THE TECHNICAL

WRITING PROCESS
THE TECHNICAL WRITING PROCESS

 Writing is thinking and good thinking for all kinds of

writers - literary. expository, or factual writers - requires
a systematic way of expressing ideas and feelings. Any
act of writing is effective if it results from clear objective
or purpose and orderly presentation of facts, opinions or
ideas that are related to such specific purpose (Gustavi,
2008).
 It is true that if you want to be a good technical writer,
you must be a voracious reader. As you write or put your
ideas on the paper you have to consider intensively the
kind of ideas and the manner by which these thoughts
and feelings should appear.

Gab
THE TECHNICAL WRITING PROCESS

 You have to read and read continuously to widen your

vocabulary, and to expose yourself to various writing
techniques or styles. This is a kind of writing that makes
you go though the writing stages of pre-writing, writing
and post-writing. These three writing stages were named
by Gerson (2010) as the P3.
 From the first stage up to the last writing stage, your
writing immerses you into a problem-solving technique.
The effectiveness of your technical written work greatly
depends on how you perform in each of the following
writing stages. Experiencing all these writing stages
requires an Intensive use of your mind.
Cath
Stage 1: PRE-WRITING STAGE
 Pre-writingor planning is similar to what you do
before preparing food for cooking. In writing, you are
both an architect and an engineer. As an architect,
you have to plan or make a design for the layout of
the building that an engineer has to construct.
 In
this first stage of willing, what then do you worry
about in laying the foundation of your succeeding
writing acts? You spend a great dea of time
considering about the purpose, subject matter,
content, and readers of your written work.
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Purpose

 The word, purpose, means something that

you want to get o accomplish in your life.
Glued to this specific purpose, you are
able to determine that right ideas or
knowledge to include in your paper.
Devoid of a clear purpose in writing, your
writing finds no specific direction at all.

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Subject Matter or Topic

 Deciding what to write about, you expect

all kinds of ideas, major or minor, to
bombard your mind. Decide which of the
various ideas coming to your mind are
very relevant to you topic. Which of the
different pre-writing strategies is most
effective in collecting ideas for your
subject matter.

Gab
Audience or Reader
 Technical writing has to give importance to knowing who
and what its audience of readers are. This means
understanding their interests, needs, mentality, likes or
dislikes. Your technical written work will have a strong
convincing power if it is written within the realm of your
readers' experience.
 According to Borrowick (2000), A good audience analysis
tells you that your audience may belong to the category
of readers called multiple audiences. This consists of all
types of readers-high, low, of "zero-tech" audience. To
avoid various interpretations of the report is to express
technical terms in their simplest and familiar forms.
Cath
Your audience or readers may also fall under
any of the following types:
a) Primary audience-makers of decisions
b) Secondary audience - Implementers of decisions and givers of
recommendations
c) Immediate audience - transmitters of decisions through the
different users
d) Nominal audience -names mentioned in the report but have no
significant participation in the production of the report

Knowing the specific roles or positions of your readers in the company

they belong to, enables you to write in a manner that is responsive to
the needs, expectations, and standards of your intended audience or
readers. Gab
Content

 Ideas,facts, or opinions are the building

blocks of your technical written work. A
great deal of this knowledge depends on
your sensory experience and perceptions.
Pre-writing strategies can help you to
generate ideas for the content of your
report before presenting it to a group of
experts.
Cath
PRE-WRITING
STRATEGIES
1. Brainstorming Session

 To do this, write on a piece of paper whatever ideas

related to your topic come to your mind. You may use a
word, a phrase, or a clause to express these ideas. This
knowledge collecting strategy comes in two methods -
Individual and Group Brainstorming sessions. The first
method makes you do the thinking and writing of ideas
alone; the second one requires you to share your ideas
with your group members and delegate the writing of
ideas to one of the members of the group. (Thomson,
2007)

Gab
2. Free writing or Looping

 Similarto the brainstorming session, free writing

requires you to write on the paper any ideas
connected to the topic. However, in this case you
have to express your ideas in sentences
continuously and freely without worrying about
the grammaticalness of your sentences. Letting a
free and continuous flow of ideas from your mind
in a seemingly uncaring attitude makes other
people call this pre-writing strategy Lazy Writing.

Cath
3. Interview

 Ideas about your topic easily come to your mind

by asking some people about their thoughts and
feelings in relation to your chosen topic
Questions to elicit the interviewees' knowledge
about your topic are of two types: structured or
closed questions and unstructured or open-
ended questions. The former types of questions
are answerable with specific or actual responses:
the latter, with varied and opinionated answers.

Gab
4. Questionnaire Survey

 Thisrequires the use of a list of written

questions on your topic that the respondents
ought to answer. This is similar to interview, In
that. It uses questions to obtain Ideas about
your topic. However, here, the structured as well
as the unstructured questions are written or
prepared beforehand: say, several hours or days
before they are presented to the respondents.

