is essentially important
  in the unformatted lists to make it easier to
  identify.
• You should use parallelism whenever you are
  constructing a list.

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• Negative example The principal processes are
• Coagulating and flocculation.
• Removing the solids.
• Nitrogen-Removal
• Disinfection.
• Revised version 1. Coagulation 2. Removal of
• 3. Removal of 4.
  Disinfiction
• Sometimes it is useful to use small words in the
  making of parallelism to clear the meaning,
  example The purpose of this report is to
  present evidence that the contracting officer
  acted within the range of his authority and his
  final opinion was binding.
• Here the two parallel clauses are the the
  contracting officer acted within the range of his
  authority and his final opinion was binding.
  The two his suggested the parallelism.

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• Revised form The purpose of this report is to
  present evidence that the contracting officer
  acted within the range of his authority and that
  his final opinion was binding.
• Parallelism can prevent misinterpretation of
  writings, example This filter has two important
  functions to reject impulse noise signals and
  passing low frequency command signals without
  amplitude or phase distortion.
• This section suggests that the filter rejects
  both impulse noise signals and reject passing low
  frequency..
• Revised This filter has two important
  functions to reject impulse noise signals and to
  pass low frequency command signals without
  amplitude or phase distortion. Can you see the
  difference?

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• Misleading Parallelism Do not use parallelism
  when no list is involved and do not include items
  that do not belong to a list. Example Khaled
  Omar, senior engineer, asked me to develop a
  magnetic tape measurement system, to reside
  permanently on the computer, to give better
  control, and to coordinate the numerous magnetic
  tapes.
• Te first sentence does not belong to the list,
  the person will not reside on the computer!
• Revised Khaled Omar, senior engineer, asked me
  to develop a magnetic tape measurement system
  which will reside permanently on the computer,
  give better control, and coordinate the numerous
  magnetic tapes.

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• Punctuation of a list
• Unformatted lists are set off ,if needed, by a
  colon (), by dashes (--), or by parentheses.
  Here are the rules
• 1. Use a colon if the list ends the sentence for
  example
• the new technology is most widely known for its
  microelectronics pocket calculators,
  microcomputers, and other products that have
  revalorized information processing and
  communication.
• 2. Use dashes or parentheses if the list does not
  end the sentence, for example Every aspect of
  the peptide neurotransmitters-how they are made,
  what they do, where and how they act, how they
  are disposed of, and even whether they are true
  transmitters or serve some other functions-is
  being studied with great intensity.

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• The charge of an electron has been shown to
  occur in integral multiples (1, 2, 3, etc) of
  its basic value.
• To separate the items of a list
• 1- Use a comma in most cases
• 2- Use semicolons if the items are long or
  punctuated internally. For example
• We have assembly plans in the following
  locations Cedar Rapids, Iowa Totowa, New
  Jersey Edmonds, Washingtonand Castle Rock,
  Colorado.
• Another example
• An efficient project cost system must accomplish
  three important objectives (1) check actual and
  predicted costs of ongoing projects against the
  estimated cost (1) obtain production rates for
  use in estimating work and create historical
  files (3) forcast the project final cost.
• 3- In formatted lists, punctuation is optional.

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• If the items in a list are not equally important,
  they should usually be arranged in descending
  order of importance.If you chose to do the
  opposite, you must signal that, for example, say
  Finally, and most important,

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A-4 General to Particular Ordering

• In this pattern, supporting details are ordered
  from the more general to the more particular.
  Each sentence focuses on a smaller frame of
  reference than the one before it.
• Example (5)
• The example moves from the magnetic bearings to
  the permanent magnets to only ten pounds of such
  magnets, to the subcomponent magnet servo
  loop
• Remarks
• THERE ARE OTHER PATTERNS.
• PATTERNS CAN BE MIXED