Writing Tips #18

Use short sentences

A sentence made of more than 40 words should probably be rewritten as two sentences.

 "The conjunction 'and' commonly serves to indicate that the writer's mind still functions even when no signs of the phenomenon are noticeable." Rudolf Virchow, 1928

Be direct and focused. Short sentences are easier to understand and won’t be mistaken by any other meaning. Many prefer to use conjunctions to attach additional information to the sentence. This practice is okay as long as the sentence remains short and succint . For a long and winding sentence, it is advisable to break it up into two separate sentences.

Writing Tip #17

 

                          Use short words

Writing Tips #16

 Write succinctly

 Use verbs instead of abstract nouns

                        Instead of: take into consideration
                        Write: consider

 Use strong verbs instead of "to be"

                        Instead of: The enzyme was found to be the active             agent in catalyzing...
                        Write: The enzyme catalyzed...

Writing Tips #15

  Use the active voice

 

It's clearer and more concise than the passive voice.

 Instead of: An increased appetite was manifested by the rats and an increase in body weight was measured.

Write: The rats ate more and gained weight.

for excellent reference in grammar :

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/active-voice/

Is life a battlefield ?

I woke up this morning  with these pressing questions in mind: Is life a battlefield? Am I  struggling  to get something or fighting to win something ? If so, who is the enemy? Am I on the winning side or losing side? Am I the good guy or the bad guy? Where is my weapon? In a battle people shoot with guns? Where is my gun? Maybe that’s why I see many people struggle in life because they are in a battlefield. Some drove fast and furiously dangerous maybe because they didn’t want to lose out in their battle. They jumped traffic queues, supermarket queues or any queue because staying put, being static, means they would be in a  vulnerable state; a very dangerous position in any battle. People fight each other a lot, well this is what people usually do in a battle, which causes a lot of pains  and sufferings. Politicians fight an ugly battle nowadays just to win whatever they believe should behold for the society. Friends, colleagues, brothers, sisters, husbands and wives are all the warriors or fallen heroes of some battles. We set to endure pains for the possibility of wining the battle. It’s like losing a lottery for the sake of maybe, just maybe that he would be that winning millionaire. “perjuangan yang belum selesai...” –a slogan that shows a battle of some sort---for some it is not a mere slogan but a lifestyle. I feel so remote and isolated because I really hate that stupid slogan.

I see life as living not fighting. That’s why I don’t understand why people compete just to get to the food at the surau. I would sit for iftar because no one struggles to get anything before the azan but after that they will fight their way to the food; and I always  would  leave them alone. It’s okay maybe they need the food  more than I do.I would prefer a quiet dinner at home. I love driving not because of the speed but because it takes me some where, let me see more people and most importantly for me to enjoy the scenery during the ride. That’s why I drive very slowly. I hate when people ask “berapa jam sampai KB?”—and they compared with others who has done it in half of my time. I always came in at the bottom. Go away, I just don’t care how fast I drove or how fast you have driven.  Maybe life is “ a survival of the fittest” , a natural phenomenon that fit very well in describing how things evolved and changed. Well I beg to differ with Mr Darwin because I am a human and I realize that I have this thing called “intelligence”. With my intelligence I drive my own evolution and cast my own destiny without leaving anything to chance. I will call my theory “ an intelligent selection for the survival of human species”; how’s that Mr Darwin?

I have survived for nearly half a decade of wonderful life and hoping for more in the future. In many of those years I always tried to be someone else: smart like so and so, lively like so and so, have muscles and six-pack like some actors and what not. In the end what makes me happy is to be myself; nothing fancy just me and my own self. I don’t fight to live; I just live it.

I’m sure your life is far more challenging than mine; live it to the fullest folks! And good luck.

Writing Tips #14

Write at a level that's appropriate for your audience

"Like a pigeon, something to admire as long as it isn't over your head." Anonymous

The most common mistake that an author would do unintentionally is failing  to identify the audience. If your article is for a particular journal then the first thing to do is to subscribe to that journal and check out the published articles. Get to know the styles they use and the issues they focus. By doing this you will identify the group of readers that the journal is intended for : pure scientists, engineers, educationists or academic in general. The audience may not academic altogether so the tone of your paper should be of layman type without much of the technical jargon and what not. Most articles are rejected because they are not suitable for the audience : too technical, too general, nothing about computers or very little related to our journal’s genre etc. Do your homework before writing would help to improve the language and style of your presentation.

Good luck.