Technical Writing Review writing General issues Elements of - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

P rogramming Who is your audience? L anguages Technical Writing Audience: always writing for someone Review Tone and style depends on audience COS 301 Suppose writing about programming for: Technical elementary students writing high school students General issues college students in general Elements of your peers in COS 301 writing a newspaper: Overall NYT structure BDN Paragraph The Weekly structure National Enquirer Sentence structure a PhD committee (e.g., a PhD dissertation) Word usage & a trade journal (e.g., IEEE Spectrum ) spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Who is your audience? L anguages Technical Writing Audience: always writing for someone Review Tone and style depends on audience COS 301 Suppose writing about programming for: Technical elementary students writing high school students General issues college students in general Elements of your peers in COS 301 writing a newspaper: Overall NYT structure BDN Paragraph The Weekly structure National Enquirer Sentence structure a PhD committee (e.g., a PhD dissertation) Word usage & a trade journal (e.g., IEEE Spectrum ) spelling a journal or conference (e.g., OOPSLA , SPLASH , ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems ) COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Exercise: Audience L anguages Technical Writing Explain the process of language compilation in a short Review paragraph, where your audience is: COS 301 1. students in COS 140 Technical 2. your parents/aunts/uncles/etc. writing 3. readers of the Maine Campus General issues 4. fellow COS 301 students Elements of 5. the faculty writing 6. middle school students Overall structure Group work @ tables, 5 minutes, then read aloud. Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Who is your audience in COS 301? L anguages Technical Writing Your audience: your peers (not me) Review COS 301 Questiont to consider: How much background can be assumed? Technical writing How much has to be explained? General Assume: they know about the same things you do issues Elements of Though not about subject of paper writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Tone L anguages Technical Writing Technical paper ⇒ formal tone Review COS 301 Doesn’t ⇒ stiff, stilted writing. . . Technical . . . i.e., not overly formal – common problem w/ student writing writing! General issues Goal is communication Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Tone L anguages Technical Writing Technical paper ⇒ formal tone Review COS 301 Doesn’t ⇒ stiff, stilted writing. . . Technical . . . i.e., not overly formal – common problem w/ student writing writing! General issues Goal is communication Elements of writing Not writing to impress me or peers with Overall vocabulary structure command of buzzwords and techincal jargon Paragraph structure elegant sentence structure literary flourishes Sentence structure your intelligence Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Not too informal L anguages Technical Writing Write naturally – but avoid being too informal Review COS 301 Avoid colloquial language Technical writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Not too informal L anguages Technical Writing Write naturally – but avoid being too informal Review COS 301 Avoid colloquial language Technical “Are Java and JavaScript programming paradigms writing similar? Sort of. . . maybe.” General issues “As you can see, there were a lot of scripting languages Elements of writing floating around [. . . ]” Overall structure “On top of the numeric data types [. . . ]” Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Which person? L anguages Technical Writing Avoid second person: Review COS 301 Technical writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Which person? L anguages Technical Writing Avoid second person: Review COS 301 “You can call things such as the square root function Technical [. . . ]” writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Which person? L anguages Technical Writing Avoid second person: Review COS 301 “You can call things such as the square root function Technical [. . . ]” writing General Avoid too much use of first person issues Use only where needed Elements of writing E.g., stating your opinion Overall “In my opinion, X is true.” structure Less pretentious than “In the author’s opinion, X is true” Paragraph “Royal we”: structure Probably not needed in this class Sentence structure Often in technical writing, however Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Passive voice L anguages Technical Writing Often taught passive voice ≡ formal voice: Review COS 301 The results shown were produced by the program. Technical It was noticed that the program crashed. writing General issues Fallen out of favor – stilted Elements of Almost always better to use active voice: writing Overall The program produced the results shown. structure Paragraph The program crashed. —or— structure Sentence We [or I] noticed that the program