COMPUTER SYSTEMS RESEARCH
Elements of Technical Writing
2005-2006

  • Opt for an informal rather than a formal style
    1. Do not hide behind an overly formal writing style. This doesn't mean to write your technical
      papers in the same chummy tone as you would a letter to your pen pal. But a more relaxed, conversational
      style can add conviction, readability, and vigor to your work.
    2. You don't have to avoid using the personal pronoun. This can result in an unnaturally stiff style. 
       Formal:
    For the purpose of breaking up a beam of sunlight into the seven visible colosr of the spectrum,
    a glass prism was procured.

 Informal:
    I used a prism to break up sunlight into a rainbow.