Webinar | Alleviating the Unbearable Burden of Formal Technical Writing
Geoscientists and engineers are often required to write formal technical documents, however many of them feel dread and anxiety about putting pen to paper. It is a fear that some try to deny exists, even as they are tempted by AI writing tools or procrastinate and stare at looming deadlines and empty documents. This lunch hour talk deescalates those feelings by considering foundational writing concepts together with a selection of tips and pitfalls.
Learning Objectives
- What is the purpose of a formal technical document?
- Discuss the difference between a peer-reviewed journal paper, a non-reviewed article, and certain professional work product documents.
- Key elements of a peer-reviewed journal paper.
- Concepts in writing to reduce dread and inspire confidence.
- Discussion regarding what may be said in formal writing as opposed to certain popular advice given for oral presentations.
- Tips and pitfalls: writing voice, wordiness, objectivity, the transition of ideas, and the level of certainty in conclusions, especially the differences between engineering systems versus geoscientific inferences.
This session will be held through ON24.
For any questions about this event, please contact [email protected].
About the speaker 
Lee Hunt, P.Geo., has 3 decades of experience working virtually every play in the WCSB and many other basins. He has drilled over 400 horizontal and vertical wells, using 2D and 3D seismic, and has experience with the oldest, most primitive techniques as well as the newest, most advanced ones. He has catalogued the value of these experiences in some 60 conference presentations and journal publications. Lee was appointed as the 2012 CSEG Distinguished Lecturer. In 2020, he was chosen as the 2020 CSEG Symposium Honoree. Lee and his co-authors won Excellence of Oral Presentation for the 1997 SEPM Convention, the 2000 CSEG Convention Best Paper Award, the 2008 CSEG Convention Best Geophysical Abstract, the 2008 CSEG Best Technical Luncheon Talk, the 2010 CSEG Convention Best Geophysical Oral Presentation, the Best Exploration Paper at VII INGPET in 2011, Honorable Mention for Best Paper in The Leading Edge in 2011, and Best Paper in the CSEG Recorder in 2011. He was a participant in the creation of the CSEG MLA, as well as APEGA's Guideline for Ethical Use of Geophysical Data. He was also one of the principal designers of the first CSEG Value of Geophysics with Case Histories course.
Lee currently works as Principal, Geophysics for Carbon Alpha, a Carbon Capture and Underground Sequestration company. On the personal side, Lee Hunt is an Ironman Triathlete, an enthusiastic sport rock climber and an author. His published works of fiction include the novels Dynamicist, Herald, Knight in Retrograde, Last Worst Hopes, and Bed of Rose and Thorns.