crashed. structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Don’t state the obvious L anguages Technical Writing Remember audience – tiresome to be told what is Review already known COS 301 Technical writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Don’t state the obvious L anguages Technical Writing Remember audience – tiresome to be told what is Review already known COS 301 Technical “When a program is running, [. . . ] it is allocated a writing certain amount of memory to perform its tasks.” General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Don’t state the obvious L anguages Technical Writing Remember audience – tiresome to be told what is Review already known COS 301 Technical “When a program is running, [. . . ] it is allocated a writing certain amount of memory to perform its tasks.” General issues “You can use logical NOT to say something like, Elements of writing x != 2 , which will evaluate to true if x is equal to Overall anything but 2, and false is [sic] x is equal to 2.” structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Don’t state the obvious L anguages Technical Writing Remember audience – tiresome to be told what is Review already known COS 301 Technical “When a program is running, [. . . ] it is allocated a writing certain amount of memory to perform its tasks.” General issues “You can use logical NOT to say something like, Elements of writing x != 2 , which will evaluate to true if x is equal to Overall anything but 2, and false is [sic] x is equal to 2.” structure Paragraph With one bit, you can only have two values. structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Don’t state the obvious L anguages Technical Writing Remember audience – tiresome to be told what is Review already known COS 301 Technical “When a program is running, [. . . ] it is allocated a writing certain amount of memory to perform its tasks.” General issues “You can use logical NOT to say something like, Elements of writing x != 2 , which will evaluate to true if x is equal to Overall anything but 2, and false is [sic] x is equal to 2.” structure Paragraph With one bit, you can only have two values. structure Sentence Computers have revolutionized the world. structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Your opinions matter L anguages Technical Writing Paper is in large part about your opinions Review COS 301 Fine (required, actually) to state your opinion Technical But: have to support opinions! writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Your opinions matter L anguages Technical Writing Paper is in large part about your opinions Review COS 301 Fine (required, actually) to state your opinion Technical But: have to support opinions! writing E.g.: General issues *Perl is good for text processing tasks, but it is too large. Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Your opinions matter L anguages Technical Writing Paper is in large part about your opinions Review COS 301 Fine (required, actually) to state your opinion Technical But: have to support opinions! writing E.g.: General issues *Perl is good for text processing tasks, but it is too large. Elements of writing Perl is a good language for text processing tasks. For Overall structure example, it natively supports regular expression Paragraph matching and substitution as well as implicit looping structure over lines of input files. It is too large, however, for Sentence structure simple tasks. The Perl language reference is 1092 Word usage & spelling pages long. The reference manual for C, a very capable language, is only 294 pages long. COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming L anguages Technical Writing Review COS 301 Technical writing General Elements of writing issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Sources for writing style advice L anguages Technical Writing The Mayfield Handbook – an abbreviated version is at Review www.mhhe.com/mayfieldpub/tsw/home.htm COS 301 Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style – one Technical writing version is at www.bartleby.com/141 General issues The Little Red Schoolhouse (now Grounds for Elements of Argument) – writing www.groundsforargument.org/drupal/welcome Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Stuff you should have been taught. . . L anguages Technical Writing . . . but may not have been. . . Review COS 301 Technical writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Stuff you should have been taught. . . L anguages Technical Writing . . . but may not have been. . . Review COS 301 Basic knowledge of rules of grammar is critical In fiction, some prose – can break grammar rules for a Technical writing purpose General Not in formal writing! issues Mayfield reference, ch. 11–14: basic review Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Stuff you should have been taught. . . L anguages Technical Writing . . . but may not have been. . . Review COS 301 Basic knowledge of rules of grammar is critical In fiction, some prose – can break grammar rules for a Technical writing purpose General Not in formal writing! issues Mayfield reference, ch. 11–14: basic review Elements of writing Note: correct grammar by itself doesn’t guarantee Overall structure well-constructed sentences! Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Basics: L anguages Technical Writing Paper organization Review COS 301 Paragraph structure Technical Sentence structure writing Word usage & spelling General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming L anguages Announcements COS 301 Announcements Announcements COS 301 Announcements

