Week 1: 

Introduction to Technical Communication

What Is Technical Communication?

 
Technical information is frequently communicated through documents such as
proposals, emails, reports, podcasts, computer help files, blogs, and wikis. Although
these documents are a key component of technical communication, so too is
the process: writing and reading tweets and text messages, for example, or
participating in webinar or videoconference exchanges with colleagues. Technical
communication encompasses a set of activities that people do to discover, shape, and
transmit information.
 
When you produce technical communication, you use the four basic
communication modes — listening, speaking, reading, and writing — to analyze a
problem, find and evaluate evidence, and draw conclusions. These are the same skills
and processes you use when you write in college, and the principles you have studied in
your earlier writing courses apply to technical communication. The biggest difference
between technical communication and the other kinds of writing you have done is that
technical communication has a somewhat different focus on purpose and audience.

Difference of Technical writing from other types of write-ups

Technical Writing is different from other types of write-ups in terms of content, style,
language, and purpose.
 

Technical Writing versus Academic Writing

Academic and technical writing are two forms of writing between which a key difference
can be identified. Most people assume that a technical writer is, in fact, an academic
writer as well. This, however, is a false assumption. Although both academic writing
and technical writing require excellent writing skills, the key differences between these
two types of writing are the audience and purpose of writing. Academic Writing is a
form of writing that is used in academic disciplines. On the other hand, technical writing
is a form of writing that is mostly used in technical disciplines. As you can see, the
context of the two forms of writing differ from one another. Also, the target audience
for academic writing is mostly scholars, but not in the case of technical writing. Even a
lay person can be the target audience.
Technical Writing versus Creative Writing
Technical writing and creative writing are two styles of writing, which may very well be
distinguished just by having a look at their traits. The principal between every of them
is that, creative writing is written to enthrall, entertain and arouse a certain feeling in a
reader, whereas technical writing is to show the viewers with the factual knowledge and
is launched in a logical technique.
 
Below is a poem about a tennis shoe as well as technical specifications for
manufacturing the same shoe. These two writing samples further illustrate the
difference between technical writing and other types of writing.

 UNDERSTANDING PURPOSE
 
Technical communication begins with identifying a problem and thinking about how to
solve it. Because of the variety of problems and solutions in the working world, people
communicate technical information for a number of purposes, many of which fall into
one of two categories:
Communication that helps others learn about a subject, carry out a task, or make a decision.  For
instance, administrators with the Department of Health might hire a media production company
to make a video that explains to citizens how to use a website to manage their Medicare
benefits. The president of a manufacturing company might write an article in the company
newsletter to explain to employees why management decided to phase out production of one of
the company’s products. The board of directors of a community-service organization might
produce a grant proposal to submit to a philanthropic organization in hopes of being awarded a
grant. Figure 1.1 shows a screen capture from an online video that explains how to create a
facebook web page.
FIGURE 1.1 A Communication That Helps Others Carry Out a Task
The purpose of this online video is to help viewers carry out the task on how to
create their own web page. 
 Communication that reinforces or changes attitudes and motivates readers to take action.  A
wind energy company might create a website with videos and text intended to show
that building wind turbines off the coast of a tourist destination would have many
benefits and few risks. A property owners’ association might create a website to make
the opposite argument: that the wind turbines would have few benefits but many risks.
In each of these two cases, the purpose of communicating the information is to
persuade people to accept a point of view and encourage them to act — perhaps to
contact their elected representatives and present their views about this public-policy
issue. Figure 1.2 shows an excerpt from a website that promotes the building of wind
turbines off the coast of Massachusetts.

