Tips in Writing Short Article

Not knowing anything about the article or situation, I'd say: Be direct and concise. Not verbose. And, borrowing from Mark Twain, never ever use "very."

Avoid using jargon, you never know the expertise and familiarity of the person reading the report or article, with the subject. It may be just an engineering manager, or some company executive.

Also be sure to indicate the full name of any organization, process, material or system to which you will be referring before using the initials or acronym, e.g. National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), sludge dewatering (SDW), Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) or Invitro Fertilization (IVF) or Microsoft Disc Operating System (MS-DOS).

The full names should be mentioned at least one before using initials, and for those titles that are not too common outside a specialized field, at least once at the start of each page. An alternative is to provide a sheet listing all abbreviations and acronyms used in the report, but the full name should be noted at least at the first occurrence.

Nothing is more annoying than reading a well written report or article, and having to continually refer to an earlier page to understand what the author is talking about when using a certain abbreviation.

Do you have any idea, how much a web article of 300 words would cost? Say, if you are the one writing it, what is your bill for it? Forgive me, I am new at this. I do not know if my bid was under value.

Now you're exploring the realm of marketing. A product, any product, is worth only what the market is willing to pay for that product. You are new to this field, the idea that you're offered any money for your efforts should be gladly taken as an ego boost.

Okay, that's nice to see.

Don't get me wrong. I congratulate you for getting paid for a short article. As you slowly build a reputation, you can also slowly raise your fees.

A' that's more like it. I got the idea Red, thank you.

As for rewriting, you are absolutely correct, unless there is some time constraint (procrastination does not count) that does not allow for it.

With the exception of reports required upon completion of an inspection or investigation, I found it a good practice to put the report or article aside for a day (usually in my desk); upon rereading what I thought the previous day was a perfect report or article, many errors in spelling, grammar or description of an incident, or operation were obvious.

Your suggestion not to repeat words for descriptive purposes is well taken, but there will be times when only certain wording is is accurate, and while continued reuse of certain wording should be avoided, the writer should not be afraid to reuse a word if no other word will accurately describe a particular item or operation.

(If you find mistakes in this response it's because I didn't put it in my desk overnight)

It would be nice to have a posting number table available

Lord!

Can you provide more information?

What is the subject?

This is a non-fiction, I take it?

How many words?

Who is the intended audience?

Have you published before?

Let's start with that.

God bless you AP.

Subject was Green Technology, non-fictional articles.

Audience is all sorts from the web.

Published once a research paper.

I assumed this job is quite a different approach, so I asked points to consider when writing from the CR4 experts of course.

Is this a paid submittal?

The process should be the same. Create an outline of the work. Get your references together. Write the first draft. Rewrite until it is polished.

Make sure any and all arguments are answered and backed up in a logical progression.

Now, you need an independent set of eyes to review your work. Best to not ask friends. They will only give you a glowing report. You need someone in the know that can critique your work. There are paid organizations that you can hire, but you might find someone that will do it for free or as a trade to review their work.

Make final adjustments and send to the editor to be published. They may kick it back with further recommendations or they may reject it. I don't know the end user here or how critical they are. However, that is the basic nuts and bolts.

Yes, it's a paid submittal. Thanks AH.

Wow, what more could I ask. As I read from post#1 til the end, I feel like getting smaller and smaller, but I really thank you guys for wrapping it up for me.

I felt like a babe after reading all your comments, but it is a good day to start. Thank you all.

Yes, and just like the fiction author Steven King says - kill your darlings!

You need to be ruthless when editing and rewriting your work. What seems cute and clever to you often is not.

Hi, Del!-geez.. I bet you're still making bow. Relay my best regards to Kris. Will you?

The shortest article in the English language, is "A".

I have to write technical reports to management a great deal. I have learned to be precise, brief and never use abbreviations.

1. Give a title.

2. Give a reason for the report.

3. Give the report in as few words as possible.

4. Give a conclusion.

The advice our esteemed CR4 community has offered is really excellent -- no surprise there. I have a suggestion that's more long-term, in case you decide you like writing and want to keep at it: read as much as you can and keep copies, virtual or hard, of the articles that exemplify good writing. And the ones you from which you learned sod all. Check the articles in relevant Engineering 360 newsletters as well as feature articles on our site for examples.

And enjoy the process ... I like writing but being extremely ADD I will do anything except sit down to write, including polishing the silver or cleaning out closets.

That's funny of you. Yes, I did subscribe. Thank you BestInShow..God bless you!

...and one more thing that probably won't apply: If you will be writing the article in a language that is not your original native language, find someone with some technical knowledge in the field and whose native language is the one being used, to review and critique the article before sending it to the publisher.

In addition to the good stuff above I would add : avoid using multiple terms that mean the same thing.

Some big-time tech literature (eg.MS) is written in this compulsively cute and puffed-up style. The result for those not bamboozled is pure turn-off.

You could always message your final draft to me. I would be pleased to critique it to shreds.

Technical papers are normally unbelievably dull.

Follow the style of newspaper journalists, write a precis or executive summary of the article at the beginning, then expand the detail.

You have a short time to get the readers interest, so don't waste it talking about you, that can go at the end. One suggestion is to write it then delete the first paragraph, the remainder will often be more interesting without it.

Tony

Technical papers are normally unbelievably dull.

Exactly.

So shoot for clarity and conciseness. The effort you spare the reader will not go unappreciated.

There are a ton of resources on the web. And the good ones will follow the OP, TT, RP format using consistent words for the things you are talking about, once you name something, use that name throughout your paper.

OP = Operational Purpose

TT - Technical Task

RP = Rhetorical Purpose

Great advice.

Also, start with an Outline, a list of points you want to make.

1.

2.

3.

Put those in an order that makes sense.

Lastly expand on those points just enough to get your idea across.

As someone else said... write it like you are talking to a friend (visualize that friend) who knows nothing about the subject.

Fun and Easy!

Might I add: "Author, know your reading audience!"

To Jmueller #31

Worth a GA for readers involved in articles to convey ideas to influence small audiences of diverse interests.

In my case I say this based on my experience with committee work to produce technical standards by consensus for BSI, CEN and ISO in my specialist field.

Committees are made up of members with expert knowledge in their own field who rely on your expertise to present a sound technical argument in your field where it affects them. Some might also be experts in your field but with a commercial interest - declared formally on record - but often working to their own secret agenda - where they use all the tricks of debate to win their case - especially if they oppose you.

So thoroughly researched technical presentations are essential - and have to be presented to address technical matters at expert level but also written without jargon to impart important information to novices in your field where English is probably not their first language - because the latter are likely to support you if convinced by your argument - particularly in writing so they can take the matter back to their supporting organisations or counties for review by their own experts - who in fact might know more than you - which for practical reasons requires a counterargument if your views are challenged.

Watch out if you are a lone voice here, because interpreting 'consensus' to mean 'majority' and thus use it to dismiss minority opposing views (to keep them out of the Minutes) is a favourite trick of your opponents.

Sound technical arguments usually carry the day. But, and it is a big but, it is essential for the matter to be properly written up and recorded in the Minutes.

Clearly, briefly and to the point - which should result from following the good advice pesented here by CR4 members.