Communication by the written word

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Communication by the written word
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Model of Communication
Information source
Transmitter
Noise
Receiver
Destination
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Noise and redundancy spoil communication

• Noise comes from
• Confused arguments.
• Red herrings.
• Pomposity.
• Attempting to be too clever.
• Repetition (it is also boring, though used
  sparingly, it can emphasise a point).

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A Report should be impressive
The written word will be impressive if the
layout and style are clear and simple.
We may mistakenly fear that our work will be
devalued if the writing is straightforward.
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The writer must identify

• the aim of writing.
• the audience.
• the readers aims.
• the readers background knowledge.
• what the reader needs to know.
• the readers attitudes.

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The approach to writing a report is

• make a plan
• discuss a synopsis
• draft the text
• forget it!
• revise and edit

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The Ten Commandments

• The Reader is the most important person.
• Make the Report as clear as possible.
• Organise for the convenience of the Report user.
• All references should be correct in all details.
• The writing should be accurate, concise and
  unobtrusive.

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The Ten Commandments

• 6. The right diagrams with the right labels
  should be in the right place for the reader.
• 7. Summaries should give the whole picture in
  miniature.
• 8. Reports should be checked for technical and
  typing errors and inconsistencies.
• 9. The report should be attractively presented.
• 10. The Reader is the most important person.

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Style for readability

• Avoid long sentences
• The sentence length should be flexible
• Complicated information should be communicated in
  short sentences or as bullet points
• Long words confuse rather than impress
• Use words sparingly - is there a simpler, better
  word? (thesaurus)
• Avoid redundant words
• Use words accurately
• Sections and Paragraphs
• A good paragraph will convey just one idea
  Ideally this will be stated in a topic sentence,
  then developed logically
• Avoid the passive voice and use the active voice
• Use impersonal writing when appropriate

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Active Voice In sentences written in active
voice, the subject performs the action expressed
in the verb the subject acts.
In each example above, the subject of the
sentence performs the action expressed in the
verb.
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Passive Voice In sentences written in passive
voice, the subject receives the action expressed
in the verb the subject is acted upon. The
agent performing the action may appear in a "by
the . . ." phrase or may be omitted.
Examples taken from http//owl.english.purdue.edu/
handouts/grammar/g_actpass.html
 
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The structure of a Report
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Contents of a typical Report

• Title page summary, contents
• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Description of work/study done
• Results/findings and Discussion
• Conclusions and Recommendations
• References and Bibliography
• Appendices

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Report Foundations
Work/Findings/Discussion
Aim
Conclusions
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Title page

• The initial impact is important.
• The front page tries to grab the readers
  attention.
• The most important information should be at the
  golden section.

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The potential reader asks..

• What is the report about?
• Is it relevant to me?
• Does it contain useful and important
• information?
• Should I spend time reading it now?

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• The title page must win the attention of the
  reader.
• Prominence is achieved by
• the position on the page.
• the font and size of the type.

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Titles should be short but instructive
Construction and instrumentation of an
experimental concrete road on the trunk road D7
Uxbridge by-pass to determine the effects of
omitting expansion joints. Rapid measurement of
carbon in steel. An investigation into the
suitability of CSPFA as a base material.
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Contents pages should be informative

• 1 Summary
• 2 Introduction
• 3 Method of treatment
• 3.1 Survey of reducing agents
• 3.2 Survey of precipitating agents
• 4 Plant requirements.
• 4.1 Pre-treatment storage..

• 1 Summary
• 2 Introduction
• 3 Method
• 4 Results
• 5 Discussion
• 6 Conclusions
• 7 Recommendations
• 8 References

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The Summary

• The summary is a synopsis of the whole report
  outlining
• the aims
• the work (methods)
• the findings (results) and
• the conclusions
• Informative summaries are best give hard
  information rather than vague generalities.

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Introduction

• Define what the problem is (the questions you are
  addressing)
• Outline specific considerations that lead to this
  investigation
• How it differs from previous work
• What the report will contain
• Perhaps some (hint) of the conclusions

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Method

• Describe the approach taken.
• Justify that it is appropriate.
• Establish constraints or assumptions.
• Enable others to repeat the work and check the
  conclusions.