P rogramming Announcements L anguages Announcements Photos on Monday COS 301 Announcements COS 301 Announcements

P rogramming Announcements L anguages Announcements Photos on Monday COS 301 Announcements COS 301 Announcements

P rogramming Announcements L anguages Announcements Photos on Monday COS 301 Announcements Due today: Project Part 1 Assigned today: Project Part 2 (due 9/24) COS 301 Announcements

P rogramming Project Part 2 L anguages Announcements Introduction for your paper COS 301 Overview + history of your language Announcements Likely will revise later in semester Length: ~5 pp – up to you Must use L A T EX! Annotated bibliography Use APA, IEEE, natural sciences style Programming – very simple Turn in via Blackboard – carefully read the instructions! COS 301 Announcements

P rogramming L anguages Technical Writing Review COS 301 Technical writing General Overall structure issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Writing process L anguages Technical Writing Start Review COS 301 Gather materials Technical Learn language writing General issues Plan/outline paper Elements of writing Overall Write 1 st draft structure Paragraph structure Editing Sentence structure Word usage & Revise spelling Hand in COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Organizing the paper L anguages Technical Writing What do you want to say? Review Bullet points COS 301 Mind map Technical writing Group into related points General Outline issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Paper organization L anguages Technical Writing Resource: Scientific Writing and Communication , Review Angelika H. Hofmann COS 301 IMRAD model [Hofmann] Technical writing Introduction General Materials & methods issues Results Elements of Discussion writing References (bibliography) Overall structure Modified for 301: Paragraph Introduction structure Language description Sentence structure Analysis Word usage & Discussion/Conclusion spelling Annotated bibliography Each assignment section or subsection COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Organizing sections L anguages Each section/subsection: General → specific Technical Writing “Funnel model” [Hofmann] – e.g.: Review Background/known information COS 301 What isn’t known Technical Question/issue addressed by section writing Method to address question General issues Example: Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Organizing sections L anguages Each section/subsection: General → specific Technical Writing “Funnel model” [Hofmann] – e.g.: Review Background/known information COS 301 What isn’t known Technical Question/issue addressed by section writing Method to address question General issues Example: Elements of writing 1. (Background/known) Introduction: Looping Overall 2. (New, general) Recursion structure 3. (New, specific) Recursion and iteration in Lisp Paragraph structure Funnel structure useful for paper, paragraphs, too Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Exercise: Organization L anguages Technical Writing What is wrong with this section organization, and how Review would you fix it? COS 301 1. Python as a rapid prototyping language Technical 2. Comparison of development using Python to using Java writing 3. Problem with compiled languages for quick program General issues development Elements of 4. What is Python? writing 5. Why rapid prototyping is useful Overall structure Each group, 5 minutes. Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Flow L anguages Technical Writing Make sure flow through paper is smooth Review COS 301 Logical organization Technical Transitions between sections, paragraphs writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming L anguages Technical Writing Review COS 301 Technical writing General Paragraph structure issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Paragraph structure L anguages Technical Writing Don’t just group sentences into paragraphs. . . Review COS 301 . . . make sure the grouping is logical Special sentence locations [Hofmann] Technical writing First sentence: topic sentence (usually) General Last sentence: summary, conclude, emphasize, issues transition Elements of writing Typical structure: Overall structure Topic sentence: gives overview/intent of paragraph Paragraph Middle sentences: expand/support topic structure Last sentence: Sentence structure Conclusion about paragraph Reiteration/emphasis of topic Word usage & spelling Transition to next (e.g., unknown) topic – next paragraph COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Paragraph structure: Example L anguages