5. The writing process

An old adage applies here: ‘Write a little, read a little, think a lot’. Then go over it until it all hangs together.

Whilst word processing can ease the physical process of putting together the report and tidying up the presentation, it is only just beginning to be helpful with the actual composition of the report—even then, it will only check what you have written; it won’t write it for you. Useful aids are as follows:

• word meanings and spellings: use a good dictionary small enough to be handy on the desk e.g. Pocket Oxford Dictionary (Soanes, 2001);
• ideas for the right word or useful variants: Roget’s Thesaurus (Kirkpatrick, 2000) or the one in your word processing package, if you have one;
• using the right word in the right way: Fowler’s Modern English Usage (Fowler and Burchfield, 1998);
• punctuation, sentence construction etc.: use a decent grammar text e.g. Mind the Stop (Carey 1971);
• choosing the right expressions: The Complete Plain Words (Gowers, 1987);
• data handling and its presentation: Facts from Figures, also A Primer in Data Reduction;
• writing in a style for easy reading and comprehension: Writing Technical Reports;
• for technological assistance: the spell and grammar checker on your word processing package.

Be careful with your choice of words:

• do not use slang and jargon;
• never use a long word where a short one will do;
• if it is possible to cut out a word, always do so;
• make sure that nothing you have written offends good practice towards different sexes and minority groups.