TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION
TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION
• The transmission of technical information for
ease of understanding through writing and
designing technical documents
• Examples: textbooks, phonebooks, procedures
manuals, journal articles, websites, research
papers
• The words and graphics are meant to make
the audience understand a subject or carry
out a task
PRODUCERS OF
TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION
• Technical Professionals – They are trained
individuals who do a lot of writing,
including emails, letters, proposals and
reports
• Technical Communicators – They create
documents such as manuals, proposals,
reports, websites, letters, journal articles,
and speeches. Also known as Technical
Writers
TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION AND
YOUR CAREER
• The first step in obtaining a professional
position involves two technical documents –
an application letter and a resume
• The working world values good
communication skills
• More than 60% of companies offer regularly
scheduled communication skills training; 35%
only provide this training as needed, and 4%
do not (Galvin, 2001)
Pp 84-86
SEVEN CHARACTERISTICS OF
TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION
Seven Characteristics of
Technical Communication
• 1. Addresses particular readers
• 2. Helps readers solve problems
• 3. Reflects an organization’s goals and culture
• 4. Is produced collaboratively
• 5. Uses design to increase readability
• 6. Consists of words or graphics or both
• 7. Is produced using high-tech tools
Measures of Excellence
• 1. Honesty • 5. Accessibility
• 2. Clarity • 6. Conciseness
• 3. Accuracy • 7. Professional
• 4. Comprehensiveness appearance
• 8. Correctness
REVISING AND EDITING
YOUR PAPER
REVISION, EDITING, AND
PROOFREADING
• There are times when we have said careless
things to others
• We can’t take back what we say out loud
• In contrast, written words can be modified
before they are delivered to the our receiver
• Revising, editing, and proofreading are
essential steps to take to ensure accuracy and
success in writing
PREPARING TO REVISE
• After writing down your first draft, clear
your mind of your work
• Get back to it after clearing your mind.
Reread your draft.
• Don’t settle for mediocrity. If your draft
looks ok during the first reading, check
again.
PREPARING TO REVISE
• Reread your work at least three times,
once for each reason:
• To improve the development of the
whole essay
• To strengthen the paragraph structure
and development
• To sharpen sentences and words (diction)
PREPARING TO REVISE
• Inspecting sentence by sentence might make
you miss out on how they work together in
paragraphs.
• Does your beginning jive with the end?
• Does the thought of your essay wander?
• Did you leave any important ideas behind?
• Did you add any unnecessary ideas?
GO FACT IT
F.A.C.T.
•Fit
•Add
•Cut
•Test
FIT
• Does the entire essay FIT together?
• Do all your paragraphs and sentences make
sense together?
• Verify if each part is connected to your
purpose and audience
• Don’t be afraid to chop out, alter, or re-do
parts that don’t fit
• Sometimes, a part of your essay might turn
into an entire new essay
ADD
• We sometimes leave out essential material
• ADD appropriate sentences, paragraphs, or
even pages
• Check if a certain portion already covers its
topic well in terms of supporting ideas
• Will the reader need further information or
examples?
• Fill in these gaps
CUT
• First drafts often contain material that fits the
topic, but don’t contribute to the essay
• Redundant, boring or uninformative examples
need to be CUT out of our work
• Do you really need a paragraph for your idea,
or will one sentence do?
• The message becomes clearer with cutting
• If you have cut out a lot of your material, do
more research so you can add some more.
TEST
• Outline the major and minor points in your
essay to TEST its organization
• The text should flow smoothly from point to
point
• Check for logic and completeness
• Look for spots where you need to clarify
connections between words
• You are writing for the reader, not yourself
F.A.C.T.
•Fit
•Add
•Cut
•Test
PROOFREADING YOUR DRAFT
• After revising your draft, check for errors in
grammar, punctuation and spelling
• This is called proofreading
• Imagine that you are checking someone else’s
work
• Do not rely on your word processor’s
spellchecker
• Style guides and dictionaries are your friends
The Technical Writing Process
H. Case of CASE
The Technical Writing Process
1. Planning
2. Analyzing Your Audience
3. Analyzing Your Purpose
4. Generating Ideas About Your Topic
5. Researching Additional Information
6. Organizing and Outlining Your Document
7. Devising a Schedule and a Budget
8. Drafting
9. Revising
1. Planning
• Can take up to 1/3 of your
total time
• Critical for every document
• Brainstorm if need be
2. Analyzing Your Audience
• Know who are intended to read it
• Work with your audience
• 1. Who is your reader?
• 2. What are your reader’s attitudes and
expectations?
• 3. Why and how will the reader use your
document?
3. Analyzing Your Purpose
• Why are you even writing the document?
• 1. After your readers have read the document,
what do you want them to know or to do?
• 2. What beliefs or attitudes do you want them
to hold?
• Make use of a purpose statement
• Example: “The purpose of this report is to
inform the employees of the policies and
regulations affecting their break period.”
4. Generate Ideas About Your Topic
• Map out what information you will need to
include in the document
• 1. Ask journalistic questions
• 2. Brainstorming
• 3. Freewriting
• 4. Talking to someone
• 5. Clustering
• 6. Branching
5. Researching Additional Information
• Evaluate reference books, scholarly
books, and articles in the library and
online
• Interview experts
• Distribute surveys and questionnaires
• Make observations
• Conduct experiments
6. Organizing and Outlining
Your Document
• You can use or adapt existing patterns for your
own
• 1. Group similar items
• 2. Ordering the items in groups
• 3. Organizing the groups
• 4. Avoid common logical problems
• 5. Choose your outline format
7. Devising a Schedule and a Budget
• When is your document supposed to be
used or fulfilled?
• How long will it take for it to be
completed?
• How much money is involved?
• How will you get that money?
• How will you use it?
8. Drafting
• 1. Get comfortable
• 2. Start with the easiest topics
• 3. Draft quickly
• 4. Don’t stop to get more information or revise
• 5. Try invisible writing
• 6. Stop in the middle of a section
• Use templates
• Use styles
9. Revising
• Study the document
• 1. Let it sit
• 2. Read it aloud
• 3. Use checklists
• 4. Review a printout of your draft
• Use revision software: Spell checkers,
Grammar checkers, and Thesauri.
• FACT it
GOOD LUCK