Technical Recursion is fundamental in Lisp. [topic] Writing Review This is in keeping with the roots of the language in math and COS 301 its overall functional character. [elaboration] Technical writing All functions (“statements”) return values, and so a function General call can be used anywhere a value is needed, including in issues invocations of itself. [support] Elements of writing The primary data structure, i.e., a list, is a recursive Overall structure structure. [support] Paragraph Language implementations are optimized for recursion, structure including support for automatically replacing tail recursion Sentence structure with a simple unconditional branch for efficiency. [support] Word usage & spelling Consequently, it is unsurprising that most Lisp programs rely heavily on recursion. [emphasis] COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Organization of paragraph middle sentences L anguages Technical Writing Depends on topic sentence Review COS 301 Some possibilities: supporting points from general → specific Technical writing chronological order General cause → effect → effect → . . . issues “on one hand . . . ; on the other hand . . . ” Elements of writing devil’s advocate then response . . . Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming L anguages Technical Writing Review COS 301 Technical writing General Sentence structure issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Sentence structure L anguages Technical Writing Probably most common source of errors in papers Review COS 301 Some common errors (Mayfield, ch. 6): Stacked modifiers & nouns Wordiness Technical writing Overloaded sentences Sentence fragments General issues Comma splices Fused sentences Elements of Stringy sentences Agreement writing Lack of parallelism Choppy sentences Overall structure Misplaced modifiers Dangling modifiers Paragraph Double negatives Faulty comparisons structure Inappropriate shifts Sequence of tenses Sentence structure Pronoun reference Pronoun case Word usage & spelling Editing: sometimes will note the error, sometimes just say “rewrite” or “awk” (awkward) COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Stacked modifiers/nouns L anguages Technical Writing *The object-oriented, semi-functional, Review imperatively-structured program ran fine. COS 301 Technical writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Stacked modifiers/nouns L anguages Technical Writing *The object-oriented, semi-functional, Review imperatively-structured program ran fine. COS 301 Better: The program ran fine. It was object-oriented, as Technical writing well as semi-functional and structured imperatively. General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Wordiness L anguages Technical Writing *It was a fine day due to the warm temperature and lack Review of any rain. COS 301 Technical writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Wordiness L anguages Technical Writing *It was a fine day due to the warm temperature and lack Review of any rain. COS 301 Better: It was a fine, sunny, warm day. Technical writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Overloaded sentences L anguages Technical Writing Too much information in the same sentence Review COS 301 Technical writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Overloaded sentences L anguages Technical Writing Too much information in the same sentence Review E.g.: COS 301 *They decided to use a functional language for the Technical project because the project lent itself to symbolic writing representation, and because the garbage collection General issues would not impact the solution too much, as well as the Elements of problem being structured so that it knowledge writing engineers could easily capture most of the domain Overall knowledge needed, along with certainty factors. structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Overloaded sentences L anguages Technical Writing Too much information in the same sentence Review E.g.: COS 301 *They decided to use a functional language for the Technical project because the project lent itself to symbolic writing representation, and because the garbage collection General issues would not impact the solution too much, as well as the Elements of problem being structured so that it knowledge writing engineers could easily capture most of the domain Overall knowledge needed, along with certainty factors. structure Better: They chose a functional language for several Paragraph structure reasons. First, the project lent itself to symbolic Sentence representation. Second, the language’s garbage structure collection would not much impact the solution. And Word usage & third, the problem was structured in such away that spelling knowledge engineers could easily capture most of the required domain knowledge and certainty factors. COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Sentence fragments L anguages Technical Writing *The boy had many friends. Including, Joe, Henry, and Review Sally. COS 301 Technical writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Sentence fragments