>> And don’t use the same word repeatedly — it’s boring.
This is the worst possible advice to give about technical writing! What you
should absolutely do if you want your readers to know what you're talking about
is a) define your terminology before you use it and b) stick to the terminology
you defined throughout the entire paper. Don't call a thing "red noppertock" the
first time you mention it and then "crimson nopper with a tock" the next time.
Call the same object, the same concept, the same method by the same name,
always. Otherwise, you will only create confusion and make your reader tired
and impatient.
"Boring" is not a flaw, in technical writing. The purpose of technical writing
is not to entertain, but to explain and clarify. Creative writing is a
completely different thing. The worst mistake you can ever make is confuse the
two and treat a paper like a short story, or such.
Trust me, I know. What McCarthy advises above is exactly the mistake I made in my
first research papers and they all got rejected with frustrated comments by
confused reviewers who pointed out they had no idea what I meant when I used a
particular term. I had to take a course with an academic writing expert at my
university, to realise what I was doing wrong: I was trying to add variety to my
writing, just like in literary, creative writing. I stopped that as soon as I
realised how wrong it was and now I actually get reviewer comments about the
clarity and quality of the writing in my papers. And as _writing_ goes, it's
boring as all hell, but it gets the point across without doubt. That's its
purpose.
This is the worst possible advice to give about technical writing! What you should absolutely do if you want your readers to know what you're talking about is a) define your terminology before you use it and b) stick to the terminology you defined throughout the entire paper. Don't call a thing "red noppertock" the first time you mention it and then "crimson nopper with a tock" the next time. Call the same object, the same concept, the same method by the same name, always. Otherwise, you will only create confusion and make your reader tired and impatient.
"Boring" is not a flaw, in technical writing. The purpose of technical writing is not to entertain, but to explain and clarify. Creative writing is a completely different thing. The worst mistake you can ever make is confuse the two and treat a paper like a short story, or such.
Trust me, I know. What McCarthy advises above is exactly the mistake I made in my first research papers and they all got rejected with frustrated comments by confused reviewers who pointed out they had no idea what I meant when I used a particular term. I had to take a course with an academic writing expert at my university, to realise what I was doing wrong: I was trying to add variety to my writing, just like in literary, creative writing. I stopped that as soon as I realised how wrong it was and now I actually get reviewer comments about the clarity and quality of the writing in my papers. And as _writing_ goes, it's boring as all hell, but it gets the point across without doubt. That's its purpose.