atw: Re: Time for another debate?
- From: "Michael Lewis" <Michael.Lewis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 15:50:25 +1000
Geoffrey and all,
You've gone out of your way to be provocative! Your sample chapter titles are
indeed poor - not because they are verbose but because they are imprecise.
"Entering bookings" is fine if that's all the chapter is about; if it's also
about changing and deleting bookings, say so! (One could argue that "deleting"
is a form of "changing", so just "Entering and changing bookings" is on the
money.)
Just "Bookings" _might_ be OK, but I think it might also set up some false
expectations - "I don't want to know about 'bookings' as in the database
format, etc; I just want to know how to do my job. So this chapter isn't for
me."
Like an index, a table of contents (yes, with just "Contents" in its own
heading) needs to present signposts in terms that readers will understand, and
preferably terms they will use themselves.
As for the grammatical issues raised (gerunds, noun phrases, etc), I won't go
there . . . best let sleeping logs lie!
Michael Lewis
Lecturer
Department of Linguistics
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY NSW 2109
Phone: +61 (0)2 9850 7856
Mobile: +61 (0)414 887782
Fax: +61 (0)2 9850 9199
www.ling.mq.edu.au
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