Talk:Open writing projects/Scientific Programming with Python and Subversion/Outline: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 12: | Line 12: | ||
Lorrie cracks the editorial whip... | Lorrie cracks the editorial whip... | ||
In general, try to be consistent. Choose a style and stick with it. For example, headings should all follow the same style: First word capped | In general, try to be consistent. Choose a style and stick with it. For example, headings should all follow the same style: First word capped and all other words lower case, or all words capped. (O'Reilly's style is to have all major words in the the heading capped.) | ||
Avoid passive voice. This is a tough one for scientists, all of whom seem to think that using pronouns is prohibited. ;-) Instead of saying "The data suggested that our experiment failed" say "According to the data, our experiment failed." | Avoid passive voice. This is a tough one for scientists, all of whom seem to think that using pronouns is prohibited. ;-) Instead of saying "The data suggested that our experiment failed" say "According to the data, our experiment failed." | ||
Revision as of 18:45, 1 May 2008
Comments from Lorrie:
I would also recommend you put chapters in Part I since it's weird to find chapter 1 in Part II. You'd keep the part title and have one long chapter with 3 example boxes sprinkled throughout (as I've indicated in the outline), or you'd break the text into multiple smaller chapters. If you did the latter you'd have an introduction and then 3 short chapters each illustrating one example. Does either sound appealing?
Lorrie cracks the editorial whip...
In general, try to be consistent. Choose a style and stick with it. For example, headings should all follow the same style: First word capped and all other words lower case, or all words capped. (O'Reilly's style is to have all major words in the the heading capped.)
Avoid passive voice. This is a tough one for scientists, all of whom seem to think that using pronouns is prohibited. ;-) Instead of saying "The data suggested that our experiment failed" say "According to the data, our experiment failed."
