7 Cs of Technical Writing

Lecture No: 07
Course Title: English II: Technical Writing and Communication
Resource Person: Muhammad Hamzah Masood

7’s of Technical Writing
• Clarity
• Correctness
• Conciseness
• Consistency
• Coherence
• Completeness
• Credibility
Clarity
Clarity
• Leaving no confusion for the readers.
• Removing ambiguities and doubts.
• The message should be very much clear. So that readers can understand it easily.
• Choose precise words rather than longer statements.
• Always choose familiar and easy words so that your reader will quickly
understand it
• Construct effective sentences and paragraphs.
• If you have a choice between long words and shorter ones, always use shorter
ones.
Clarity
Familia
Next familiar words
r 1-
subsequent
after 2-
domicile
home
e.g.
3-for example
statement for
4-invoice payments
Correctness
Correctness
• Removing grammar mistakes.
• Avoid factual errors.
• Avoid typographical errors before presenting to the readers.
• Present accurate information.
• Proper punctuation and spelling.
The term correctness, as applied to business messages also mean three
characteristics
o Use the right level of language
o Check the accuracy of figures, facts, and words
o Maintain acceptable writing mechanics
Use the right Level of Language
we suggest that there are three levels of language

• Formal
• Informal
• Substandard
Take a quick guess

what kind of writing is associated with
each level? What is the style of each?
Formal and Informal Words
Formal writing is often associated with scholarly writing: doctoral
dissertations, scholarly, legal documents, top- level government
agreements and other material where formality is demanded.
Informal writing is more characteristic of business writing. Here you use

words that are short, well-known and conversational as in this
comparison list:
More Formal less formal
Participate Join
Endeavor try
Ascertain find out
Utilize use
Interrogate question
Conciseness
Conciseness
• Conciseness means “convey the message by using
the fewest words”.
• As you know that most of the people have a
very short time.
• Using brief and precise words.
• Replacing lengthy phrases with single words
without losing the essence of the subject.
How To achieve the conciseness ?
For achieving conciseness you have to consider

the following
1. Avoid wordy expressions

2. Include only relevant material
3. Avoid unnecessary repetition
Avoid Wordy Expression
• E.g. Wordy:- at this time.
Instead of “at this time” you can just use only a

concise word:- NOW ,
Always try to use “ To the point Approach” in business

scenario perspective.
Avoid un-necessary Repetition
• Sometimes repetition is necessary for focusing

on some special issue.
• But when the same thing is said without two or three
reasons, the message become wordy and boring.
• That’s why try to avoid Un-necessary
repetition.
Consistency
Consistency
• Consistency in a technical document isn’t only about making sure

that writers use the same sentence structures and vocabulary.
• Technical writers should know who they are writing for because
users actively notice how they are being addressed in a document.
• If they are consistently sure that this document was written for
them, they will be at ease with the text and much more likely to use
it.
• If a writer knows his audience, he will have half the arsenal he
needs to create text that they will understand.
Completeness
Completeness
• Providing all required information within the predetermined scope.

• Completeness in writing means that the topic is adequately developed with details,
explanations, definitions, and evidence so the reader is not left with a vague idea of
what is meant.
• Provide a step-by-step description of all the desired things.
• If the purpose of the process is to give the reader an outline of the steps to get
something done, less detail is needed. If you intend to teach readers how to perform
the process, then complete, detailed steps must be provided.
• The exact order of the operation is essential.
• Supplemental descriptions may be needed to correctly perform the activity.
Coherence
Coherence
• Coherence means making a connection with your audience by

ensuring that your sentences are logically related, are grammatically
whole, and allow the reader to follow the train of thought.
• Your task is to present the relevant material coherently using logical
sequencing in a structured fashion.
Grammatical tools can help you
build coherence
The following grammatical tools can help you build coherence into your writing:
• Active voice—using an active voice in your writing shows the reader the direct
subject-verb relationship. Active voice flows more smoothly and leaves no room
for ambiguity.
• Repetition—repeating keywords and phrases or using forms of the same words
to selectively achieve a sense of connection in sentences and paragraphs. Being
selective is imperative in using repetition. The writer must use of key words in
key places to link and reinforce the main idea, rather than just repeat the same
terms over and over again.
• Parallelism—using the same sentence structure in subsequent sentences and
paragraphs. Parallelism uses the same pattern of words to show two or more
ideas that have the same level of importance.
(Coordinating conjunctions (e.g., and, but, or, however, therefore) are a tool to
achieve parallel structure in your sentences)
Credibility
Credibility
Working professionally to provide high-quality content.

• The beauty of technical writing lies in simplifying
information for the consumption of others
Credibility results from multiple factors:
• Command of language
• knowledge of the subject
• Word choice,
• Sentence structure
• paragraphing.

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Lecture No: 07

Course Title: English II: Technical Writing and Communication

Resource Person: Muhammad Hamzah Masood

we suggest that there are three levels of language

Take a quick guess

Informal writing is more characteristic of business writing. Here you use

For achieving conciseness you have to consider

1. Avoid wordy expressions

• E.g. Wordy:- at this time.

Instead of “at this time” you can just use only a

Always try to use “ To the point Approach” in business

• Sometimes repetition is necessary for focusing

• Consistency in a technical document isn’t only about making sure

• Providing all required information within the predetermined scope.

• Coherence means making a connection with your audience by

Working professionally to provide high-quality content.

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