Technical writing introduces the types of writing done by professionals in fields like science, technology, and business. It aims to communicate specialized information to intended audiences clearly. Technical writing can be written, oral, or visual. It is important for workplace success and often involves collaboration between teams. Effective technical writing is clear, concise, accurate, well-organized, and considers ethical standards.
Technical writing introduces the types of writing done by professionals in fields like science, technology, and business. It aims to communicate specialized information to intended audiences clearly. Technical writing can be written, oral, or visual. It is important for workplace success and often involves collaboration between teams. Effective technical writing is clear, concise, accurate, well-organized, and considers ethical standards.
Technical writing introduces the types of writing done by professionals in fields like science, technology, and business. It aims to communicate specialized information to intended audiences clearly. Technical writing can be written, oral, or visual. It is important for workplace success and often involves collaboration between teams. Effective technical writing is clear, concise, accurate, well-organized, and considers ethical standards.
Technical writing introduces the types of writing done by professionals in fields like science, technology, and business. It aims to communicate specialized information to intended audiences clearly. Technical writing can be written, oral, or visual. It is important for workplace success and often involves collaboration between teams. Effective technical writing is clear, concise, accurate, well-organized, and considers ethical standards.
Technical writing introduces you to some of the most important aspects of writing in the world of science, technology, and business the kind of writing that scientists, nurses, doctors, computer specialists, government officials, engineers, and other people do as a part of their regular work.
What is Technical Writing?
The term technical refers to knowledge that is not widespread, that is more the territory of experts and specialists. Whatever your major is, you are developing an expertise, and whenever you try to write anything about your field, you are engaged in technical writing.
What is Technical Writing?
Technical communication can be written, oral, or visual. Technical writing is composed in and for the workplace. Technical writing is a significant factor in work experience for a variety of reasons. Technical writing serves valuable purposes in the workplace and often involves teamwork.
Importance of Teamwork Business and industry have expectations about the results of teamwork. Business management philosophies depend upon teamwork.
Total Quality Management (TQM) and Six Sigma (continuous
improvement) programs encourage efficient teamwork. Strategies for successful collaboration can improve outcomes.
What is the purpose of technical writing?
Technical writing is the delivery of technical information to readers in a manner that is adapted to their needs, level of understanding, and background. Technical writing is intended to communicate to a specific audience, for a specific purpose.
The Audience The audience element is so important that it is one of the cornerstones of technical writing. You are challenged to write about highly technical subjects but in a way that a beginnera non-specialistcould understand.
Translating Technical Information
In a world of rapid technological development, people are constantly falling behind and becoming technological illiterates. As a technical writer, you need to write about the area of specialization you know and plan to write about in such a way that even Granddad can understand.
Goals of Effective Technical Writing
Clarity Conciseness
Accuracy Organization Ethics
Effective Technical Writing: Clarity
Methods for developing ideas precisely An expressive essay can clarify the writers intent through emotional, impressionistic, connotative words (soon, many, several, etc.). An impressionistic word such as near will mean different things to different people which is okay in an essay where the goal may to convey a feeling.
in be
Effective Technical Writing: Clarity
The ultimate goal of effective technical writing is to say the same thing to every reader. Lets say I write instructional manuals for company manufacturing space heaters. If I write, Place the space heater near an open window, what will this mean to thousands of customers who purchase the machine?
Effective Technical Writing: Clarity
Effective Technical Writing: Clarity One person may place the heater 6 feet from the window. Another reader will place the heater 6 inches from the window. As the writer, I have failed to communicate clearly.
Effective Technical Writing: Clarity
Specify Provide specific detail Avoid vague words (some, recently)
Answer reporters questions
(who, what, where, when, why, how)
Effective Technical Writing: Clarity
Avoid obscure words
Use easily understood words
Write to express, not to impress Write to communicate, not to confuse Write the way you speak
aforementioned in lieu of
already discussed instead of
Effective Technical Writing: Clarity
Limit and/or define your use of abbreviations , acronyms, and jargon. Define your terms parenthetically CIA (Cash in Advance) or
Supply a separate glossary
Alphabetized list of terms, followed by their definitions
Effective Technical Writing: Clarity
Use the active versus the passive voice. Passive voice: It was decided all employees will take a ten percent cut in pay.
Unclear: Who decided?
Active: The Board of Directors decided that all employees . . . Overtime is favored by hourly workers.
Wordy Active: Hourly workers favor overtime.
Effective Technical Writing: Conciseness
Limit paragraph, word, and sentence length.
A paragraph in a memo, letter, or short report should consist of
No more than four to six typed lines or
No more than fifty words. Fog index (sixth to eighth grade level)
Strive for an average of 15 words per sentence
No more than 5 multisyllabic words per 100 words
Effective Technical Writing: Conciseness
Fog Index Count up to 100 words in successive sentences
Divide words by number of sentences = average
number of words per sentence Count number of long words (three or more syllables) within sentences
Dont count proper names (Christopher
Columbus), long words created by combining shorter words (chairperson), or three syllable words created by ed or es endings (united).
Effective Technical Writing: Conciseness
Use the meat cleaver theory of revision Cut the sentence in half or thirds
Avoid shun words
Avoid words ending in tion or sion
Came to the conclusion
concluded
Avoid camouflaged words
Make an amendment to
amend
Effective Technical Writing: Conciseness
Avoid the expletive pattern There is, are, was, were, will be It is, was There are three people who will work for Acme.
Three people will work for Acme.
Omit redundancies During the year of 1996
During 1996
Effective Technical Writing: Conciseness
Avoid wordy phrases In order to purchase
Proofread for accuracy
Consider ethics
to purchase
Effective Technical Writing: Accuracy
The importance of correct grammar and mechanics Grammatical or mechanical errors make writers look unprofessional and incompetent.
Effective Technical Writing: Accuracy
Grammar is so important in technical writing that in a one page assignment 4 major grammatical errors = F 3 major grammatical errors = D 2 major grammatical errors = C 1 major grammatical error = B
A means excellent which is defined as
without flaw
Effective Technical Writing: Organization
Methods for organizing Spatial General to Specific Chronological Mechanism Description Process Description Classification
Effective Technical Writing: Organization
Methods for organizing Definition Comparison/Contrast
More Important to Less Important
Situation-Problem-SolutionEvaluation Cause-Effect
Effective Technical Writing: Ethics
Ethics methods encouraging moral standards in technical writing Practical
Legal Moral
Effective Technical Writing: Ethics
General categories of ethics in communication
Behavior towards colleagues, subordinates and (plagiarism, harassment, malicious actions)
others
Dealing with experimental subjects, interviewees,
(informed consent) Telling the truth (falsify data, misrepresent facts)
Rhetoricchoosing your words (loaded words, discriminatory
language, logical fallacies)
etc.
Effective Technical Writing: Process
The writing process is effective . . . and easy. All that you need to do is three things: Prewrite (about 25 percent of your time) Write
