UGE 2 REVIEWER

Week 1-3 UloA

Technical Communication - process of transmitting facts and information to a defined

audience for a specific purpose.
Technical Writing - type of communication written for products and services.
Technical Writers ( Technical Communicators ) - professional information communicator
whose task is to transfer information between two or more parties through any medium.

Factors in Technical Communication

● Audience - it determines the content that will appear in the writing.
● Purpose - goal/aim of a piece of writing, to express oneself, to provide information, to
persuade.
Purpose of a Technical Document:
- To inform
- To explain
- To describe or record your action
● Format - format designed to convey technical information in a clear and easily
accessible structure.
● Style - composed of language, organization and layout of the writing output.

The Role of Technical Communication

Memo/E-mail - to request information to identify a problem.
Instructions - to introduce and explain a new process.
Proposal - to persuade management to authorize a project.
Report - to document a completed project.
Oral Presentation - to explain new policy to employees.

Technical Reports/Documents
Reports/Documents - personals, laboratory reports, product specification or quality-test
results.
Records-keeping forms - service reports, travel and expense forms, troubleshooting logs.
Instructions - user guides, online help, training manuals.
Correspondence - letters, memos, emails.
Presentations - interviews, marketing calls, training seminars.

Audience - a group of readers who read a particular piece of writing.

Types of Audiences:
● Technical - understands fundamental concepts and jargon without definitions.
● Semi-technical - needs some explanation of concepts, abbreviations and jargons.
● Non-technical ( General Public/ Unknown Audience ) - any Combi of technical, semi-
technical and non-technical readers. ( customers, clients and patients ).
Characteristics of Effective Technical Writing
● Addresses Particular Readers - if you do not know the reader, you can create an
audience profile.
● Helps Readers Solve Problems - technical communication is not meant to express a
writer's creativity or to entertain readers, it is intended to help readers learn to do
something.
● Reflects an Organization's Goals and Culture - futhers an organization's goals and
culture by making technical documents that will help define how rhe organization
operates.
● Produced Collaboratively - collaboration is necessitated im making a technical
document because no one person has all the information, skills or time.
● Uses Design to Increase Readability - one has to use design features such as
typography, spacing, color, special paper to meet basic purposes.
● Consists of Words or Graphics or Both - the use of graphics can be very useful in
such a way that it will make the document look more appealing.

TECHNICAL CREATIVE

CONTENT factual, straightforward imaginative, symbolic

AUDIENCE specific general

PURPOSE inform, instruct entertain, provoke, inspire

STYLE formal, standard informal, artistic

TONE objective subjective

VOCABULARY specialized general, evocative

ORGANIZATION sequential, systematic arbitrary, artistic

UloB

Writing Process - steps and methods used to generate a finished piece of writing.
● Prewriting - first stage in the writing process that can be incorporated with many
techniques.
● Writing - where we begin to write our first draft.
● Revising - also known as re-writing stage to ensure that the content of the paper is
relevant.

Topic Sentences - main idea of the paragraph.

Topic - general subject of a paragraph.
Prewriting - the generating ideas part of the writing process. ( time necessary )
Strategies & Techniques:
● Brainstorming - process of coming up with as many ideas as possible about a topic.
● Freewriting - when a person writes whatever comes into their mind about the topic at
hand.
● Mind Maps - visual ways to outline information, ( concept maps and mind-mapping ).
● Drawing/Doodling - some writers respond well to the idea of being able to combine
words with drawings.
● Asking Questions - others often come up with more creative ideas through the use of
questioning.
● Outlining - traditional outlines to help organize thoughts in a logical manner.

Methods of Writing
● Expository - used to explajn the concept and information to large group of audience,
(newspaper, magazines, textbooks, articles).
● Descriptive - used to convey the information in multiple ways. Explaining the subject
with five senses, (poetry, diary writing, advertisements).
● Persuasive Writing - used to argue about something or to convince regarding the
concern raised, (cover letter, newspaper articles, reviews of a product).
● Narrative - used in explaining the different stories. Aims at writing the real scenario,
(oral histories, novels, poetry, short stories).

Oral Presentation - short talk on a set topic given to a tutorial or seminar group.
Oral Presentation Structure - have a clear, organized structure for you oral presentation.
● Introduction - road map that tells your audience the direction your presentation will
take.
● Body - where you develop the main points and present examples and evidences.
● Conclusion - summary of the main points made in the body.

PowerPoint Presentation - most common way to incorporate visuals or slides.

● Prepare - the more prepared you feel, the less nervous you're likely to be.
● Time Limits - practice the presentation a number of times to get the pacing right.
● Speak from notes - it is preferable not to read your entire paper as you will tend to lose
eye contact.
● Body Language - try to make a sort of roving eye contact with the audience.
● Voice - speak loudly enough for you audience to hear you clearly.

