Good Style: Writing for Science and Technology

by Kirkman; John

• ISBN13: 9780415345019
• ISBN10: 0415345014
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-03-10
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Good Style explains the tactics that can be used to write technical material in a coherent, readable style. It discusses in detail the choices of vocabulary, phrasing and sentence structure and each piece of advice is based on evidence of the styles prefered by technical readers and supported by many examples of writing from a variety of technical contexts. John Kirkman draws from his many years of experience lecturing on communication studies in Europe, the USA, the Middle East and Hong Kong, both in academic programmes and in courses for large companies, research centres and government departments. Good Stylehas become a standard reference book on the shelf of students of science, technology and computing and is an essential aid to all professionals whose work involves writing of reports, papers, guides, manuals or on-screen texts. This new edition also includes information on writing for the web and additional examples of how to express medical and life-science information.

Table of Contents

Preface to the second edition	vii
1 Style as choice	1	(3)
2 Sentence length and complexity	4	(8)
3 Weight and familiarity of vocabulary	12	(3)
4 Specialist vocabulary: jargon	15	(4)
5 'Fashionable' words	19	(4)
6 'Roundabout' and unusual phrasing	23	(4)
7 Excessive pre-modification	27	(3)
8 Use of nouns as pre-modifiers	30	(11)
9 Abstraction	41	(4)
10 Excessive 'nominalization'	45	(2)
11 Verbs: tense and voice	47	(7)
12 Verbs: impersonal vs first-person constructions	54	(13)
13 Verbs: impersonal vs second-person constructions	67	(5)
14 Punctuation	72	(6)
15 Tone: in hard copy and in on-screen text	78	(5)
16 Avoiding 'distorted' English in computer-related texts	83	(10)
17 Style for instructions	93	(7)
18 Style for descriptive and explanatory writing	100	(9)
19 Specifications	109	(3)
20 Style for correspondence	112	(8)
21 Writing for international audiences: general policy	120	(2)
22 Writing for international audiences: writing for 'expert' readers	122	(10)
23 Writing for international audiences: writing for students	132	(1)
24 Writing for international audiences: writing for readers who do not understand English	133	(4)
25 On avoiding ambiguity	137	(8)
Appendix: Which style do scientific readers prefer? Evidence from surveys	145	(2)
References	147	(2)
Index	149