Technical Communication

TECHNICAL WRITING

Presented by
Shomini Parashar
Assistant Professor, Biotechnology Department

Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 1

 Technical Writing
Topics to be taken:
 Define Communication
 Roles of Communication-General & Technical
 Technical writing
 Common types of technical writing
 Objectives of technical writing
 Process of technical writing
 Techniques for good technical writing

Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 2

 Technical Writing
Communication: verbal+ non-verbal

 Process of passing and understanding the information which

has been passed from one individual to another.
 It is the process of imparting ideas and making oneself
understood by others.
 It is a two way process of exchange of ideas and information

Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 3

 Technical writing
Roles of Communication:

Increases interaction

Achieve organizational goals

Better human relations

Generations of better ideas

Better decision making

Timely updated with information

Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 4

 Technical Writing
Technical communication includes:

Communicating about technology

Writing about technology

Writing about scientific subjects

Writing highly detailed information for specific audiences

Training people to use technology

Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 5

 Technical Writing
Technical writing: is it important?

Its important for students and professionals in all fields.

Technical communication is an art to explain technical
subjects to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Technical writing requires in-depth technical knowledge.

It is a challenging task as it requires precision and
accuracy and there is lot of scope of misinterpretation if it
is not written appropriately.

Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 6

 Technical Writing
Common types of Technical Writing:
Academic Writing Professional Writing

Project report/Lab Industrial report
reports Business proposals

Thesis/ Dissertation
Job applications/ Resumes

Examination answers
Notices/ Memos

Synopsis
Technical abstracts

Scientific articles
Minutes of meetings

Research papers
Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 7
 Technical Writing
Some examples of Technical Communicators:

Writers

Editors

Web Designers

Graphic artists

Researchers

Developers- Informational, Instructional

Project Managers

Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 8

 Technical Writing
Objectives of Technical writing:

The main purpose of technical writing is to provide
sometimes complex technical information to technical and
non technical people.



This is the type of writing that will help people in
understanding any technical topic like computer algorithm
or a new drug or a new piece of technology etc.

Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 9

 Technical Writing
Technical writing process:

Determine purpose and audience

Collect information

Organize and outline information

Write the first draft

Revise and edit

Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 10

 Technical Writing
Determining the purpose and audience:

Audience type affects many aspects of communication, from word
selection and graphics use to style and organization.

Technical communicator must consider what qualities make a text useful

A non-technical audience might misunderstand or not even read a
document that is heavy with jargon— while a technical audience might
require details of the work. Busy audiences often don't have time to read
entire documents, so content must be organized in a way that ease the
searching of topics—for example by frequent headings, white space, and
other cues that guide attention.

Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 11

 Technical Writing
Collect information:

Technical communicators must collect all information
that each document requires.

It can be through primary (first-hand) research—or
secondary research, using information from existing
work by other authors.

Technical communicators must acknowledge all sources
which they use to produce their work.

Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 12

 Technical Writing
Writing the first draft:

Before writing the initial draft, the technical communicator
organizes ideas in a way that makes the document flow well. Once
each idea is organized, the writer should organizes the document
as a whole in the following steps:

Decides the headings and subheadings, table of content etc…

After organizing the whole document, the writer typically creates a
final outline that shows the document structure.

Outlines make the writing process easier and save the author time.

Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 13

 Technical Writing
Writing the first draft:

The ABC (abstract, body, and conclusion) format can be used when
writing a first draft of some document types.

The abstract describes the subject, so that the reader knows what the
document covers.

The body is the majority of the document and covers topics in depth.

Lastly, the conclusion section restates the document's main topics.

The ABC format can also apply to individual paragraphs—beginning
with a topic sentence that states the paragraph's topic, followed by
the topic, and finally, a concluding sentence.

Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 14

 Technical Writing
Revising and Editing:

Once the initial draft is laid out, editing and revising can be
done to fine-tune the draft into a final copy.


It includes-

Adjusting and reorganizing content on topics that need
more attention, relocation of paragraphs, correction of
sentences, coherence of paragraph or entire topics,
grammatical errors etc.
Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 15
 Technical Writing
Techniques for good technical writing:
1. Overcome writer’s block
Psychological condition of loosing the ability and enthusiasm to write due to
personal issues, financial or emotional crisis, criticism from peers, or
excessive work pressure.
The following measures may help prevent a writer’s block:

Think Positive- talk to good friends who boost your morale

Over look criticism

Take short breaks in between.

Read some other material not related to your writing.

Avoid excessive stress.

Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 16

 Technical Writing
2. Pay emphasis on writing:

Emphasis can be laid by changing the order of words in
the sentence or by changing the voice of the sentence. A
wrong positioning of words can change the meaning of
the sentence completely or result in ambiguity.

Passive voice can be used when the action is more
important than the doer. For example:

I am going to watch a movie today. ( Emphasis on ‘I’)

A movie is going to watched by me today. ( Emphasis on ‘a movie’)

Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 17

 Technical Writing
3. Focusing on positives:

It is very important to balance the positive and negative factors while
conveying any message. The sentence has more emphasis if you have
positive tone in it as it conveys more information than the negative
sentence.

Positive sentences are motivating to read. Replacing words such as no,
never, impossible, cannot, etc. with try, efforts, and attempt. The following
example to find the difference between negative and positive


Negative : You are not writing this correctly .

Positive : If you practice you can write it correctly.

Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 18

 Technical Writing
4. Prioritizing on effective and efficient writing:


A technical writer has deadlines to achieve and
guidelines to abide by.

Hence, one needs to focus not only on writing
effectively but also on writing efficiently . This requires
organization of ideas and planning.

Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 19

 Technical Writing
5. Avoid Plagiarism:

Plagiarism is copying another person’s ideas, words, or
work and pretending that they are your own. It is
considered an intellectually dishonest and highly
unprofessional act.

A technical writer, therefore, has to be aware of the rules
for citing direct quotes and acknowledge all the sources
referred to while developing the document.

Biotechnology Department, IMS Engineering College, Ghaziabad 20