Posted in: scientific writing

A lot of writers don't think much about writing logically and how it can affect scientific or technical writing; that is, they often simply assume that their readers will understand what they're trying to do and why. The problem with this, of course, is that our readers may not understand the point we're trying to make or why we're making it. Recently, we illustrated logic by using a paragraph that...
Read Post »

Why oh why do some writers seem to intentionally want to muddle meaning and make reading and understanding that much more difficult for readers? It's astounding to me that some writers intentionally use words that obfuscate (how's that for a word??) meaning. Essentially, they use "pompous" language, or to put it simply, big words that aren't necessary. Using pompous language is a pet peeve of mine,...
Read Post »

Effective technical, business, and scientific writing all depend on the writer having excellent critical thinking skills. While the definition of critical thinking skills differs depending on who's doing the defining, a panel of experts defined them as "process of purposeful self-regulatory judgment that drives problem-solving and decision-making" ( Facione and American Philosophical Association,...
Read Post »

In this economy, with employment at 9.2 percent as of March 2011 ( http://www.bls.gov ), honing your communication skills is a must. Poor writing skills, according to Money ( http://ehow.com/facts ), result in poor performance by employees (those with poor communication skills are less likely to get ahead), lost revenue (poorly written external documents create a poor image of you and/or your organization), damaged...
Read Post »

We’re often asked what the difference is between technical and scientific writing. The question is reasonable, and while the two types of writing share many attributes (conciseness, flow, and effectiveness), the real difference is, to put it simply, in the application. That is, as Gertrude Stein once said, “A rose is a rose is a rose,” and likewise, effective writing is effective writing is effective...
Read Post »