L anguages Technical Writing *The boy had many friends. Including, Joe, Henry, and Review Sally. COS 301 Better: The boy had many friends, including Joe, Technical writing Henry, and Sally. General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Run-on sentences: Comma splice errors L anguages Technical Writing *The boy went to get ice cream, they were out. Review COS 301 Technical writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Run-on sentences: Comma splice errors L anguages Technical Writing *The boy went to get ice cream, they were out. Review COS 301 Better: The boy went to get ice cream, but they were out. Technical writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Run-on sentences: Comma splice errors L anguages Technical Writing *The boy went to get ice cream, they were out. Review COS 301 Better: The boy went to get ice cream, but they were out. Technical writing Better: The boy went to get ice cream; they were out. General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Run-on sentences: Comma splice errors L anguages Technical Writing *The boy went to get ice cream, they were out. Review COS 301 Better: The boy went to get ice cream, but they were out. Technical writing Better: The boy went to get ice cream; they were out. General issues Better: The boy went to get ice cream. They were out. Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Run-on sentences: Fused sentences L anguages Technical Writing *The boy went to get ice cream they were out. Review COS 301 Technical writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Run-on sentences: Fused sentences L anguages Technical Writing *The boy went to get ice cream they were out. Review COS 301 Better: The boy went to get ice cream, but they were out. Technical writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Run-on sentences: Fused sentences L anguages Technical Writing *The boy went to get ice cream they were out. Review COS 301 Better: The boy went to get ice cream, but they were out. Technical writing Better: The boy went to get ice cream; they were out. General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Run-on sentences: Fused sentences L anguages Technical Writing *The boy went to get ice cream they were out. Review COS 301 Better: The boy went to get ice cream, but they were out. Technical writing Better: The boy went to get ice cream; they were out. General issues Better: The boy went to get ice cream. They were out. Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Other comma errors L anguages Technical Writing *The best thing to do, is to go to bed early. Review COS 301 Technical writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Other comma errors L anguages Technical Writing *The best thing to do, is to go to bed early. Review COS 301 *Lisp is the greatest language and I love it. Technical writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Other comma errors L anguages Technical Writing *The best thing to do, is to go to bed early. Review COS 301 *Lisp is the greatest language and I love it. Oxford (serial) comma: Technical writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Other comma errors L anguages Technical Writing *The best thing to do, is to go to bed early. Review COS 301 *Lisp is the greatest language and I love it. Oxford (serial) comma: Technical writing E.g.: I love lobster, steak, and shrimp. General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Other comma errors L anguages Technical Writing *The best thing to do, is to go to bed early. Review COS 301 *Lisp is the greatest language and I love it. Oxford (serial) comma: Technical writing E.g.: I love lobster, steak, and shrimp. General Avoids ambiguity (or bizarreness): issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Other comma errors L anguages Technical Writing *The best thing to do, is to go to bed early. Review COS 301 *Lisp is the greatest language and I love it. Oxford (serial) comma: Technical writing E.g.: I love lobster, steak, and shrimp. General Avoids ambiguity (or bizarreness): issues Elements of *Top stories: World leaders at Mandela tribute, writing Obama–Castro handshake and same-sex marriage date Overall set. [Sky News] structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Other comma errors L anguages Technical Writing *The best thing to do, is to go to bed early. Review COS 301 *Lisp is the greatest language and I love it. Oxford (serial) comma: Technical writing E.g.: I love lobster, steak, and shrimp. General Avoids ambiguity (or bizarreness): issues Elements of *Top stories: World leaders at Mandela tribute, writing Obama–Castro handshake and same-sex marriage date Overall set. [Sky News] structure *We invited the brothers, Joe and Hazel. (Are we Paragraph reading Cannery Row ?) structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Other comma errors L anguages Technical Writing *The best thing to do, is to go to bed early. Review COS 301 *Lisp is the greatest language and I love it. Oxford (serial) comma: Technical writing E.g.: I love lobster, steak, and shrimp. General Avoids ambiguity (or bizarreness): issues Elements of *Top stories: World leaders at Mandela tribute, writing Obama–Castro handshake and same-sex marriage date Overall set. [Sky News] structure *We invited the brothers, Joe and Hazel. (Are we Paragraph reading Cannery Row ?) structure But: We invited Hazel, the maid, and Joe. – How many Sentence structure were invited? Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Other comma errors L anguages Technical Writing *The best thing to do, is to go to bed early. Review COS 301 *Lisp is the greatest language and I love it. Oxford (serial) comma: Technical writing E.g.: I love lobster, steak, and shrimp. General Avoids ambiguity (or bizarreness): issues Elements of *Top stories: World leaders at Mandela tribute, writing Obama–Castro handshake and same-sex marriage date Overall set. [Sky News] structure *We invited the brothers, Joe and Hazel. (Are we Paragraph reading Cannery Row ?) structure But: We invited Hazel, the maid, and Joe. – How many Sentence structure were invited? *To my parents, Ayn Rand and God. [Wikipedia] Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Other comma errors L anguages Technical Writing *The best thing to do, is to go to bed early. Review COS 301 *Lisp is the greatest language and I love it. Oxford (serial) comma: Technical writing E.g.: I love lobster, steak, and shrimp. General Avoids ambiguity (or bizarreness): issues Elements of *Top stories: World leaders at Mandela tribute, writing Obama–Castro handshake and same-sex marriage date Overall set. [Sky News] structure *We invited the brothers, Joe and Hazel. (Are we Paragraph reading Cannery Row ?) structure But: We invited Hazel, the maid, and Joe. – How many Sentence structure were invited? *To my parents, Ayn Rand and God. [Wikipedia] Word usage & spelling *Among those interviewed were his two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall. [Wikipedia] COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Other comma errors L anguages Technical Writing *The best thing to do, is to go to bed early. Review COS 301 *Lisp is the greatest language and I love it. Oxford (serial) comma: Technical writing E.g.: I love lobster, steak, and shrimp. General Avoids ambiguity (or bizarreness): issues Elements of *Top stories: World leaders at Mandela tribute, writing Obama–Castro handshake and same-sex marriage date Overall set. [Sky News] structure *We invited the brothers, Joe and Hazel. (Are we Paragraph reading Cannery Row ?) structure But: We invited Hazel, the maid, and Joe. – How many Sentence structure were invited? *To my parents, Ayn Rand and God. [Wikipedia] Word usage & spelling *Among those interviewed were his two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall. [Wikipedia] COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Other comma errors L anguages Technical Writing *The best thing to do, is to go to bed early. Review COS 301 *Lisp is the greatest language and I love it. Oxford (serial) comma: Technical writing E.g.: I love lobster, steak, and shrimp. General Avoids ambiguity (or bizarreness): issues Elements of *Top stories: World leaders at Mandela tribute, writing Obama–Castro handshake and same-sex marriage date Overall set. [Sky News] structure *We invited the brothers, Joe and Hazel. (Are we Paragraph reading Cannery Row ?) structure But: We invited Hazel, the maid, and Joe. – How many Sentence structure were invited? *To my parents, Ayn Rand and God. [Wikipedia] Word usage & spelling *Among those interviewed were his two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall. [Wikipedia] COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Stringy sentences L anguages Technical Writing Several complete thoughts strung together with Review connectives COS 301 Technical writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Stringy sentences L anguages Technical Writing Several complete thoughts strung together with Review connectives COS 301 *The programmers are smart and so they are well-paid, Technical but they are also ambitious and they are a little greedy writing and so they change jobs often. General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Stringy sentences L anguages Technical Writing Several complete thoughts strung together with Review connectives COS 301 *The programmers are smart and so they are well-paid, Technical but they are also ambitious and they are a little greedy writing and so they change jobs often. General issues Better: The programmers are smart and are well-paid. Elements of However, they are also ambitious and a little greedy, so writing they change jobs often. Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Agreement L anguages Technical Writing *One of the books are good. Review COS 301 Technical writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review

P rogramming Agreement L anguages Technical Writing *One of the books are good. Review COS 301 *There were few syllabus left. Technical writing General issues Elements of writing Overall structure Paragraph structure Sentence structure Word usage & spelling COS 301 Technical Writing Review