FIGURE 1.2 A Communication That Aims to Change Attitudes

The purpose of this website, created by an energy development company, is
to generate public support for an offshore wind park.
UNDERSTANDING AUDIENCE
When you communicate in the workplace, you have not only a clear purpose — what
you want to achieve — but also a clearly defined audience — one or more people who
are going to read the document, attend the oral presentation, visit the website, or view
the video you produce. Sometimes audience members share the same purpose, but not
always. It’s possible, even likely, that a piece of technical communication will have
multiple audiences with different purposes.
In most of your previous academic writing, your audience has been your instructor, and
your purpose has been to show your instructor that you have mastered some body of
information or skill. Typically, you have not tried to create new knowledge or motivate
the reader to take a particular action — except to give you a “95” for that assignment.
By contrast, in technical communication, your audience will likely include peers and
supervisors in your company, as well as people outside your company. For example,
suppose you are a public-health scientist working for a federal agency. You and your
colleagues just completed a study showing that, for most adults, moderate exercise
provides as much health benefit as strenuous exercise. After participating in numerous
meetings with your colleagues and after drafting, critiquing, and revising many drafts,
you produce four different documents:
 a journal article for other scientists
 a press release to distribute to popular print and online publications
 an infographic for use in doctors’ offices
 an animated blog post for your agency to share on social media
In each of these documents, you present the key information in a different way to meet
the needs of particular audience.

The Challenges of Producing Technical Communication

The Challenges of Producing Technical Communication
One of the most challenging activities you will engage in as a professional is
communicating your ideas to audiences. Why? Because communication is a higher-
order skill that involves many complex factors.
The good news is that there are ways to think about these complex factors, to
think through them, that will help you communicate better. No matter what document
you produce or contribute to, you need to begin by considering five sets of factors.
AUDIENCE-RELATED FACTORS
What problem or problems is your audience trying to solve? Does your audience know
enough about your subject to understand a detailed discussion, or do you need to limit
the scope, the amount of technical detail, or the type of graphics you use? Does your
audience already have certain attitudes or expectations about your subject that you
wish to reinforce or change? Does your audience speak English well, or should you
present the information in more than one language? Does your audience share your
cultural assumptions about such matters as how to organize and interpret documents,
or do you need to adjust your writing approach to match a different set of
assumptions? Does your audience include people with disabilities (of vision, hearing,
movement, or cognitive ability) who have requirements you need to meet?
PURPOSE-RELATED FACTORS
Before you can write, you need to determine your purpose: what do you want your
audience to know or believe or do after having read your document? Do you have
multiple purposes? If so, is one more important than the others? Although much
technical communication is intended to help people perform tasks, such as configuring
privacy settings in a social-media environment, many organizations large and small
devote significant communication resources to the increasingly vital purpose of
branding: creating an image that helps customers distinguish the company from
competitors. Most companies now employ community specialists as technical
communicators to coordinate the organization’s day-to-day online presence and its
social-media campaigns. These specialists publicize new products and initiatives and
respond to questions and new developments. They also manage all of the
organization’s documents — from tweets to blog posts to Facebook fan pages and
company-sponsored discussion forums.
SETTING-RELATED FACTORS
What is the situation surrounding the problem you are trying to solve? Is there a lot at
stake in the situation, such as the budget for a project, or is your document a more
routine communication, such as technical notes for a software update? What is the
context in which your audience will use your document? Will the ways in which they use
it — or the physical or digital environment in which they use it — affect how you write?
Will the document be used in a socially or politically charged setting? Does the setting
include established norms of ethical behavior? Is the setting formal or informal?
Settings can have a great deal of influence over how audiences think about and use
technical communication.
DOCUMENT-RELATED FACTORS
What type of content will the document include? How will the content aid problem
solving? Does your subject dictate what kind of document (such as a report or a blog
post) you choose to write? Does your subject dictate what medium (print or digital) you
choose for your document? Do you need to provide audiences with content in more
than one medium? If you’re using a document template, how should you modify it for
your audiences and purposes? Does the application call for a particular writing style or
level of formality? (For the sake of convenience, we will use the word document
throughout this book to refer to all forms of technical communication, from written
documents to oral presentations and online forms, such as podcasts and wikis.)
PROCESS-RELATED FACTORS
What process will you use to produce the document? Is there an established process to
support the work, or do you need to create a new one? Do you have sufficient time for
planning tasks, such as analyzing your audience and purpose, choosing writing tools,
and researching and reading background information? Does your budget limit the
number of people you can enlist to help you or limit the size or shape of the document?
Does your schedule limit how much information you can include in the document? Does
your schedule limit the type or amount of document testing you can do? Will the
document require updating or maintenance?
Because all these factors interact in complicated ways, every technical document you
create involves a compromise. If you are writing a set of instructions for installing a
water heater and you want those instructions to be easily understood by people who
speak only Spanish, you will need more time and a bigger budget to have the document
translated, and it will be longer and thus a little bit harder to use, for both English and
Spanish speakers. You might need to save money by using smaller type, smaller pages,
and cheaper paper, and you might not be able to afford to print it in full color. In
technical communication, you do the best you can with your resources of time,
information, and money. The more carefully you think through your options, the better
able you will be to use your resources wisely and make a document that will get the job
done.
 