Plain Language - writing that is clear, concise, well-organized and follows other best practices
appropriate to the subject.

Week 4-5 UloA

Business Letters - a formal document often sent from one company to another.
Memorandum - note or a record for future use. It is an intra-office to as well or can be a written
message or information from one person or department to a another.
Minutes of Meeting - a tangible record of the meeting for its participants and a source of
information for members who were unable to attend.

Business Letter - a written message used to transact business which cannot be conveniently
conducted orally.
● Heading - consists of the name of the firm or the individual and the address.
● Date Line - consists of month, the day of the month and the year.
● Inside Address - consists of the name and address of the person or the firm to whom
the letter is written.
● Attention Line - is used when it is important that the letter reach quickly the person who
is best qualified to take care of it
● Salutation - always starts at the left margin, followed by a colon.
- men and women is Gentlemen.
- for a firm composed on entirely women, Mesdames.
● Subject Line - enables the reader to know at a glance what the letter is all about.
● Body of the Letter - contains the message.
● Complimentary Closing - the leave-taking line of the letter.
● Signature - applies to the entire signature unit which usually consists of two to four
lines.
● Identification Initials - the initial of the stenographer.
● Inclosure Reference - when other material besides the letter included in the envelope, it
should be noted in the left-hand corner on a line with the bottom margin.

Types of Business Letters

I. Inquiries and Replies - ask or answer questions in usually brief and present no special
difficulty.
II. Order and Acknowledgement - constitutes a contract enforceable by law.
III. Letters Giving Instructions - a usual preoccupation of the engineer or the architect is
giving written instructions by means of a letter to subordinates.
IV. Claim and Adjustment Letter - are used whenever a misunderstanding arises between
two parties.
- Claim Letter - attempts to put before the reader exactly what the writer thinks has been
wrong
- Adjustment Letter - an expression of interest and sympathy or an apology.
V. Letter of Application - tries to sell the writer's services.
VI. Sales Letters - a tremendous volume of sales letters goes out everyday.

Characteristics of a Business Letter

● Correctness - should be correct as to the facts given.
● Clearness - a business letter is clear if it is easily understood.
● Conciseness - the art of saying a thing in a few words as possible.
● Order - the essential characteristic of a letter is to have a logical organization.
● Unity - no letter should deal with two unrelated subjects.
● Courtesy - the attitude taken by the writer, expressing friendliness amd good-breeding.
 ● Character, Personality, Style - three qualities that are interrelated to each other,
encouraging freshness and originality as well as adding personal touch to it.
● Tone - a letter should not be written in a condescending, pompous, sarcastic, didactic,
flippant.

Letter Styles - form of indention.

● The Block Style - the insider address and all paragraph beginnings start at the left
margin.
● The Semi-Block Style - identical with the Block Style except that the first line of the
paragraph is indented five, sometimes ten spaces.
● The Indented Style - less used now than formerly, the various elements of addresses
and other formal positions are indented an even number of spaces.
● Full-Block Style - each part of the letter, except possibly that date line and the file
reference, is placed on the left margin.
● The Hanging-Indented Style - the first line of each paragraph is flush with margin, in
line with the salutation and inside address.

Memorandum - a document typically used for communication within an organization.

Purposes:
- To give information to someone
- To issue an instruction
- To request for help
- To give suggestions
Parts:
● Date Section - the date as to when you write the memo.
● To Section - list the names of everyone who will receive the memo.
● From Section - list the name of the writers.
● Subject Section - indicates the main subject of the letter, should be as specific and
concise as possible.
Types:
● Information Memo - used to deliver or request information or assistance.
● Persuasive Memo - asks you to persuade someone of something.
● Directive Memo - states a policy or procedure you want the reader to follow.
● Technical Memo - concise presentation of results.

Characteristics of an Effective Memo

● Civilized - use courtesy and tact
● Concise - condense information
● Coherent - use clear and logical structure
● Compelling - use persuasive diction
● Correct - follow conventions of quality writing

Minutes of Meeting - detailed note that serve as an official written record of a meeting or
conference.
Techniques to make an Effective Minutes of Meeting:
● Before the Meeting - choose your recording tool.
● During the Meeting - pass around and attendance sheet and make sure everyone signs
it.
● After the Meeting - type up the minutes as soon as possible after the meeting while
everything is still fresh in your mind.

