Introduction to Technical Writing

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Introduction toTechnical Writing

• ECE 333b

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Overview

• What is technical writing?
• Paper Layout
• Technical Style
• Use of Language
• Case Studies
• Types of References
• Citing According to IEEE

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What is Technical Writing?
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Characteristics of Technical Writing

• Presents facts
• Attributed to authoritative sources
• Results of repeatable and documented experiments
• and objective analysis
• Conclusions drawn from analysis of facts presented

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Paper Layout
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Layout

• Title page
• Abstract
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Body Sections
• Conclusion
• Appendices
• References

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Title page

• Title is prominent on the page
• Names of authors

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Abstract

• Provides a brief description (in the order of a
  few hundred words) of what information the report
  contains
• Contains no technical detail
• Serves to allow a potential reader to decide if
  they want to read the work

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Table of Contents

• An itemised list of the major section headings
  and appendices, with page references
• The first page of the introduction is page 1
• Pages before the introduction are given lower
  case roman numeral designators (i, ii, iii, ix)
• The title page is not numbered and is not listed

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Introduction

• Introduces the topic
• Provides relevant background information

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Body Sections

• These are the content of the work
• Should be broken up in to logical sections

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Conclusion

• Summarises key points from the work presented
• Reinforces the key message of the work

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Appendices

• Contains auxiliary information, figures, tables
  etc. that if included in the body of the work
  would distract form its readability
• Lettered in capitals, and titled
• All appendices should be referred to in the text

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Technical Style
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Characteristics of Technical Style

• The preferred tense is the present using the
  third person, impersonal
• Eg An experiment is done. Results are
  collected.
• Not I did the experiment. Suzy collected
  results.

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Characteristics of Technical Style

• When relaying historic facts a past tense should
  be used
• Eg During the 1960s and 70s the use of
  aluminium wiring material was popular in
  residential construction.

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Characteristics of Technical Style

• When referring to an individual (not one of the
  works authors) or organisation appropriate
  personal tenses and pronouns should be used
• Thomas Edison patented the carbon filament light
  bulb. He also constructed the first electrical
  distribution system.
• HydroOne is the largest transmission provider in
  Ontario, they are also one of the largest
  electrical distributors.

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Characteristics of Technical Style

• When using abbreviations, they must be spelt out
  in full the first time they are used in the body
• The Bi-polar Junction Transistor (BJT) is one of
  the simplest semiconductors available. BJTs,
  though not in common use today, form the building
  blocks for many integrated circuits.

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Things to Avoid

• Colloquialisms, Clichés and Slang
• Bustling, freefall, ghastly, paperwork, hail the
  size of golf balls etc.
• Informal language
• Plugging all the information in, as we speak
• Rhetorical questions

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Things to Avoid

• Words with ambiguous meaning
• Cheep lower cost, or lower quality

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Things to Avoid

• Excessive capitalisation
• Capitalisation is only appropriate
• In the report title
• At the beginning of sentences
• Proper nouns
• Formal titles

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Things to Avoid

• Non specific references
• According to 1... not According to a reference
  text
• Point form notes
• Please form full sentences

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Units of Measurement

• Use SI units of measurement (aka Metric)
• Metre, Kilogram, Volt, Amp (Ampere), Ohm, Siemen,
  C, K etc.
• Except where the original source uses another
  unit, in this case show both
• The 100 mi (160 km) transmission line presented
  in 3 has

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Figures and Tables

• All figures and tables must have a meaningful
  caption
• All figures and tables should be referenced in
  the text
• Consider appending figures or tables that take up
  more that ½ page
• Appended figure need not have a caption the
  appendix title serves this purpose

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Equations

• All equations should be numbered and referred to
  in the text
• a caption is optional
• Equations should be prepared using a tool like
  equation editor and easy to read
• Variable names are italicized

not
c(a2b2)/2
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Use of Language
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What Language are we Speaking?

• Canadian English adopts elements of both British
  (Oxford English Dictionary) and American
  (Merriam-Webster) English
• The accepted authorities on Canadian English are
• The Gage Canadian Dictionary (Formal)
• The Globe and Mail (Written)
• The CBC Evening News (Spoken)

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Points on Canadian English

• Typically -our is favoured (not favored)
• When a suffix is added to a word that ends in a
  consonant preceded by a vowel, the consonant is
  typically doubled
• Fuel becomes fuelling, not fueling

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Points on Canadian English

• z is the preferred consonant for the zzz sound
  thought s is acceptable (this is adopted form US
  English)
• Initialize is preferred over initialise
• -re is favoured over -er
• meagre not meager

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Technical Terminology

• Technical terms (including units of measurement)
  may use the spelling that is generally accepted
  in the relevant journals
• meter (the Canadian spelling is metre)
• aluminum (the Canadian spelling is aluminium)
• Exception the only acceptable spelling is litre.

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Common Errors

• Creating words
• Mega-Hydro
• Awkward Wordings
• Little amounts of people
• Easily Confused Words
• dammed not damned

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Good News

• Microsoft has a Canadian English Spell Check
• Just remember colour is not color
• Spell check will not catch this one

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For Further Information

• http//www.cornerstoneword.com/misc/cdneng/cdneng.
  htm
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_
  English_spelling_differences
• http//www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/BritishCan
  adianAmerican.htm

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Case Studies
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What is a Case Study?

• Presents an actual event / installation /
  application
• Should provide needed background
• Location
• Timeframe
• System details
• Provides an in-depth analysis of the case chosen,
  within the framework of the project

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Types of References
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Books and Book Chapters

• Provide a broad background on a topic
• Edited, fact checked and typically peer reviewed
• Considered an authoritative source

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Journals

• Typically specific and timely
• Peer reviewed
• Considered an authoritative source

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Conference Proceedings

• Peer reviewed (not necessary as intensely
  scrutinised as journals
• Considered an authoritative source
• Do not necessarily present complete work

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Industry Publications

• Includes industry websites
• Provides information on a specific product or
  service
• Typically biased to promote the product or
  services
• Typically aimed at the general consumer

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Websites

• Includes wikipedia and similar
• These are a free forum, anyone can publish
  anything
• No peer review
• Author credentials cannot be verified
• Not considered an authoritative source
• Helpful in initial research

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Citing According to IEEE
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In Text References

• According to IEEE 1, a numeric in text
  reference is used.
• This reference may either be mid sentence 2 or
  at the end of a sentence 3.
• Reference numbers are enclosed in brackets (not
  parentheses)

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In Text References

• When referencing to multiple sources the
  following may be used 4-6, 4, 5, 6 or 4,
  5, 6
• The later style is the preferred style when used
  and the end of a sentence
• The former style is less distracting when used
  mid sentence
• Where three or more consecutive references are
  used a hyphen is preferred of commas when the
  share a bracket.

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In Text References

• References are numbered in the order that they
  first appear in the text
• When an item is referenced multiple times, the
  same number is reused

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When to Reference

• When referring to a work
• In 7, Smith shows that
• When citing authority for a fact
• According to 8
• When quoting or paraphrasing
• When a fact is taken from another source
• When the text referenced can serve to enhance the
  readers understanding

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When to Reference

• Reference Everything

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The Reference List

• References are to appear in the order that they
  are first seen in the text
• A reference must be referenced in the text in
  order to be listed

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For Further Information

• http//www.lib.monash.edu.au/tutorials/citing/ieee
  .html
• http//www.ecf.toronto.edu/writing/handbook-docum
  1b.html
• http//www.ieee.org/portal/cms_docs_iportals/iport
  als/publications/journmag/transactions/TRANS-JOUR.
  doc