: Re: How should I respond to a supervisor/editor who thinks my technical writing is "too conversational?" My team and I are drafting a technical report to summarize the methods and results of a pilot

Your supervisor is ultimately going to be responsible for the quality of your work, and he seems more familiar with the domain knowledge, so you should do everything you can to try to understand his point. If necessary you should work with him more closely, perhaps with specific examples, so you can understand his reasoning. It is possible that part of that conversation will involve him softening his stance a bit, but you have to be willing to follow his lead, as he is the supervisor.
I feel the need to point out that technical language exists for a reason; it often conveys a meaning that is specific within a specialized knowledge domain. When I review your two examples, I see several ambiguities in meaning that are resolved by your supervisor's changes.

When the difference between unique observations was greater than 10% water cover, or when cover percentages did not equal 100%, points were discarded.
To reduce sampling bias, input data points were removed when variance was greater than 10% between independent observations. Input data points were also removed if the percent cover class did not equal 100%.

A "difference greater than 10% water cover" is different from "10% variance." For example, a change from 10% water cover to 12% water cover is a 20% variance but only a difference of 2% water cover. I think (I need more context).

A unique observation is not necessarily an independent observation

A point is not necessarily an input data point

As a general rule, people who are adults and professional in their fields do not "use big words" to impress anyone; they are using them for their purpose, to quickly convey what is often a subtle meaning, something that can be easily missed.

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: Re: How should I respond to a supervisor/editor who thinks my technical writing is "too conversational?" My team and I are drafting a technical report to summarize the methods and results of a pilot

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: How should I respond to a supervisor/editor who thinks my technical writing is "too conversational?" My team and I are drafting a technical report to summarize the methods and results of a pilot

: Intentionally leaving out a part of the story, for a more interesting reveal? In the story I am writing, I have a character who is working on a project and will present it to a group of

: MLA-8: How to cite information with multiple sources No abstinence-only-until-marriage program has been shown to help teens delay the initiation of sex or to protect themselves when they do

: Is it ok to reference something modern to give the reader a better idea of what something looks like if the book is set in the Middle Ages? This is a random example but would it be bad

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