Writing course contents

This section offers practical advice about how to write or translate the part of the course guide that is typically referred to as the content, contents or topics section. It is the part that organises the course into topics (temes or blocs temàtics, in Catalan) and subdivides each topic into a list of sub-topics. Specifically, it offers advice about making this part as cohesive, concise and clear as possible.

• Cohesion
• Concision and clarity
• Joining phrases

Cohesion

• Be cohesive by maintaining the hierarchy between the title or heading of the topic (known as the topic head) and the list. In other words, any information relevant to all the items in the list should be included in the head; do not allow any item to take precedence over the head in this respect. The following text shows what happens when you fail to do this: item (2) relies on (1) to explain its meaning (what ADR stands for), "Harvard's" in (3) can only be fully understood by reading (2), and "the first and the last steps" in (5) depends on the information in (4).
  
  

  Out-of-court settlements

  1 Introduction to alternative dispute resolution (ADR)

  2 ADR using Harvard Law School methods

  3 Harvard's collaborative negotiation techniques

  4 The seven steps in the negotiation process

  5 The importance of the first and last steps

  
  Because all five items refer to ADR, the list would be more cohesively written by putting "ADR" in the head and by making the language in each item independent from the language in all the others.
  
  

  Out-of-court settlements and alternative dispute resolution (ADR)

  1 Introduction to ADR

  2 ADR using Harvard Law School methods

  3 Harvard Law School's collaborative negotiation techniques

  4 The seven steps in the negotiation process

  5 The importance of the first and last steps in negotiation

Concision and clarity

• Be more concise by not repeating information contained in the head. For example, the list below contains several unnecessary words..
  
  

  Neuropsychological evaluation

  1 Introduction to evaluation

  2 Attention disorders

  3 Memory disorders

  4 Child neuropsychological evaluation

  5 Adult neuropsychological evaluation

  6 Neuropsychological rehabilitation

  
  
  By exploiting the information in the head, you can make the text more concise.
  
  

  Neuropsychological evaluation

  1 Introduction

  2 Attention disorders

  3 Memory disorders

  4 Children

  5 Adults

  6 Rehabilitation

  
  

  Being concise is also important when lists contain complex terminology that your text needs to frame as clearly as possible. The list below contains unnecessary words in (1) and (1.1), as well as clumsy and confusing elements like the long phrases in (1.1) and (1.2) and the abbreviation "2D" placed right after the number in (2). Also, (2.1) (2.2) and (2.3) omit the names of the types of equation being exemplified, making these difficult to identify for readers unfamiliar with the subject.
  
  

  Heat transfer to nozzle and combustor walls

  1 General considerations of heat transfer to nozzle and combustor walls

  1.1 Effects of heat transfer to nozzle and combustor walls: reducing performance and obstructing the design of hot-side structures required to withstand heat fluxes in the 107–108 w/m2 range

  1.2 Contrasting the principal modes of heat transfer to nozzle and combustor walls: convection and radiation

  2 2D boundary layer equations to calculate wall heat transfer in convection

  2.1

  2.2

  2.3

  
  All these problems could be solved by clearer writing at a general rather than a technical level and by not repeating information included in the head.
  
  

  Heat transfer to nozzle and combustor walls

  1 General considerations

  1.1 Negative effects on performance and the design of hot-sides for heat fluxes in the 107–108 w/m2 range

  1.2 Convection versus radiation

  2 Two-dimensional boundary layer equations to calculate convective heat transfer

  2.1 Continuity equations

  2.2 X-momentum equations

  2.3 Y-momentum equations

Joining phrases

• Cohesion, concision and clarity can also be gained by joining phrases. When you translate compound titles that contain a very long first phrase, for example, consider reducing the structure to a single phrase. For instance, titles such as
  
  

  Psicologia del treball i de les organitzacions: marc teòric Els drets i deures de la persona treballadora: aspectes generals Sistemes de planificació i gestió dels recursos humans: una perspectiva psicològica

  
  might be effectively rendered as.
  
  

  A theoretical framework for industrial and organisational psychology General aspects of employees' rights and responsibilities A psychological approach to human resource planning and management systems

  
  This can also be appropriate for titles with two phrases of a similar length.
  
  

  La jurisdicció social: principis bàsics del procés social Basic principles of labour court procedure