FORMAL AND INFORMAL LANGUAGE

If you decide it is not appropriate to use 1st person pronouns, you can avoid these in the following ways:

use the passive:

"the experiment was conducted using other raw materials"

begin with an impersonal "it":

“it would seem that...”, “it appears that...”, “it seems likely that...”

begin with an impersonal “one”:

“one might consider + -ing...”

personify the study itself:

“this study shows....”, “this research aims to...”

Avoid also the use of first names when reporting the work of other researchers:

"the model constructed by Tuomo’s group" ® "the model constructed by Kumento et al."

A “contraction” is the term to describe a shortened form of words, when words are joined together and missing letters represented by an apostrophe (´). Contractions are rarely used in written language, except when the author is writing in a chatty style (postcards, letters to friends, some magazine articles, etc.) or writing down a spoken dialogue.

Technical discourse avoids contractions, and prefers words written out in full.

contracted forms

full forms

isn’t

wasn’t

wouldn’t

he’d

is not

was not

would not

he would or he had

Vague language is also considered to be unscientific, and uninformative for the reader. Technical writers should try to choose specific terminology where possible to replace vague terms.
vague expressions	more appropriate in technical texts
a thing, something	e.g. a feature, an object, a device, a component
stuff	e.g. materials, resources, a substance
a bit	e.g. to some extent, to some degree, slightly
someone	e.g. a team member, a researcher, an assistant
some kind of	e.g. a particular
kind of	e.g. approximately, somewhat
somehow	e.g. by an unspecified means, in a certain way
maybe	e.g. possibly, perhaps

Certain expressions are considered too subjective and dramatic for technical discourse, and need to be toned down to create a sense of objective detachment to the subject of study which is typical of scientific discourse. Beware especially of superlative or otherwise strongly descriptive adjectives and adverbs e.g.:

“terrible” “awfully” “marvellous” “incredibly”

Some nouns and verbs which are used in the spoken language or in chatty texts are also inappropriate in technical texts. A thesaurus can be very useful in helping you to find alternative terms. One such thesaurus online is the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Thesaurus.