英語技術(shù)寫作

GuidelinestoSuccessfulTechnicalWriting

1.RevisingwithefficientsentencesThemainpurposeofatechnicaldocumentistoinformorpersuadethereaderthroughuseofefficientsentences,nottoimpressorentertainwithfancylanguagedisplays.So,technicaldocumentstransmitworthwhileinformation—evenhighlyspecializedinformation—inthemoststraightforwardwaytotheiraudience.Readersoftechnicaldocumentsarebusyandimpatient.Theydonotwishtoputmoreintoreadingadocumentthantheycangetfromit.Theyhatewasteandexpectefficiency.Everysentenceinadocumentshouldberevisedtocarryitsownweight,inconveyingthewriter’smeaning.Observethesameruleinadoptingsentencestyleasyouwouldinchoosingthedocument’scontent:makeitlongenoughtobeunderstood,yetshortenoughtobetolerated.Whenwritingatechnicaldocument,consulttheguidelinesbelow,whichcanalsoserveasachecklistforyoursentencestyle:Revisesentencestobeclearandavoidambiguity.Aclearsentencecommunicatesitsprecisemeaningonfirstreading.Itsignalsrelationshipsamongitsparts,andemphasizesthekeythought.Intechnicalwriting,asentenceshouldhaveonlyonemeaning.Makesurethewords,phrases,andpunctuationareabsolutelyclear.AmbiguousIcannotrecommendthiscandidatetoohighly.RevisedThiscandidatehasmyhighestrecommendation.AmbiguousManyexecutivesareskepticalaboutofficeautomationaswellasmanagers.RevisedManyexecutivesaswellasmanagersareskepticalaboutofficeautomation.AmbiguousBeingwell-knowninthecomputerindustry,ourprojectwouldbenefitalotfromtheTsinghuateam.RevisedBecausetheTsinghuateamiswell-knowninthecomputerindustry,ourprojectwouldbenefitalotfromitshelp.

Useactiveratherthanpassivevoicemostofthetime.Usually,theactivevoice(Joetestedthesoftware.)isbetterthanthepassivevoice(ThesoftwareistestedbyJoe.),butincertainsituationsitcanmakesensetousethelessnaturalpassivestyle.However,manywritersroutinelyusethepassivestylesimplybecausetheybelieveitismore“formal”and“acceptable”.Itisnot.Usingthepassivestyleisthemostcommonreasonforpoorlystructuredsentencesanditalwaysleadstolongersentencesthanarenecessary.Unlessyouhaveaverygoodreasonforthechangeinemphasis,youshouldalwayswriteintheactivestyle.Thefollowingexamplesshowtheimprovementachievedbyswitchingfrompassivetoactive:Faulty ThereportwaswrittenbyPeter,andwasfoundtobeexcellent.CorrectPeterwrotethereport,anditwasexcellent.Faulty Thelidshouldbesealedwithwax.CorrectSealthelidwithwax.Bad Thevaluesweremeasuredautomaticallybythecontrolsystem.Good Thecontrolsystemmeasuredthevaluesautomatically.Weak&ImpersonalAnofferwillbemadebyusnextweek.Stronger Wewillmakeyouanoffernextweek.Avoidunnecessarywordsandrepetition.Manysentencescontainunnecessarywordsthatrepeatanideaalreadyexpressedinanotherword.Thiswastesspaceandbluntsthemessage.Oftenwritersuseseveralwordsforideasthatcanbeexpressedinone.Thisleadstounnecessarilycomplexsentencesandredundancy.Redundant Theprinterislocatedadjacenttothecomputer.RevisedTheprinterisadjacenttothecomputer.Redundant Theusercanvisiblyseetheimagemoving.Revised Theusercanseetheimagemoving.RedundantTheproductisnotofasatisfactorynature.RevisedTheproductisunsatisfactory.Makesentencesfluent.Fluentsentencesarepolished,graceful,andeasytoread.Variedlengthandwordordermakethemfreeofchoppinessandmonotony.Seethefollowingsuggestions:Needless“that”Thisisaproblemthatbothersme.Fluent Thisproblembothersme.NeedlessqualifierItseemsthattheyhaveavalidargument.Revised Theyhaveavalidargument./Theyseemtohaveavalidargument.ChoppyJoggingcanbehealthfulifyouhavetherightequipment.Mostimportantarewell-fittingshoes.Theyareimportantbecausewithoutthemyoutakethechanceofinjuringyourlegs.Yourkneesareespeciallypronetoinjury.RevisedJoggingcanbehealthfulifyouhavetherightequipment.Well-fittingshoesaremostimportantbecausetheypreventinjuriestoyourlegs,especiallyyourknees.TechnicalwritingexercisesThefollowingsentencesareunclearorlackfluencybecauseofambiguousphrasing,incorrectwordorder,ortoomuchinformation.Revisethemsothattheirmeaningsareclear.AmaneatingsharkwasspottedintheSouthWearingspecialequipment,theradioactivematerialfailedtoinjuretheoperator.Thatisawholenewapproachthatneedsattentionandresearch.Thefollowingsentencesneedtoberewrittenintheactiveorpassivevoiceforbetteremphasis,moredirectnessorgreatereconomy.Makenecessarychangesandgivereasonsforeach.a)Itisbelievedbyusthatthecontractisfaulty.Specialhelmetsshouldbewornatalltimesduringthisproject.Itwasreportedbythemanagerthattheprojectwasintrouble.Careshouldbetakenintheoperationofthemachine.

