TECHNICAL WRITING

REVIEWER-PRELIM
• “Writing is a craft, not an art.”
• Craft is an activity involving skills in making things,
while Art is an expression of the human’s creativity
and imagination.
• Busy people don’t have time to listen to
explanations and elaborations. The works of a
Technical writer must do the ‘explaining and
convincing’.
Definition of
Technical
Writing
• The Society of Technical Communication (STC) defines technical
communication as:
“a broad field that includes any form of communication that is about
technical or specialized topics, that uses technology such as web pages
or help files, or that provides instruction about how to do something.”

Technical writing introduces you to some of the most important

aspects of writing in the worlds of science, technology, and business,
etc.
• No matter what sort of professional work you do, you are likely to
do some writing—and much of it may be technical in nature.
• The more you know about some basic technical writing skills, the
better job of writing you’re likely to do.
 What takes the place of essays?
• Memorandum,
• letters,
• reports,
• e-mail,
• proposals,
• instructions, even web pages.
Technical writing is the type of written communication that students will be
responsible for on the job.
Technical writing is a necessary component of every employee’s professional skill.
• Employers want to hire people who can communicate effectively, both in writing
and speaking.
• Jobsites and Career counselors reiterate this.
• E-mail
• Letters
• Instructions
• Job Search
• Web Pages
• Flyers
• Power Point presentations
• All writing is technical: It involves technē, and requires tools
and techniques.
• Vocal speech evolved naturally and is picked up by babies
as part of the normal growing process,
• but not the learning to read and write, which is why you
are still working on it in your twenties and beyond.
• τέχνη (techne) is the Greek word that gives us words like
technique, technical, technological, technician, techno.
• It is "a skill, or craft; a technique, principle, or method by
which something is achieved or created.
 1) Focused on audience
2) Rhetorical (verbal), persuasive,
purposeful, and problem-oriented
3) Professional
4) Design centered
Characteristics of 5) Research and technology oriented
Technical Writing 6) Ethical
Focused on audience:
• Technical and workplace documents address a specific audience.
• The audience may be an individual or a group, and it may or may not be known to
the writer.
• While there is always a primary audience addressed, there may be a secondary
audience.
• An understanding of the reader or user of a technical document is important.
5 Components in the study of Source and Receiver:
• 1. Communication skills
• 2. Attitude
• 3. Knowledge
• 4. Culture
• 5. Social system
Rhetorical, persuasive, purposeful, and problem-oriented:

• Technical communication is all about helping the reader or user of a

document solve a problem or compel others to act or do.
• Identification of a specific purpose and a particular audience are the
first two steps of technical writing.
Professional:
• Technical communication reflects the values, goals, and culture of the
organization and creates and maintains the public image of the
organization.
• university's web site and the image that it conveys.
Design centered:
• Technical communication uses elements of document design such as visuals, graphics,
typography, color, and spacing to make a document interesting, attractive, usable, and
comprehensible.
• While some documents may be totally in print, many more use images such as charts,
photographs, and illustrations to enhance readability and understanding and simplify
complex information.
Research and technology oriented:
• Because of workplace demands, technical and workplace writing is often created in
collaboration with others through a network of experts and designers and depends on
sound research practices to ensure that information provided is
• correct, accurate, and complete
Ethical:
• Technical communication is ethical. All workplace writers have ethical obligations, many of
which are closely linked to legal obligations that include liability laws, copyright laws,
contract laws, and trademark laws.
Note: Standards to make your writing successful

