TECHNICAL WRITING STYLE

DEFINITION

 Documents are generated as a

responsibility,
 To achieve the goals and
 Maintain the operations
 PURPOSES
 1- to inform
 2- to persuade
Charectaristics of Technical Writing

 Specific audience
 Objective language (focus on the relevant facts,
no personal interpretation)
 Clear organization( technical writers set up a
document, use obvious repetition, and
emphasize transitions at the beginnings of
paragraphs.)
 Visual aids (graphs, tables, drawings and
carefully formatted pages)
 VISUAL AIDS IN FORMATTED
PAGES

 Use heads, words, phrases to indicate the

contents
 Use numbered vertical list
 Use various marginal indentations
 Use white space between lines to emphasize
important points or clarify difficult ones
 Use main heading larger than the subheadings
 Common types of writing

 MEMOS
 LETTERS
 REPORTS
 TECHNICAL WRITING STEPS

 Pre – writing Planning

 Writing Drafting
 Pre- writing Finishing
 The pre-writing stage
Planning
 ASK 8 QUESTIONS TO YOURSELF
1. WHO IS MY AUDIENCE?
 Reader’s existing knowledge
 Who will read?
 Why do they need the document?
 What purpose they will achieve through
it?
2. What is my goal in this situation?
 My basic message
 My purpose
3. What constraints affect this situation?
Time, length, money, physical location,
production method
4. What are the basic facts?
 Collecting them by reading, interviewing,
observing
5. What is the expected final form?
 Make sections
6. What is an effective outline?
 Brain storming, make a tree
7. What format and visual aids shall I use?
 Margins, heads, fonts, style sheet
8. What tone should I use?
 2nd writing stage
Drafting and Revising
 TWO PRIMARY ASPECTS
 Clarifying and Discovering
1. Style what is a good sentence
 Shorter sentences
 Active voice
 Use words the reader understands
2. Organization what is clear
organization?
 Remember to make list
 Repeat key terms
 Use heads
 Use definitions and terms
3. Reader’s interest What makes
writing interesting?
 Pictures, graphs, tables
 Helpful comparisons, common examples,
brief scenarios, narrative
 Activities that will help you when you get
stuck
 REVISING
 Changing sentences
 Too long,passive verbs,strings of ideas-
short bursts of sentences- whose
relationships are not clear
 3rd stage
The post writing stage - Finishing
 Points completion
 Psychological completion