BITS F112: Technical Report Writing

Elements of Effective
Writing: Choice of Words,
Phrases and Grammar

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Principles of Effective (Report) Writing

Effective writing depends on the following:

• Choosing the right words (register
appropriacy)
• Arranging them properly in sentences
• Developing the points into paragraphs
• Organizing them into a reader-friendly text
All these create what we call STYLE.
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 Style
Style as defined by various dictionaries as:
a. the manner in which something is expressed or
performed, considered as separate from its intrinsic
content, meaning, etc (Collins CoBuild English
Dictionary)
b. the correct use of language (Oxford English
Dictionary)
c. a way of using words or spelling that is considered
correct (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary
English)

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Style

If two persons work on the same data to write a

technical report, they will show differences in their
choice of words, construction of sentences,
development of paragraphs and presentation of
the total information. These features distinguish one
person’s writing style from another person. In other
words, style is the way we write.

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 Characteristics of an “ideal” report
Appropriate Style Scientific Attitude Readability
Precision Conciseness Plainness

• Use clear and readable, precise and concise language.

• Avoid the use of literary figures of speech and emotive words
• Use active voice to avoid wordiness.
• Remain ‘objective’ and ‘impartial’ in the analysis of data.
• Remain truthful in the presentation of facts.
Note: “The reader of a report is interested in what you say, and
not in you or your language.”

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Components of Effective Writing
Choice of words
Precision – avoid
Readability – and Phrases –
Abstraction and
Reader-oriented Comprehensible
Vagueness
and Relatable

Avoid using
Clichés, Jargons
Conciseness Plainness
and Foreign
Words

Construction and Construction and

Be careful in
Length of Length of
using “I” or “We”
Sentences Paragraphs

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Readability

• Intellectual ability, education, background knowledge

make the readers. So, knowing target audience is
imperative to make one’s report “readable”.
• We can check ‘Readability’ of a using a simple formula
given by Robert Gunning in The Technique of Clear
Writing.

A link to check readability:

https://readabilityformulas.com/gunning-fog-readability-f
ormula.php
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Readability Contd.

• Gunning calls it the “fog” index. Fog index includes

number of words, number of sentences, difficult
words (words with three or more syllables) and
works out the formula through division, percentage
and multiplication.
• A fog index of ten or less indicates easy reading
level. Anything above twelve is considered “heavy”
reading.
• Majority of popular magazines like Reader’s Digest
and Time have fog index of nine or ten.

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Choice of Words and Phrases

• Words sometimes can have different effects on different

people. E.g. democracy, civilization, freedom,
liberalization,
• Words need to be chosen carefully to evoke in the mind of
the reader the same thought which is in the
communicator’s mind.
• Wrong choice of words may lead to embarrassment,
confusion and misunderstanding. E.g. A candidate filling
out a job application came across the column of “Salary
Desired” and wrote “Of Course” before passing on to the
next column.
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Precision

• Precision refers to specific thing or idea.

• Precise means concrete instead of vague or abstract. E.g.
1. He reads a particular newspaper daily. (name of the
newspaper is essential to make the statement more
effective)
2. The company’s publication explains how to write
formal reports. (‘manual’ is a better option!)

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Precision Contd.

• Of the different classes of words, adjectives and adverbs

by their very nature tend to be most subjective and vague.
E.g.
1. This room is big.
2. This room is big enough for 40 desks.
3. The area of this room is 320 sq. ft. and since we need 8
sq. ft. for a desk, it can accommodate 40 desks.
• Use adjectives and adverbs sparingly in report writing.

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Conciseness

• Effective report writing demands conciseness.

Make sure that every written word
contributes something to the meaning.
• “You can suffocate a thought by expressing it
in too many words.” Frank Clark
1. It is difficult to make an approximation of
how much money it would cost.
Revision: It is difficult to estimate its cost.

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Circumlocution
When we are unable to use a ‘concise expression’, we use more words
than necessary to capture the idea.
At this point of time, we should start writing this report.
Now we should start writing the report.
• We wrote a proposal for the purpose of funding the building’s
renovations.
• We wrote a proposal to fund the building’s renovations.
Sometimes people deliberately rely on circumlocution to avoid
confrontation / to mask true intentions.

Speaking Activity: You have lost your boarding pass; you are trying to
convince the board attendant to let you on the plane. Your mother has
already boarded.