WEEK 2: Importance of Technical Communication

TYPES OF TECHNICAL WRITINGS

1. Traditional Technical Writing- While traditional technical writing sounds broad, pieces of

content within this category are specifically written for professional audiences. These
experts rely on traditional technical writing for targeted research papers, programming
guidelines, and repair manuals.

1, 2, 5, 9, 13, 19, 22, 24

a. Science and Medical Papers- Research results can be hard to explain, so scientists

collaborate with technical writers to interpret and organize findings. These
papers act as learning resources for practitioners to understand procedures and
results. As with any form of research, technical writers ensure that proper
credibility is given in the text.
b. Professional Reports and Review- In addition to writing for scientists and doctors,
technical writers assist in creating reports for business growth and educational
institutions. Examples of professional reports include project and business status
reports, legal case reviews, and personnel activity reports.
2. End-User Documentation- Almost every product you purchase has a written explanation
of operation. These “how-to” pieces are written to help users understand and operate
 products correctly. Since end-user documentation requires clear and concise instruction,
it’s important to create content that breaks down technological terms to layman’s terms.

a. User Help Guides- When software product users have questions that needs
specific answers, they turn to user help guides. These are written to provide
clear and sensible answers to common questions that may develop as use of
software programs continue. User help guides are broken down into sections
depending on the type of ‘help’ needed – allowing users to read ahead or re-read
information to make their understanding of a product stronger.EXAMPLE:           

1.
a. Product Manuals- Product manuals are those small booklets that highlight a
product’s main features, general maintenance, and basic operation. It contains
written guidelines informing the audience how to use a certain product.
EXAMPLE:
Assembly Guidelines
- Since assembly guidelines tell users how to physically set up a product, technical
writers are responsible for writing clear and user-friendly, step-by-step instructions. It’s
important for these instructions to be written in a way that ensure users can accurately
assemble products.
EXAMPLE:
.  Technical Marketing Content
-Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and
distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly
defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action. The primary
goal of marketing content, is to convince the reader to buy a product or service.

a. Brochures- Brochures take users to a deeper level of understanding and

appeal through clear descriptions, functions, and uses of a product. It is
intended to provide customers with additional information on corporate
offerings, and are used by sales personnel to persuade customers to
purchase a product. The brochure – also called a data sheet, product
brief or solution brief – describes the main features of the product, any
specifications for its use and is usually accompanied by either a picture of
the product or an architectural design, illustrating the solution.
EXAMPLE:

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF GOOD TECHNICAL WRITING

Technical writing is one of the most important elements of a company's customer

support strategy, and these five principles that technical writers must bear in mind to
be successful. Inattention to any of these five areas often leads to a substandard
document and dissatisfaction on the client end.
 
Mills and Walter (1980: 13-14) identified the basic principles as follows:

1. Always bear in mind a specific reader, real or imaginary, when you are
writing a report; and always assume that he is intelligent but uninformed.
 An awareness of who is going to read a user guide, the
knowledge gap that the user guide is filling and the delivery
method of the guide all play important roles.
2. Before you start to write, always decide what the exact purpose of your
report is; and make sure that every paragraph, every sentence, every
 word makes a clear contribution to that purpose and makes it at the right
time.  
 Before beginning any writing task, the writer analyzes audience
and identifies the purpose for the document. The writer asks
following questions about the audience:* Who will read the
document?* What are their biases?* What are technical writer’s
ethical responsibilities when communicating this to audience?
 With regard to purpose, technical writers ask: what should this
document accomplish? What should it do? Should it:* Inform*
Request* Instruct* Suggest* Order* Report* Reply* Analyse/
critique* Compare
3. Use language that is simple, concrete, and familiar.
 Different types of writing have different audiences, and each
audience has its own linguistic needs, which the writer respects
with tone and word choice.
4. At the beginning and end of every section of your report, check your
writing according to this principle: First you tell the reader what you’re
going to tell him, then you tell him what you’ve told him.
5. Make your report attractive to look at.
 