CHARACTERISTICS MEMORANDUM LETTER

DESTINATION internal: correspondence external: correspondence

written to colleagues within written outside the business
the company

FORMAT identification lines include includes letterhead, address,

date, to/for, from and subject date, salutation, text,
and the message follows complimentary close and
these signatures

AUDIENCE generally high-tech or low- generally low-tech and lay

tech, mostly business reader such as vendors and
colleagues clients

TOPIC generally high-tech or low- generally low-tech to lay;

tech, abbreviations and abbreviations and acronyms
acronyms are often allowed are usually defined

TONE informal more formal audience

ATTACHMENTS OR hard-copy attachments can additional information can be

ENCLOSURES be stapled to the memo enclosed within the envelope.
complimentary copies can be
sent to other readers

DELIVERY TIME determined by a company's determined by the

in-house mail procedure. destination. letter could be
memos could be delivered delivered within 3 days
within 3 days

Week 6-7 UloA

Project Proposal - initial document used to define an internal or external project.

Audit Report - a written letter from the auditor containing the opinion of whether a company's
financial statements comply with GAAP ( Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ).

Project Proposal - is an essential marketing document that helps cultivate an initial profession
relationship between an organization and a donor over a project to be implemented.
Two Classifications:
● Research Proposal - written by a researcher that provides a detailed description of the
proposed program.
● Business Proposal - a written offer from a seller to a prospective buyer and this is often
a key step in the complex sales process.
Three Categories of Business Proposals:
● Formally Solicited - written in response to published requirements.
● Informally Solicited - typically the result of conversations held between a vendor and a
prospective customer.
● Unsolicited - are marketing brochures, always generic, with no direct connection
between customer needs or specific requirements.

Types of Formally Solicited Business Proposals:

● Request for Proposal (RFP) - provide detailed specifications of what the customer
wants to buy.
● Request for Quotation (RFQ) - customers issue RFQs when they want to buy large
amounts of a commodity and price is not the only issue, (availability, delivering or
service).
● Invitation for Bid (IFB) - when they are buying some service, such as construction.
● Request for Information (RFI) - to gain 'marketing intelligence' about what products,
services and vendors are available.

Proposal Management - the closing of a sale through a written document using repeatable
processes.
Basic Roles and Responsibilities:
● Creator - responsible for creating and editing the content.
● Editor - responsible for tuning the content messages and style of delivery, (translation &
localization).
● Publisher - responsible for releasing the content for use.
● Administrator - responsible for managing access permissions to documents & files.
● Consumer or Viewer - the person who reads or otherwise takes in content after it is
published/shared.

Effective Business Proposal

Know What Your Customer Needs - your proposal shouldn't be centered around your
fantastic products or benefits of working with your firm, it should focus on addressing your
customer's needs.
Keep it Simple - you should stick to the basic templates.
° an overview of your company
° the goals you want to help the client achieve
° an outline of how you'll achieve those goals
° a timeline for getting it done
° pricing
° policies, such as cancellation
° contact information
Get Professional - you can modify any number of business proposal templates online, or you
can use software like QuoteBase.
Keep Them on Their Toes - business proposals don't have to be boring.
Re-read it for Errors - read it to make sure it's easy to understand, keep sentences short.

Audit Report - an appraisal of a small business' complete financial status.

Topics:
- the responsibilities of the auditor and the management of the entity
- the scope of the audit
- the auditor's opinion of the entity's financial statements
Components of an Audit Report:
● Introductory Section
- identifies whom the audit report was prepared for.
- states why the audit was conducted and names the person who conducted the
audit.
● Financial Section
- an assessment of your financial statements based on the auditor's testing.
- the auditor identified which financial statements were tested and confirmed that
the audit was conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing
standards.
● Required Supplemental Section
- documents that are needed to clarify information contained in the financial
statements.
- these documents are not part of you financial statements but are additional
stand-alone documents.
● Findings and Recommendation Section
- the audit report winds up with a list of findings that identifies where you
accounting system could be improved.
- the auditors provide specific recommendations that you may decide to
implement.

Audit Process
Planning - the auditor notifies the client of the audit, discuss the scope and objectives, gathers
information, evaluates existing controls, plans the remaining audit steps:
● Announcement Letter - the client is informed of the audit through an announcement
from the Internal Audit Director.
Initial Meeting - the client describes the unit or system to be reviewed.
Preliminary Survey - the auditor gathers relevant information about the unit.
Internal Control Review - the auditor will review the unit's internal control structure.
Advice and Informal Communication - the auditor discusses any significant findings with the
client.
a. Audit Summary
b. Working Papers
 c. Working Papers Documentation
Discussion Draft - the auditor drafts the report, audit management thoroughly reviews the audit
working papers.
- Exit Conference - when audit management has approved the discussion draft, Internal
Audit meets with the unit's management team to discuss the findings.
Formal Draft - the auditor then prepares a formal draft, taking into account any revisions.
Final Report - Internal Audit prints and distributes the final report to the units operating
management, the unit's reporting supervisor.

