CC-05 Technical Report Writing: Zero Semester Batch 26 Dr. Muhammad Waseem

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CC-05
Technical Report
Writing
Zero semester Batch 26
Dr. Muhammad Waseem
2019-04-23
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Why we need to be skillful in

writing technical reports/papers or
thesis?
Good scientists are not always

good writers
OBJECTIVE: Developed writing skill to convey
scientific message to the community
2019-04-23
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 In order to write up your research outcomes

you don’t need to learn much more English than
you already know.
Science writing is much easier than it looks.
 strategy : understand and apply to the problems

given to you as an exercise
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A general shape of the research article/paper/report
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What should be the first?
• When you are writing
• When you are reading
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What should be the first?

You should be certain about
• What you have done
• What you have found

Write it first to write
good introduction
However, we will first start with introduction
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1. Introduction
Your model must answer the following three
questions
1. How do writers normally start the

Introduction?
2. What type of information should be in my
Introduction, and in what order?
3. How do writers normally end the
Introduction?
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1. Introduction
Read the introduction hand over to you
•Don’t worry if the subject matter is not familiar
Just try to get a general understanding at this stage
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1. Introduction
a) Grammar and Writing Skills
• TENSE PAIRS
• SIGNALLING LANGUAGE
• PASSIVE/ACTIVE USE
• PARAGRAPHING
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Tense Pair
Present Simple/Present Continuous
Permanent
situation
Temporary
situation
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Tense Pair
“Present Simple tense is used in science writing

to state accepted facts and truths”
Any other examples from your fields?
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Quiz #1
are you ready?
Write your Roll Number, Name and quiz
number on top of blank page
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Tense Pair (Quiz 1)

Later on, in the Results section, you can even
decide to state your own findings this way
Pressure
Temperature
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Tense Pair (Quiz 1)

Which sentence is stronger? And why
a) We found that the pressure increased as the

temperature rose, which indicated that temperature
played a significant role in the process.
b) We found that the pressure increases as the

temperature rises, which indicates that temperature
plays a significant role in the process.
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Tense Pair
Past Simple/Present Perfect
Time of verb,
when it
happened
Harder and
more
important
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Tense Pair
What is important is that the event in (d) is considered

more relevant to the situation now than the event in (c),
which is why it is given in the Present Perfect.
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Tense Pair
Why is this idea of relevance useful when you write
an Introduction?
Where does the tense change? And why
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Tense Pair
what if writer forget to change the tense?
•Attention was paid two year ago
•Perhaps attention has been paid to this problem since then;

perhaps the problem has even been solved
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Tense Pair
 Do not change tense randomly
 Past Simple tense and the Present Perfect

tense are used to refer to previous research
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Signaling language
Sentence connection
 the space between a full stop and the next

capital letter is a dangerous space for you and
your reader
Make sure that gap is closed
Connecting sentences forces you to develop

your ideas logically.
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Signaling language
Sentence connection
• Overlap: repeat something from the previous
sentence:
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Signaling language
Sentence connection
• Overlap: repeat something from the previous
sentence:
Quiz #2
Lets identify one sentence from the hand out?
Write down the sentence number only and
repeated word
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Signaling language
Sentence connection
• Pronoun (if they this):
Quiz #3
Lets identify one sentence from the hand out?
Write down the sentence number only and
repeated word
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Signaling language
Sentence connection
• Pronoun (if they this):
Answer :
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Signaling language
Sentence connection
• Semicolon or a relative clause (which)
Joining sentences with a semicolon works well when
two sentences are very closely related and one of
them is quite short:
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Signaling language
Sentence connection
• Use connectors like however, therefore etc
(relationship b/w two sentences)
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Signaling language
Sentence connection
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Signaling language
Sentence connection
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Signaling language
Sentence connection
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Signaling language
Sentence connection
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Assignment # 1
Check and report in next class what you

have learned by looking at the way
sentences are connected in the
Introductions of your target articles given
to you
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Passive/active
• We: refer to your group but not general
• It is also common to use the passive instead of
we, especially in the central ‘report’ section
(was measured, was added, etc.).
• You can also use a ‘dummy’ subject to take the
place of I or we:
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Passive/active
A problem with passive voice in formal writing
“A zero resistance of a conductor was observed at

ultra low temperatures”
“A zero resistance of a conductor was observed at

ultra low temperatures by me or group”
Agent (who did) is missing
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Passive/active
Writers of scientific papers often favor the passive

because it relieves them of naming themselves
“it was thought that the magneto-resistance could

provide an answer“
writer was not alone in having this idea
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Passive/active
The active voice also encourages economy:
A modest number of passive constructions can

lend grace to a piece of writing
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Paragraphing
Let suppose you have a free ticket to visit

