TECHNICAL

REPORT WRITING
(HS-125)
Week 3: Effective Communication through
Audience Recognition
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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 Audience Recognition
■ Who is your audience?
■ What does they know?
■ What must your write to ensure
understanding?
■ How to communicate to a person or
people in a multi-cultural environment?
■ What is this person’s position in relation
to your job title?
■ Person attitude towards your topic.

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Audience Recognition

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 Audience Variables

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 Knowledge of Subject
■ High-Tech
– They are expert in the field you are writing
■ Your colleagues in your department
■ A vendor selling a product.
■ High-Tech peer in your subject
– Expert, Teacher, etc.
– Their work experience, and education is comparable to you.
Their level of understanding is comparable to you.

– Easy to communicate with them

– For example
■ The frequency of communication is 20 MHz.
– No need to define MHz here.
■ The pH of the solution is kept at 7.0.
– No need to explain pH in the above sentence.

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 Knowledge of Subject
■ Low-Tech
– Readers in other departments, your bosses, subordinates,
colleagues with different area of specialization.

– Technical concepts, jargons and abbreviations must be defined

for low-tech audience.
– You need to provide more background information.
■ For example
– Dear CEO
We demand an increase in salaries.
Sincerely,
Workers Union
– Dear CEO
There is a tremendous increase in prices of goods. Last year
the inflation rate was 5%. Therefore, we demand an equivalent
increase in salaries.

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 Knowledge of Subject
■ Lay-audience
– Customers and clients who neither work for your company nor
have any knowledge of your field of expertise are lay-audience.

– Avoid high-tech terms or define them properly.

– Avoid in-house jargons.
– For example
■ Writing a manual for a device you are selling (as instructions for
cleaning the head section on next slide).

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 Knowledge of Subject

HS-125 Technical Communication: Process and Product, Seventh Edition, by Sharon J. Gerson and Steven M. Gerson. Published
by Prentice Hall.
9
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc
 Knowledge of Subject

HS-125 Technical Communication: Process and Product, Seventh Edition, by Sharon J. Gerson and Steven M. Gerson. Published
by Prentice Hall.
10
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc
 Knowledge of Subject
■ Multi-audience
– Some time you write for high-tech, low-tech, and lay-audience
simultaneously.
■ For example:
– Your write a report for your supervisor (high-tech). He might
forward it to manager (low-tech).
– Writing for multiple readers with different level of understanding
is challenging.
■ Future-audience.
– Writing for a future audience.
■ For example: people not working in your company now. They may
join the company years after the time of writing.
■ Future readers need clarity, terms defined and background
information.

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Knowledge of Subject

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 Knowledge of Subject
■ Defining terms for audiences.
– Parenthesis
■ UET (University of engineering and technology).
■ CIA (cash in advance).
– Sentence
■ If you provide a sentence definition, include following.
– Term + Type + Distinguish characteristics.

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 Knowledge of Subject
■ Defining terms for audiences.
– Extended paragraph

– Glossary
■ If you have not defined your terms in parenthesis, sentence, or
paragraph, use glossary. A Glossary is an alphabetized list of terms
placed after the conclusion of the document.

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 Personality Traits

HS-125 Technical Communication: Process and Product, Seventh Edition, by Sharon J. Gerson and Steven M. Gerson.
Published by Prentice Hall.
15
Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
 Issue of diversity
■ Your audience is likely to be diverse.
– Difference in age,
– Sex,
– Race,
– Religion,
– Culture
– and language, etc.
■ For example:
– If you are working in a multinational company with offices and
industries all over the globe.
– Your writing might be read by a diverse audience.

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 Issue of diversity
■ Guidelines for effective multicultural communication.
– Define Acronyms and Abbreviations.
– Avoid Jargons
■ Common jargons in America

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 Issue of diversity
■ Distinguish between noun and verb
– Many words in English can be used as noun and verb
■ For example, file, scroll, code, help
■ Make sure that reader will not misinterpret the meaning.
■ Watch for cultural biases.
■ Clever as owl will be perceived differently in Pakistan.
■ Friendly piggy bank represents saving account in America. However,
Pig is not considered positive in Muslim countries.
■ Be-careful about slash (/).
■ Avoid Humor
■ Be-careful with numbers, measurements, dates, time.
■ Use stylized graphics to represent people.

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 Issue of diversity
■ Example

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 Issue of diversity
■ Example

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 Avoid Biased Language
■ Ageist Language

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 Avoid Biased Language
■ Biased Language with people with disabilities.

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 Avoid Biased Language
■ Sexiest Language.

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 Avoid Biased Language
■ Sexiest Language.

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 Avoid Biased Language
■ Sexiest Language.

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 Audience Involvement
■ On the other hand, sometimes, you need to involve your audience
through
– Personalization
– Readers Benefits

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To do…

■ Read Chapter 4

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