TechnicalWritingfor Researchers and Graduate Students.ppt

Technical Writingfor Researchers and Graduate Students
Spring 2003
Lincoln Campus
Instructor: Deborah Derrick
Unit 4: Style and Usage
OUTLINE OF TOPICS
Writing effective paragraphs
Breaking up long sentences
Making choppy writing flow
Emphasizing the active voice
Writing with economy
Being careful with modifiers
Making words agree with each other
1. Effective paragraphs
Paragraphs are the main building blocks of writing.
When they are written tightly, they advance your thoughts in clear stages.
Effective paragraphs
A well-structured paragraph has:
A topic sentence or main idea
One or more supporting sentences that develop the idea by means of description, narration, exemplification, or analysis.
Effective paragraphs
The example in your handout, page 1, shows a pair of paragraphs with topic and supporting sentences that are linked together by a series of keywords (KW).
Effective paragraphs
Use these anizing principles to write paragraphs:
Unity
Development
Coherence
Effective paragraphs
1. Unity
Focus on a topic that will unify the content of the paragraph.
Do not shift to new topics in mid-paragraph!
Effective paragraphs
2. Development
Advance the topic by means of some expository strategy such as:
Description
Narrative
Exemplification (giving examples)
parison and contrast
Analysis
Effective paragraphs
3. Coherence
Make the paragraph sentences “hang” together through various linking strategies:
Keywords
Demonstrative pronouns
Transitions
2. Break up long sentences
Long, dense sentences, often amounting to more than 30 words, may contain more information than a reader can easily understand.
Determine the main actions of the sentence.
Then sort these into two or more shorter sentences.