Surprise endings
As a fan of detective stories, I see plenty of surprise endings and plot twists. They can make good entertainment, but they don’t belong in technical writing. Recently I read […]
Technical writing
The importance of making mistakes
In my 20s I had two jobs that shaped the rest of my career. My supervisors had very different attitudes about making mistakes. The first was quick to point out […]
The post hoc fallacy
The post hoc fallacy is the logical error that because event B followed event A, A must have caused B. It comes from the Latin post hoc ergo propter hoc, […]
Think first, then do
“Plan ahead” is advice you occasionally hear from friends or see on posters. It’s not easy to get a tautology into a two-word sentence, but this is one of them. […]
The scientific method
In its most basic form, the scientific method is a process that allows us to understand the physical world. Anecdotal observations lead you to formulate a hypothesis. The hypothesis may be in the […]
Writing from the reader’s point of view
As a former editor, I often find myself wondering why so many writers don’t seem to consider the reader’s point of view. It’s the editor’s job to advocate for the […]
Technical presentations
In addition to technical writing, engineers need to be able to make good technical presentations. We’ve all experienced the proverbial death by PowerPoint, so we know what makes a bad […]
How to overcome writer’s block
A few weeks ago I gave my students their first lecture on technical writing. As part of their two-semester capstone course, they produce a comprehensive report for their client. The […]
Science and advocacy
Previous blogs have cautioned against crossing the line between science and advocacy. But what does that mean in practice, and why is it a problem? For one thing, it’s contrary […]