Posted in: scientific writing

Thought of the day: Use direct, simple language in your business writing. English is the language of international business. However, people who learned English as a second language often have difficulty understanding native speakers. Idiomatic expressions and figurative language in writing can lead to misunderstandings. I doubt “big cheese” translates to “the boss” in very many languages. The...
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Companies and organizations are always looking for ways to increase efficiency. One of the most popular methods is lean production, originally derived from the Toyota Production System. In lean philosophy, resources are expended only to create value for the end-user — anything else is considered wasteful. Many organizations use lean principles in manufacturing and management with great success. Many lean principles...
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First, let's distinguish between editing and proofreading--they are not synonymous! Editing is the process of reviewing for content, logic, and other high-level elements, while proofreading is reviewing for misspelled and misused words, mechanical errors, and punctuation mistakes. Editing and proofreading are, in fact, two distinct processes that should not be conducted simultaneously. As we all know,...
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In our classes, we always discuss reader-centered writing; that is, writing that fully considers readers and what they want and need and how they're going to use the document. Another element of this is "noise." "Noise" can be categorized as the distractions readers face when reading. Some of these, of course, are caused by the writer and some are the result of noisy offices,...
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popupPositivity in WritingSimplicity and Positivity Key to Effective Technical, Business, and Scientific Writing In verbal communication, less is expressed in words than in the expression, tone, and emotion conveyed by the speaker. Verbal skills come naturally; on the other hand, developing effective written communication skills can take years and quite a bit of training. Below are two simple, yet effective,...
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