How to Write a Readable Paper
Authors: Bleakley W.B. 
Published: December 2007

This paper was prepared for the 43rd Annual Fall Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in Houston, Tex., September 29-October 2, 1968. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made.

Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers Office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines.

"How to Write a Technical Paper", or "How to Write a Report" make good book titles. The subject is large enough to fill a book and many have been written. And there are several on the broader subject of clear writing.

It is not the purpose of this paper to review the many ideas found in books of this type. Several are listed in the bibliography and the serious writing student can make good use of them.

This paper is written assuming the reader has a knowledge of English grammar, its parts of speech, and the more important rules of putting those parts together in sentence and putting those parts together in sentence and paragraph form. From this premise them, this paragraph form. From this premise them, this paper will try to demonstrate how to make your paper will try to demonstrate how to make your product more effective. product more effective. WHY WRITE?

First of all, let's differentiate reasons for writing from purpose of writing. Reasons for writing might include (1) a willingness to help out your buddy who is program chairman for the local section; (2) the boss wants a company report for the files on that engineering project you've just finished; (3) you want project you've just finished; (3) you want to try to get published in a trade journal; or (4) this is the only way you can get an all-expense-paid trip to the Fall Meeting. What-ever the reason, we have already decided that you (1) have something to say (2) that you know something that no one else knows and (3) that you can impart knowledge to others and make a genuine contribution to the literature in your particular field.

The purpose. The only purpose in writing a technical paper is to get an idea across. May be it's to tell others what you have done and how you did it, or to describe a field operation or a unique equipment installation or possibly to summarize a field's producing life in a case history.

A paper clouded with long sentences studded with an oversupply of many-syllabled words and dependent clauses just doesn't get off the ground. Scientific language, unless used wisely, compounds the confusion, and your paper becomes hard to read. Then readership paper becomes hard to read. Then readership dwindles and you have failed in your purpose.

The audience. A major drilling breakthrough in the laboratory is worthless if it can't be explained to a driller. An idea that isn't understood dies from natural inertia against change.