PROJECT 1: TECHNICAL AND SCIENTIFIC PROSE STYLE

Memorandum
To:
From:
Date:
Subject:

Karen Thompson
Colton Baratti
September 10, 2015
Project 1

This memo describes technical and scientific prose style. The sections that
are below cover being concise, precise, direct, and empathetic. Each of these
sections will be shown how to be properly used in the prose style of writing. I
have expanded my knowledge from the use of prose style writing, to further
my future writing skills.
Being Concise:
Being concise in writing means that every word in a sentence is needed.
While I was analyzing my paper, I noticed many unnecessary words in my
sentences. My original writing had a sentence So he was afraid he would get
caught with those in it. I used this sentence to explain what that person was
afraid to get caught with as in this example:
When I asked him if he was afraid, he said that he wasnt afraid
of hunting without his license because he was on his dads land,
but he was afraid of getting caught because he was shooting a 410 shot gun that only shot lead. So he was afraid he would get
caught with those.
This sentence added nothing of understanding of what those are. Instead
of using this sentence, I should have been more concise to cut it and use
more descriptive words as lead shot.
Being Precise:
Being precise means to choose the appropriate level of specifics and details
based on what readers will do with what you write and how formal you need
to be. While analyzing my paper, I noticed many vague words and sentences
that I was using in my paper. My original writing had the phrase big buck,
smaller bucks, and hit him with a good shot. I used these phrases to
explain what each of the variables stood for as in this example:
He said that he was hunting a big buck and got a good shot at
it. But in the herd of deer there were a few smaller bucks as well.
He said that he shot at the big buck and new that he hit him with
a good shot and then lost sight of the buck.

PROJECT 1: TECHNICAL AND SCIENTIFIC PROSE STYLE

These phrases added very vague details to the understanding of the

sentence. It would have been more precise to cut it and use details such as,
5 point buck for the big buck. It would have been more precise to cut it
and use details such as, 2 point buck for the smaller buck. And it would
have been much more precise to cut it and use a noun vitals for the phrase
in the last sentence.
Being Direct:
Being direct is knowing when to use active and passive voice. While
analyzing my paper, I noticed I used he in sentences. My original writing
had the word he in it over twenty times. I used this word to describe the
main character in my paper for as in this example:
He shot it and claimed it as his deer which is good, but he
should have slowed down to look a little harder. Through this I
would categorize him as the accidental violator. The reasoning
for this is because, I believe that he truly did hit the smaller buck
and that he didnt just waste it and walk away. He said he felt
horrible about what happened because he didnt mean on killing
two deer whatsoever.
This word didnt give a good active voice for the sentence and wasnt a good
enough subject for the action in the sentence. It would have been more
direct to cut it and use Cameron the persons actual name as the subject.
Being Emphatic:
Being emphatic is when we speak, how we emphasize or stress certain words
affects the meaning. While analyzing my paper, I noticed that I had many
sentences that had metadiscourse at the end of my sentences. It made my
sentences very long and strung out, keeping emphasis of the subject and
verb far apart from each other and making it hard to put together. My
original writing had many sentences that needed to be trimmed off and
shortened to have a good emphasis of what I was writing about, so it would
be clear to the reader of what I was pointing out. I used a long sentence to
explain the variables of what the sentence meant as in this example:
From his story of what he told me, I believe the intent of the law
violated was ethics and fair chase, because he didnt use good
ethics in killing the geese and he was taking away from the snow
goose population shooting them out of season. He should have
had a better understanding of when the snow goose season was
open too as well.
This sentence was much too long for the emphasis I was trying to put
forward. It would have been much more emphatic to cut out the last part of
the sentence and end the sentence after the last comma. This would have

PROJECT 1: TECHNICAL AND SCIENTIFIC PROSE STYLE

broadened the sentence up and made more emphasis to the audience of

what the sentence was all about.
Conclusion
I have never looked at writing in terms of the prose style. Also, I have never
really had a good idea about how to write my paper technically and
organized. This has showed me how to think about my future papers and
how to organize and structurally write in the future.
Now that I have learned a baseline of how to write technically, I will take this
and use the knowledge that I have learned to further my writing skills. The
knowledge that I have learned will help me improve upon my future writing
skills.