Best Writing Advice for Engineers I've Ever Seen. • Hacker News Board

Re: Best Writing Advice for Engineers I've Ever Seen.

#11

Post by JeremyStein » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 1:52 PM UTC

Groxx wrote: post #6

In a newspaper article, the paragraphs are ordered by importance, so that the reader can stop reading the article at whatever point they lose interest, knowing that the part they have read was more important than the part left unread. I never knew that, though now that I've seen it said, it does seem accurate. Articles do lose importance as the article goes on. But I'd argue that it's a much older method, known as a…

Actually, the main reason for putting the important parts first is to give the newspaper editor flexibility for fitting stories onto the page. The end of a story can be left off if there's not enough room.

Re: Best Writing Advice for Engineers I've Ever Seen.

#12

Post by johnohara » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 2:13 PM UTC

Mc_Big_G wrote: post #2

aka "How to write a high school essay."

Seems to be a technical version of "How To Write A Five-Paragraph Essay."

Thankfully, the ability to write well never loses favor.

Re: Best Writing Advice for Engineers I've Ever Seen.

#13

Post by gamache » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 2:16 PM UTC

moron4hire wrote: post #9

Mc_Big_G wrote: post #2

aka "How to write a high school essay."

Additionally, I tend to ignore writing advice from people who use incomplete sentences. That page was a travesty. edit: I didn't know this was a comment before I posted this, but it does bring up issues with 'blogging in general.

I think the basic advice offered in the article is solid. It's not in the most aesthetically pleasing style, but what are you gonna do. I guess I just don't hate minor sentences as much as you do.

Re: Best Writing Advice for Engineers I've Ever Seen.

#14

Post by DanielStraight » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 2:21 PM UTC

I've always written similar to this. In college, I always spent most of my writing time on the opening paragraph. Then I just turned each sentence into a paragraph (if it isn't important enough to warrant a paragraph, why is it in the opening paragraph?) and added a conclusion. Admittedly, this doesn't work for large papers (I think 5 pages is probably a reasonable limit), but I try to avoid writing large papers whenever possible.

Re: Best Writing Advice for Engineers I've Ever Seen.

#15

Post by Terretta » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 2:41 PM UTC

nollidge wrote: post #5

chasingsparks wrote: post #3

http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-Fourth-William-Strunk/d...

Counterpoint: http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/2549...

As on Fox News, for every opinion one can find a counterpoint.

This particular counterpoint does more damage than good in the age of TL;DR.

I'd rather read the writings of 'an educated person who knows they feel vaguely anxious and insecure whenever they write "however" or "than me" or "was" or "which,"' than the incoherence of someone who thinks grammar is pointless.

I often see this counterpoint cited, but never its conclusion about "the overopinionated and underinformed little book that put so many people in this unhappy state of grammatical angst. I've spent too much of my scholarly life studying English grammar in a serious way. English syntax is a deep and interesting subject. It is much too important to be reduced to a bunch of trivial don't-do-this prescriptions."

There's Drivers' Ed, and then there's Skip Barber Racing School. That experts learn more doesn't mean novices should learn less.

Re: Best Writing Advice for Engineers I've Ever Seen.

#16

Post by epochwolf » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 2:42 PM UTC

nollidge wrote: post #5

chasingsparks wrote: post #3

http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-Fourth-William-Strunk/d...

Counterpoint: http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/2549...

After reading that I am very glad that I never read that book. (Passive voice is a favorite of mine.)

Re: Best Writing Advice for Engineers I've Ever Seen.

#17

Post by petercooper » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 2:44 PM UTC

moron4hire wrote: post #9

Mc_Big_G wrote: post #2

aka "How to write a high school essay."

Additionally, I tend to ignore writing advice from people who use incomplete sentences. That page was a travesty. edit: I didn't know this was a comment before I posted this, but it does bring up issues with 'blogging in general.

It's worth noting that the advice is just a comment left on an Edward Tufte thread (which, as a whole, is a lot more interesting): http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0...

Re: Best Writing Advice for Engineers I've Ever Seen.

#18

Post by davidw » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 2:45 PM UTC

Journalism class was the only worthwhile "language arts" class I took in high school. The "literature" ones were, IMO, mostly a bunch of horse shit and a waste of time, to put it very bluntly. There are classes and teachers that I looked back on more fondly when I was done with them because I realized they'd been good for me even if they were difficult, but none of the literature ones were in that category, only the journalism class stuck with me as something useful.

Why? Because the lit ones were about writing bullshit about some teacher's bullshit interpretation of what was more often than not some sort of bullshit book/essay/play/whatever, whereas the journalism class was about how to convey facts to a hurried reader quickly and efficiently.

Ok... rant over:-)

Re: Best Writing Advice for Engineers I've Ever Seen.

#19

Post by petercooper » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 2:46 PM UTC

jgrahamc wrote: post #8

When I was working on my book O'Reilly sent me a copy of "On Writing Well" by William Zinsser ( http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/... ). I read the entire book and I thought it was well worth it. One of his best pieces of advice is to end each paragraph leading the reader to the next one; the reader should want to know more. It's slightly amusing that the first sentence of the linked article…

It's slightly amusing that the first sentence of the linked article is grammatically incorrect

I was actually tempted to drop the first paragraph of the quote, but thought against it considering the etiquette in these cases. The second paragraph is where the meat is :-)

Re: Best Writing Advice for Engineers I've Ever Seen.

#20

Post by dkarl » Tue, Apr 06, 2010, 2:46 PM UTC

Mc_Big_G wrote: post #2

aka "How to write a high school essay."

If this is how you were taught to write high school essays, you were lucky.

   I. Introduction
  II. Body
      A. Point 1
      B. Point 2
      C. Point 3
 III. Conclusion

-5 points for each deviation.