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Redundancy/ Repetition
We mistakenly use more words than necessary to get our message
across. In this process, we choose expressions, such as “shout loudly,
finished completely, past history and true facts”, which are redundant.
It is therefore important that we eliminate such expressions while
revising our reports.

Examples:
• We collaborated together on the project. / We collaborated on the
project.
• This is a new innovation. / This is an innovation.
• I particularly like posts that deliberate thoughtfully over problems or
dilemmas.

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Plainness

• Plain words are usually short and familiar, and catch

readers’ attention easily and quickly.
• Effective writing does not mean displaying one’s
vocabulary; rather, how successfully one can
communicate to the readers.
• Few examples: accentuate: stress, envisage: foresee,
endeavor: try
• Avoid clichés, jargon and foreign words as much as
possible

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Jargon

• Jargons are technical or special words attached

to particular professions.
• Though it is necessary to use jargons in technical
presentation, overuse can ruin the effectiveness
of communication.
• Use of too much jargon is also looked down
upon as it may show the communicator’s
inability to convey complex thoughts in plain
words.

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Foreign Words
• Foreign words make a writing/presentation difficult
and hence should be avoided most of the time.
• Rather than saying “vide supra” it is always better
to say “see above”.
• However, there are certain foreign words which are
used regularly. For example, etc., et al., i.e.

Link:
https://www.lexico.com/explore/foreign-words-and-
phrases

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Clichés

• Clichés are words that suggest another set of words. They

are used to save the communicator the trouble of inventing
new phrases.
• They are used as they are prefabricated and hence readily
available.
• Indiscriminate use of clichés makes the communicator
ineffective as it points to his/her lack of creativity.
• Some examples of clichés are: burning question, acid test,
part and parcel, fish in troubled water, toe the line etc.

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Examples of cliché

At the end of the day Raining cats and dogs

Better safe than sorry Wild goose chase
By hook or by crook The early bird catches the worm
Light in the darkness From dawn to dusk
Nip it in the bud Good things come to those who
Pass the buck wait
Think outside the box In the nick of time
Worst nightmare You win some, you lose some
Can’t teach an old dog new tricks Pros and cons
Cool as a cucumber All walks of life
Leaps and bounds

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Dangling Modifiers
A dangling modifier is a word or phrase that’s in the wrong
place. It begins a sentence but does not clearly refer to the subject
of the sentence thereby confusing the readers.

Having read the book, the movie disappointed me.

Slowly cooling off, I took a sip of the coffee.
Trudging through the snow, the weather got worse and worse.
Cowering behind the couch, the fireworks terrified my dog.
Revised
Having read the book, I found the movie disappointing.
As the coffee slowly cooled off, I took a sip.
The weather got worse and worse as I trudged through the snow.
Cowering behind the couch, my dog was terrified of the fireworks.
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Parallel Sentence

A parallel sentence consists of words or phrases that have

the same form, whether it’s two halves of the sentence or
the components of a series.

a. Nandan is a scientist and a film maker.

b. Amazon’s warehouse employees control merchandise,
write orders for delivery, and invoice customers.
c. Merging two corporate companies is much more
complicated than merging two SMEs.
d. The teacher told them that they need to study and that
they should practice their words every night.

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Noun phrases/ clusters/ strings
Multiword noun strings are common in some academic and legal
registers, such as science textbooks, legal case studies and research
articles. The writers generally pack much of the information in
noun phrases. This affects the readability of the text. In report
writing, however, we should avoid overloading nouns with
multiple pre-/post- modifiers (adjectives and preposition phrases)
to ensure our readers understand what we write..

a. XYZ has a hospital employee relations improvement program.

b. XYZ has a program to improve relations among employees.

c. The increased complexity of tasks will lead to the extension of

the duration of training programmes.
d. Because the jobs are more complex, programmes to train people
will take longer. 22
Ambiguity
I washed her car with the grease all over it. / I washed the car to
remove the grease.

Through Ellipsis: When you omit a word/phrase from the sentence, it

can lead to ambiguity if the reader does not have enough contextual
knowledge.
a. I speak Hindi better than you (speak Greek).
b. The photographs disappointed my parents more than (they
disappointed) me.

Through Coordination: Be careful in using more than one

coordinating conjunction such as and, or, and but.
Example: I’ll pay for the meal and you pay for the taxi, or perhaps I
will pay for both.

