Editing Guide to technical writing (section)

==How to annoy the hell out of a PhD examiner==
Prof. Bob Bogner used to have a list of  ways to annoy a PhD thesis examiner. These also apply to journal reviewers. Remember, this is a list of what ''not'' to do. So make sure you avoid them. I have adapted his original list as follows:

1. '''Use the word "this" ambiguously.''' "The dynamic system goes unstable when the feedback coefficient exceeds unity and then the machine may over-speed and explode. This may be avoided by the use of the proposed design method." Notice that "This" could refer to the system, to the instability, to the over-speed, to the explosion, or to the situation. Be aware that the word "it" also can have the same ambiguity problem.

2. '''Use "however" as a conjunction.''' "The coil overheats, however the motor does not catch fire."   Try to avoid this. Three correct alternatives are:
* "The coil overheats, and the motor does not catch fire."
* "The coil overheats, but the motor does not catch fire."
* "The coil overheats. The motor, however, does not catch fire."

3. '''Use "so" as a conjunction.''' "The train left early so many people missed it." The correct connection is made by the use of "and so", indicating the cause and effect relationship: "The train left early and so many people missed it." A different sense is implied by the construction: "The voltage is low
so that users will be absolutely safe." This case is allowed because "so" indicates a purpose for the voltage being made to be low.
 
3. '''Use "it's".'''  The word "it's" with an apostrophe should not appear in technical writing.  We do not allow contractions, and so its use to mean "it is" is not allowed.  The case of "its" without the apostrophe is the possessive form. So you use it correctly as follows:  "The resistor is connected, and its function is to introduce a voltage drop."

4. '''Missing or erroneous references to figures.''' Make sure every figure is referred to in the text.

5. '''Omit the object of comparison.''' "This thesis presents a better method for designing amplifiers." Better than what?

6. '''Confuse singular and plural words.''' Tricky cases to watch out for are given in a previous section above.

7. '''Treat singular concepts as if they have gradations.'''  "The parameters have an improved level of optimality." Words such as "unique", "optimum", etc. do not have gradations. Something is unique or it is not. Something is optimum or it is not. It is like virginity.

8. '''Use the word "hope" or "hopeful".'''  These types of words are meaningless in scientific writing and are completely banned. Do not use them at all. "We hope our model is an improvement over Shannon's model" is better written as "Our model is aimed at providing an improvement over Shannon's model."  Also, "Hopefully the voltage will not be excessive" implies that the voltage hopes like a person. A better form is: "It is anticipated that the voltage will not be excessive."

9. '''Use capitals incorrectly.''' This can really annoy the reader.  Never use block capitals for emphasis, as it looks very uneducated. Don't use capitals for chemical compounds, unless at the beginning of a sentence. The rules for capitals in English text are:

* Capital at the beginning of a sentence
* Capital for proper nouns (i.e. named things) 
* Capitals for acronyms
* Capitals for Section 1, Figure 1, Equation 1, Table 1 etc, because you are naming those items.  When you are generally referring to sections, figures, equations, tables etc. they are lower case because you are not naming a specific one
* Capitals in title case for any part of a reference that is in italics
* Capitalize the first letters of all German nouns when referencing a paper in the original German
   
10. '''Omit the subject of a participle.''' "Making the insulation thin the strength is too low and it may rupture." Who or what is making the insulation thin? The sentence construction implies that the strength made it thin. Perhaps the author meant "Making the insulation thin causes the strength to be too low and it may rupture."  Who can tell what the author meant if the words are ambiguous?

13 '''Use "/" in written text to mean "or".'''  This is sloppy and is banned.

14.  '''Use the phrase "as such".''' This leads to sentences that sound like they contain superfluous waffle and is best avoided.