• Link with the aim of the work.
• Motivate the work - what is its importance?
• Establish approaches used in previous research -
  the literature search.

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Findings/Results Discussion

• Do not swamp the argument.
• Place the details in Appendices.
• Give sufficient information to support the
  argument.

• What is implied by the findings?
• Do not simply repeat the findings.
• Compare with the findings of other work.
• Conclusions are drawn and justified during the
  discussion.

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Presentation of results.

• Use the format that illustrates the point to be
  made.
• Tables.
• Graphs.
• Drawings.
• Schematic diagrams.

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Conclusions

• Conclusions are those things that have been
  discovered as a result of having done the work.
• What do I know now that I didnt know before.
• A common mistake is to provide a summary of the
  work.
• Conclusions is a short section.
• When the conclusions can be written down, it is
  time to write the report.

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Conclusions - example 1
Accidents in fog totalled 192 in the three year
period 1969-71, making up 4 of the total 129 of
these occurred during daylight hours. Accidents
were on average more serious, with more
casualties per accident, than those occurring in
other weather conditions. About 45 of the fog
accidents and 22 of the non-fog accidents
occurred on about one-seventh (160km) of the
motorway network.
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Conclusions - example 2
1. If an oil-cooling system is caught at the
'incipient failure' stage but does not show
gross contamination, the oil should be changed
without flushing (section 3.4). 2. Sludge bound
oil coolers should be cleaned by a flushing
procedure (described in section 3.5) 3. Systems
that are grossly contaminated after component
failure should be stripped and cleaned on site
(section 3.7) 4. Metal-contaminated oil coolers
should be returned to the manufacturer for
complete stripping and cleaning (section 3.8)
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References
29 Lam, K Y, Hung, S L, (1995), Concurrency
control for time constrained transactions,
Computer Journal, 38, 704-715. 30 Lam, K,
Lee, V C S, (1996), Distributed real-time
concurrency control protocol, in Proc, 4th
International Workshop on Parallel and
Distributed Real-time Systems, pp122-125, IEEE
Computer Society Press, Hawaii. 31 Roberts,
Andrew, Mary and Charles Lamb Web site,
http//www.mdx.ac.uk/www.study/ylamb.htm
Accessed on 12/12/2004 When you provide
information such as the author and title when
referencing a web page, it enables the reader to
search for the web page, even if the web address
is changed.
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References

• 28 Umar, A, (1997), Object-oriented
  Client/server internet environments,
  Prentice-Hall Upper Saddle River, NJ.
• Umar 28 states that
• Client/server environments 28 are important .
• Umar (1997) suggests that ...
• had significant results (Umar et al. 1998).

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- Last thoughts -

• Think of the report holistically
• Initial impression is very important
• Title page
• Contents
• summary
• Two very important parts of any report
• Introduction
• Conclusions

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Literature Surveys
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The hierarchy of information
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The purpose of publication

• Expand the body of knowledge.
• Prevent replication of effort.
• Enable independent checks on results.
• Disseminate opinions.
• Provoke discussion.
• Gain wider recognition for work.

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Why survey the literature?

• Discover the state-of-the-art.
• Identify gaps in the body of knowledge.
• Identify relevant work.
• Locate useful expertise.
• Keep abreast of developments.

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The world of literature

• Textbooks.
• Learned Journals.
• Conference proceedings.
• World wide web.
• Trade papers.
• Newspapers.

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Types of academic publication

• Original paper.
• Review of a research topic.
• Bibliography.
• Thesis.
• Dissertation.
• Technical Report.

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Presentation of the literature survey 1. The
project context

• What related work is being undertaken?
• What is the motivation for the work?
• How does it help me/science?
• Why am I studying this aspect of the problem?

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Presentation of the literature survey 2. The
area of investigation

• What techniques are in use?
• What are the findings of other people?
• What are the views of other people?
• How do they compare with my views?

Literature surveys are a critical appraisal
rather than a simple list of papers.
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A literature survey demonstrates

• an awareness of an adequate body of knowledge,
  and
• the ability to apply that knowledge to the
  project.

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The End!
Bet youre glad!