To: Nancy Myers

From: Max Rozvodovskiy

Date: January 12, 2022
Re: Chapter 4 Summary

______________________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 4
OBJECTIVES IN TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION

Achieving Clarity in Technical Communication

 Provide Specific Detail-Quantify your information instead of using vague

language. For example, you can say 30 minutes ago instead of recently.
 Answer the Reporter’s Questions-Another way to write clearly is to answer the
questions-who, what, when, where, why and how.
 Use Easily Understandable Words-Avoid obscure words, for example:
1. Use discussed above instead of aforementioned
2. Use know instead of cognizant
3. Use show instead of disclose

Simplifying Words, Sentences, and Paragraphs for Conciseness

 Conciseness Saves Time-Keep it short; people’s time is valuable
 Technology Demands Conciseness-the size of the device may determine the
length of your communication
 Conciseness Improves Readability-not all people are college graduates
 Limit Word Length for Conciseness-long words make a sentence hard to
understand
 Limit Sentence Length-Use active instead of passive voice and delete “be” verbs
 Limit Paragraph Length-In a long paragraph you force the reader to wade
through many words making the paragraph hard to read.

Achieving Accuracy in Technical Communications

 Proofreading Tips
 Let someone else read it
 Let it sit
 Print it out
 Use technology
 Read it out loud
Organizing Technical Communication
 Analysis
 Spatial Organization
 Chronology
 Importance
 Compare/Contrast
 Problem/Solution
 Cause and Effect

The Writing Process at Work

 Prewriting-Brainstorming
 Writing-Write your paper
 Rewriting-Proof read and edit