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Elements of Effective Writing:
Cohesion and Paragraph Writing

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Types of Sentences: Structure, Form and
Function

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Types of Sentence: Structure

• Simple: contains one independent clause.

Example: Rod Ellis is a well-known thinker and writer about
language learning.
• Complex: contains two or more clauses, at least one of which
is a dependent clause.
Example: The theory, which he developed in the late 1960s,
argues that different countries have different values.
• Compound: contains one independent clause and one or more
coordinate clause/s.
Example: In individualistic societies, people tend to have strong
ties to their immediate family, but in collectivist societies there
tend to be close relationships with extended families.

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Types of Sentence: Form

• Statement
• Command
• Request
• Question
• Exclamation

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Types of Sentence: Function

• Illocutionary: mainly used for socialization. E.g. Good

Morning. How are you?
• Emotive: expresses strong feeling or sentiment. E.g. Long
live the king!
• Expository: generally explains a process, plan or theory in
concise, clear and accurate terms.
• Descriptive: portrays things or states what qualities,
elements or properties an object has.
• Narrative: gives an account of events, shows their
sequence and establish relationship among them.

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Construction and Length of Sentences

• Sentences should perform the function they are intended to

perform.
• They should contribute to the total meaning of the text.
• Most sentences in a report are likely to be:
1. Simple or Compound in structure
2. Statement in form
3. Expository or Descriptive or Narrative in terms of
function

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“Ideal” Sentence Construction

Although there are no standardized rules, certain

conventions are followed for effective communication.
1. If a sentence has more than three conjunctions, split
it into two or more smaller sentences for greater
clarity.
2. Remove repetitive words that do not perform a
function. E.g. He has prepared this report in a not
too technical style which should be of a simple
enough nature to be understood by the average
layman in the street.
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Contd.
1. To avoid monotony, vary the construction and length of
the sentences.
2. A sentence in a report should have a clear subject and
predicate. Sentences like “what?” or “If so, then?” have
no place in report writing.
3. The different parts of a sentence should be effectively
arranged to provide proper emphasis.

Example: When selling a device:

Instead : “The device will cost Rs. 50,000, but save Rs. 5000
annually on fuel”.
Write: “The device will save Rs. 5000 annually on fuel and
cost only Rs. 50,000”.
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Construction and Length of Paragraphs

• A paragraph is a group of sentences related to one core

idea and arranged in a logical order.
• The core idea is generally expressed in a sentence called
topic sentence or the theme statement.
• All other sentences in a paragraph clarify, compare,
contrast , support or illustrate the core idea.
• The topic sentence can be at the beginning, middle or
end of a paragraph, but for communication to be plain
and effective, it is better to put it right at the beginning.

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Contd.

• The most important factor that should govern the

length of a paragraph is whether the development of
the core idea is adequate.
• The paragraph must have unity of theme and
cohesion (text as unified whole).
• The sentences are meaningfully linked by suitable
sentence linkers (however, therefore, on the one
hand).

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Examples of Sentence Linkers

• For reinforcing an idea already expressed: also,

certainly, furthermore, in addition, indeed, moreover
• For contrast: but, except for, although, however, in
contrast, nevertheless, on the other hand
• For illustrating: for example, for instance, such as, thus
• For comparing: similarly, in the same way, both,
equally important
• For concluding: therefore, as a result, consequently,
accordingly

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Cohesion (Linkers)
Biofuels
Newly published research examines some important questions
about the growing use of biofuels, such as ethanol made from
maize. The production of these has increased sharply recently,
but the replacement of food crops with fewer crops has been
heavily criticised. Although initially seen as a more
environmentally friendly type of fuel, the research shows that
producing some biofuels, for instance biodiesel palm oil, is more
polluting than using conventional oil. The ethanol produced from
sugar cane, however, can have negative emissions, in other
words taking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which is a
beneficial process. Consequently, it can be seen that the situation
is rather confused, and that biofuels are neither a magical
solution to the energy problem, nor are they the environmental
disaster sometimes suggested
(Source: Stephen Bailey, 2016)
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Rule of Thumb For Paragraph Construction

• Provide “eye relief” to the readers. Solid running

matter page after page tires the readers.
• Have at least one or two breaks on every page.

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 Useful Links for Practice
1. https://www.lexico.com/grammar
2. https://writingcenter.unc.edu/
3. https://owl.purdue.edu/
4. https://literaryterms.net
5. https://writingcommons.org/

THANK YOU!

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