Readability

1. Readability Part IV

2. Readability, Few Issues • Writing is readable if it provides the information that the readers need, located where they can quickly find it, in a form in which they can easily use it. • You need to provide new information, organize your document according to readers’ needs, and apply forms that can easily be used. • You should do your best to make your writing easy to skim-read. • “It is easy to make things difficult, but difficult to make things easy”

3. A- Writing Paragraphs • A good paragraph should: • Have unity: focuses on one idea or theme, that also help skim-reading • Have coherence: one sentence lead to the next in some kind of logical sequence. • Have adequate supporting material: it contains some details to support the main idea of the paragraph. • Fit in with the overall structure of points being made in the text as a whole. For this you can use certain tools such as: a good topic statement, an appropriate pattern of organization, and appropriate functions and emphasis. These tools will be discussed in details.

4. A-1 A Good Topic Statement • The topic of a paragraph is the main idea or theme, what the paragraph is about. • There are two ways of presenting the topic of a paragraph: • Deductive-Pattern: the opening sentence introduces the topic, the introduction can be extended to -and maybe beyond- the second sentence. It is the most common strategy in scientific writing. It allows the reader to guess what is coming and thus digest it more easily, and it allows them to skip the paragraph if the subject matter holds no interest to them. You should include key words that are related to the topic, and be a complete statement of the topic.

5. 2. Inductive-Pattern: in which you delay the topic statement until the end or near the end of the paragraph. Can be used in special cases, for example if you are laying out the logic of an important point in a step-by-step fashion and want the reader to follow it each step of the way. Or, if you want to delay the bad news till the end!! Example of an effective topic statement: “Unlike the gasohol-powered cars, the fuel cell alternative is virtually pollution-free” What do you expect this paragraph to say?? Bad example: Example (1) “Utility costs for the argon process are 75% greater than for the proposed hydrogen process. Initial capita cost is $5.4 million, roughly three times the hydrogen process cost. However, annual income from

6. the sale of argon, increased ammonia production, and reduced natural gas requirements elsewhere in the plant is 160% higher than that generated by the hydrogen process. Present-worth analysis shows that the argon process is the better investment. The present worth of the argon process is $10.25 million. The present worth of the hydrogen process is $4.14 million.” • What is the main problem with paragraph above? • How would you restructure this paragraph to be more effective?

7. A-2 A Clear Pattern of Organization • A topic statement is followed up by a number of supporting statements, they should follow a consistent pattern of organizations, some of the most commonly used patterns in scientific research are: 1. Chronological description: use a time frame to tie the sentences together: in 1981 ….last week, soon after the project begun . First … then. Finally….. originally we wanted…now we …. Example (2) 2. Cause and effect analysis: when you want to make a logical argument, explain a process, explain why something happened the way it did, or predict some future sequence of events. Mention the cause first and then the result.

8. Use some of the signals such as: Therefore, thus, consequently, accordingly, as a result, so, since, because of, due to, causes, result in, when, where, if, or then. Example (3) A-3 Comparison and Contrast When it is necessary to compare two or more things that are similar in some ways but different in others. Use Characteristic features of comparison and contrast such as: however, on the other hand, conversely, similarly, likewise, in contrast to, more than, -er, less than, as … as, rather than, is different from, while, whereas, but.

9. Avoid: • Jumping back and forth from one alternative to another. For example: if you are comparing two kinds of material X and Y using four criteria A, B, C, and D. Suppose that the first three criteria favor X and the fourth favor Y. You should present the comparison in terms of these two criteria groups: first A through C and then D. • Do not routinely make neutral statements of comparison. For example, instead of saying “item X weighs 3.2 Kilos, and item Y weighs 2.7 kilos” consider saying “ item X weighs 3.2 kilos, whereas item Y weighs only 2.7 kilos”. The second sentence helps the reader follow your point, you favor item X. Example (4)

10. A-4 Listing • Sometimes you need to present the information in the form of a list such as a list of equipment, list of things done, list of reasons why you are recommending something, etc. • A list is a set of items all of which have something in common and yet are independent of each other. • Lists can be • Formatted: the list is set off the from the rest of the paragraph by means of indentation and numbering or lettering. They use alphanumeric sequencing and vertical alignment. For Example: “REFS: • Government invoice # 79 • Bonded Stores invoice # 20 • DECADS letter # 5/20/79”