Cath
5. Reading

 Different kinds of knowledge about your topic -

facts, opinions Information, comments,
criticisms, recommendations, and so forth are
found in various reading materials in your
house, in the library. In private and government
offices, or in the Internet. Stock your brain with
all sorts of knowledge about your topic by
reading not only one type of reading material but
varieties of reading materials as well.

Gab
6. Listing
 This is a columnar of linear writing of words related to your
topic that lets you expunge irrelevant words after deciding to
end your listing.
Example:
Cell Phones
Nokia brand Multi-colored cases
Pre-paid card Charging
Sim card Battery
Air-sprayed panel Texting
Melodious sound Hypertext
Different sizes Send
Cath
 7. Speculating
 Speculating is an act of entertaining some doubts about something. These
doubts stretch your mind to various angles or aspects of your topic.
Expressing these doubts through all kinds of questions leads you to ideas
that will help you explain or describe your topic in a more comprehensive,
detailed, and clearer way.
Example:
Computers
What is a computer?
How did this device get its name computer?
Who invented this electronic device?
Where can you buy cheap but durable computers?
Whose computer looks like a cell phone?
When can the Philippines introduce a new brand of computer?
Which country ranks number one in computer technology? Gab
8. Semantic, Mapping or Drawing

 This pre-writing strategy gives you the opportunity to

draw or sketch on the paper whatever images or mental
pictures you have about your topic. Your drawings reflect
your understanding of the topic and the relationships of
ideas with the topic.

Cath
9. Outlining

 Varietesof ideas about your topic enter your mind,

but not all of these get the chance to appear on
your paper. Some of these ideas expressed in
another term fall under major or minor ideas.
Listed down on your paper in a columnar manner,
these big and small ideas constitute the outine
that numbers ideas in two methods the traditional
or conventional method and the modem or
numerical way. (Seares, 2003)
Gab
a) Traditional or Conventional Outline
Computers
I. Nature of Computer
A. Definition
B. History
C. Characteristics
1. Instantly operated
2. Mechanically movable
3. Electronically dependent
a) Atoms
b) Electrons
c) Electricity
d) Chips
Gab
a. Traditional or Conventional II. Parts of computer
Outline
A. Monitor
Computers
I. Nature of Computer
B. CPU
A. Definition C. Disc drive
B. History D. Main board
C. Characteristics E. Light emitting diode
1. Instantly operated F. Key Board
2. Mechanically movable
III. Types of computer
3. Electronically
dependent A. Desk top
a) Atoms B. Lap top
b) Electrons C. Microcomputer
c) Electricity
d) Chips Gab
b. Modern or Numerical Outline 1.4 Parts of computer
1. Nature of computer 1.4.1 Monitor
1.1 Definition 1.4.2 CPU
1.2 History 1.4.3 Disc drive
1.3 Characteristics 1.4.4 Main board

1.3.1 Instantly operated 1.4.5 Light emitting diode

1.3.2 Mechanically movable 1.4.6 Key Board

1.3.3 Electronically 1.5 Types of computer

dependent 1.5.1 Desk top
1.3.3.1 Atoms 1.5.2 Lap top
1.3.3.2 Electrons 1.5.3 Microcomputer
1.3.3.3 Electricity
1.3.3.4 Chips
Gab
 10. Semantic writing or Clustering

 In this pre-writing strategy. Individual words representing

ideas related to the topic are written inside circular,
rectangular, or triangular figures. These related words form
a cluster around a bigger idea that is likewise related to the
main topic. The formation of the words gives a appearance
of bubbles or figures moving away from a bigger bubble o
figure in which the centermost topic is written.

Cath
 11. Electronic devices

 Radios, TV. sets, and computers are rich sources

of the content of your technical report. The
Internet in your computer offers abundant
knowledge on all kinds of topics in any field of
knowledge through the help of various search
engines like Yahoo.com. Excite.com, altheweb.
com AltaVista.com, Google.com, Lycos.com, and
Hotbot.com. Other search engines bring you to
different sources of data for your report such as
the following: (Mohan, 2008)
Gab
Business Search Engines
ZDNet.com, Earth Link.net, Business Week Online
(http://www. businessweel.com)
International Search Engine
Search engines Colossus
Abyz News Links (International newspapers and
magazines)
World Press Review (International Perspectives on USA)
Special Search Engines
FindLaw.com-focuses on legal sources
Achoo.com-lets you access health and medical sites

