OpenSees Blogs Well

You know the active voice, where the subject performs an action. The graduate student analyzed the model. Here the subject is the graduate student. And you also know the passive voice, where the subject is affected by an action. The model was analyzed by the graduate student. Now the subject is the model. But do … Continue reading OpenSees Blogs Well →

Which Noun Are You Modifying?

Thanks to Google Scholar citation alerts, I see all the published articles that cite OpenSees. Most of the titles make no sense and on the rare occasion that a title looks interesting, I'll click the link and read the abstract. Today's citation alert delivered to my inbox an article whose title stood out, not for … Continue reading Which Noun Are You Modifying? →

The Old Code OpenSees

You have no doubt read grammatically correct sentences whose meaning you interpreted incorrectly. Only after re-reading did you realize the author's intent. For example, We modeled the walls with cracks. Your initial interpretation of this sentence could have been equivalent to "We used cracks to model the walls", which makes no sense and was not … Continue reading The Old Code OpenSees →

OpenSeesing as if Readers Matter

I am always on the lookout for books on academic writing. So, over the summer, when I heard about Leonard Cassuto's Academic Writing as if Readers Matter ahead of its release, I set a reminder to order a copy when the book came out. https://www.amazon.com/Academic-Writing-Readers-Matter-Scholars/dp/0691263604 The book arrived in early October, but I haven't finished … Continue reading OpenSeesing as if Readers Matter →

OpenSees Every Day

Using OpenSees as a direct object is common, e.g., "We used OpenSees to perform incremental dynamic analysis of reinforced concrete shear walls." That sentence was declarative and OpenSees was a noun. But OpenSees can also be a verb, in declarative and other types of sentences. Declarative I like to OpenSees every day. Interrogative Do you … Continue reading OpenSees Every Day →

It Hides in Plain Sight

It's no secret that engineers write technical documents in a style that no one would actually speak. Like, if I'm explaining plastic hinge integration to you in person, it would sound nothing like what's written in the journal article. It's difficult to measure the amount of nonsense in technical writing, but qualitatively, you know it … Continue reading It Hides in Plain Sight →

Edit Your Copy

There's more to publishing a journal article--or any other content you want to unleash on the world--than writing some words, accepting all spell check corrections, and running your favorite AI-powered grammar checker. From conception to preservation on a virtual shelf, your journal article should go through at least five stages of editing--most stages more than … Continue reading Edit Your Copy →

Make Every Word Count

A couple years after moving to Eastchester, I decided to become a better writer. I wasn't a bad writer (some academics do not like writing, but not one believes they are a bad writer), I was simply aware of room for improvement. After deciding to improve, I read a few books on writing. The books … Continue reading Make Every Word Count →

What Does It Refer To?

Pick up any issue of your favorite engineering journal, or read a few news articles online, and you'll come across passages that you have to re-read because the authors use a pronoun such as "it" with no clarity as to what "it" actually refers to. For example, can you tell me what "it" refers to … Continue reading What Does It Refer To? →

Pity the Reader

Kurt Vonnegut was a 20th century American author, best known for Slaughterhouse-Five. Although Vonnegut passed away in 2007, one of his former writing students, Suzanne McConnell, published in 2019 Pity the Reader: On Writing with Style, a collection of Vonnegut's writing advice. You will find the ground work for a chapter or two of Pity … Continue reading Pity the Reader →