Being Forthright Winston Churchill Precise Clear Forthright NYP 45063 Familiar Concise Fluid Short words are the best, and old words, when short, are best of all. Winston Churchill This slide is a title slide for a discussion of Chapter 6 in The Craft of Scientific Writing, 3rd ed. (Springer, 1996). As with Chapters 4 and 5, Chapter 6 presents a goal, rather than a rule, for language in scientific writing. The goal of being forthright is important for communicating efficiently. And being perceived as a professional. CSW: Page 97 Reference for photograph: "Churchill portrait NYP 45063" by British Government - This is photograph NYP 45063 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums.. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Churchill_portrait_NYP_45063.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Churchill_portrait_NYP_45063.jpg

To make your language forthright, you should control tone and use strong nouns and verbs and strong verbs Nouns Verbs Mapping slide for presentation about being forthright. On this slide, I like to ask students what the word tone means. Tone is one of those words that people often use, but do not know exactly what it means. (Definition occurs on page 97.) CSW: Page 97

forthright casual arrogant silly obfuscated Tone is the attitude that the writer shows about the subject casual arrogant forthright Mapping slide for discussion of controlling tone. This slide shows the desired attitude and four undesired attitudes that creep into scientific writing. CSW: Pages 97-101 silly obfuscated

For formal situations, do not use informal language a lot of But... And... & btw vs. much; many However,... In addition,... and Students are often casual in situations that call for formality. Here are some common examples: using a lot of; beginning a sentence with But or And (considered informal by many); using an ampersand rather than the word and (okay for PG&E, but not in a sentence to replace the conjunction and); using a chat-room abbreviation such as btw in a formal sentence; or abbreviating the word versus in a formal sentence. by the way versus

Many scientists and engineers convey arrogance in their writing Obviously,... As is well known, the use of gaseous insulation is becoming increasingly more widespread, with gases such as air and sulfur hexafluoride featuring prominently. There has been some discussion of using gas mixtures like nitrogen and sulfur hexafluoride, and of course nitrogen is the major constituent of air. Examples of arrogance in scientific writing (pages 99-100).

Tone often goes out of control in correspondence As per your request... I beg to differ with... Enclosed please find... For the facilitation of this end, Division 8463 will interface with Division 8265. Examples of silliness in scientific writing (pages 100-101). The liquid propellant fuel experienced an unscheduled partial disassembly.

Clichés are expressions that are too familiar sly as a fox busy as a bee faster than a speeding bullet I am in search of a meaningful growth position, and your company is a gateway to the highest professional levels and beyond… Examples of silliness in scientific writing (pages 100-101). When you come up to speed, I'll touch base with you and we'll knock heads together!

To make your language forthright, you should control tone and use strong nouns and verbs and strong verbs Nouns Verbs Repeat of mapping slide for presentation about being forthright. The next topic to consider is using strong nouns and verbs.

Relying on abstract nouns weakens the writing Experimental design is a method of efficiently performing a comparative analysis. Specifically, a 23 design compares the main effects and the interactive effects of three variables on a final measured characteristic. The use of experimental design results in correct problem structuring, efficient experimentation, and data analysis leading to correct conclusions. Page 102: weak example that has too many abstract nouns.

Relying on abstract nouns weakens the writing Experimental design is a method of efficiently performing a comparative analysis. Specifically, a 23 design compares the main effects and the interactive effects of three variables on a final measured characteristic. The use of experimental design results in correct problem structuring, efficient experimentation, and data analysis leading to correct conclusions. Page 102: weak example that has too many abstract nouns.

Weak verbs hide the energy of your work A new process for eliminating nitrogen oxides from diesel exhaust engines is presented. Flow tube experiments to test this process are discussed. The percentage decrease in nitrogen oxide emissions is revealed. This slide presents an example of a paragraph with weak verbs. Most writing books advocate using the active voice where possible. Although some situations call for the passive voice, the active voice is generally more forceful and straightforward. What students should avoid is a stacking of passive voice verbs as in the top example. How do you revise such a stacking of passive voice to achieve active voice? The answer causes controversy, and you might take issue with some of ways presented here (judicious use of first person or allowing an agent to act). I present my case for these ways and for not stacking passive voice verbs on pages 104-109.

Also, the tighter the verb form, the stronger the verb is capable of is composed of is used to detect makes a decision makes a measurement of performs the development of can consists of detects decides Page 104 measures develops

Needlessly passive verbs slow your writing Misconception: Scientific writing must be written in the passive voice. Needless Passive Active 1. Allow inanimate objects to act 2. Use the first person judiciously Pages 105-106

Problems can arise using the active voice with inanimate objects Safe The oscilloscope displayed the voltage. The oscilloscope measured the voltage. V + - Page 107 The oscilloscope calculated the voltage. V= Dangerous

Misconception: In scientific writing, you cannot use the first person. Using the first person is fine as long as the emphasis remains on the work Misconception: In scientific writing, you cannot use the first person. Users of the First Person Einstein Feynman Darwin Crick Maxwell Faraday Freud Curie Non-Users of the First Person It was decided that... It was assumed that... It was realized then that... Pages 107-109

Avoiding the first person often convolutes sentences In that an effort to identify a specific control circuit responsible for the failure of the gear box was unsuccessful, it was determined appropriate to resurvey the collector field for torque tube damage. Page 108 Because we could not locate the control circuit responsible for the gear box failure, we resurveyed the collector field for torque tube damage.

Weak verbs hide the energy of your work A new process for eliminating nitrogen oxides from diesel exhaust engines is presented. Flow tube experiments to test this process are discussed. The percentage decrease in nitrogen oxide emissions is revealed. This paper presents a new process for eliminating nitrogen oxides from the exhaust of diesel engines. To test this process, we performed experiments in flow tubes. These experiments revealed a 99 percent decrease in nitrogen oxide emissions. This slide presents revision of the earlier slide’s example of a paragraph with weak verbs. See pages 105-107.

Being Forthright Winston Churchill Precise Clear Forthright NYP 45063 Familiar Concise Fluid Short words are the best, and old words, when short, are best of all. Winston Churchill This slide is a conclusion slide for a discussion of Chapter 6 in The Craft of Scientific Writing, 3rd ed. (Springer, 1996). As with Chapters 4 and 5, Chapter 6 presents a goal, rather than a rule, for language in scientific writing. Reference for photograph: "Churchill portrait NYP 45063" by British Government - This is photograph NYP 45063 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums.. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Churchill_portrait_NYP_45063.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Churchill_portrait_NYP_45063.jpg