• Honest
• Clear
• Accurate
• Complete
• Attractive
• Correct
Five Steps to Successful Writing
The best way to ensure that your writing will succeed—whether it is in the
form of a memo, a résumé, a proposal, or a Web page—is to approach
writing using the following steps:
• 1. Preparation
• 2. Research
• 3. Organization
• 4. Writing
• 5. Revision
 Step 1. Preparation
Writing, like most professional tasks, requires solid preparation.
In preparation for writing, your goal is to accomplish the following 4 major
tasks:
1) Establish your primary purpose.
2) Assess your audience (or readers) and the context.
3) Determine the scope of your coverage.
4) Select the appropriate medium.
 Task 1: Establishing Your Purpose.
• “What you want your readers to know, to believe, or to be able to do after they
have finished reading what you have written.”
A) Be precise!
1. “to report on possible locations for a new research facility” - too general.
2. “to compare the relative advantages of Paris, Singapore, and San Francisco as
possible locations for a new research facility so that top management can choose
the best location” - a purpose statement
B) In addition to your primary purpose, consider possible secondary
purposes for your document.
• Example: to make corporate executive readers aware of the staffing needs of
the new facility so that they can ensure its smooth operation regardless of the
location selected.
Task 2: Assessing Your Audience and Context.

Assess your audience. Again, be precise and ask key questions:

• Who exactly is your reader?
• Do you have multiple readers?
• Who needs to see or to use the document?
• What are your readers’ needs in relation to your subject?
• What are their attitudes about the subject? (Skeptical? Supportive?
Anxious? Bored?)
• What do your readers already know about the subject?
• Should you define basic terminology, or will such definitions merely
bore, or even impede, your readers?
• Are you communicating with international readers and therefore
dealing with issues inherent in global communication?
 In addition to knowing the needs and interests of your readers, learn as much
as you can about the context.
• Context is the environment or circumstances in which writers produce
documents and within which readers interpret their meanings.
• Everything is written in a context, as illustrated in many entries and examples
in most book.
Example: To determine the effect of context on the research-facilities report,
ask both specific and general questions about the situation and about your
readers’ backgrounds:
1. Is this the company’s first new facility, or has the company chosen locations
for new facilities before?
2. If there are 3 offices for their facilities, have the readers visited all three?
3. Have they already seen other reports on the three locations of facilities?
4. What is the corporate culture in which the readers work, and what are its
key values?
5. What specific factors such as: competition, finance, and regulation, are
recognized as important within the organization?
Task 3: Determining the Scope
• Determining your purpose and assessing your readers and context will
help you decide what to include and what not to include in your
writing.
• Those decisions establish the scope of your writing project.
• Given the purpose and audience established for the report on facility
locations, the scope would include such information as land and
building costs, available labor force, cultural issues, transportation
options, and proximity to suppliers.
 Task 4: Selecting the Medium
• Determine the most appropriate medium for communicating your message.
• Professionals face a wide array of options—from e-mail, fax, voice mail, video-
conferencing, and Web sites
• Traditional means like letters, memos, reports, telephone calls, and face-to-face
meetings.
• The most important considerations in selecting the appropriate medium are:
1) the audience and 2) the purpose of the communication
• Ex. If you need precise wording or you need to provide a record of a complex
message, communicate in writing.
• Ex. If you need to make information that is frequently revised accessible to
employees at a large company, the best choice might be to place the
information on the company’s intranet site.
(Intranet is a network where employees can create content, communicate,
collaborate, get stuff done, and develop the company culture. Extranet provides
controlled access to authorized customers, vendors, partners, or others outside
the company.)
 Five Steps to Successful Writing
Step 2: Research

Methods of Research
• Primary research refers to the gathering of raw data compiled from interviews,
direct observation, surveys, experiments, questionnaires, and audio and video
recordings.
• A) Direct observation:
1) participation
2) non-participation
• B) Hands-on experience
• Secondary research refers to gathering information that has been analyzed,
assessed, evaluated, compiled, or otherwise organized into accessible form.
• Ex. Books, articles, reports, Web documents, e-mail discussions, and brochures.
Sources of Information
• Your own knowledge and that of your colleagues
• The knowledge of people outside your workplace, gathered through
interviewing for information
• Internet sources, including Web sites, directories, archives, and
discussion groups
• Library resources, including databases and indexes of articles as well as
books and reference works
• Printed and electronic sources in the workplace, such as various
correspondence, reports, and Web intranet documents
 Five Steps to Successful Writing
Step 3: Organization
Methods of Development
1) Sequential method of development.
2) Chronological method of development.
3) Cause-and- effect method of development.

