Good and Bad Writing

Why write well?

• Improves your own thinking and research.
• Communicate effectively to others.

How to become a good writer.

• Read
• Practice
• Revise, rewrite.
• Seek help and feedback, e.g., Writing Center, FOLDOC.

Things to do --- some marks of good writing.

• Good spelling, grammar, usage.
• Clear, precise sentences.
• Well-organized: chapters, paragraphs, sections are well-defined and linked (good transitions).
• Keep reader in mind. Don't assume they are familiar with all your references or all implicit assumptions.
• Motivation and context are clear.
• Define terms and notations before they are used.
• Use terms and notation consistently.
• Use a variety of ``notations'' (broadly defined), e.g., mathematical formalism, diagrams, tables, code, etc.
• Repeating main points is fine: introduce/preview, state, review.
• Present key points in more than one way, e.g., informally, formally, by example.
• Proper attribution: make clear what is yours and what is due to others.

Things not to do --- some marks of bad writing.

• Over-use passive voice.
• Leave out important details, e.g., experimental setup, points in a logical argument.
• Irrelevant details, e.g., too much detail on a subtopic.
• Overly confident claims or conclusions.
• Trying to sound impressive, using too many buzz-words, acronyms, techno-babble.
• Write a lab-report or diary, e.g., too much past tense, too much detail on missteps or intermediate steps in the research process.
• Repetitive style.
• Referring repeatedly to equations in other parts of the text; sometimes its best to just repeat them.