Chapter Objectives
Upon completion of this chapter, readers will be able to:
- Revise common structure-level problems in technical writing.
- Revise common sentence-level problems in technical writing.
Power-Revision Techniques
The linked chapters here cover some of the most important aspects of writing—what's more important than the information you put in a document, how you organize it, how you link it all up together?
When you look at all these powerful ways you can review (look for potential problems) and then revise (fix those problems), you might think they're tedious and time-consuming. They do take some time, but don't worry...this stuff becomes second nature rather quickly. If you spend some time analyzing writing in the ways outlined in this chapter, the way you write and the way you review what you write will change. You'll start operating—even if you don't consciously realize it—with these ideas in mind.
This chapter covers two major categories of problems you can revise: structure-level problems and sentence-level problems.
The section on structure-level problems includes tips for checking your documents.
- informational value
- internal organization
- topic sentences and overviews
- transitions
- paragraph lengths
The section on sentence-level problems includes tips for how to revise
- nominalizations
- noun stacks
- redundant phrasing
- expletives
- weak use of passive voice verbs
- subject-verb mismatches
- readability, sentence lengths, and sentence structures
