Department of Computer Science and Engineering CSE 92
University of California at San Diego Spring 2007


Writing examples to discuss

CONCISENESS

As for Wikipedia's copyright policies, they are very straightforward and standard.  They basically state that if you are to use any sort of copyrighted material ... you must ...

The entire purpose of writing an informative piece is to effectively communicate information in a non-biased manner.

It is important to write your paragraphs in such a focused manner because it helps to organize the information in a way that is helpful and accessible to the reader.

USING WORDS CORRECTLY

... particularly if the topic is an historic event ...

... high level principles ... Within this essay, I will discuss them.  The first of these is singular paragraph use, which is making sure that each paragraph has one topic.

Appropriate diction is highly important as well.

PLAGIARISM

I think the most important one under Legal and Copyright, is that copyrighted material should not be used , because their diction is strongly opposing copyright infringement. ... As long as their sources are cited, and does not violate any copyright, they could directly copy information. ... The very lack of a section in the list of policies that covers plagiarism would seem to indicate that it is acceptable in Wikipedia's articles.

CONVINCINGNESS

Clarity, concision, and congruity are the main important concepts that will unquestionably influence the effectiveness and understanding of any piece of written work.

I also believe that a nonfiction writer should usually use a relatively neutral-sounding tone, somewhat similar to Wikipedia's "neutral point of view," even when trying to advance an argument.  The point is to acknowledge all relevant sides of the issue and to avoid sounding biased or overly emotional, even while directing the reader to form a particular opinion.  This style of writing is more likely to be taken seriously.

"Good" nonfiction writing requires certain style and organization techniques, the specifics of which seem to be subject to some debate.