Types of Audit Report

● Unqualified Opinion (clean opinion) - indicates the author's opinionthat all documents
provided for the evaluation indicate that the company's financial activities and records
are correct and acceptable.
● Qualified Opinion - generally positive because it indicates that the auditor has found
nothing wrong in the financial documentation. However, this means that the company
audited has not adhered to the standards set by the GAAP.
● Adverse Opinion (worst type of report) - the company has not adhered to the
standards set by the GAAP and the auditor has discovered discrepancies in the
company's financial statements.
● Disclaimer Opinion - the auditor wasn't able to complete the audit due to a particular
reason.

Week 8-9

Project Reports - a document provides details on the overall picture of the proposed business.
Social Media - a computer-based technology that facilitates the sharing of ideas, thoughts and
information through the building of virtual networks.

Project Reports - a report is a systematic, well organized document which defines and
analyses a subject or problem, which may include:
- the record of a sequence of events
- interpretation of the significance of these events or facts
- evaluation of the facts or results of research presented
- discussion of the outcomes a decision of course of action
- conclusions
- recommendations

Steps for an Effective Project Report

● Determine the objective of the report, identify the problem.
● Collect the required material (facts) for the report.
● Study and examine the facts gathered.
● Plan the facts for the report.
● Prepare an outline for the report, draft the report.
● Edit the drafted report.
 ● Distribute the draft report to the advisory team and ask for the feedback.

Report Structure
- Title Page
- Table of Contents
- Abbreviations and/or Glossary
- Acknowledgements
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Body
- Conclusion
- Bibliography

Features of Report Writing

- Clarity if thought
- Complete and self-explanatory
- Comprehensive but compact
- Accurate in all aspects
- Has suitable format for readers
- Supports facts and is factual
- Has an impersonal style
- A proper date and signature
- Has a reference to relevant details
- Follows an impartial approach
- Has all essential technical details
- Presented in a lucid style
- Reliable document
- Arranged in a logical manner

Fundamental Concepts of Report Writing - in writing a report, language plays a vital role.
● K.I.S.S Concept (Keep it Short & Simple) - highlights the use of simple but concise
words.
● Quoting, Paraphrasing and Summarizing
~ Quoting - is the exact copying of a portion of an original text.
~ Paraphrasing - you will need to use your own words in restating the author's ideas of
words.
~ Summarizing - recapitulating the idea of the author and making a shorter restatement
of the original text with your own words.
● Graphic Organizers - classified to as the use of tables, graphs, charts, figures, which
provides and reflects a summary of data in a systematic manner.
● Documentation and Citation - this pertains to the proper acknowledgement of sources
and references that you used.

Categories of Report
Informal Report - to inform, direct, sell, clarify or recommend and can be presented or written
as a letter or memo.
● Meeting Minutes - type of informal report that summarizes the discussion and results
from a meeting.
● Expense Reports - nearly always have a prescribed format, consists primarily amount
of expenditures by type of expense.
● Status Updates - may be internal to a company in addressing a business situation, or
they may be external in providing the status of a project to another organization.
● Trip or Conference Reports - are used to summarize and transmit learning from a trip
or conference.
● Proposals or Feasibility Reports - for smaller of simpler projects can also be
considered informal reports.

Formal Report - an official report that contains detailed information, research and data
necessary to make business decisions.
● Research Reports - gather and explain data, informational.
● Proposals - may be internal to a company in addressing a business situation, or they
may come from a solicited or unsolicited sales situation.
● Feasibility Reports - are a specific type of analytical report.
● Business Plans - are typically informational reports about what a new or existing
company plans to do over the next period of time.
● Other Complex Recommendations - may also come in the form of a formal report, is a
result from a business problem.

Social Media - is any digital tool that allows users to quickly create and share content with the
public.
- Collaborative Projects (Wikipedia)
- Blogs & Microblogs (Twitter)
- Content Communities (YouTube)
- Social Networking Sites (Facebook)
- Virtual Game Worlds (World of Warcraft)
- Virtual Social Worlds (Second Life)

Reasons for Using Social Media

● To communicate and be updated with the lives of your relatives, family, celebrities,
friends and even politicians.
● To get latest update and information about current news and issues.
● To befriend strangers and get involved and acquainted with people with the same
interests and hobbies.
● Tool for employment via job searching for a dream job.
● Avenue for businesses involved in by and selling of products and services.
● To share photos, video and other life events that are important.
● Serves as an avenue to express oneself and influence other people based on your own
beliefs.