11. Partially Formatted: they either use alphanumeric sequencing or vertical alignment but not both, for example: “Factors taken into consideration include the following: (1) size of lot, (2) parking requirements, (3) cost per gross square foot, and (5) need for elevator. • Unformatted lists: the list does not have such visual cues as the formatted lists, no alphanumeric sequence or vertical alignment. Sometimes hard to identify. Example: “compared to standard bipolar types, VMOS transistors offer higher input impedance, faster switching times, wider operating range, and smaller chip area” • All items in a list must be cast in parallel grammatical form, this is essentially important in the unformatted lists to make it easier to identify. • You should use parallelism whenever you are constructing a list.

12. Negative example: “The principal processes are: • Coagulating and flocculation. • Removing the solids. • Nitrogen-Removal • Disinfection.” Revised version: 1. Coagulation… 2. Removal of… 3. Removal of… 4. Disinfiction • Sometimes it is useful to use small words in the making of parallelism to clear the meaning, example: “The purpose of this report is to present evidence that the contracting officer acted within the range of his authority and his final opinion was binding”. Here the two parallel clauses are the: “ the contracting officer acted within the range of his authority” and “his final opinion was binding”. The two his suggested the parallelism.

13. Revised form: “The purpose of this report is to present evidence that the contracting officer acted within the range of his authority and that his final opinion was binding”. Parallelism can prevent misinterpretation of writings, example: “This filter has two important functions: to reject impulse noise signals and passing low frequency command signals without amplitude or phase distortion.” This section suggests that the filter rejects both impulse noise signals and reject passing low frequency.. Revised: “This filter has two important functions: to reject impulse noise signals and to pass low frequency command signals without amplitude or phase distortion.” Can you see the difference?

14. Misleading Parallelism: Do not use parallelism when no list is involved and do not include items that do not belong to a list. Example: “Khaled Omar, senior engineer, asked me to develop a magnetic tape measurement system, to reside permanently on the computer, to give better control, and to coordinate the numerous magnetic tapes.” • Te first sentence does not belong to the list, the person will not reside on the computer! • Revised: “Khaled Omar, senior engineer, asked me to develop a magnetic tape measurement system which will reside permanently on the computer, give better control, and coordinate the numerous magnetic tapes.”

15. Punctuation of a list Unformatted lists are set off ,if needed, by a colon (:), by dashes (-…-), or by parentheses. Here are the rules: 1. Use a colon if the list ends the sentence for example: “the new technology is most widely known for its microelectronics: pocket calculators, microcomputers, and other products that have revalorized information processing and communication.” 2. Use dashes or parentheses if the list does not end the sentence, for example: “Every aspect of the peptide neurotransmitters-how they are made, what they do, where and how they act, how they are disposed of, and even whether they are true transmitters or serve some other functions-is being studied with great intensity.

16. “The charge of an electron has been shown to occur in integral multiples (1, 2, 3, etc) of its basic value.” To separate the items of a list: 1- Use a comma in most cases 2- Use semicolons if the items are long or punctuated internally. For example: “We have assembly plans in the following locations: Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Totowa, New Jersey; Edmonds, Washington;and Castle Rock, Colorado.” Another example: “An efficient project cost system must accomplish three important objectives: (1) check actual and predicted costs of ongoing projects against the estimated cost; (1) obtain production rates for use in estimating work and create historical files (3) forcast the project final cost. 3- In formatted lists, punctuation is optional.

17. If the items in a list are not equally important, they should usually be arranged in descending order of importance.If you chose to do the opposite, you must signal that, for example, say: Finally, and most important, …”

18. A-4 General to Particular Ordering • In this pattern, supporting details are ordered from the more general to the more particular. Each sentence focuses on a smaller frame of reference than the one before it. • Example (5) • The example moves from the magnetic bearings to the permanent magnets to “only ten pounds of such magnets”, to the subcomponent “ magnet servo loop” • Remarks: • THERE ARE OTHER PATTERNS. • PATTERNS CAN BE MIXED