Noha Mansy

Assistant Lecturer – English Department

sinaiuniversity.net
 Traits of Technical Writing Slide 3

Accessible Document Design Slide

5
Audience recognition
INDEX

Slide 12
Accuracy Slide 21

Exercises Slide 25
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 Traits of Technical Writing

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Technical Writing has to fulfill some specific
Traits (or
criteria of Technical Writing
traits) to be successful. The five
traits of technical writing are:

1. Clarity
2. Conciseness
3. Accessible Design
4. Audience recognition
5. Accuracy

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 3. Accessible Document Design

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 Traits of Technical
In addition to clarity and conciseness, a Writing

third trait of effective technical writing is

accessibility.

Accessible Design

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Example to explain:
Traits of Technical
Writing

Accessible
Design

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The paragraph on the previous slide Traits of Technical
consists of 84 words and ten sentences. Writing
The average number of words per
sentence is only 8.4. the
Because
sentences are not too long, the writing
is concise. Next, the text is clear, due to Accessible
Design
specificity of detail.

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However, despite the clarity and Traits of Technical
conciseness, this writing Why? Writing
Essentially, fails. this is
paragraph
unintelligible The page layout makes it
.nearly impossible for the reader
to understand the text. Accessible
Design

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An accessible Version of the same info:
Traits of Technical
Writing

Accessible
Design

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Some Techniques used to make
a document accessible are: Traits of Technical
Writing
Headings Subheadings,
Italics Underlining
Graphics Figures
White Space Tables
Accessible
Column Lines Font Sizes
Design
Numbered Lists Bullets

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 4. Audience recognition

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Successful technical writers know
that Traits of Technical
they can only achieve clarity by Writing
recognizing their audiences.
Basically,
our students will write to either High
Tech Peers, Low Tech Peers, or Lay
Readers. These three audience levels Audience
have the following traits. Recognition

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High Tech Peers : know as much about a
subject matter as you. Traits of Technical
They the same job title, Writing
have same same of
education,
and the same
years
level of expertise.
experience,
For example, a medical
doctor writing
another medical to
doctor would Audience
Recognition
be writing High Tech to High Tech.

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Writing to High Tech Peers :
Traits of Technical
Writing
When writing to a high tech peer, one
can use acronyms and abbreviations,
usually without any definition.

Audience
Recognition

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Low Tech Peers : who work in
company and knowyoursomething about Traits of Technical
the subject matter. Writing
They may not have the same job title,
education, years of experience, or
level
of expertise. For example, a medical
doctor writing to a staff nurse would be Audience
writing High Tech to Low Tech. Recognition

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Writing to Low Tech Peers :
Traits of Technical Writing
When writing to a low tech peer, one

can use acronyms and abbreviations,

usually but with a definition or with an
explanation. Audience
Recognition

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Lay Readers : are your customers.
Traits of Technical
They are completely out of the loop. Writing

For example, a medical

doctor communicating with a patient.

Audience
Recognition

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Writing to Lay Readers :
Traits of Technical
Whereas high tech readers do not need Writing
acronyms or abbreviations defined, and
low tech readers need a parenthetical
definition, lay readers want to avoid the
confusion completely. All they want
is the definition of
abbreviations
acronyms. In fact,orthey might also need Audience
follow-up explanations. Recognition

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Traits of Technical Writing

Audience
Recognition

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 5.
Accuracy

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 Traits of Technical Writing
Effectiv technical writing must be
e whether grammatically
correct,
mathematically, ,
electronically, etc.

Accuracy

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Techniques to proofread what we write: Traits of Technical
Writing
-Use the computer’s spell check
remember, however, that a spell check will not
catch form if you mean from, to if you
mean too, or except if you mean accept.

-Let it sit for a day or a weekend. When

the document is cold, writers are more Accuracy
objective about their own writing.

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Techniques to proofread what we write: Traits of Technical
Writing
- Use peer evaluations.
others will see the errors we miss.

- Read it aloud
sometimes we can hear errors.

- Read it backwards
then you read words out of context. Accuracy
You cannot anticipate the next word.

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 Exercises

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1.This paragraph is clear and concise but it is
not technical though, tell why ? And rewrite it in order to be
technical:

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2. You are an IT Engineer. You and your Team have developed a
new operating system with new technology of using applications.
In three different paragraphs tell High Tech Peers, Low Tech
Peers, and Lay Readers what you have accomplished :

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THANK YOU

For any questions feel free

to contact me by mail
Noha.mansy@su.edu.eg

Noha Mansy
Assistant Lecturer – English Department