: 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

@Jessie137

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Write formatted text, that cannot be mistaken for spoken conversation.

Instead of listing multiple alternatives, examples, reformulations and additional explanations inline, write it like:

multiple alternatives
examples,
reformulations and
additional explanations.

Use many short sentence that are to the point. When in doubt, use simple language. When necessary, do what is needed, but try to get a simple style that is good for technical documents.

For example:

When the difference between unique observations was greater than 10% water cover, or when cover percentages did not equal 100%, points were discarded.

Becomes:

NOTE: When the difference between initial unique observation was


greater than 10% water cover; or when
cover percentages did not equal 100%


we discarded the points.

Observe that only the format has changed! Additionally, I doubt anyone would confuse the latter for 'conversational'.
I also think that the text doesn't become less readable.

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