CHARACTERISTICS OR PROPERTIES OF TECHNICAL WRITING
The following descriptive words sum up all the characteristics or properties of
technical writing that experts or authoritative people named in the book (Technical
Writing in this Era Globalization and Modern Technology) clearly expressed in their
books.
ACCURATE
A technical written work is accurate when it deals with the facts that are
completely true, instead of things whose identity, appearance, or measurements are so
difficult to determine. An accurate report uses words, sentences, numbers, or figures
that exactly express what the written work intends to convey (Bantin, 2008). It avoids
the frequent use of expressions for hedging such as may, perhaps, maybe, seem,
apparently, would, etc. Using an expression that conveys one and only one meaning
instead of an ambiguous term with multiple meaning will help readers get an easy and
quick understanding of the whole composition (Ling, 2004).
CLEAR
Your written work is clear if, on one reading, your readers are able to get a quick
understanding of the main message or point of the whole composition. You can easily
achieve this if you always remember that clear writing always results from clear
thinking, as well as from the use of simple, concise, specific, and grammatically correct
language structures. How the person around you express themselves or how you
express the ideas as they come to your mind serves as your guide or pattern in writing
things on the paper.
For the sake of clarity, it is important too, that you apply in your work all the
principles of good sentence construction like parallelism, consistency of tense, dangling
modifiers, split infinitive, choppy sentences, run-on sentences, comma splice,
wordiness, and so on. Applying the qualities of a good paragraph writing such as unity,
coherence, and emphasis are likewise essential to making your technical written work
appear clear to your readers. (Gustavi, 2008; and Marsh, 2005)
FORMAL
In technical writing, you cannot just write anything you like in any way you want
on your writing paper, because some writing standards underlie the structure, pattern,
format, and language of this kind of writing. You have to adhere to these agreed upon
technical writing rules because your readers judge the value or reputation of your
output based on the how you conform to the conventions governing this kind of writing.
GRAPHICAL
Graphs like tablets, charts, figures, diagrams, maps, pictures, and other
illustrations are absolutely necessary in technical writing. This is so because this kind of
writing deals with topics that are technical; meaning, it deals with things appealing only
to certain group of people, or uses words expressing specialized meanings or ideas
known only to a specific set of people. Considering that this nature of technical writing
makes the technical work not readable to all types of readers in this world, you then
have to include in your work non-prose materials like graphs to stress, clarify, simplify,
or sum up ideas which you textually present in your written compositions. (Bertoline,
2009)
OBJECTIVE
This characteristic of technical writing is shown by any written work of yours that
avoids revealing your individual thinking, personal meaning, or emotional attitude about
your subject matter. Whatever understanding you have about your written work comes
from outside yourself; meaning, from the results of your environmental observations or
sensory experiences. Avoiding to include in your technical paper, your inner thoughts,
sentiments or feelings means adopting an impartial or impersonal stand or attitude
towards what you’ve written.
This is what others call as the “You Attitude” or “Scientific Attitude”, whereby, in
your writing, your focus is on your reader’s point of view rather than on your
views as the writer. The following are some ways to maintain an objective or
impersonal tone your technical written work.

