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Best Writing Advice for Engineers I've Ever Seen.

engineerwriting.jottit.com

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

#61

Post by hugh3 »

nollidge wrote: post #36
Terretta wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 it…

You've completely avoided reading Pullum's article, it seems. No one said grammar is pointless. No one said novices shouldn't learn grammar basics. Only that they shouldn't be taught falsehoods.

The problem to me is the mismatch between Pullum's actual criticisms (which are mostly entirely fair nitpicks about passive voice etc) and his "burn Strunk & White" rhetoric.

But if he's got a better recommendation, or wants to write his own book, then I'm all for it.

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

#62

Post by moron4hire »

TheSOB88 wrote: post #45
moron4hire wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasn't aware that this was a comment on another piece. Yes, I use less formal grammar in less formal situations. I even experiment in the minimalist form with haiku and other writing. Knowing now that it was a comment makes a little more sense. Without knowing that, it just seemed like lazy writing.

But why does a blog post have to be formal in the first place?

Because you deign to waste our time with it. Putting effort into your writing shows that you have respect for your readers.

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

#63

Post by davidw »

Qz wrote: post #60
davidw wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a lot more out of journalism because it was about how to effectively communicate something to other people, which is an extremely valuable skill. "Learning" to "analyze" (i.e. parrot something the teacher told us. And as far as I can tell he never consulted the author of the work to verify the correctness of his assertions) the symbolism in Ionesco's plays is to me, worthless. > It's difficult to find a compete…

"...but I found the lit ones to be particularly mediocre" That's a gross generalization. You're basing that statement on your personal experience with many a handful of 'lit' teachers, out of the thousands of lit teachers, and trying to make a generalized statement about all of them? Please. Maybe the ones you had were mediocre, but just leave it at that.

I wrote:

"I found" ... "I think". The first is certainly my personal experience, and the second is a theory that is clearly labeled as my opinion, which I am entitled to.

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

#64

Post by _delirium »

hxa7241 wrote: post #33

The other important thing needed is: Make your message concrete and specific. It is no use reading a first sentence that says something like: "We created a novel abstraction to improve software development.". Yes, it is concise, but it says nothing. "We used wavelet analysis to find and factor-out the most modified aspects of our code." -- that I can see I want to know more about.

I actually kind of find myself often wanting the opposite, especially in the first sentence or two of a paper's abstract. If the first sentence has details about their method, I'm often still trying to figure out of it's even on the broad subject I'm looking for. Your first example would let me say, "oh ok, their goal here was improving software development, not what I was looking for", without being distracted by details about wavelets.

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

#65

Post by yters »

billybob wrote: post #37
davidw wrote: post #18

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…

Agreed. I've got a journalism background (though I'm now a web developer) and it has helped me tremendously. The main thing is this: think and write carefully. I get emails from business people that are long, rambling, and at the end, I can't even tell what they mean or want. And the subject line isn't helpful if I need to find it later. I write emails with the assumption that you've got 5 seconds to read it. Subject…

I try to fit my whole message in the subject line (ensuring readability, of course).

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

#66

Post by cracki »

hxa7241 wrote: post #33

The other important thing needed is: Make your message concrete and specific. It is no use reading a first sentence that says something like: "We created a novel abstraction to improve software development.". Yes, it is concise, but it says nothing. "We used wavelet analysis to find and factor-out the most modified aspects of our code." -- that I can see I want to know more about.

hm, wavelet analysis on (source) code... strange notion, and intriguing.

i've long thought that language is a fine tool to deliberately construct notions beyond our horizon.

composing such nonsense sentences feel like fuzzing the brain's pattern recognition.

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

#67

Post by biotech »

dkarl wrote: post #20
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.

That format was driven into our heads in high school. When I was a freshman in College, I was amazed that very few of my peers could write an essay - a skill I had thought to be pretty basic.

At the time, I wondered, "if they didn't learn how to write an essay in high school, what did they learn?" I never really found out.

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

#70

Post by moron4hire »

sketerpot wrote: post #59
moron4hire wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's solid advice, but it is basic. If we're talking about "engineers", that probably means they have completed a college degree at some point. If an engineer completed a degree and didn't take a technical writing course that drilled these concepts into their heads, then I question the quality of such an engineer's education.

I think you underestimate the ability of some people to pass classes without learning anything. I met an engineering student who had somehow passed a tough, high-quality technical writing class and yet could not write a coherent sentence, let alone a useful paragraph. I suspect that he cheated his ass off in most of his classes.

You know, I feel no sympathy for such people. If the reason they don't know how to write "well-enough" is because they cheated their way through college, then they deserve whatever lack of career opportunities they find themselves in.
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