Top Ten Ways to Improve Technical Writing

Authors

  • John C. Friedly Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Abstract

Chemical engineers are expected to write good reports, but instructors not trained in writing find it difficult to help. In this paper, ten of the most common writing problems are discussed. Each is illustrated with examples taken from draft reports submitted by students at the MIT Practice School. Problems in style and usage have been categorized and arranged in ascending order of prevalence, starting with the tenth most common: word choice. This is followed in order by parallel construction, passive voice, punctuation, number agreement, modifier placement, hyphenation, pronoun usage, and verbosity. The most common problem found is specificity.

Author Biography

John C. Friedly, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

John C. Friedly has been Senior Lecturer and Station Director of the David H. Koch School of Chemical Engineering Practice at MIT since 1996. In this capacity he has had assignments at about a dozen different companies, at a variety of sites both in the United States and abroad. Before joining MIT, he taught in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Rochester.

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Published

2004-01-01

Issue

Vol. 38 No. 1 (2004): Winter 2004

Section

Manuscripts