Technical Writing¶

Good technical writing is extremely important for students at all levels, but especially for graduate students who are expected to write professional reports that will be published, possibly in international journals and conference proceedings, for all to see.

Clear and concise writing means that people will not only appreciate the technical significance of your work but also be able to understand it clearly. If people cannot understand your work, then nobody will use it, no matter how brilliant. What is more, if your writing is poor or is filled with typos, grammatical errors, or inconsistencies, then your good work may not receive the praise it deserves. Do not underestimate the importance of polished documents and presentations.

Tips for Technical Writing¶

Here are some tips for technical writing, including style, consistency, and grammar.

Queen's Writing Centre¶

If you need some writing help, don't hesitate to use the Queen's Writing Centre. They even have lots of great online resources about writing and thesis preparation.

Consistency¶

Whatever your writing style, consistency is important. Nothing looks worse than a document that changes writing styles and/or writing conventions (grammar, spelling, mathematics, units, bibliography) from page to page, section to section, or chapter to chapter.

Plan Ahead and Schedule Time for Writing¶

Good writing takes time and planning. When preparing your paper, thesis, or report, be sure to give yourself enough time to review your own work, get feedback from others, and revise your draft. Consider a writing time budget (e.g., so many pages per hour/day) for motivation. Writing is an iterative process and should not be rushed. Write, read, write, re-read, write, seek feedback, re-write, and so on.

SI Conventions and Mathematics¶

In Canada (and in most of the scientific world) we follow SI conventions. For example, see the rules at https://www.bipm.org/en/publications/si-brochure, including how to write in SI.

Units are never italicized. Mathematical variables are always consistently italicized (e.g., whether the variable appears in a figure or in the body of the text).
There is always a space between numbers and associated units (e.g., 20.3 m/s, not 20.3m/s). Again, follow SI conventions. There are very few exceptions, but these include degrees, minutes, and hours.
Numbers less than 10 are usually written as a word (e.g., "two-vehicle case" not "2-vehicle case", or "two dimensional" not "2 dimensional"). The exception is numbers with units (e.g., "2 m") or indices (e.g., "Step 2 of the algorithm").

Equations should be incorporated as part of sentences (including punctuation). This includes numbered equations on their own lines. Equations should not float around (unlike a figure or table). So, for example, let $x$ be a variable such that $y = cx$, where $c$ is a constant and $y$ is the output.

Writing Style¶

If you cannot prove a statement that you want to make, then don't say it (or at least admit you have no evidence). Stating something without real proof (or without supporting evidence) can get you in trouble, and brings into question other things you've written.
Short, to-the-point sentences. Good descriptions are useful, but wordiness for its own sake is not. If an equation will do instead of a paragraph, use an equation (accompanied by a brief written explanation). Likewise, for a well-drawn figure or table.
Related to the above point, avoid long paragraphs with too many ideas. Do not forget to break up your ideas and thoughts by using paragraphs.
Be careful with verb tenses. Use the present tense to describe things that exist now (e.g., "Below, Figure 1 illustrates" something, not "Below, Figure 1 will illustrate" and not "Below, Figure 1 has illustrated"). Use the past tense to describe experiments that were done (e.g., "The robot was then used to map the building" not "The robot is then used to map the building", and not "The robot will be used to map the building").
In Canada we use Canadian English, which has its own particular spelling (a bit of a mix between British and American spelling). Get a good Canadian dictionary or check out a site on Canadian spelling. However, if you are writing for a journal or conference in another country, use their spelling conventions.
Correct usage of "that is" and "for the sake of example" abbreviations is "i.e.," and "e.g.," respectively.
Do not end sentences with connecting words. Write, for example, "This is the surface on which the object was placed" not "This is the surface the object was placed on".
If the word "as" can be replaced with "because", please use "because". E.g., "This technique is not useful as it is not practical" should be "This technique is not useful because it is not practical."
Words that are titles or named items are usually capitalized. For example, "see Figure 1" not "see figure 1", or "in Step 1" not "in step 1". Similarly, "Cartesian", "Euclidean", "Gaussian", etc.

Figures and Tables¶

Block diagrams are often handy. Use Visio (Windows), Omnigraffle (Mac), or the free Dia or Ipe programs (available for multiple platforms).
Avoid figures containing text that is too small to read. If you are exporting a plot from MATLAB or Matplotlib into LaTeX or Word, make sure that the font size on the axis labels is big enough to read. Text in figures should be nearly the same size (on paper) as the text of your document; fonts that are too big are also unadvisable.
Fonts and styles used in figures and tables should be the same as the fonts and styles (including fonts used for maths) in the body of your document.

Do not include images, drawings, or other figures in your paper or thesis that you did not create yourself. If you must include such a figure, technically you need to obtain permission from the copyright holder to reproduce their figure in your document, since presumably you also plan to publish this work under your own name.

References¶

Websites are not good items to cite in a conference or journal paper (or thesis). Cite websites as footnotes in the paper, but only if absolutely necessary; if you can find a real document that can replace your website reference, do that instead.

Bibliographic citations must be complete and use a consistent citation style. For each citation, be sure you have included all of the information available for your reference (e.g., dates, places, volume, number, institution, type, etc.). Incomplete citations are not accepted by publishers and it also looks very sloppy.

Thesis Resources¶

See the General Forms of Theses from the School of Graduate Studies for general thesis formatting requirements.