1. Use passive voice instead of active voice structures.

2. Use third-person point of view by using words like his/her, they,
or the user, instead of the personalized first person point of view
like I, We, Me, Ours, and the like.
 3. Downplay the subject or personal nature of the text by avoiding
the use of emotive words like dissatisfied, uninteresting, or
undignified.
However, some experts with the modern view on technical writing argued that
adopting a modern view of technical writing means humanizing technical writing;
that is, feeling free to use personal pronouns to arouse the readers’ involvement
or interest in what they are reading.
PRACTICAL
Technical writing is practical if it results in a written output that you can apply,
use, or carry out in your day-to-day living. It does not mainly deal with scenarios or
situations that you can just imagine or ponder on, but also tackles up things you can
practice in your everyday life situations like designing, constructing, repairing, selling,
travelling, buying, bidding, inquiring, cooking, painting, and many others.
PROCEDURAL
Being a formal and scientific way of writing whereby rules or conventions
determine the appropriateness of your written output, technical writing adheres to a
particular course of writing acts. It presents facts and information in a systematic or
methodical manner. Here, you act like a scientist following a certain procedure or a
step-by-step method in proving your point about your subject matter. For instance, first
you have to identify and analyse your problem, collect data about it, and present your
conclusions, discoveries, or findings about the object of your study.
SPECIAL
Writing something to cater to a specific set of people rather than to any group of
people using expressions quite understandable and familiar only to this specific set of
readers, not to all kinds of people, is what makes technical writing special. Inclined to
be exclusive and selective of its topic, language, methodology, and readers, this kind of
writing is special, unique, or extra different from the other modes of writing.
DIVERSIONARY
Considering technical writing as on-the-job writing that is prone to extensive
exposure to multicultural clients, co-workers, cross-cultural or multilingual
communication brought about by globalization through the internet or the Email, you
come to think of this kind of writing as one that will lead you to various topic, ideas,
people, methodologies, concerns, purposes, formats, language, etc. It has some
aspects or features that are as diverse or varied as the different kinds of jobs available
to all kinds of people all over the world. Though (Perkins, 2008) argued that
intercultural communication is the “highest art and science of human communication,”
your technical writing acts must always be “sensitive to pitfalls” or hidden dangers
arising from diversities in a multi-cultural environment. (Canavor, 2010)
STRAIGHTFORWARD
 A straightforward manner of writing means presenting knowledge or ideas
honestly and directly. Unlike these other ways of writing – literary and expository
writing that permit the writer to hide some meanings through figurative language –
technical writing brings out things in frank, unequivocal, or clear-cut way. Metaphorical,
idiomatic, or circuitous expression of ideas has no place in technical writing because
your immediate purpose as a technical writer is to persuade your readers to say “yes”
instantly to what you have written.
Hence, to realize this objective, the language of your written work has to be
direct, specific, and simple enough to make you and your readers come to terms with
you immediately. The use of complex, highfalutin or pretentious words demands longer
time for the reader to think or decide about the effectiveness of your offer. This
consequently hampers or delays the decision-making power of any person you want to
agree with what you have written.  
AUTHORITATIVE
To describe technical writing as authoritative is to think of it as one clothed with
full rights, powers, and influence to do a thing, to command or be obeyed, or to enforce
something on any one. The authority or power that you technical writing may wield
over your reader springs form the fact that the contents of your output does not mainly
come from your our intelligence but also from other people’s expertise, knowledge, and
experience that could command respect or belief.
Proofs of the authoritativeness of your technical paper are the properly cited and
documented ideas of knowledgeable writers of technical writing books in your work,
specifically, the in-text citations, footnotes, and bibliographical entries in your paper.
Another proof is the reality that you are the creator of the paper, and, such as, you
have an idea of the extent of its excellence, and have the full control over the quality,
kind, or extent of ideas to go into your paper, including the way you react to inquiries
about your output.
PRESENTABLE
The physical appearance of a technical writing output somehow mirrors the
person who produced such kind of paper. A dirty-looking technical written work
diminishes its power, influence or authoritativeness. So, if you want your technical
paper to have a strong impact on the reader or to elicit an immediate and positive
response from him, see to it that your written work is free from any grammatical and
typographical errors. Present it nearly whether it is handwritten, typewritten, or
computerized.
The layout, order, or placement of the various parts of your work likewise makes
your work presentable. In addition, focusing your attention on these basic elements of
a written prosaic work; margin, spacing, punctuation marks, size/style of the letter, and
quality/size of the stationery or bond paper contributes a lot to making your entire
composition presentable or capable of getting serious and favourable attention from
your readers.
 QUALITIES OF A TECHNICAL WRITER
In view of these properties and principles of technical writing, the technical writer
should possess the following basic qualification:

1. Adequate knowledge of the subject matter.

2. Ability to compile information.
3. Ability to organize facts or ideas.
4. Ability to analyze and synthesize.
5. Ability to learn and use specialized vocabularies.
6. Ability to write at the reader’s comprehensive level.
7. Ability to use the inductive and deductive methods of reasoning.
8. Accuracy of language.
9. Objectivity in presenting facts and issues.
10. Ability to write concise prose.
11. Ability to determine the effectiveness of words, sentences, and paragraphs.
12. Ability to conform to the code of ethics in the technical writing professions.