stuffs related to writing skill [ T_T ]

vì thời gian vào box này nhiều hơn thời gian đọc sách,
đồng thời cũng kiếm cảm hứng để học wrting. Lập topic này để share những thứ linh tinh đọc đc trong sách.

***hi vọng...

1. Technical Writing made easier
I.Theory
The understanding of written text depends on three distinct components:
õ? Legibility
õ? Readability
õ? Comprehensibility
The first of these components is of no concern to us, as it is a responsibility of the layouters and typesetters putting our writing into its final form.
The second of these we will deal with, as it is vital to having the reader actually read our document, hopefully in full.
And lastly, the third component is essential to ensure that our reader will understand the purpose of our writing.
These two components will be discussed in separate sections, even though some of the issues raised may be pertinent to both.
In ad***ion, we will also look at issues of style õ?" some of writingõ?Ts doõ?Ts and donõ?Tts , as even the prose of technical writing does not have to be equivalent to a blunt axe when it might be an instrument of precision. Should you, kind reader, have suggestions for improvement to these pages

II.Readability
II.1. Well formed Sentences
By well formed sentences, we do not merely mean that the sentences should conform to grammatical rules of the English language, but also that they are clearly built. We will now look at
some negatives and discuss solutions:
This sentence no verb
Glaring grammatical errors such as omitting a vital component of the sentence â?" in this case the verb â?" should be avoided at all cost. Read out loud, whenever in doubt. Usually, these mistakes
occur in longer, more convoluted sentences. Check these twice when they cannot be rewritten in split-up form.
This sentence does a verb have
Never, ever try to transpose a grammatical construct of your mother tongue into a literal English equivalent â?" even more so in cases of colloquialisms, as above! If you are able to translate a sentence word by word back into your mother tongue, you most probably made a severe mistake or two in writing it. Read texts by native speakers of English. Rewrite your own text next, and then reread it.
In this case, we see that there is, as such, a larger than necessary number of commas.
Punctuation should be kept to a minimum. It is not necessary to put a comma wherever it looks right. They often are not. Especially clauses of the â?~so thatâ?T type can do perfectly well without commas. This rule of course also holds for all other punctuation. And never, ever, try to transport punctuation rules from your native tongue to the English you are writing.
Of course, many more cases of sentences not well formed might be constructed, but quite probably you will find enough of these when looking through various pieces of writing. And not only will you find these in non-native writers of English. Therefore, again â?" read what others wrote!
Of course, most of the further examples of section 3 also are malformed in our wider sense.

II.2 Overlong Sentences
Often we encounter sentences which run on too long. Understanding such sentences is extremely difficult, as short term memory has a very limited capacity. Similar to the rule that telephone numbers may not have more than 5 digits plus/minus two, sentences should not exceed a certain length.
It is given as a rule, which however is not the only such rule you may encounter, that sentences should not exceed a desirable length of ten to fifteen words, never should fall below seven words or
extend beyond the ultimate limit of tolerable length reached at twenty words, even though longer sentences may be found in high literature, where even punctuation as it is used in this example to facilitate reading is oft omitted in novel experimental ways.
This of course is an example that runs somewhat longer than what you would expect to find in your own writing. But read your own texts again and you will quite possibly find one or two of these
abominations, describing say, a complex chain of events and their handling. A complex train of thought can only benefit from being broken down into sentences of convenient length. Temptation
to ramble on in one long sentence may be great. Resist. Your logic will benefit. Also cut out anything not necessary to the immediate cause at hand. To quote Strunck and Whitê?Ts third rule:
to mtt : I just copy then paste. nothing more, nothing less ...

it is technicalwriting which is to write things related to technology. I thought it is something related to write essay/research in general .Anyway, thx 4 sharing

II.3 . Short Sentences
Short sentences are easily read, but tend to look breathless and overly excited.
Sentences may be short. Then they are easy to read. And understand, too. But they look cheap. And breathless. As well as leaving the reader restless
p/s : còn vài trang nhưng có vẻ ko quan trọng.bỏ qua

Phần 2: Academic Writing A practical guide for students
// : 1 chút hướng dẫn + bài tập .quyen sach thik nhat T_T
Part1 : The wirting process !
1.Background for writing : ( i don?Tt think this part is interesting enough to post it.)
2. Developing Plans from Titles : Most written work begins with a title, and students must be quite clear what question the title is asking before starting to plan the essay and read around the opic. This unit deals with analysing titles and making basic plans
2.1. When preparing to write an essay, it is essential to identify the main requirements of the title. You must be clear about what areas your teacher wants you to cover. This will then determine the organisation of the essay. For example:
Academic qualifications are of little practical benefit in the real world ?" Discuss
Here the key word is discuss. Discussing involves examining the benefits and drawbacks of something.
Underline the key words in the following titles and consider what
they are asking you to do.
a) Define Information Technology (IT) and outline its main applications in medicine.
b) Compare and contrast the appeal process in the legal systems of Britain and the USA.
c) Evaluate the effect of mergers in the motor industry in the last ten years.
d) Trace the development of primary education in Britain. Illustrate some of the issues currently facing this sector.
Note that most of the titles above have two terms in the title. You must decide how much importance to give to each section of the essay (e.g. title (a) might demand 10% for the definition and 90% for the outline).
2.2 Almost all essays, reports and articles have the same basic pattern of organisation:
Introduction
Main-body
Conclusion
The structure of the main body depends on what the title is asking you todo. In the case of a discuss type essay, the main body is often divided into two parts, one looking at the advantages of the topic and the other looking at the disadvantages.
A plan for the first example might look like this
***Academic qualifications are of little practical benefit in the real world ?" Discuss.
Introduction variety of different qualifications different methods of assessment
Benefits international standards for professions, e.g. doctors students have chance to study latest theories
qualifications lead to better salaries and promotion
Drawbacks many successful people don?Tt have qualifications many qualified people don?Tt have jobs
Conclusion qualifications are useful but not guarantees of success
***Write a plan for one of the titles
a) Define Information Technology (IT) and outline its main applications in medicine.
b) Compare and contrast the appeal process in the legal systems of Britain and the USA.
c) Evaluate the effect of mergers in the motor industry in the last ten years.
d) Trace the development of primary education in Britain. Illustrate some of the issues currently facing this secto
2.3 Consider the following titles and decide which sections should be included in each essay.
a) Describe the growth of the European Union since 1975 and suggest its likely form by 2010.
A short account of European history 1900?"2000
An analysis of candidates for membership before 2010
A discussion of the current economic situation in Europe
An outline of the enlargement of the EU between 1975 and now
b) Summarise the arguments in favour of privatisation and evaluate its record in Britain.
A case study of electricity privatisation
An analysis of less successful privatisations
A study of major privatisations in the UK
A discussion of the benefits achieved by privatisation
c) To what extent is tuberculosis (TB) a disease of poverty?
A definition of TB
Writing Foundations 7
A report on the spread of TB worldwide
A case study showing how TB relates to social class
A discussion of new methods of treating the disease
d) Nursery education is better for children than staying at home with
mother ?" Discuss.
A study of the growth of nurseries since 1995
A report on the development of children who remain at home until
five
A discussion comparing speaking ability in the two groups of
children
An outline of the increase of women in the labour market since 1960
e) Compare studying in a library with using the internet. Will the former
become redundant?
The benefits of using books
The drawbacks of internet sources
Predicted IT developments in the next 15 years
An outline of developments in library services since 1945