GuidelinestoSuccessfulTechnicalWriting2.ChoosingtherightwordsandexpressionsYourchoiceofwordsultimatelydeterminesthequalityofyourwriting.Keepyourexpressionsimple,jargon-free,original,convincing,precise,concreteandspecific.Replacedifficultwordsandphraseswithsimpleralternatives.Flowerydictionandneedlessjargonobscureyourmessageandforceyourreaderstoworktoohardforunderstanding.WorditinplainEnglish,andavoidinflateddiction.Donotusethreesyllableswhenonewilldo.Hereisalistofanumberofwordsandexpressionsthatshouldgenerallybeavoidedinfavorofthesimplealternative.approximately=aboutascertain=findassist,assistance=helpcommence=startdemonstrate=showdwelling=houseeffectuate=do(to)endeavor=(to)tryendeavor=effortenquire=askfacilitate=helpinconsequence=soinexcessof=moreinrespectof=aboutintheeventof=ifinitiate-beginmultiplicityof=manynecessitate-needphenomenon=eventterminate=end,stoptransmit=sendutilize=useOwingtothesituationthat...=Because,since…Shouldasituationarisewhere...=If…Takingintoconsiderationsuchfactorsas...=Considering…Also,unlessyouarediscussingbuildingmaintenanceorcomputergraphics,neverusetheverb“render”.FaultyThetestingstrategyrendereditimpossibletofindallthefaults.CorrectThetestingstrategymadeitimpossibletofindallthefaults.Inotherwords,ifyoumean“make”thenwrite“make”not“render”.Countthesyllablesandtrimwhenyoucan.Thefollowingisanexampleofbaddictioninflation:InflatedRe-evaluatethedesignoftheentireuserinterfacetominimizedesignfactorswhichareresultinginsensitiveand/orcriticalmaintenanceandinspectionprocedures.RevisedRedesigntheUIsotheyareeasiertomaintainandinspect.Useverbsinsteadofnounsifpossible.Lookatthefollowingsentence:HalftheteamwasinvolvedinthedevelopmentofsystemY.Thissentencecontainsaclassicexampleofacommoncauseofpoorwritingstyle.Thesentenceisusingtheabstractnoun“development”inplaceoftheverb“develop”.Thesimplerandmorenaturalversionofthesentenceis:HalftheteamwasinvolvedindevelopingsystemY.Turningverbsintoabstractnounsalwaysproducessentenceslongerthannecessary,soavoiddoingit.Thefollowingexamplesshowtheimprovementyoucanachievebyreplacingnounswithverbs:FaultyHeusedtohelpinthespecificationofnewsoftware.RevisedHeusedtohelpspecifynewsoftware.FaultyClickingtheiconcausestheexecutionoftheprogram.RevisedTheprogramexecuteswhentheiconisclicked.FaultyTheanalysisofthesoftwarewasperformedbyFred.RevisedFredanalyzedthesoftware.FaultyItwasreportedbyJonesthatmethodZfacilitatedtheutilizationofinspectiontechniquesbythetestingteam.RevisedJonesreportedthatmethodZhelpedthetestingteamuseinspectiontechniques.Usejargononlyifithelpsyoucommunicatebetter.ExpressionslikeMS/DOS,UI,ODBCandglitchareexamplesofjargon.Ingeneral,jargonreferstoaspecialvocabularyofaparticulargrouporactivity.Itisoftenshorthandorabbreviations,withspecializedusage.Ifyouareconfidentthateveryreaderofyourreportunderstandsthespecialty,thenitmaybeused.Forexample,ifyouronlypotentialreadersarecomputerspecialists,itisappropriatetosaythatacomputerisdownwithouthavingtoexplainwhat“down”means.Inallothercases(whicharealmostalways)jargonshouldbeavoided.Ifyoucannotavoidusingsuchexpressions,thendefinethetermthefirsttimeyouuseitorreferthereadertoaglossarywhereitisdefined.Needlessjargon Intercomutilizationwillbeusedtoinitiateovertimeprogrammeroperativeinvolvement.Revised