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Yes, you can write that technical paper
Jim is an ambitious new metrologist at ABC Tech. He wants to become more visible in his department and in the metrology community at large, so he decides to submit a paper to a prestigious conference. He schedules some time for himself over the weekend to sit down and think about it.
Sitting in front of a blinking cursor on his computer monitor, Jim freezes. He thought he knew what he wanted to write about, but now he’s drawing a blank.
Writer’s block isn’t limited to metrologists, of course – it’s a universal problem that people in many professions face (even writers). Here are a few simple tips that can help you on your way to greater visibility and respect in your career.
Define your purpose
What do you want to accomplish with your paper? Do you want to educate? Sell? Persuade? Explain? For example, suppose you want to write about the lab renovation you just completed. Your purpose might be to help other lab managers avoid the pitfalls they might encounter in a similar renovation. Or you might want to convince readers to send their equipment to your lab for calibration. Deciding on your purpose will help you choose the points you want to make.
Identify your ideal reader
Will your readers be professional peers? Will they have a good understanding of your topic, or will you have to define terms and explain key concepts? What is their age range? Knowing who will read your paper will help you know what language to use.
Get started
Here are some simple ways to get started:
- Brainstorm. Jot down ideas in no particular order. Some people find it helpful to do this on index cards, using one card for each major point. Others type ideas at random. Still others talk into a recording device.
- Research. Talk to other experts. Test a hypothesis. Run an experiment. What have others done and how are your results and your conclusions different?
- Organize your ideas. Create an outline. Arrange and rearrange your index cards on a table. Take the ideas from your brainstorming, pull out the key ideas, and draw lines to the points that support them. Put your ideas on PowerPoint slides. The idea here is to create a visual representation of the points you want to make, in a format that lets you move them around easily.
- WIRMI. According to "Problem Solving Strategies for Writing" author Linda Flower, when you are having trouble writing a sentence, say to yourself, What I Really Mean Is…and just blurt it out. You can polish it later. For now, just say what you think.
- Talk to your reader. Don’t worry about writing each sentence perfectly on the first draft. What would you say if your reader was sitting in front of you, asking questions?
- Provide a context. You’ve heard the expression, “Tell the audience what you’re going to tell them; tell them; then tell them what you told them.” If you can write one or two sentences that inform your readers what you will be telling them, why they will be interested, and what they will learn, you will begin to uncover the structure for the rest of your paper.
Incubate, then edit
After you write your first draft, get up and take a break. When you come back to your paper, try to see it from the reader’s perspective. Will readers understand how they will benefit from reading your paper? Are there acronyms or technical terms that need to be defined? Have you clearly stated the points you want to make? Is there a logical transition between points?
Finally, look for the following:
- Misspellings and typos. Read your paper backwards. It helps misspelled words to jump out at you.
- Wordiness. If a sentence has too many prepositional phrases, adjectives or adverbs, consider taking something out or breaking one sentence into two or even three. Reading your paper out loud will help you find the wordy parts – if you have to take a breath in the middle of your sentence, it’s too long.
- Passive tense. “It was decided to begin the renovation with the temperature control system.” Who decided? What exactly did they decide? Changing the sentence to “The standards lab team decided to begin the lab renovation by upgrading the temperature control system” clarifies who is doing what to whom.
For more ideas
Here are two great books if you’re interested in learning more about writing technical papers:
Problem-Solving Strategies for Writing, Linda Flower, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.
Writing White Papers, Michael A. Stelzner, WhitePaperSource Publishing
Do you have a good tip?
If you have a tip for avoiding writer’s block, organizing a paper, or writing a winning paper, please share by adding a comment to this posting.
If you want to see some examples of papers written by others, visit the Articles and Education page on our website.
For the past 20+ years I’ve been producing marketing materials for Fluke Calibration. I received my master’s degree in professional writing from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and enjoy sharing what I know about communications. Full Bio
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