English SWAT Special Weapons and Tactics in English

English SWAT Special Weapons and Tactics in English Seminar 4. Weapon: Writing

Writing Informal Emails Don’t write walls of text Respect your recipient even though it’s informal

Good Formal Email Proper salutation Use standard expressions Confident tone Signature

Bad Formal Email Leave yourself some time Check for spelling before sending Difference between good and bad is subtle, but kills credibility

Few Hints on Sending Emails Write the most important thing first Refer to previous communications Consider when the person will have time to read it ◦ Bad time: Friday, weekend, (typically) Monday ◦ Good time: Mon-Thu lunchtime, “first thing in the morning” Send a follow-up email if you think “that asshole” just ignored you ◦ Allow a few days, don’t be an asshole yourself

Writing CVs Be aware of the first impression Which one do you think is better: or ?

Polishing CVs Try using standard expressions: compare and Avoid the words you don’t know

Words to Capitalize in Titles All words of four or more letters, no matter what or where the words are The first word of the title and of the subtitle The last word of the title All other words except conjunctions (and, or, but, nor, yet, so, for), articles (a, an, the), and short prepositions (in, to, of, at, by, up, for, off, on) Special rule for words joined by a hyphen: If the first word can stand alone, the second word should be capitalized hy • phen [ˈhaɪ fən]

Anything wrong? “Obama Offers Health Law Fix, but Its Impact Is Unclear” “Fuzzy Control of Indoor Temperature and Illuminance” “On Correcting the Intrusion of Tracing Nondeterministic Programs by Software” “A User-Friendly and Extendable Data Distribution System”

Writing Papers Follow the guidelines ◦ Guidelines example: http: //static. springer. com/sgw/documents/1121537/application/ pdf/Springer_CS_Proceedings_Author_Guidelines_Jan_2013. pdf Adhere to the structure

Hints on Good Writing 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Errors are credibility killers, so… Use a spellchecker Check the dictionary if in doubt Pay attention to English specifics Double- or triple-check before sending anything Run important communications by someone

Home Assignment #4 Finalize the idea of your paper ◦ Follow the general paper structure ◦ Write 2 -3 pages Prepare to speak ◦ 5 -7 minutes to present

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