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    Lec (2) CEB

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    This document provides guidelines for writing technical reports, including recommendations on voice, tense, equations, capitalization, numbers, abbreviations, and common writing faults to avoid. The key points are: 1) Reports can use both active and passive voice depending on the purpose, with active voice preferred for introductions. 2) The procedural sections should use past tense while explanations use present. 3) Equations should be numbered and referred to in the text, and punctuation differs for single-line equations. 4) Guidelines are given for capitalization, numbers, abbreviations, and avoiding common errors like repetition.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Lec (2) CEB

    Uploaded by

    jo
    30 views21 pages
    This document provides guidelines for writing technical reports, including recommendations on voice, tense, equations, capitalization, numbers, abbreviations, and common writing faults to avoid. The key points are: 1) Reports can use both active and passive voice depending on the purpose, with active voice preferred for introductions. 2) The procedural sections should use past tense while explanations use present. 3) Equations should be numbered and referred to in the text, and punctuation differs for single-line equations. 4) Guidelines are given for capitalization, numbers, abbreviations, and avoiding common errors like repetition.

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    This document provides guidelines for writing technical reports, including recommendations on voice, tense, equations, capitalization, numbers, abbreviations, and common writing faults to avoid. The key points are: 1) Reports can use both active and passive voice depending on the purpose, with active voice preferred for introductions. 2) The procedural sections should use past tense while explanations use present. 3) Equations should be numbered and referred to in the text, and punctuation differs for single-line equations. 4) Guidelines are given for capitalization, numbers, abbreviations, and avoiding common errors like repetition.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    30 views21 pages

    Lec (2) CEB

    Uploaded by

    jo
    This document provides guidelines for writing technical reports, including recommendations on voice, tense, equations, capitalization, numbers, abbreviations, and common writing faults to avoid. The key points are: 1) Reports can use both active and passive voice depending on the purpose, with active voice preferred for introductions. 2) The procedural sections should use past tense while explanations use present. 3) Equations should be numbered and referred to in the text, and punctuation differs for single-line equations. 4) Guidelines are given for capitalization, numbers, abbreviations, and avoiding common errors like repetition.

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    Chemical Engineering Basics

    Lec (2)

    T. Alaa Khalid
    Writing the Report
     Voice:
     In the past, it has been customary to write reports
    in passive voice in realizing of the fact that the
    writer's relationship to the material he/she is
    presenting is a purely objective one, a practice
    which is still stuck to in the preparation of material
    for the more conservative technical publications.
     But, nowadays, there is a growing trend to use
    active voice, at least periodically, where it may be
    effective to do so, as in highlighting an especially
    relevant point or in avoiding the difficulty of a
    weak passive
     For example, "It was desired that the values
    be checked," may better be rendered as, "We
    were asked to check the values."

     The letter of transmittal by preference, should


    be written in active voice because it may be the
    writer's only opportunity to speak as
    him/herself and not as an impersonal agent.
     English usage:
     The formal report is to be written in conformance
    with the best standards of English usage, as practiced
    by writers of serious scientific works.
     The informal report, such as that on a field trip, may
    be written more casually and in active voice,
     though even here the records of good taste should be
    observed.
     Since the student is preparing to enter the
    professional world, he/she must begin writing at that
    level; for it will be his/her responsibility to compile
    the research studies, operational directives, and
    reference manuals upon which future scientific and
    technical progress will depend.
     Tense:
    The procedural, narrative part of the report,
    including the calculations, should be written in
    past tense, because the writer is giving an
    account of what he/she did or has done.

    The present tense is to be used only for


    expounding theory and principals involved, for
    stating known fact, and for explaining figures
    and diagrams.
     Equations:
    Each equation is to be placed on a line by itself.
    Equations that will be referred to in the text of
    the report should be numbered, with the numbers
    flush with the right margin.
    All statements relating to equations are to be
    treated as sentences and punctuated accordingly,
    although a period is not required after an
    equation when it is on a line by itself.
    Examples:
     The results are plotted in Figure 5. The data show
    good agreement with the straight line of slope 1/2.
    Thus, the order of the reaction is, n

     From Figure 5, a straight line, shown in Figure 6, is


    drawn. The slope of the straight line gives

     Therefore, the activation energy is


    FAULTS IN GENERAL WRITING

     Monotonous repetition. Nowhere does a poverty-


    stricken vocabulary display itself more
    unpleasantly than in the close proximity of two or
    more similar words.

