patience

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Craig Fugate (CraigatFEMA) on Twitter

Craig Fugate (CraigatFEMA) on Twitter Embedded image permalink

South Carolina | FEMA.gov

www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/amicus_briefs/jo-batman-v.facebook-inc./140321batmanfacebookamicusbrief.pdf

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Wordiness: Danger Signals and Ways to React

Written by Margaret Procter, Writing Support

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One of the most efficient ways to improve your writing is to edit it for conciseness. You may have been struggling to think ideas through as you wrote, and piled up alternative wordings. Or you may have fallen into the habit of using more words than necessary just to use up space. If you can let your original draft "cool down" a while, you will find it easy to recognize unnecessary words and edit them out. Your reader will thank you! Here are some common patterns of wordiness, with sensible things to do about them.

Doubling of Words (choose one):

mutual agreement (agreement) future prospects (prospects)

consensus of opinion (consensus) reconsider again (reconsider)

whether or not (whether) inadvertent error (error)

Intensifiers, Qualifiers (omit or give specific details):

very really

extremely definitely

a considerable amount of to a certain extent

Formulaic Phrases (use a one-word form or omit):

for the purpose of (to) due to the fact that (because)

at this point in time (now) in the near future (soon)

with regard to (about) in view of the fact that (because)

as the case may be (—-) Basically, . . . (—-)

Catch-all Terms (can sometimes omit):

aspect field quality

case kind situation

fact matter sort

factor nature thing

feature problem type

weak A surprising aspect of most labour negotiations is their friendly quality.

improved Most labour negotiations are surprisingly friendly.

weak The fact of the war had the effect of causing many changes.

improved The war caused many changes.

Padded Verbs (use a one-word form):

to have an expectation, hope, wish, understanding, etc.

(to expect, hope, wish understand, etc.)

to make an arrangement, plan, decision, inquiry, acquisition, etc.

(to arrange, plan, decide, inquire, acquire, etc.)

Unnecessary "to be" and "being" (omit):

weak The program is considered to be effective.

improved The program is considered effective OR The program is effective.

weak because of the terrain being rough

improved because of the rough terrain

Passive Verbs (change to active voice, if possible with a personal subject):

weak It is felt that an exercise program should be attempted by this patient before any surgery is performed.

improved The patient should attempt an exercise program before surgery.

improved I recommend that the patient attempt an exercise program before surgery.

improved Mr. Lee, please do these exercises every day for six weeks to strengthen your leg muscles before we try any more surgery.

weak The bevelling jig is said by most users to be faulty.

improved Most users say the bevelling jig is faulty.

Overuse of Relative Structures ("Who," "Which," "That") (omit when possible ):

weak The novel, which is entitled Ulysses, takes place . . .

improved The novel Ulysses takes place . . .

weak It was Confucius who said . . .

improved Confucius said . . .

weak I think that X is the case. . .

improved X is the case, as this evidence shows: . . .

weak There is a tendency among many writers who may be seen to display certain signs of lack of confidence that their sentences will be overloaded with relative clauses and other words which are generally useless in function.

improved Many hesitant writers overload their sentences with relative clauses and other useless words.

http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/style-and-editing/wordiness

Toronto University Writing Support (2014) Retrieved from http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/style-and-

editing/wordiness

Building Solutions - Austin Industries

Building Solutions - Austin Industries

http://www.austin-ind.com/building-solutions/

3D buildings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=892sdBRvmvU#t=0

4D buildings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FZhHSDYchuI#t=2

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Writing Advice « The Barker Underground

Writing Advice « The Barker Underground

[Here are a few useful types of transitions to keep in mind Mai, k., 2013]

[Sequential Transitions: Here, we’re not talking so much about “first, second, third.” Rather, this kind of transition points more towards the ideas that logically follow each other. Words such as “therefore” or “then,” or phrases like “This indicates that…”, show a relationship between the ideas. These transitions are used when one idea is the premise on which the next idea depends or when the second idea comes as a deduction from the first.
Examples: Thus, Therefore, Then; It follows that, This indicates that, This implies that; From this we can see that, What this means is that…Comparative Transitions: Sometimes, it’s not so much that one idea is derivative of another, but rather that they share some sort of property. This is especially useful when the relationship between the two ideas isn’t obvious. This type of transition is useful in comparative essays (for obvious reasons) but also instrumental when you are using analogies to make a point about some sort of topic (such as talking about islands to make a point about transitions!)
Examples: Like, Also, Similarly; Just as, In the same vein; This idea can also be seen in…, A similar phenomenon is found in …Contrastive Transitions: There are times when you’re neither describing premise-conclusion relationships nor looking at similarities, but instead focusing on contrasts: “This author says this, but that author says that.” “This appears to be the case, but in reality, it’s something else.” These transitions are useful not only in compare-and-contrast essays, but also whenever you’re trying to debunk a claim or to show another side of an issue. These words can also help you to move on to an entirely different issue.
Examples: But, Though, However, Nevertheless/Nonetheless; Then again, On the other hand, At the same time; This ignores, It’s not…but rather, The difference between…and…is that…Summing Up Transitions: You’ve established an idea and thrown lots of brilliant evidence our way. Now what? In order to make sure your readers won’t miss important information, it’s a good idea provide the quick and dirty version of the ideas you just laid out before introducing your big, final insight.
Examples: Essentially, Basically, Ultimately; In short, In other words, That is to say; This boils down to, The main point is…
Ultimately, the goal of these tools is to bring a sense of cohesion to your paper by showing the logical progression of your thoughts; they’re signposts telling your reader which bridge to cross and what the two islands linked by that bridge have to do with each other. These signposts ought to be everywhere within your paper, moving your reader between phrases and sentences in addition to paragraphs or larger chunks. Sometimes multiple signposts are needed to guide a reader across the bridge, because of the complex relationship of those two ideas. The primary goal to keep in mind, though, is to make sure your reader has a smooth trip. That’s how you make your paper flow.

In my next post, I’ll offer some examples of transitional sentences and paragraphs Mai, K., 2014]