Effective
Skills
Presenter: Salma Ayaz
MPhil English Linguistics, PGD TEFL, BEd
Overview
• What is Writing?
• Meaning of Technical Writing!
• Types of Technical Writing
• Purpose of Technical Writing
• Prerequisite of Technical Writing
• Conclusion
• References
What is Writing?
• Writing - The process of expressing ideas,
information, knowledge, or experience to understand
(Fred D White, 1986:10)
• Writing- An activity to produce or draw graphic
symbols, which represent a language that is
understood by the people, so that the other people
can read these graphic symbols (Tarigan, 1994: 3)
• Writing- Representation or symbol of spoken
language (Ramelan, 1992: 14)
What is Writing? Contd…
• So to summarize, "Writing" is the process of
using symbols (letters of the alphabet, numerals,
punctuation and spaces) to communicate your
thoughts and ideas in a readable form
• Writing is a
• Physical and mental act
• Has dual purpose: to express and impress
• A process and a product
Technical Writing
• Technical writing is specifically readers’ (audience)
centered
• The author writes about a particular subject that requires
a certain direction, some instructions, or an
explanation.
• Technical writing has a very different purpose and
different characteristics than other writing styles such as
creative writing, academic writing or business writing.
Purpose of Technical Writing
• Presentation of information, data and analysis
• Conduit between people who knows technology
and those who use it
• Solution based
• Requires:
• Transparency of expression
• Recognition of overall goals
Types of Technical Writing
• Annual Reports
• Technical Reports
• Computer Hardware Guides
• Abstracts
• Newsletters
• Memoranda
• Organizational Manuals
• Proposals
• Contracts
• Brochures
• Software Guide
Prerequisites of Technical Writing
• Know Your Readers / Audience
• The Pyramid Method of Writing
• Language and Tone
• Include Illustrations
• Draft and Final Text
Know your Readers / Audience
• Readers are divided into four categories:
• Experts, Technician, Businessmen, Users / lay-people
• Readers position, interests and responsibilities
• Expectations of the readers
• Utility of the information
• Likely questions or FAQs
The Pyramid
Language and Tone
• Tone is created by the language chosen
Persuasive
Suitable
Decisive(active voice)
• Language
Specific, concise, well defined
Easily understood by the reader
Avoid narratives
• Compare the two given sentences:
• Looking into the azure blue sky one could see the golden orb of the
sun gently beneath the western sky
• The sun sets in the west
Language and Tone
Focused, well written and dynamic
Every business action
Internal actions : intended to improve efficiency
External actions : to increase sales, to promote the brand,
to reassure current or potential shareholders
“As cliché-ridden jargon only invites ridicule” so follow the
given below basics:
Write it three times
Avoid clichés
Use the right imagery
Write simple sentences
Use strong, active verbs (Verbs are the engine of language.
Nouns are the cargo; adjectives and adverbs the packaging ) for
example ‘it’s a must-win game’ with ‘we must win this game
Language and Tone
Contd…
Use of Active Voice
• Examples
1 Core samples were tested on site by the field technician.
OR
The field Technician tested core samples on site.
2 All data were subjected to standard co-variance analysis
for verification.
OR
For verification, experimenters subjected all data to a
standard co variance analysis.
Language and Tone
Contd…
Avoid Unnecessary Noun Clusters
Use connectors in, of, for & about to separate ideas
1. Blood cholesterol maintenance control diet.
OR
A diet to control and maintain cholesterol in blood.
2. Chemical environment protective agency.
OR
Agency for monitoring the protection of the chemical
environment.
OR
Agency for protecting the environment and monitoring
chemical abuse
Language and Tone
Contd…
Avoid deletion of who, which or that function if it is
necessary
Example
The supervisor wanted the chemicals locked up in low-
humidity storage.
This could mean
The supervisor wanted the chemicals that were locked up in
low humidity storage.
OR
The supervisor wanted someone to lock up the chemicals
low-humidity storage
.
Language and Tone
Contd…
Language and Tone Contd…
• Use “that” for restrictive clauses (that limits the
identity of subj) and “which” for non restrictive
clauses (tells something interesting or incidental
about the subject)
Example 1
• The paper that Ali wrote had no grammatical errors
• The paper had no grammatical errors
• Example 2
• Ali’s paper, which was about animals, had no
grammatical errors
Language and Tone
Contd…
• Effective use of punctuations
• Spell out integers
• Avoid weak sentence structures
• Do not use contractions
• Do not address the reader directly unless one is creating a
user manual of some kind
Include Illustrations
• Charts, Graphs, Tables, Pictures, Diagrams
• This brings brevity, clarity and visual appeal to the text
Draft and Final Copy
• Research / Plan
• Layout
• Final Read
Conclusion
References
• Young, M. (2002). The technical writer's handbook:
writing with style and clarity. University Science Books.
• Miller, C. R. (1989). What’s practical about technical
writing. Technical writing: Theory and practice, 14-24.
• Gerson, S. J., & Gerson, S. M. (2000). Technical writing:
Process and product. Prentice-Hall Order Processing
Center, PO Box 11071, Des Moines, IA 50336-1071.
• https://templatelab.com/technical-writing-examples/
Thank You!
