1. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Technical Writing:
Some Guidelines
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Professor of Computer Applications
Vidya Academy of Science & Technology
Thalakkottukara, Thrissur - 680 501
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
2. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
A talk delivered to
first semester M Tech students of
Vidya Academy of Science & Technology
on 27 July 2015
as part of a
Bridge Course for M Tech students
of Kerala Technological University
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
3. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Acknowledgment
The content of these slides are based on the
documents cited in the Bibliography.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
4. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Basic reference for style
Cover page of the 16th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style, one of
the most widely used and respected style guides in the United States
(first published in 1906, now a classic with 1045 pages).
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
5. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Outline
1 Never forget these universal aspects
2 Abbreviations
3 No plagiarism
4 Document elements
5 Punctuation
6 Examples of style
7 Citations
8 Bibliography
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
6. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Never forget these universal
aspects
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
7. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Never forget: Spelling
Spelling mistakes are totally unacceptable.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
8. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Never forget: Spelling, grammar
Write in an active voice in the third person
Correct spelling
Correct grammar
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
9. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Never forget: Figures
Neatly drawn diagrams
Use software to draw diagrams
Number the figures
Give a title to each figure
Include a List of Figures
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
10. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Never forget: Tables
Neatly drawn tables
Number the tables
Give a title to each table
Include a List of Tables
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
11. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Abbreviations
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
12. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Abbreviations
Define acronyms or abbreviations prior to using
them.
Example:
The National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) was founded in 1958
Include a List of Abbreviation in alphabetical
order.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
13. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Abbreviations
Use periods with abbreviations that end in a
lowercase letter.
Example:
p., vol., e.g., i.e., etc., a.k.a., a.m., p.m., Ms.,
Dr., et al.
Use no periods with abbreviations that appear in
full capitals.
Example:
VP, CEO, MA, MD, PhD, US
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
14. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Abbreviations
No space is left between the letters of initialisms
and acronyms, whether lowercase or in capitals.
The following abbreviations may precede a full
name: Assoc. Prof., Asst. Prof., Atty. Gen.,
Pres., Prof., Sr. (sister).
Omit periods in abbreviations of academic
degrees.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
15. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
No plagiarism
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
16. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
No plagiarism
(Image courtesy: http://www.bhprsd.org/Page/916)
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
17. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
No plagiarism
(Image courtesy:
http://youthvoices.net/discussion/why-do-kids-plagiarize)
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
18. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
No plagiarism
When copy-pasting, always cite the
source.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
19. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
No plagiarism
Any information in a document that is directly
quoted or copied from a source must be properly
cited.
Any information in the report that is directly
derived or paraphrased from a source must be
properly cited.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
20. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
No plagiarism
Example: Improper citation
Anton, Bivens and Davis, Calculus, John Wiley and
Sons.
[See: KTU Syllabus for I & II Semester BTech
Degree (as on 01.07.2015), MA 101 Calculus]
Example: Proper citation
Howard Anton, Irl C. Bivens, Stephen Davis,
Calculus, 10th Edition, John Wiley and Sons, 2012.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
21. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
No plagiarism
Any material derived from the web must come
from credible and documentable sources.
Wikipedia is NOT a credible reference.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
22. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Document elements
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
23. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Document elements: Front matter
Title page
Dedication
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction (if not part of text)
List of Abbreviations
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
24. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Document elements: Back matter
Appendix(es)
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography or References
Index(es)
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
25. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Document elements: Pagination
Lowercase roman numerals for front matter
Arabic numbers for text and back matter
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
26. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Document elements: Title page
The title page gives:
the title of the report
the authors’ names and ID numbers
course name and number, department,
institution
date of submission.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
27. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Document elements: Title page
Title should indicate exactly what the report is
about.
Example
Bridge Analysis
vs.
Analysis of a Pre-stressed Concrete Bridge
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
28. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Document elements: Summary
The summary section/chapter:
states the topic of the report
outlines your approach to the task if applicable
gives most important findings, or key aspects of
design
states the main outcomes or conclusions.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
29. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Document elements: Summary
The summary section/chapter does NOT:
provide general background information
explain why you are doing the research,
investigation or design
refer to later diagrams or references.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
30. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Document elements: Introduction
The introduction section/chapter includes:
the background to the topic of your report
a clear statement of the purpose of the report
(for example, to present the results of your
research, investigation, or design)
a clear statement of the aims of the project
technical background necessary to understand
the report (for example, theory or assumptions)
a brief outline of the structure of the report if
appropriate.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
31. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Document elements: Conclusions
The conclusions part sums up the essential features
of your work. This section
states whether you have achieved your aims
gives a brief summary of the key findings or
information in your report
highlights the major outcomes of your
investigation and their significance.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
32. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Punctuation
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
33. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Punctuation
(Image courtesy: www.proofreadersproofreader.com/
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
34. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Punctuation: One space rule
One space should be used between two
sentences – whether the first ends in a period, a
question mark, an exclamation point, or a
closing quotation mark or parenthesis.
