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TECHNICAL WRITING
LESSON 1: What is Technical
Writing?
Technical writing is communication written for and about business and industry, focusing on products and services: how to manufacture, market, manage them, deliver them & use them. Technical writing is Resume, Instructional manual, Memo and meeting agendas. It does not focus on poetic images, describe personal experiences, or report. Not a: Literature, Essay, journalism. It is direct, informative, clear, and concise language written specifically for an identified audience. The content must be accurate and complete with NO exaggerations. To deliver the intended message, the text must be objective and persuasive WITHOUT being argumentative. Developing technical documents that meet these requirements and standard guidelines is time consuming. Technical writing is written in the work environment (work hours) for:
**- Supervisors - Colleagues
- Subordinates - Vendors
- Customers**
Importance:
โ Communication is not just from one emitter to one receiver but rather from one to many. โ Oral Communication may fall short when we need to transmit the information technical documents require. โ Students will write essays while working on their college degrees and even be asked to write essays on their job application. However, once the job begins, essays end. โ The goal of technical writing is to enable readers to use an innovation or understand a process or concept.
Important Factors/ Functions:
- In many different types of work, writing constitutes an important part of the everyday workload.
- They facilitate communication with co-workers, clients and supervisors that is inside and outside the workplace.
- They are necessary for a successful career.
- Writing skills contribute to saving time and money.
Five Components of Writing
- Development - ex. anecdotes, testimony, data and research.
- Grammar errors often can hide in longer essays but those same errors loom large in one page memos or letters.
- Organization topic sentences are less important. Transitional words and phrases in an essay can be replaced by an enumerated list.
- Style word usage, sentence structure and paragraph length.
- Document design the physical layout of the correspondence. Connotative - indirect and may refer to different meanings just like creative writing and Expressive writing. Ex. Blue - feeling sad Denotative - is a literal meaning or a dictionary definition. Ex. Blue is one of the primary colors. **Technical writing is NOT literature. It is an instructional manual, memo listing or meeting agenda, letter from vendor to client, recommendation report.
LESSON 2: Five Traits of Technical
Writing
Five Traits of Technical Writing
1. Clarity - Clarity in technical writing is
mandatory. The most important criteria for effective technical writing is clarity. Using the Questions Checklist as a prewriting tool: 5W and 1H (What, who, where, when, why and How)
2. Conciseness - Conciseness has unique
importance in technical writing. It is a tool for the readers to use to accomplish whatever job they are doing. In contrast to traditional essays, effective technical writing uses short words and short sentences. โ Achieved short words โ Achieved short sentences โ Avoid redundancy โ Avoid Prepositional phrases โ Avoid passive voice
3. Accessible Design - page layoutโ the
way the text looks on the page. Highlighting techniques: โ Graphics (Tables & Figures) โ White space โ Boldface text โ Headings and subheadings โ Italics โ Underlining โ Varied Font sizes โ Varied Font types โ Bullets โ Numbered lists
4. Audience Recognition - when your
audience fails to understand the text, you have failed to communicate! a. High Tech Peers know as much about a subject matter as you. They have the same job title, same education, same years of experience. Use acronyms and abbreviations. b. Low Tech Peers who work in your company know something about the subject matter. They may not have the same job title, education, years of experience, or level of expertise. Know acronyms and abbreviations with meaning. c. Lay Readers are your customers. They are completely out of the loop. Doesnโt understand abbreviations and acronyms, and needs follow-up explanations.
5. Accuracy - Effective technical writing
must be correct, whether grammatically, mathematically, electronically, etc. Future professionals should understand the importance of proofreading. โ Use the computerโs spell check โ Let it sit โ Use peer evaluations โ Read it aloud โ Read it backward
LESSON 3: Grammar Review
Grammar is the systematic description of the way words work together to form a coherent language. To achieve clarity and accuracy, you need to know both grammar (as a description of the way words work together) and the conventions of usage. a. Parallel Structure b. Subjects and Verbs c. Active and Passive Voice d. Cases of Pronouns e. Pronoun and Antecedent Agreement f. Compound Words g. Capitalization h. Numbers as words i. That and Which
Writing Stage
Step 3: Write Writing is where you convert your โbare-bonesโ table of contents and notes into a series of drafts that are ready for formal review. Few techniques that technical writers draw on: โ KISS (Keep It Simple, Silly!) โ Plain English โ Five Wโs (and One H) โ Inverted pyramid โ Verb-noun structure โ Active Voice
Post-Writing Stage
Step 4: Review Review is considered as the polishing stage. Itโs where your document gets the trial by fire, so to speak, of having yourself and others formally review it, as well as undergoing another very important task โ editing and proofing. Levels of Editing (according to Institute of Professional Editors Ltd.) Level 1: Substantive editing (sometimes called structural or content editing) aims to ensure that the structure, content, language, style & presentation of the document are suitable for its intended purpose and readership. Level 2: Copyreading aims to achieve accuracy, clarity and consistency in a document. Level 3: Proofreading (also known as verification editing) involves checking that the document is ready to be published. It includes making sure that all elements of the document are included and in the proper order. In the Review step:
- Review by subject matter experts
- Testing a procedure/instruction to make sure a subject matter expert can follow the steps
- Peer review by a colleague
- Editing and proofing Review also involves an element of writing wherein documents will be reviewed, then revised. The final โ and most crucial โ aspect of review is sign off. This is the point where both you, as the writer, and your reviewers are satisfied with your document. Step 5: Publish Publishing can be a complicated process or it can be extremely easy. Publication is where writers manufacture and launch the final product whether in a physical copy or a digital one. This might be as straightforward as emailing an approved document to your manager or uploading it to a content management system or intranet. On the other hand, it might involve some fairly complicated logistics. Steps such as graphic design, translation and print production can involve substantial time, effort and cost.
