十四步写英文文章

Fourteen Steps to a Clearly Written Technical Paper

by R. T. Compton, Jr.

A technical paper will usually have four sections. The purpose of each of these sections is as follows:

Section I: Introduction

The introduction should do the following: 1. Open up the subject. (The subject will be electromagnetic fields in cylindrical dielectric geometrics, adaptive arrays in packet radio, or whatever.)

2. Survey past work relevant to this paper.

3. Describe the problem addressed in this paper, and show how this work relates to, or augments, previous work.

4. Describe the assumptions made in general terms, and state what results have been obtained. (This gives the reader an initial overview of what problem is addressed in the paper and what has been achieved.)

5. Overview the contents of the paper. (“Section II contains our formulation of the problem. Section III contains the experimental data...”)

Section II: Formulation of the Problem This section should do three things:

1. Define the problem to be considered in detail. Typically this section might begin with something like: “Consider a packet radio system consisting of a single central repeater surrounded by user terminals. Each user transmits packets to the central repeater using a slotted ALOHA protocol [1]. The transmissions from all users are assumed to be on the same frequency...”The discussion should proceed in this way until the problem is completely defined.

2. Define all terminology and notation used. Usually the terminology and notation are defined along with the problem itself.

3. Develop the equations on which your results will be based and/or describe any experimental systems.

Section III: Results

This section presents the detailed results you have obtained. If the paper is theoretical, you will probably show curves obtained from your equations. If the paper is experimental, you will be presenting curves showing the measurement results. In order to choose the proper curves to present, you must first be clear what point you are trying to convey to the reader. The curves can then be chosen to illustrate this point. Whether your paper is theoretical or experimental, you must provide a careful interpretation of what your results mean and why they behave as they do.

Section IV: Conclusion

This section should summarize what has been accomplished in the paper. Many readers will read only the Introduction and

Conclusion of your paper. The Conclusion

should be written so they can be

understood by someone who has not read

the main work of the paper.

This is the common format for an

engineering paper. Of course, the names of

the sections may differ slightly from those

above, but the purpose of each section will

usually be as described. Some papers

include additional sections or differ from

the above outline in one way or another.

However, the outline just presented is a

good starting point for writing a technical

paper.

To write your paper, you should proceed

as follows:

Step 1: Start by writing a complete first

draft of your paper, except for the

Introduction and Conclusion. (It is easiest

to leave the Introduction and Conclusion

until after the main body of the paper is

written.) In writing your paper, keep the

following in mind:

1. You must always present the big picture

first and then work towards the details.

The other way around will not work. This

is especially true in the beginning of

Section II, where you are explaining the

problem you are studying.

2. If you get stuck and cannot figure out

how to explain something, a useful trick is

to imagine that you are telling a very good

friend what you are working on: just put

down the words as you would say them to

your friend.

In writing your first draft, do not worry if

the wording is not perfect. Polishing the

document comes later. When you are

finished with your first draft, put it away

for a couple of days before you begin Step

2.

Step 2: Make sure the ideas in the paper

are in the right order. If not, move blocks

of the paper around with your text editor

until they are. Ask yourself: “Can the

reader understand every passage strictly

from the material up to that point?” If not,

add material or move ideas around. Make

sure there are not gaps in your logical

arguments, and make sure you are not

implicitly assuming that the reader

understands something needed to follow

your arguments, even though you have not

stated it. The reader probably understands

less than you think.

Step 3: Work on the transitions between

ideas. Make sure that at each stage the

reader has a roadmap of where he or she is

going. The reader must be able to see the

big picture. At the beginning of each

section, make clear to the reader in

advance what the purpose of that section

will be and how that section relates to the

preceding material. At the end of each

section, you may also want to remind the

reader that you have now completed what

you set out to do in that section. Then

point out what the purpose of the next

section will be, and so forth. These

connecting statements are called

transitions. The reader must always be

able to see where you are going and why

and how far you have progressed.

Step 4: Check each paragraph for unity.

Each paragraph should have one main

point. Usually the central point of each

paragraph is stated in a topical sentence at

the beginning of the paragraph, but not

always. You should not mix different ideas

together in the same paragraph. If you are

having trouble getting a certain section of

your paper to sound right, go through that

section one paragraph at a time and ask

yourself what the main point of each

paragraph is. Foggy writing is often due to

mixed-up paragraphs.

Step 5: Work on the sentences to reduce

the fog index. The Fog Index F is defined

as F = 0.4(L + P), where L is the average

number of words per sentence and P is the

average number of polysyllables per 100

words of text [1]. (A polysyllable is a word

with three or more syllables.) To evaluate

the Fog Index for your paper, count the

number of words per sentence and the

number of polysyllables per 100 words for

a representative portion of your paper five

or six hundred words long. Ideally, you

should strive for a fog index less than 10.

