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Strategic Writing |Developing Your Ideas | Thesis | Carrying Out | Illustrations | ConclusionDeveloping Your Ideas
Developing a collection of ideas (like the listing of points in an outline) into a successful piece of written communication takes time and effort. You need to come up with a thesis statement which not only reflects your title but also describes the contents of your paper. You also need to carry out your plan by backing up your thesis with well-constructed paragraphs that provide evidence. Since technical documents are frequently concerned with conveying quantitative (numerical) as well as qualitative (interpretative) information, you should also know how to use illustrations such as tables and charts to support your textual information. Finally, you should write a conclusion that does not merely restate your thesis, but emphasizes the strongest evidence your document provided in order to prove that thesis. If you have planned your document well, you should have little trouble identifying the links between the different points you want to make. Your job as a writer is to state those links simply and clearly, so that the reader can follow them easily to your conclusion.
Strategic Writing | Developing Your Ideas |Thesis
Thesis Statement
A thesis statement (topic sentence) is a brief declaration of the contents or main idea of the information that follows. The thesis statement of a document is usually the first sentence of the first paragraph; however, if the topic is very complex or the reader requires background information, an equally effective place for the thesis statement is the last sentence of the first paragraph.
Recall that a topic is a general statement of subject, and a title gives the main idea of the document you are writing (see also: conclusion). The thesis statement is even more informative, because it also describes your writing strategy:
- Title: "Why Canada Should Expand Its Nuclear Power Programs"
- Thesis: "Canada should expand its nuclear power programs to satisfy the country's growing need for more energy because nuclear power is a proven, reliable source of energy, because improved safety regulations have greatly reduced the risk of nuclear accidents, and most of all because the perfection of dependable alternative energy sources will likely not be completed for decades."
The writer of the above thesis statement has not only given the main idea, but also provided a background statement (that is, Canada needs more energy) and listed three supporting ideas (nuclear energy is reliable, regulation has increased safety, and the alternatives are not dependable). A reader would expect a few sentences or a whole separate paragraph on background, followed by at least one separate paragraph on each of the three main ideas (in the same order as they were listed), followed in turn by a concluding paragraph. If the document follows some other structure, the effect will be jarring.
Strategic Writing | Developing Your Ideas |Carrying Out the Plan
Carrying Out the Plan
Paragraph Structure | Parallel Structure | Transitions | Evidence
Carrying Out the Plan |Paragraph Structure
Write a good topic sentence for each paragraph in your document. Just as the main thesis statement describes the paragraphs that will follow, the topic sentence of a paragraph should describe the sentences that follow. Write your topic sentences so that a reader who reads only the topic sentence of each paragraph would have a clear understanding of your paper.
Carrying Out the Plan |Parallel Structure
Use parallel structure when you list your supporting points. Parallel structure refers not only to grammar but to ideas. For instance, "...to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, and boldly going where no one has gone before" is not parallel because "to explore" and "to seek out" set up a grammatical pattern disrupted by "going." [Although "to boldly go" is a split infinitive, which many people consider to be a grammatical mistake.] Below are a sample title and a sample thesis statement; the thesis statement lacks a different kind of parallel structure:
- Title: North American Governments Should Mandate the Production of Electric Automobiles
- Thesis: The rest of North America should follow California's lead in mandating the production of electric automobiles because electric motors are cleaner, batteries are safer than gas tanks, and industry needs as much incentive as possible to mass-produce electric cars for the consumer market.
The three supporting ideas are not parallel because they do not serve the same purpose. For instance, the first point, "electric motors are cleaner," does not tell us what electric motors are being compared to; the reader has to wait until the second point, "batteries are safer than gas tanks," in order to tell that this passage is comparing electric cars to conventional gas-powered cars. Such a problem can be easily fixed. A greater problem is the fact that these first two points are fairly specific, while the third point (that industry should be encouraged to mass-produce electric cars) is much more general. This disparity reflects a problem in outlining -- the writer has not successfully placed his or her ideas into a hierarchical structure. The following revision addresses this problem:
- The rest of North America should follow California's lead in mandating the production of electric automobiles because the new electric cars are safer than conventional cars both to the environment and to the people who use them, and because a government mandate will provide incentives for industry to mass-produce electric cars for the consumer market.
Now the first point is "electric cars are safer...," which has two subpoints (environment and users); the second point is now "a government mandate will provide incentives...". The writer of the second version will likely first attempt to convince the reader that electric cars are a good thing, and then go on to argue that because they are a good thing, governments should encourage industries to manufacture them for a consumer market.
Carrying Out the Plan |Transitions
You should use transitional words and phrases to link your thoughts together. The following passage gives a topic sentence and several supporting ideas, but does not link those ideas together.
Example 1: Compact discs (CD's) have several advantages over the new digital audio tape (DAT): CD's are easier to use, the recorded data is better protected, and the medium itself is more durable. The user can instantly access a particular track or passage within the track by pushing a button. Digital audio tape must be wound on the spool. No part of the CD player actually touches the CD, so the encoded information will last indefinitely. The tape playhead physically touches the DAT which means the inevitable loss of some of the encoded music. A CD cannot jam or stretch, and is not affected by ordinary temperature extremes. Digital tape must be stretched along a complex path which can become obstructed; the tape is also very sensitive to temperature fluctuations (based on Michael H. Markel and Helen Holmes, Technical Writing: Situations and Strategies, Canadian Edition, Nelson Canada, 1994, p. 272).