Islamabad in 12 hours.
a) you get ride from airport and start

wandering (you will miss many places)
b) You take a short helicopter ride in a grid

pattern (effective)
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Paragraphing
A paragraph in academic writing often starts

with a topic sentence
The other sentences are related to this idea
When the ‘topic’ or idea moves too far away

from the first sentence, the writer usually begins a
new paragraph
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Paragraphing
Paragraph should not be too long or short but

logical and coherent.
• Write down each idea
• Put them in logical order
• List the points for each idea
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Lets do exercise on
your target
introduction
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Exercise
How important is this research field, use of

phrases quantifying the significance
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Exercise
• Research articles often begins with established

facts
•This ensure that reader writer share the same level

of background information.
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What king of facts should I

start with?
• Very specific subject (you can start with very

fairly specific information)
• Wider audience (more general background

information)
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What if several background facts
• First most general than specific
“Show them the wall before you examine the

bricks”
• Do not forget to close the gap between these

sentences
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Exercise
• Don’t the research references mean that this is part

of the literature review?
•So why does the author include references if it’s

only the background?
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Exercise
• Still not describing the specific problem
•Current focus problem: which lead to specific

problem address in this paper
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Exercise
•General Rule: include references to previous or

current research wherever it is useful
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Exercise
•This is literature review: arrange the reference so

that reader is able to process them logically.
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Three common options:
• Chronological: Deal with the research in

chronological order. (political discussions)
• Different approaches/theories/models:
Group studies according to their approach or
methodology (grouping similar projects).
• general/specific: Start with general research

in the field and gradually move to research that
is closer to your own.
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Exercise
This is where you begin to introduce the purpose

of your paper
Signaling connection is the conventions

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Exercise
Note this:
•Active voice
•Present simple test
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Exercise
• Be careful not to go into much detail at this point
Information is joined to previous

sentence with a pro-form.
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Exercise
Information is joined to previous

sentence with a pro-form.
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Outcome of our exercise
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Assignment # 1
Apply what you

learn so far on test
models given to you
2019-04-23

CC-05 Technical Report Writing: Zero Semester Batch 26 Dr. Muhammad Waseem

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1

Zero semester Batch 26

Dr. Muhammad Waseem

Why we need to be skillful in

Good scientists are not always

 In order to write up your research outcomes

Science writing is much easier than it looks.

 strategy : understand and apply to the problems

A general shape of the research article/paper/report

What should be the first?

• When you are writing

• When you are reading

What should be the first?

• What you have done

• What you have found

However, we will first start with introduction

1. How do writers normally start the

Read the introduction hand over to you

•Don’t worry if the subject matter is not familiar

Just try to get a general understanding at this stage

a) Grammar and Writing Skills

“Present Simple tense is used in science writing

Any other examples from your fields?

Tense Pair (Quiz 1)

Tense Pair (Quiz 1)

a) We found that the pressure increased as the

b) We found that the pressure increases as the

What is important is that the event in (d) is considered

Where does the tense change? And why

•Attention was paid two year ago

•Perhaps attention has been paid to this problem since then;

 Do not change tense randomly

 Past Simple tense and the Present Perfect

 the space between a full stop and the next

Make sure that gap is closed

Connecting sentences forces you to develop

Check and report in next class what you

“A zero resistance of a conductor was observed at

“A zero resistance of a conductor was observed at

Agent (who did) is missing

Writers of scientific papers often favor the passive

“it was thought that the magneto-resistance could

writer was not alone in having this idea

The active voice also encourages economy:

A modest number of passive constructions can

Let suppose you have a free ticket to visit

a) you get ride from airport and start

b) You take a short helicopter ride in a grid

A paragraph in academic writing often starts

The other sentences are related to this idea

When the ‘topic’ or idea moves too far away

Paragraph should not be too long or short but

• Write down each idea

• Put them in logical order

• List the points for each idea

How important is this research field, use of

• Research articles often begins with established

•This ensure that reader writer share the same level

What king of facts should I

• Very specific subject (you can start with very

• Wider audience (more general background

What if several background facts