Chronological method of development.

• Ex. history of an organization, from the beginning to the present.
Cause-and- effect method of development.
Ex. Begin with persuasive case histories of individual people in need and
then move to general information about the positive effects of donations on
recipients.
Methods of Development
1) Sequential method of development. (Sequence is a specific order in which ideas are presented. Having a clear
sequence to our documents will keep our ideas organized and help readers easily determine what is important.)
• Ex. instructions for assembling office equipment, present the steps of the process
To provide clarity and organization to your documents, follow this sequence, when possible:
1) Provide a clear introduction.
• Include a sentence at the end of your introduction that will project what you will discuss in the body of your
document.

• The main points can be listed in the sentence as brief phrases in parallel form. Once you've written a sentence
explaining what that document will cover, it's time to start writing your body paragraphs.

Start your introduction by answering the three main questions that every business person wants to know:

-What is the document I'm reading?

-Why did I receive it?

-What action do you want me to take?

2) Keep paragraphs focused.
• To keep your paragraphs focused, start with a well-written topic sentence. The
sentence should clearly state what that specific paragraph will discuss.
• When writing the information for your paragraph, make sure that you stick to one
idea per paragraph. Trying to focus on more thank one topic in a paragraph will
confuse your readers. Make sure the information you provide is specific and
answers any potential questions your reader might have about the topic.
• Finally, keep the paragraph short so that it’s easy to skim. Paragraphs should be
no more than 5 or 6 sentences. If you find the paragraph is becoming much
longer, try to break the paragraphs into 2 separate paragraphs, keeping
information about similar ideas together.
3) Arrange information with your audience in mind.
4) Consider including a conclusion.
• Outlining breaks large or complex subjects into manageable parts. It also
enables you to emphasize key points by placing them in the positions of
greatest importance.
• Even a short letter or memo needs the logic and structure that an outline
provides, whether the outline exists in your mind or on-screen or on
paper.
• At this point, you must begin to consider layout and design elements that
will be helpful to your readers and appropriate to your subject and
purpose. For example, visuals such as photographs or tables will be
useful.
 Five Steps to Successful Writing
Step 4: Writing
• Expand your outline into paragraphs.
• Writing and revising are different activities; refinements come with
revision.
• Write the rough draft, concentrate entirely on converting your outline
into sentences and paragraphs.
• Do not worry about a good opening. Just start.
• The most effective way to get started is to use your outline as a map for
your first draft.
• Do not wait for inspiration—you need to treat writing a draft as you
would any on-the-job task.
• The entry writing a draft describes tactics used by experienced
writers—discover which ones are best suited to you and your task.
• Opening: subject and give readers essential background information, such as
the document’s primary purpose.
• For longer documents: introduction should serve as a frame to fit the detailed
information that follows.
• Conclusion ties the main ideas together and makes a final significant point.
Examples: recommend a course of action,
make a prediction or a judgment, or
summarize your main points.
 Five Steps to Successful Writing
Step 5: Revision

• The clearer finished writing seems to the reader, the more effort the
writer has likely put into its revision.
• Revising, requires a different frame of mind than does writing the draft.
• During revision, be eager to find and correct faults and be honest.
• Be hard on yourself for the benefit of your readers. Read and evaluate the
draft as if you were a reader seeing it for the first time.
• Check your draft for accuracy, completeness, and effectiveness in achieving your
purpose and meeting your readers’ needs and expectations.
• Trim extraneous information: Your writing should give readers exactly what they
need, but it should not burden them with unnecessary information or sidetrack
them into loosely related subjects.
• Do not try to revise for everything at once. Read your rough draft several times.
• Concentrate first on larger issues, such as unity and coherence; save mechanical
corrections, like spelling and punctuation, for later proofreading.
• Finally, consider having others review your writing and make suggestions for
improvement.
• For collaborative writing, team members must review each other’s work on
segments of the document as well as the final master draft.