The above paragraph is well-organized, in that the writer has listed the two items to be compared and the three criteria by which they will be rated, and then written one sentence for each of the six evaluations. However, the writer has merely placed these ideas side-by-side, and has made no attempt to connect them. Although such connections are not strictly necessary for such a short essay, their absence can cause confusion. Observe how much more smoothly the same paragraph flows with the addition of some transitional words and phrases:
Example 2: Compact discs (CD's) have several advantages over the new digital audio tape (DAT): CD's are easier to use, the recorded data is better protected, and the medium itself is more durable. The most obvious benefit is that the user can instantly access a particular track or passage within the track by pushing a button. Digital audio tape, on the other hand, must be wound on the spool. Second, because no part of the CD player actually touches the CD, the encoded information will last indefinitely. In a tape deck, the playhead physically touches the DAT which means the inevitable loss of some of the encoded music. Third, a CD cannot jam or stretch, and is not affected by ordinary temperature extremes. Digital tape, on the other hand, must be stretched along a complex path which can become obstructed; the tape is also very sensitive to temperature fluctuations.
The writer uses some transitions ("most obvious", "second," and "third") to signal a progression from one point of comparison to the next and others ("on the other hand" twice and "in a tape deck") within each point to signal a switch in focus from CD to DAT. These transitional words and phrases allow the reader to take in the second passage much more quickly, because he or she does not have to stop and think about how each new statement relates to the next.
Carrying Out the Plan |Evidence
In a technical writing document, you must present a coherent and complete discussion using nothing but words (illustrations such as tables and graphs should supplement the discussion, not supplant it). A good discussion is an argument supported by evidence. Your argument for a lab report may simply be, "I performed Lab #3, I achieved the objectives, and I understand the results." Although you would never include such a sentence in your report, you would still need to provide the appropriate evidence.
When most people think of technical writing, they think of quantitative (numerical or informative) statements; however, no document of any complexity can avoid making qualitative (analytical or comparative) statements as well. Whenever you make a qualitative statement, you are making a judgment. Even when you give quantitative information, you have made certain decisions about what qualitative information is the most important or how it affects your conclusion.
Be aware of the ways in which your assumptions, knowledge, and objectives affected the way you researched and planned your document. Once you have identified your unsupported claims and assertions, you should back up each claim. For instance, if you state that your experiment proves circuit A is better than circuit B, you should first tell the reader what you mean by "better." Does circuit A meet more experimental criteria than circuit B? Is circuit A easier to upgrade? Safer? More nutritious? What if circuit A is much cheaper to build, but circuit B is slightly more dependable?
Strategic Writing | Developing Your Ideas |Illustrations
Illustrations
The document that you are reading now frequently uses illustrations in the form of textual examples. However, as the reader you are not left alone to interpret the qualities of those examples. For instance, in a previous section, transition example #2 uses bold type to highlight important details; the sentences immediately following the example interpret and evaluate that information. Such strategies ensure that the reader can not only recognize the important details but can learn why you think they are important. The same holds true whether the illustrations are equations, pictures, tables or charts.
"A picture is worth a thousand words," as the saying goes, but the technical writer must still handle the qualitative information; the function of an illustration is to present quantitative data. When the intention is to report a large amount of data, a paragraph is inappropriate. For instance, the following paragraph is hard to read (not to mention boring):
At t = 0, the voltmeter read 0.0V. At t=1, the voltmeter read 0.0V. At t = 2, the voltmeter read 0.015V. At t = 3, the voltmeter read 0.03V. At t = 4, the voltmeter read 0.035V. At t= 4, the voltmeter read 1.10V. At t = 5, the voltmeter read 0.04V. At t = 6, the voltmeter read 0.0V.
The information is much more accessible in the following form:
Of course, the writer would still have to describe, in words, the important information the picture contains: "The voltage began at 0, and rose to 0.03 by t = 2. At t = 4 there was a sharp increase to 1.10V, after which the voltage subsided quickly, returning to 0 at t = 6.
For instance, a process description of the conversion of chemical energy to kinetic energy in a steam engine benefits immensely from an illustration.
However, the writer must still give the reader a basic understanding of the information the picture contains. This illustration would be more useful if the important parts were identified with letters, so that you could write a description like the following: "This process begins when the expanding steam (A) moves into the cylinder (B), pushing the piston rod (C) with sufficient force to drive an external gear assembly."
Strategic Writing | Developing Your Ideas |Conclusion
Conclusion
The nature of the conclusion depends upon the specific document you have been asked to write, but in general your conclusion should emphasize the information you want your reader to have learned from your document. A conclusion should not merely repeat the main thesis. Consider the following samples from a technical report in which the author was asked to evaluate the management's proposal to shift resources:
- Thesis: CanTech Industries should temporarily enact the management's proposal to discontinue the X-400 printer in order to free up factory resources for the more profitable X-600.
- Conclusion 1: Therefore, it has been shown that CanTech Industries should temporarily shift its focus from the X-400 printer to the X-600.
The weak Conclusion 1 adds nothing to the document. Enough said.
- Conclusion 2: This study has determined that the factory trial runs, cost effectiveness estimates, and market projections support the management's interest in shifting production resources from the X-400 printer to the X-600 model.
Using the conclusion to review the main discussion points, as in Conclusion 2, is better -- but if the opening paragraph is well organized, it will already have provided a detailed overview. Conclusion 2 not only reviews the discussion with sufficient brevity, but also emphasizes the relationship between the discussion and the thesis; the whole purpose of the discussion, after all, was to prove the thesis.
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