Programmerswhohavetoworkovertimewillbenotifiedontheintercom.Beconsistentinnamingthesamesubjectorobject.Therule“Neverusethesamewordtwice.”doesnotapplytoallformsofwriting.Somepeoplemayfeeltheymustusedifferentwordstodescribethesamething.Intechnicalwritingtheoppositeruleapplies:“Youshouldalwaysusethesamewordtorefertothesamething.”Failingtodosomayconfuseandannoyreaders.Consider,forexample,thefollowingparagraphthatwaswritteninagroupprojectfinalreport:Inthefirstthreeweeksoftheprojectwewroteaprojectplanforthesystem.Wewereambitiousinourrequirementsbecausewewantedthegroupprojecttobeasuccessandwewantedthesoftwaretobeofhighquality.Infact,weweredeterminedthatoursoftwarewouldbeverysatisfactory.Bydieendwerealizedthereweremajorproblemswiththeproject.Thefirstincrementoftheprojectwedeliveredwasinconsistentwiththerequirementsspecificationanditwasclearthefinalcodewouldnotbethebestsystemastherewereclearlybettergroupsthanours.Theproblemwiththisparagraphisthattherearethreekeyobjectsthatarereferredtoindifferentandinconsistentways.Theobjectsare:●Theproject:Itreferstotheentiretyofthegroupexperience.●Theplan:Itreferstoadocumentdescribingtherequirementsandthescheduleforimplementingthem.●Thesystem:Itreferstothesoftwaresystemthatthegroupprojectissupposedtodeliver.'*?3*1ijit.4'*?3*1ijit.4●Theproject:project;groupproject;group.●Theplan:projectplan;requirements;requirementsspecification.Thesystem:system;software;project;code;finalcode.Insituationssuchasthis,itisimportanttoidentifyeachdifferentobjectfirstanddecideonceandforallhowitshouldbenamed.Onceyouhavemadethisdecisionconsistentlyusethesamenamethroughoutwhenyourefertothatobject.Applyingthisinstructiontotheexampleabovewillyieldthefollowingimprovedtext:Inthefirstthreeweeksoftheprojectwewroteaplanforthesystem.Ourplanwasambitiousbecausewewantedtheprojecttobeasuccessandwewantedthesystemtobehighquality.Infact,weweredeterminedthatourprojectwouldbeverysatisfactory.Bytheendwerealizedthereweremajorproblemswiththeproject.Thefirstincrementofthesystemwedeliveredwasinconsistentwiththeplananditwasclearthefinalsystemwouldnotbethebestsystemastherewereclearlybetterprojectsthanours.TechnicalwritingexercisesImprovetheeconomyanddirectnessofthefollowingsentencesbyreplacingdifficultwordsandphraseswithsimpleralternatives,andreplacingnounswithverbs.Donothesitatetocontactusintheeventthatyouareinneedofassistanceforthecomputersoftwareapplicationatanytime.Billmadethesuggestionthatwehireanadditionalsystemsanalyst.Werequesttheformationofacommitteeofexperiencedsoftwareengineersforthereviewofqualitydiscrepancies.2.Revisethefollowingparagraphtomakeitmoreinternallyconsistentandreadable.Goodsoftwareengineeringisbasedonanumberofkeyprinciples.Onesuchprincipleisforthegrouptogetagoodunderstandingofthecustomerrequirements.Itisalsoimportanttodeliverinregularincrements,involvingtheclientasmuchaspossible.Anotherruleisthatitisnecessarytodounittesting,blackboxandwhiteboxtestingthroughout,withunittestingbeingespeciallycrucial.Inadditiontothepreviousdoctrines,aprogrammerneedstobeabletomaintaingoodcommunicationwithinthesoftwareteam(andalsowiththeuser).GuidelinestoSuccessfulTechnicalWriting3.Grammar,punctuation&mechanicsUnits1and2explainedthemostimportantprinciplesforimprovingthestyleofyourwriting.However,itisalsoimportant(andactuallyeasier)toimprovethegrammar,punctuationandmechanicsofyourwriting.Nomatterhowvitalandinformativeamessagemaybe.itscredibilityisdamagedifitcontainserrors.Anyerrors—illogical,fragmented,orrun-onsentences;faultypunctuation:poorlychosenwords—standoutandmarotherwisegoodwriting.Thissectionprovidesseveralguidelinestoavoidthemostcommonlymadelanguageerrors.Althoughitoffersnoeasysolutiontolong-standingfundamentalproblemsinwriting,itdoesprovideasimpleguideforbasicimprovement.Youmaydiscoverthatsomewritingproblemsareeasiertosolvethanyouhadrealized.GrammarBeawareofdanglingmodifiers.Adanglingmodifier,acommoncaseofEnglishmisusage.isaverbalphrase,prepositionalphrase,ordependentclausethatdoesnotrefertothesubjectinitssentence.Correctitbyrewritingthesentencetomakethemodifiercorrespondwiththesubject.Dangling