Technical writing. Report style

1. Simple technical English should be used. Engineering and trade terms may be used, but the style should be dignified. Short sentences are preferred.

2. Avoid nominalizations unless you have a good reason to do otherwise. A nominalization is a noun derived from a verb or adjective.

No: Our expectation was that the motor would run at 2400 rpm.

Yes: We expected that the motor would run at 2400 rpm.

3. Express parallel ideas in parallel grammatical form. Units of equal function should be expressed in equal form. Repetition of the same structure allows the reader to recognize parallel ideas more readily:

No: This type of speed control can be used with synchronous motors or motors of the induction type.

Yes: This type of speed control can be used with synchronous or induction motors.

4. Place the emphatic words at the end of the sentence. Whenever possible, express at the beginning of a sentence ideas already stated, referred to, implied, safely, assumed, familiar – whatever might be called old, repeated, relatively predictable, less important, readily accessible information. Following this rule not only creates proper emphasis within the sentence, but also creates cohesion between sentences.

5. Vary sentence patterns. A series of sentences that follow the same general pattern (e.g., a series of three or four simple sentences or a series of three or four compound sentences) can be tedious. Avoid monotony by varying sentence patterns. Don’t overload your sentences or your readers.

6. Prune deadwood. Deadwood is material that adds no meaning to the sentence or paragraph. Eliminate all deadwood to make your writing more concise.

7. Avoid redundancy. Redundancy is the unnecessary repetition of information.

8. Use metaphor to illustrate. Metaphor is imaginative comparison, expressed or implied, between two generally unlike things. Metaphors, though infrequently used in engineering reports, can illustrate abstract ideas:

― When two atoms approach each other at great speeds they go through one another, while at moderate speeds they bound off each other like two billiard balls”.