     Surely, with creativity , the writer can find a way


    around such expressions as the following:
     "Then. . . .Then. . . . Then. . . . Then," when
    describing a process. A preferable approach could
    be, "First. . . .Secondly. . . .etc.," or, "First. . . Next.
    . . .Then. . . . Finally."
     Misspelled words.
     Bad spelling is one of the most inexcusable faults of
    which the writer can be blamed.

     Improperly spelled words are the first things that


    strike the eye.

     The reader immediately assumes that the poor spelling


    is a criterion of the writer's technical skill and that
    his/her work as an engineer will be no more reliable.

     Besides, the writer further convicts him/herself of


    having been too lazy, ignorant, or indifferent to consult
    the dictionary.
     CAPITALIZATION
    Capitalize all proper nouns such as, names of
    persons, places, companies, institutions, etc. and the
    adjectives derived therefrom.
     Capitalize the first word of every sentence and also
    the first word of every direct quotation.
    When writing such terms as "Reynolds number,"
    "Fanning friction factor," "Newtonian fluid," etc.,
    capitalize the name of the person associated with
    the concept but not the expression following.
    Capitalize such words as quarter, chemical
    engineering, university, etc., only when referring to
    them as special entities. When used in a general
    sense, do not capitalize.
     Here is a catalog for the Fall Quarter. (Special)

     Credits will be given for any quarter. (General)

     The Chemical Engineering Department of the


    University of Utah. (Special)

     Good courses in chemical engineering are offered here.


    (General)
     Capitalize north, east, south, and west only when
    these words refer to places, not when they refer to
    directions.

     Western Phosphates, Inc., sells its products mostly in


    the Intermountain West. (Place)

     We traveled west to visit this plant. (Direction)


     Do not capitalize the names of elements, chemicals, or
    their compounds. (Chemical symbols are obvious
    exceptions.)
     Names of elements followed by their atomic numbers
    should be hyphenated.
     If the elements are referred to by symbol only, the
    initial letter should be capitalized.
     Numbered items should be capitalized when referred
    to in the text of the report. Write the numbers as
    figures, not as words.
     NUMBERS
    Do not begin a sentence with a figure. Either write
    it as a word or recast the sentence.
     Not, "200 barrels were delivered."
     But, "Two hundred barrels were delivered."
     "A total of 200 barrels was delivered."
    The general rule for ordinary writing is to spell out
    numbers under 10 but to write all others as figures.

     two wires nine feet 18 electrodes


    20 tons
     Arabic numerals are used for percentages, decimals, dates,
    and numbers followed by abbreviations.
     6 percent 3.6 units June 10, 1967 8
    kg

     Decimal fractions are preferably written with a zero


    preceding the decimal point, as: 0.50, 0.765.

     If two numbers modify an item, one number (usually the


    first) is spelled out.
     two 2 x 4‘ squares two15-sec runs eight 5-gal cans

     But, if the second number is the shorter, it may be spelled


    out instead.
     13 four-inch strips 45 three-inch slots
    Do not write one part of a small fraction as a
    figure and the other as a word. They should
    appear as:
     half-inch pipe 1/2-inch pipe
    1/2-in. pipe
     ABBREVIATIONS
    The Period should be omitted after technical
    abbreviations. Use an abbreviation only when its
    meaning is clear.
    Periods must be used after nontechnical
    abbreviations; such as:

    Terms denoting units of measurement should be


    abbreviated only when preceded by the amounts
    indicated in numerals. Do not mix.
    sixteen inches or 16 in. twenty minutes or 20 min.
     The same abbreviation is used for both singular and
    plural.
     bbl, barrel or barrels gpm, gallon or gallons per
    minute
     In the descriptive or more general parts of a report,
    avoid such signs as (%) for percent, (/) for or, (#) for
    number, (") for inches, and (¢) for cents. Use (+) and
    (-) with figures only.
     Do not use the symbol (%) unless preceded by a
    figure.
     Percentage, not percent, is the correct word when no
    figure is given.
     Six percent of the solution failed to evaporate.
     The percentage of the solution which failed to
    evaporate was 6%.

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