Afteranightofhardwork,thebugwasfinallyfixed.Revised Afterwehadworkedallnight,thebugwasfinallyfixed.DanglingWithoutknowingthefinaldesign,itisdifficulttomakeplansfortheimplementation.RevisedBecausewehavenotreceivedthefinaldesign,itisdifficulttomakeplansfortheimplementation.DanglingTheprojectendedupafailure,nothavingstudiedtheuserrequirementscarefully.RevisedWecouldnotcompletetheproject,nothavingstudiedtheuserrequirementscarefully.Avoidrun-onsentences.Run-onsentencescramtoomanyideasintoonesentencewithoutprovidingneededbreaksorpausesbetweenthoughts.Run-onThehourglassismoreaccuratethanthewaterclockforthewaterinawaterclockmustalwaysbeofthesametemperatureinordertoflowwiththesamespeedsincewaterevaporatesitmustbereplenishedatregularintervalsthusnotbeingaseffectiveinmeasuringtimeasthehourglass.RevisedThehourglassismoreaccuratethanthewaterclockbecausewaterinawaterclockmustalwaysbeofthesametemperaturetoflowatthesamespeed.Also,waterevaporatesandmustbereplenishedatregularintervals.Thesetemperatureandvolumeproblemsmakethewaterclocklesseffectivethanthehourglassinmeasuringtime.Avoidfaultysubjectandverbagreement.Failuretomakethesubjectofasentenceagreeinpersonandnumberwiththeverbisacommonwritingerror.Luckily,itisanerroreasilyavoidedorcorrected.Inshortsentences,wherethesubjectandtheverbarenotfarapart,thismistakeisnotlikelytooccur;however,inmorecomplicatedsentences,youmaylosetrackofthesubject-verbrelationship.FaultyEveryoneinthedevelopmentgroupandthetestinggrouphaveworkedlonghours.CorrectEveryoneinthedevelopmentgroupandthetestinggrouphasworkedlonghours.FaultyThehighnumberofsoftwareprojectsthatfailedthisyeararedisappointingCorrectThehighnumberofsoftwareprojectsthatfailedthisyearisdisappointing.FaultyComputersecuritytechniquesandaworkableplanforevadingvariouskindsofhackerattacksrequireslargeexpenditures.CorrectComputersecuritytechniquesandaworkableplanforevadingvariouskindsofhackerattacksrequirelargeexpenditures.Avoidsentenceshifts.Shiftsinpointofviewdamagecoherence.Ifyoubeginasentenceorparagraphwithonesubjectorperson,remainwithit.ShiftinpersonWhenyouhavemanagedtowriteprofessionalEnglishtechnicaldocuments,onewillhaveagreatsenseofachievement.RevisedWhenyouhavemanagedtowriteprofessionalEnglishtechnicaldocuments,youwillhaveagreatsenseofachievement.ShiftinvoiceHedeliveredthespecsforsystemdesign,andtheUMLdiagramswerealsorevisedbyhim.RevisedHedeliveredthespecsforsystemdesign,andalsorevisedtheUMLdiagrams.ShiftinnumberOneshouldsendtheprojectmanageraprogressreportbeforetheyareoffwork. RevisedOneshouldsendtheprojectmanageraprogressreportbeforeoneisoffwork.OrSendtheprojectmanageraprogressreportbeforegettingoffwork.PunctuationUsesemicolonswithadverbsasconjunctions.Youmustusesemicolons,notcommas,toaccompanyadverbsandotherexpressionsthatconnectrelatedindependentideas.Herearesomecommonadverbs:besides,otherwise,still,however,furthermore,moreover,consequently,therefore,ontheotherhand,incontrast,infact.Forexample:Theprojectwasfinallycompleted;however,thecustomerswerenotverysatisfied.Designingsuchacomplicatedsystemistood