One space should follow a colon.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
35. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Punctuation: Quotation marks
Periods and commas precede closing quotation
marks, whether double or single.
Examples:
Correct: He said: “Tomorrow is a holiday.”
Incorrect: He said: “Tomorrow is a holiday”.
Colons and semicolons follow closing quotation
marks.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
36. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Punctuation: Periods
If the ellipsis (that is, . . . ) is at the end of a
sentence, do not a full stop after it.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
37. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Punctuation: Vertical list
The following conventions are suggested:
A vertical list is to be introduced by a complete
sentence followed by a colon.
Items carry no closing punctuation unless they
consist of complete sentences.
Can have any number of items
Choose a numbering scheme and be consistent
Example: Study this slide.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
38. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Examples of style
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
39. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Examples of style
(Image courtesy: http://thinkbigdigitalmarketing.com/
keeping-nap-consistency-top-priority/)
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
40. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Examples of style: Inconsistency
The contents page of a draft document before corrections
(continued in the next slide)
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
41. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Examples of style: Inconsistency
The contents page of a draft document before corrections
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
42. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Examples of style: Titles
In chapter, section, etc. titles
All capitals (not favoured)
Example: THE CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE
Initial capitals (IEEE style, see next slide)
Example: The Chicago Manual of Style
First letter only capitalized (sentence case)
Example: The Chicago manual of style
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
43. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Examples of style: Titles
In titles, do capitalize:
Nouns (man, bus, book)
Adjectives (angry, lovely, small)
Verbs (run, eat, sleep)
Adverbs (slowly, quickly, quietly)
Pronouns (he, she, it)
Subordinating conjunctions (as, because, that)
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
44. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Examples of style
In titles, do not capitalize:
Articles: a, an, the
Coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, for,
nor, etc.
Prepositions: on, at, to, from, by, etc.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
45. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Examples of style: Capitalization
Avoid unnecessary capitalizations
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
46. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Examples of style: Capitalization
Correct usage
VAST is an engineering college in Kerala state. The
college offers B Tech programmes in six branches,
namely, civil engineering, production engineering,
etc.
Incorrect usage
VAST is an Engineering College in Kerala State.
The College offers B Tech programmes in six
branches, namely, Civil Engineering, Production
Engineering, etc.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
47. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Examples of style: Capitalization
Capitalize the first word of every sentence
Capitalize proper nouns that specifically name a
person, place or thing
Capitalize the proper names of nationalities,
peoples, races
Capitalize official job titles when used as part of
a name
Capitalize the full name of official programs,
projects or plans. Always lowercase program,
project or plan when the word stands alone.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
48. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Citations
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
49. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Citations
IEEE Citation Style
The author name is first name (or initial) and last.
The title of an article (or chapter, conference
paper, etc.) is in quotation marks.
The title of the journal or book is in italics.
The references should be numbered and appear in the
order they appear in the text.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
50. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Citations: Books
Books
J. K. Author, “Title of chapter in the book,” in
Title of His Published Book, xth ed. City of
Publisher, Country if not USA: Abbrev. of
Publisher, year, ch. x, sec. x, pp. xxx-xxx.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
51. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Citations: Conference Technical Articles
Basic format
J. K. Author, “Title of paper,” in Unabbreviated
Name of Conf., City of Conf., Abbrev. State (if
given), year, pp. xxx-xxx.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
52. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Citations: Conference Technical Articles
For an electronic conference article when there are
no page numbers
J. K. Author [two authors: J. K. Author and A. N.
Writer ] [three or more authors: J. K. Author et al.],
“Title of Article,” in [Title of Conf. Record as ],
[copyright year] [IEEE or applicable copyright holder
of the Conference Record]. doi: [DOI number]
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
53. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Citations: Conference Technical Articles
For an unpublished paper presented at a conference
J. K. Author, “Title of paper,” presented at the
Unabbrev. Name of Conf., City of Conf., Abbrev.
State, year.
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
54. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Citations: Electronic Sources
Basic format
J. K. Author. (year, month day). Title (edition)
[Online]. Available: http://www.(URL)
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
55. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Bibliography
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
56. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Bibliography
1 The Chicago manual of style, 16th ed., The University of
Chicago Press, 2010.
2 Philip Rubens (editor), Science and Technical Writing: A
Manual of Style, 2nd ed., Routledge, New York, 2002.
3 Leah M. Akins and Jefferson H Akins, (January 2009),
“Technical Report Writing Guidelines,” [Online]. Available:
http://www8.sunydutchess.edu/ faculty/akins/
documents/ TechnicalReportWritingGuidelines.pdf
4 “IEEE Citation Reference,” [Online]. Available: http://
www.ieee.org/ documents/ieeecitationref.pdf
5 “Preparation of Papers for IEEE TRANSACTIONS and
JOURNALS,” (April 2013), [Online]. Available: https://
www.ieee.org/documents/transactions journals.pdf
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
57. Never forget Abbreviations No plagiarism Document elements Punctuation Examples of style Citations Bibliography
Thanks . . .
Dr V N Krishnachandran
Technical Writing: Some Guidelines
