Principles of Practical Writing

Good practical writing is clear, concise, coherent, and readable. They are qualities of good communication. Let's see the following example:

The flow of electrical current can induce the migration of impurities or other defects through the bulk of a solid. This process is called electromigration. In simple electroimigration, the force on the defect is thought to have two components. The first component is the force created by direct interaction between the effective charge of the defect and the electric field that drives the current. The second component, called the "wind force," is the force caused by the scattering of electrons at the defect.

The example is clear because it is written is simple, direct sentences. Although the technical context is the highly specialized realm of teoretical and applied nanotechnology, the sentence syntax - word order - is restrained and stucturally simple. Part of this clarity is achieved by the rhetorical device of defining a term, electromigration.

The example is also concise in its use of a minimum of words to express the basic idea of electromigratiom. It is not wordy, and it does not digress from the point being made.

Besides, the example is coherent because it develops its subject matter in an easy-to-follow line of thinking. The sentences are further linked by referents such as "this process," "the first component," and "the second component."

Finally, the example is readable because even if the readers are non-technicans they can read the passage and understand it easily.

(For more information about clarity, conciseness, and coherence, just email me at edward_wong_sucipto@hotmail.com or edwardwongsucipto@yahoo.com or edwardwongsucipto@gmail.com)