Technical Writing

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Technical Writing
Part 1
The link for good workplace/professional
communication
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• Technical or Business writing is very
  different from Academic writing. Each has its
  unique purpose and format to follow.

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Technical writing is done in the workplace and
centers around technical topics. Technical
writing has unique characteristics and has
specific audiences.
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Why the Differences?

• Time management
• Variety of Readers
• Reading for different reasons

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Differences
Business leaders dont have the time in their day
to sift through many pages, searching for the
information they need to know and
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Technical writing will have many different
readers, reading different parts of the work. -
a project manager, financial officer, CEO, and
supervisor might all read parts that pertain to
their jobs, then discuss as a team the merits of
the proposal.
Differences
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• This PowerPoint will
• Explore the differences between academic and
  technical writing
• Explain the components and style of technical
  writing

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Technical vs. Academic Writing
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Technical versus Academic

• Knowledge
• You are the expert

• Knowledge
• You are still a learner

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Technical versus Academic

• Audience
• Technical background, professionals in the field

• Audience
• Wide range of academics and general audiences

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Technical versus Academic

• Criteria for Evaluation
• Clear and simple organization,
• Visually appealing and easy to follow.

• Criteria for Evaluation
• Depth, logic, clarity, unity and grammar

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Technical versus Academic

• Graphics, charts, and numbers are used very
  frequently to support conclusions

• Graphics, charts, and numbers are sometimes used
  to help explain and demonstrate knowledge

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Characteristics of Technical Writing

• Clear, Concise and simply organized.
• Repetitive in nature.
• Highly defined structure/format.
• Examples Lab reports, memos, business letters,
  technical reports, and proposals

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Compare These Statements

• Looking into
• the azure blue sky
• one could see the
• golden orb of sun
• slip gently beneath
• the western sky.

• The sun set in the west.

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The left-side description of the sun setting is
an example of academic writing and the right-side
description is an example of technical writing.
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Notice that the technical description is clear,
concise, and coherent. These three Cs are
trademarks of technical writing.
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Assignment

• Find an article out of a Popular Mechanics
  magazine. Compare the first two or three
  paragraphs of that article with a passage from
  one of your favorite novels using the following
  categories
• Content, Organization, Layout, Intended Audience,
  Purpose, Tone.
• You should notice a distinct difference in each
  of the categories, leading to how each is
  distinct in its clarity, coherence, and
  conciseness.

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Style
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Style in Technical Writing

• Writers have unique characteristics.
• Sentence structure, word length word choice, and
  word order these are choices we make without
  being conscious of it. These decisions shape the
  way we express ourselves
• Style is personal choice, there is no right or
  wrong here

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Tone- Expression of an underlying attitude that
can be

• Casual
• Objective
• Persuasive

• Enthusiastic
• Serious
• Authoritative
• Friendly

Always present your material in a positive
light. Never let the negative be presented.
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Clarity and Cohesion
The following tips lend themselves to better
clarity and cohesion in technical writing.
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Sentence Tips

• Place the main point at the beginning of the
  sentence
• Dont make the
• reader work to
• find it.

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Sentence Tips

• Use one main clause in each sentence
• more becomes
• Confusing.

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Sentence Tips

• Examine your copy to make sure you vary the
  sentence length but aim for 15-20 words per
  sentence. If you use the same length sentences,
  the text becomes tedious to read

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Conciseness Tips

• Avoid the repeated use of pronouns, this confuses
  the reader. Only use a pronoun immediately
  following the noun it represents. Try to use
  specific nouns such as the persons name, or the
  specific piece of equipment, etc. In place of
  abstract nouns

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Abstract Nouns

• Assessment of-
• Classification of-
• Computation of-
• Development of-
• Elimination of-
• Requirement of-

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Conciseness TipsFocus on strong verbs!

• Assess
• Classify
• Compute

• Develop
• Eliminate
• Require

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Conciseness Tips

• Shorten wordy phrases
• Replace long words with short ones
• Leave out clichés
• Cut out extra words that are redundant

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Language Use Tips

• Distinguish facts from opinions
• Include supportive statements when necessary
• Choose your words carefully
• Avoid using words like always and neverthese
  box the writer in and create finality

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Active Voice

• Active voiceemphasizes the doer or the subject
• Joe delivered the pizza within the specified
  time frame.
• Active voice uses one verb delivered compared
  to passive voice which uses a form of the verb
  to be the verb---was delivered
• Almost all technical writing should be done in
  the active voice, except lab reports.

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Active Voice helps

• Create less wordy sentences
• Places emphasis on the subjecte.g. company or
  persons name

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Passive Voice

• Passive voiceemphasizes the recipient of the
  action
• Verbs with the to be form
• Emphasize the receiver of the action
• Avoid repetitious use of I and names

Is it the roses or the receiver of the roses that
is important to the giver?
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Examples of editing for conciseness
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• the passage of the levy was accomplished through
  long and hard negotiations, and door to door
  canvassing.
• Revised
• The levy pass through long and hard work.

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• Confirmation of the voting results occurred
  yesterday.
• Revised
• The voting results were confirmed yesterday.

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Technical Writing

• Provides clear communication in the workplace
• Has unique formats and a specific style of
  writing
• Creates clarity, conciseness and coherency in
  writing

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Closure

• Welcome to a new style of writing. Hopefully the
  handouts that accompany these Presentations will
  help you take your first steps to become a
  Technical Writer.