TECHNICAL

REPORT WRITING
(HS-125)
Week 2: Seven C’s of Communication
Writing process
■ Prewriting
1. Have you determined the purpose of writing?
2. Is your goal to inform, persuade, instruct etc.?
3. Is your audience high-tech, low tech, or lay?
4. Have you gathered the data?
5. Have you chosen correct communication channel?
■ Writing
6. Have you organized the information?
7. Is the content formatted for readability?
■ Rewriting
8. Have you tested usability?
9. Have you revised by adding, deleting, simplifying,
enhancing tone, and reformatting?
10. Have you proofread?
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7 Cs for written and oral
communication
1. Clear
2. Concise
3. Consideration
4. Correct
5. Complete
6. Concrete
7. Courtesy.

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7 Cs for written and oral
communication
1. Clear
• Appropriate details
• Selection of Active/Passive voice
• Easy words and terminology.
2. Concise
• Small and clear sentences.
• Check Fog Index of your writing.
• Look for expletive Pattern, and “shun”, camouflaged,
redundant words.

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7 Cs for written and oral
communication
3. Consideration
• Audience recognition
• Involve audience.
4. Correct
• Correct information (precision and accuracy of facts and
figures)
• No grammatical errors.
5. Complete
• Complete information
• Leave no room for questions.

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7 Cs for written and oral
communication
6. Concrete
• Provide clear message supported with facts and figures.
• Concrete message cannot be misinterpreted.
7. Courtesy
• Respect for others point of view and feelings
• Unbiased information.

6
Achieving Clarity

■ Provide specific Detail

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Achieving Clarity

■ Provide specific Detail

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Achieving Clarity

■ Answer reporter’s questions

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Achieving Clarity

■ Answer reporter’s questions

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Achieving Clarity

■ Use easily understandable words

– Write to express not to impress; write to communicate
not to confuse

Difficult Words Simple alternatives

Aforementioned Discussed above

Initial First

Ascertain Find out

As per your request As you requested

This is to advise you I would like to advise you

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Achieving Clarity
■ Define acronyms, and abbreviations and jargons
– Acronym:
■ NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
■ NUST (National University of Sciences and Technology)
– Abbreviation:
■ FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation)
■ UET (University of Engineering and Technology)

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Achieving Clarity
– Jargons
■ Jargon is the specialized terminology associated with a
particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally
employed in a particular communicative context and may
not be well understood outside that context.**
– Win-win situation: A situation where all the possible
outcomes are in the favor.
– Keep in the loop: The keep someone informed,
discuss the possible moves and get advice regularly.
– Left wing: political jargon for liberal progressive view-
point
– Right wing: political jargon for a conservative
approach.
■ Make sure you are using jargons according to the
particular field.

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Achieving Clarity

■ Try to use active voice

– Passive
■ The liquid was poured in the flask.
■ Overtime is favored by hourly workers
■ The temperature was regulated by a PID controller.
– Active
■ We poured the liquid in the flask.
■ Hourly workers favor overtime.
■ PID controller regulated the temperature.

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Achieving Conciseness

■ Providing details in fewer words

– Conciseness saves time
■ Fewer words, lesser time to read and write.
– Conciseness aids clarity
■ Concise writing can aid comprehension.
■ If you use too many words, readers might give up finishing
your document, skip so much that they miss key
information.
– Technology demands conciseness
■ Text, social media messaging requires smaller sentences.

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Achieving Conciseness

■ Limit word and sentence length

– Use Fog Index
■ A→Count the number of words in successive sentences, until to count
approximately 100 words. Divide the words with number of sentences.
■ →Count multisyllabic words (a unit of pronunciation having one
vowel sound, for example, there are two syllables in water and three in
inferno.)
– Exclude
■ Proper nouns, e.g. Khurram Saleem
■ Words that are created by combining shorter words e.g.
chairperson and firefighter etc.
■ Three syllable verbs created by –ed or –es e.g. united,
arranges etc.
■ Fog Index=(A+B)*0.4

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Achieving Conciseness

Total words = 92
Sentences = 4
Multisyllabic words in:
1st row=2
2nd row=3
3rd row=3
4th row=3
5th row=4
6th row=1

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Achieving Conciseness

■ Limit word and sentence length

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Achieving Conciseness

■ Limit word and sentence length

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Achieving Conciseness
■ Limit word and sentence length
– Avoid Shun words (-tion –sion)
■ Identification of physical limitation
– Identify physical limits
■ I want to take into consideration
– Consider the following
■ What is the utilization of this device
– What is the use of this device
– Avoid Camouflaged words
■ Please make an amendment in the article
– Please amend article
■ We arrived at an agreement
– We agreed

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Achieving Conciseness
■ Limit word and sentence length
– Avoid Expletive Pattern
■ there is, was, were, will be
■ It is, was
– There are three people, who will work here
■ Three people will work here.
– It has been decided that ten engineers will be hired.
■ Ten engineers will be hired.
– Omit redundancies
■ It was decided in the month of December
– It was decided in December
■ We collaborated together on the project.
– We collaborated on the project.
■ Our regular monthly status reports.
– Our monthly reports.

TRY: www.hemingwayap.com

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Achieving Correctness

■ Proof reading
■ TRY: www.grammerly.com

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To do…

■ Read Chapter 3, up to page 66

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