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Articles in magazines and journal
Info trac, silver platter,
Ebscottest, 1-800
DAI-Dissertation Abstract International, 521-0600
Proquest Digital Dissertation (3042)
Metasearch Engines - search engines to examine a topic in several
search engines listed above
Mamma.com-http://mamma.com
Dogpile-http://dogpile.com
Inference find -http://www.infind.com
Metacrawler.com-http://metacrawler.com
Education Search Engines
Search Educ-http://www.searcheduc.com
Voice of Shuttle-http://humanitas.ucsb.edu/
Gab
 Central to the Pre-writing stage are the
purpose, Ideas, and audience of your technical
writing acts. In the entire writing process, this
first stage of writing elicits from you the best
and the most attention to the foundation or
basic aspects of effective technical report
writing. This is the reason why many consider
this initial writing stage as the most important
stage of writing. Done properly, the pre-writing
stage guarantees easy or effective technical
report writing. (Pearsall, 2010)

Cath
 Stage 2: DRAFTING OR WRITING
 The things you planned or thought of about your objective, topic, and
readers, take a certain pattern or organization in this second stage of
writing called Writing or Drafting Stage. Some consider this as the
stage of packaging or formatting data. Data packaging means
spending time and effort in forming clear and correct sentences. It
also involves the use of appropriate transitional devices and
paragraph organizational techniques. A good technical report should
avoid the "orphan line" (Beer, 2005)
 Printing paper makes you think of how your report should appear on
the paper. At times, your extensive knowledge and vocabulary lead to
lengthy discussions. Printing long language structures on the page is
enough to make such portion of the report look totally black. For your
reader's easy and interesting understanding of your report, you have
to avoid wall-to-wall paragraphs.
Gab
 Stage 2: DRAFTING OR WRITING
TECHNIQUES:

a) Use the technique of chunking to set the organizational

patterns of your work. This means breaking the long
paragraph into chunks of small sets of sentences to allow
white space between paragraphs This chunking technique
is one way of overcoming the total black look of the page.
Another way to do this is by using headings sections, or
dividers such as lines, numbers, or other decorative figures
to group the structures of your report, (Kliment, 2006)
b) Use a certain technique in arranging the components of
your report For instance, put the parts of your report in
order based on their Importance to you or to the reader, on
time elernent, or on space.
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c) Make your report accessible to the reader. This staternent refers to
the ability of your report to influence, attract, and make him
concentrate on the essential ideas of the report. This is quite possible
though your computer that is equipped with all letter styles, sizes,
colors and with several marking techniques for stressing or
highlighting information. Examples of these are those buttons for
underlining, bolding Italicizing, coloring, and capitalizing some
language structures of your report. (Adier, 2010)
d) Present data in various forms such as giving them a vertical,
horizontal, or columnar positioning of structures in the report. These
varied ways of showing the components of your report contribute a
lot in ensuring an exciting or interesting reading of your report. In
fact, this principle of variety even applies to putting a margin in your
paper. Research studies show that writers should leave the right
margin justified and the left margin unjustified or ragged. Having
both margins justified or straight, according to these studies, prevent
the reader from understanding the text quickly. (Gerson, 2010)
Gab
e) Moreover, always keep in mind that ip this stage called Drafting
of Witting stage, the most effective way to express your
thoughts is a conversational way, that is, just write whatever
you want to say to your reader or listener using active voice.
(Penrose, 2010)
 In the past, technical writing had to sound cold or impersonal.
Now, Technical Writing experts say that giving your report a
personal touch. A good writing performance in the pre-writing
stage redounds to the benefit of the last two writing stages:
Drafting and Post-writing.
 A good writing performance in the pre-writing stage redounds to
the benefit of the last two writing stages - the Drafting and Post-
writing stages. Take note, however, that despite the possible
recurrence of each writing stage throughout the entire writing
process, the stage following the first one stands to benefit or
suffer from what occurred in the previous stage.
Cath
 Stage 3: POST WRITING STAGE
 The writing stage to make your composition attain a certain
degree of perfection is this last writing stage called Post-writing
stage. The following are the sub-processes of this stage.
a. Revising. You revise your work by making changes in the
context and organization of the text so that it will reflect your
specific purpose, fit your intended audience, and apply the
essential qualities of a paragraph like unity, coherence,
emphasis, and correctness.
b. Editing. To edit a written work means to check the
grammaticaLness of the text. This pertains to the use of the
different parts of speech, to your diction or choice of words, to
your construction of sentences, and to your use of
punctuation marks and spelling of words.
Gab
c. Proofreading. This post-writing activity
takes place when you focus your
attention on typographical errors, report
format documentation style as well as
missing parts or words in the written
work. Likewise, proofreading makes you
check if those aspects slated for editing
get the needed attention or proper
correction. (Ingre, 2010).

Cath
 To produce an effective technical written work means to
follow a certain process in writing. Each stage of such
writing process has many specific activities that enhance
your mental abilities. Peer correcting of written works
gives you the chance to learn from others or to share
knowledge with one another.
 Post-writing is the last stage in the writing process that
brings your work into its finest form. Post-writing involves
revising, editing and proofreading your written work. This
is the stage where you experience a lot of the things
responsible for turning you into an excellent technical
report writer.

Gab
THANK YOU!