Viết hiệu quả trong tiếng anh

Viết hiệu quả trong tiếng anh là cuốn sách rất hữu ích dành cho mọi đối tượng muốn nâng cao khả năng trình bày một văn bản bằng tiếng anh, ví dụ như trong nghiên cứu kho học, trong các kỳ thi tiếng anh cũng như các nhà kinh doanh dùng trong hợp đồng.

Effective Writing Other titles from E & FN Spon Brain Train 2nd edition Richard Palmer Getting into Print A guide for scientists and technologists Peter Sprent Good Style for Scientific and Technical Writing John Kirkman Scientists Must Write A guide to better writing for scientists, engineers and students Robert Barrass Study! A guide to effective study, revision and examination techniques Robert Barrass Studying for Science A guide to information, communication and study techniques Brian White Write in Style A guide to good English Richard Palmer Writing Successfully in Science Maeve O’Connor For more information about these and other titles please contact: The Promotion Department, E & FN Spon, 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Tel.: 0171 583 9855 Effective Writing Improving scientific, technical and business communication SECOND EDITION Christopher Turk Senior Research Fellow University of Wales College of Cardiff John Kirkman Consultant on Scientific and Technical Communication E & FN SPON An Imprint of Routledge London and New York First published 1982 by E & FN Spon, an imprint of Chapman & Hall This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005 “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Second edition 1989 © 1982, 1989 Christopher Turk and John Kirkman All rights reserved No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 0-203-47310-8 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-78134-1 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-419-14660-1 (Print Edition) Contents Preface vii About the authors viii Writing is communicating: revising basic assumptions Thinking about aim and audience 18 Starting to write: a practical approach 31 Organization and layout of information 38 The use of headings and numbering 66 Algorithms for complex possibilities and procedures 70 Style for readability 77 Writing with a computer 103 Informative summaries 110 10 Choosing and using tables, illustrations and graphic presentation techniques 128 11 Writing instructions 168 12 Writing descriptions and explanations 188 13 Writing letters and memoranda 196 14 Writing minutes and reports of proceedings 210 15 Writing in examinations 220 Appendix A: Readability formulae 234 Appendix B: Outline of rules for reported (or ‘indirect’) speech 236 Index 240 From the reviews of the First Edition ‘A book to be heartily recommended.’ Physics Bulletin ‘…excellent work of reference…should, I suggest, be “required reading” for anyone involved in dealing with communication.’ The Communicator of Scientific & Technical Information ‘…a manual for technical writers that belongs on any author’s bookshelf.’ The Midwest Book Review ‘Effective Writing is an intelligent book Its theory is sound and its practicality is gratifying It possesses, perhaps, more of the characteristics of a good technical writing textbook, including brevity, than I have encountered anywhere else.’ Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Preface Modern technology has changed the process of writing and the methods of producing text, but the electronic revolution has not yet found a way of removing the need for clear and careful thinking during drafting and revising To be effective, writers must still reflect carefully on their aims, audiences, and contexts, and then make shrewd choices of what to say and how to say it So most of the advice in this book remains unchanged We have taken the opportunity to extend the range of topics covered, and to reinforce some sections of the text We acknowledge with gratitude the comments sent to us by readers of the first edition We should welcome feedback on the usefulness and practicality of this extended edition Christopher Turk John Kirkman About the authors Christopher Turk is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Wales, College of Cardiff, UK He has lectured widely on aspects of communication in the UK, Belgium and Sweden He was a Visiting Faculty member at Yale University in 1983–84, and a Visiting Fellow at the University of Geneva in 1985 He was Paul Mellon Fellow at Yale in 1986 His other publications include several articles on computer-aided writing, Effective Speaking (E & F.N.Spon, 1985), Machine Learning of Natural Language, (Springer-Verlag, 1989) and Humanities Research Using Computers (Chapman & Hall, 1991) He has a special research interest in the processing of natural language by computer, a branch of artificial intelligence John Kirkman was formerly Director of the Communication Studies Unit at the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology, Cardiff (now University of Wales, College of Cardiff), UK Since 1983, he has worked fulltime as a consultant on scientific and technical communication He has consulted for more than 200 organizations in 16 countries He has been a Visiting Lecturer in Technical Communication at the University of Michigan, USA, and a Visiting Fellow in Linguistics at Princeton University, USA He has published more than 70 articles, and has written, edited or contributed to 10 books, including Good Style: writing for science and technology (E & F.N Spon, 1991), and Full Marks: advice on punctuation for scientific and technical writing (ISTC, 1991) The Society for Technical Communication (USA) gave him its Outstanding Article Award in 1974, and an Award for Distinguished Technical Communication (shared with Peter Hunt) in 1987 Writing is communicating: revising basic assumptions Writing is a skill; like other skills, it can be learnt, and like most skills it is not inborn For example, few people lack the basic equipment to learn to ride a bicycle (balance, strength, sight), but most become skilful cyclists only after much practice Confidence is the main necessity, and having the courage to get on and try The same is true of writing Most people have the basic equipment (tact, experience, language), but like riding a bicycle, writing is a skill that must be learnt by doing it No amount of reading, or absorbing rules and advice, can substitute for practice So as we offer advice and give examples, our main aim is to reassure you that early ‘wobbly’ efforts at writing are quite normal Don’t be discouraged by the writer’s equivalent of grazed knees Practice will bring coordination and control that will change writing from an apparently hazardous exercise to an efficient means of getting somewhere We start from the assumption that thinking about writing can improve it, and that everyone can learn to write well Most people, in reality, are better at writing than they fear They can write successful letters to friends and effective complaints about faulty goods These writing tasks require the same basic skills as long reports, detailed instructions, or complex letters or memoranda Judgement of what the audience needs to know, tact in assessing which way to present this information to them most usefully, and the resources of language to the job exist in everyone We all develop a basic storehouse of skills It is drawn on to tell successful jokes at the bar, to shout at the other driver, to persuade a friend to something with you This book sets out to encourage a more conscious use of those skills Writing as communication The first task is to encourage the right attitudes to writing An instructor teaching timid old ladies to ride bicycles would soon find that getting them to take a positive and confident view was a major step towards success Few professional scientists busy with research projects, rushing their results on to paper for impatient managers, would like to be compared with ‘timid old ladies’, but they might recognize in themselves some of the same fearful hesitation when they put ... office: letters are written at home Scientific and technical writing often prefers words with strong connotations of formality, and sometimes reasonably so But over-formality is wearying; what,