Films

    The longer a document is, the more important it is for you to sustain the energy in the writing. Sustaining energy calls on you to select strong verbs and to rid sentences of needless words. This lesson addresses both issues. 

Sustaining the Energy of Scientific Writing: Choosing Strong Verbs (Part 1): This film discusses sustaining the energy of scientific writing by choosing strong verbs and placing them early in sentences.


Sustaining the Energy of Scientific Writing: Choosing Strong Verbs (Part 2): This film discusses sustaining the energy of scientific writing by choosing strong verbs and placing them early in sentences.

Exercises

     Rewrite the following paragraph to make the verbs stronger. Because this exercise focuses on verbs, keep the same number of sentences. In other words, do not combine sentences. Also, please work in the good news of this paper—namely, that the process eliminated 99% of nitrogen oxide emissions. Please note that because the paper has two authors, using the first person would call for we, not I. 

     A new process for eliminating nitrogen oxides from diesel exhaust engines is presented.  Flow tube experiments to test this process are discussed.  The percentage decrease in nitrogen oxide emissions is revealed.

     For a possible answer, please view Film 2 or see page 57 in The Craft of Scientific Writing.

References

  1. Alley, Michael, The Craft of Scientific Writing, 4th ed. (New York: Springer Verlag, 2018), Lesson 4.
  2. Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (New York: Scribner, 2000), p. 125.
  3. William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White, The Elements of Style, 3rd ed. (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1979), p. 23.
  4. Mark Twain, letter to D. W. Bowser (20 Mar 1880).
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