In technical writing, it is sometimes

difficult to get the Fog Index below 10, but

a Fog Index above 15 is a warning that

your material will be very hard for a reader

to follow.

Consider the following examples taken

from typical office memos. Note that both

memos say the same thing.

Fog Index = 35: “In order to eliminate the

possibility of errors occurring in the time

charges relating to engineering jobs

through transposition of numbers or typing

errors, each of the Division Planning

Offices should set up a file of time cards

showing all authorized project numbers

and make a daily check of the charges on

all time sheets forwarded to the

Accounting Department to be sure that

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only authorized numbers are used.” (1 sentence, 69 words, 13 polysyllables)

Fog Index = 11: “It is easy to transpose digits and make typing errors when entering project numbers. We suggest each Division Planning Office set up a file of time cards showing all authorized project numbers. Then all charges should be checked each day before sending time sheets to the Accounting Department.” (3 sentences. 48 words, 5 polysyllables)

To reduce the fog index, you must do two things: (1) reduce the length of your sentences (by breaking long sentences into shorter ones), and (2) get rid of as many complicated words as possible (by using simpler words instead).

Step 6: Get rid of as many passive verbs as possible. Always check your paper for passive verbs. (“The data were measured and the results were correlated.”) Change as many verbs as possible into the active form. (“We measured the data and correlated the results.”) Using too many passive verbs makes your writing boring. Editor’s comment: At their worst, passive verbs can make writing incomprehensible. The reader always needs to know who is doing what to whom, and a passive verb often obscures both the agent and the recipient of an action. In Ted’s example, the passive form obscures who it was that measured the data and correlated the results.

Step 7: Use verbs more than nouns. Do not bury the main action of your sentences in nouns or adjectives. Instead, let the verbs carry the action. Consider these examples:

Example: “The annual report produced a disappointed reaction from the sponsor.”Revision: “The annual report disappointed the sponsor.

Example: “It is our expectation that we will see radiation pattern improvement when the antenna is elevated.”Revision: “We expect to improve the radiation pattern by elevating the antenna.”Your writing will sound better if you move the action into the verbs.

Step 8: Get rid of as many abstract words as possible. Your paper will practically always sound better if you use specific words instead of abstract words. For example, instead of “We determined the conditions for performance improvement,” say “We measured the noise variance necessary to increase the bit error probability by 5 percent.” The problem is that abstract words often

convey a different meaning to the reader

than the one you intended.

Step 9: Check for consistent use of verb

tense. Many technical professionals

change verb tense frequently between the

future and present tense for no reason. You

should check that your verb tense is

consistent throughout the paper. Usually it

is simplest just to stick to the present

tense: “We present our results in Section

III,” instead of “We shall present our

results in Section III.” (Note that the

correct future tense for the first person (I

or we) is “shall”, not will.”

Step 10: Do not use “this” as a pronoun.

Avoid sentences such as “This is...” and

“This gives...” When “this” is used as a

pronoun, its antecedent is often missing or

poorly defined, and the resulting writing

usually looks amateurish. A typical

example in engineering writing is, “By

increasing the impedance, the radiation

level is increased and the electric field

becomes stronger. This means that...”

What specifically does “this” refer to?

(Moreover, who did the “increasing”?)

The solution to this problem is to change

“this” to an adjective by inserting a

suitable noun. For example, use “This

result is...” “This difficulty is due to...” and

so forth.

Step 11: Check your entire document for

subtle grammatical mistakes. We are not

talking here about elementary grammar

problems. Presumably you do not write

egregious sentences such as “He don’t got

no potatoes.” Rather, the idea is to watch

out for more subtle problems, which are

very common in engineering writing [2]

Step 12: Polish and polish. Check that the

sentence rhythm and timing are pleasing,

and that the ideas flow clearly and simply.

If some section does not quite sound right,

work on it some more. Eventually you will

get the right wording. You are looking for

subtle changes that will improve the way

the paper “flows.” The main tools you

should use for this

step are: (1) reducing the Fog Index by

shortening sentences and eliminating big

words, as discussed in Step 5, and (2)

checking each paragraph to make sure it

has one main point, as described in Step 4.

You will get better at this step over time,

as you develop a “feel” for clear writing.

Step 13: Write the Conclusion. This

Conclusion section should simply

summarize for the reader what has been

presented in the paper.

Step 14: Write the Introduction. The

Introduction is frequently the hardest part

of the paper to write. It must be smoothly

written. The Introduction should address

each of the items mentioned in the outline

on Page 1. Moreover, the points discussed

in Steps 1-13 should all be used to polish

your Introduction until it is as smooth as

possible.

Notes

The Fog Index was first suggested by Mr.

Robert Gunning, an early advocate of clear

writing. According to him, the factor 0.4 in

the definition makes the Fog Index

correspond approximately to the number

of years of education a reader must have to

read a document easily.

Reprinted by IEEE Circuits & Devices

Magazine, September, 1992