An
Introduction
to
Technical Report Writing
Anila Yasmeen
Lecturer
Department of Computer Science
Hamdard Institute of Engineering & Technology,
Hamdard University, Islamabad Campus, Pakistan
email: anilayasmeen502@[Link]
Objectives
You need to be able to:
• Know differences between academic and technical writing.
• Identify the characteristics of effective technical writing.
• Identify the steps in the writing process.
• Identify the components of good design.
• Identify the steps in organizing and writing instructions.
• Identify some tips to help your documents.
Academic vs. Technical Writing
Academic Technical
Purpose: Demonstrate what you Getting something done
know about a topic
Less than teacher who is More than the reader
Knowledge of
evaluating them
Topic:
Audience: Teacher Several People
Criteria for Depth, logic, clarity, unity Clear and simple
Evaluation: and grammar organization of ideas
What is Technical Writing (really)?
“Technical writing conveys specific information about a
technical subject to a specific audience for a specific
purpose…The words and graphics of technical writing
are meant to be practical: that is, to communicate a body
of factual information that will help an audience
understand a subject or carry out a task.”
- Michael H. Markel
Director of Technical Communication, Boise State University
What is Technical Writing?
“Technical writing is the art, craft, practice, or problem of translating
that which is logical into that which is grammatical. Technical
writing forms a bridge between the logical (the primarily binary
concepts understood by computers, robots, lawyers) and the
illogical (inconsistent concepts misunderstood carbon-based life
forms, highly intelligent computers, lawyers) via the medium of the
grammatical, the haphazardly logical system incomprehensible to
both. The practice of technical writing presupposes that you, the
illogical, actually want to learn about the logical subject, which of
course is in all cases false. This basis in a false presupposition
makes technical writing a pursuit typically favored by those with
arts degrees from obscure universities.”
- Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
(The Movie and Book by Douglas Adams)
Types of Technical
Reports/Communication
Examples are:
• Annual Report
• Books
• Computer Hardware Guides
• Magazines
• Newsletters
• Organizational Manuals
• Scholarly Articles/Journals
• Software Guides
• Technical Reports
Characteristics of Effective
Technical Writing
The four C’s:
• Clarity -- it is easily understood by your intended
audience
• Comprehensiveness -- all of the necessary
information is present
• Conciseness -- it is clear without excess verbiage
• Correctness -- it is grammatical and follows
conventions
Theory of Design
Good design is:
1. Visually simple and uncluttered.
2. Highlights structure, hierarchy, and order.
3. Helps readers find information they need.
Writing
• Write positive language.
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• Don’t write in upper case for more than A WORD
OR TWO.
Writing (cont.)
• Use lists whenever possible.
• Use the title to define the task.
• Use headings and subheadings.
• Label segments in a way that reflects how readers
are likely to think about the operation or procedure.
• Don’t use: Components
• Do use: How to Check the Components
Writing (cont.)
• Provide only one way to do something within a step.
• Be precise with your instructions.
• Use warnings.
• Write a conclusion.
Example: Congratulations! You’ve just created your first
document!
• Don’t annoy the reader.
Writing
• Chunk your information.
• Keep your paragraphs short.
• Less is better.
• Control the text width by using columns.
The Written Report: Why?
• You waste your time unless you can
communicate what you have been doing with it.
• The medium for most technical communication is
the written report, so you had better be good at it!
Some characteristics of reports
1. Everybody hates to write them,
2. Everybody hates to read them,
3. Almost nobody does read them,
4. They take a HUGE amount of time to write,
5. Being a Computer Scientist they are
absolutely CRUCIAL to YOUR success!
Further characteristics of reports
They are also almost always:
6. Too long,
7. Badly organized,
8. Incomplete.
Where to find materials to write the
report?
Examples are:
• Documents related to the project / work currently being done
• Google, Bing, Yahoo
• Google hacks/scripts (filetype, intitle, inurl, site)
• Journals (ex: [Link], [Link], [Link])
• [Link]
• [Link]
• [Link]
• RSS readers – ([Link])
• Newsgroup (Google Groups, Yahoogroups)
• Filesharing – [Link], [Link], [Link]
• Social site – Facebook, Myspace, Friendster
• [Link], [Link] etc.
• Reference, bibliography – [Link]
• Free Ebooks – [Link] - 20-best-websites-to-download-free-e-books.
[Link] – Research Papers and Essays
Basic Technical Overview
• Professionalism and ethics in reporting
• Knowing your audience
• Outline writing
• Report writing (rigid structure)
Professionalism & ethics in reporting
• Different individuals have different personalities,
and different modes for communicating.
• If you apply a canned formula to your technical
communications, the result may be awkward.
• Within the general structure of formal technical
communication, there is room for your
personality to show through.
Knowing Your Audience
• At the very beginning… think about your likely
audience.
• The word selection, level of motivation, and
background required for a report (or a presentation)
depends greatly on the background of the
audience.
Outline Your Writing Purpose
• Why am I presenting this work? What do I
want the audience to get out of this paper or
this presentation?
• Hint: formulate one or two simple "take-home
messages" that you will try to impart to your
audience.
Write the Report, but how long?
• The length of your presentation - either written
or oral - is often dictated by others.
• With respect to oral presentations, you will
often find yourself up against a strict time limit:
Be sure that you can get your take-home message
across without hurrying
• Hint: carefully rehearse your talk with a stop-
watch in hand…
Common Report Formats
There are a number of accepted formats for any
type of document that you write, but…
The commonly accepted standard for engineering
reports is IMRaD - Introduction - Methods - Results
- and Discussion.
Note: Your reports do not necessarily need to
follow this format strictly, but should use this as a
guideline, and contain all of the information
discussed in the following paragraphs.
Format Example
Please refer to uploaded documents at
[Link]
1. How to Write a Technical Report from Alan
Smithee - A format using single [Link]
2. Template from IEEE for writing a Proceeding
Manuscript - 2 [Link]
3. Guide to a Journal Writing Format from MUST - 2
[Link]
4. A sample of how to use MS Word to submit a
Technical Report to a [Link]
5. A Detail Articles on how to write a Technical
[Link]
