To: Nancy Myers

From: Madison Kelley

Date: April 8, 2021

Subject: APLED 121 – Chapter 4 Summary

Chapter 4
OBJECTIVES IN TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION

Achieving Clarity in technical Communication

 Provide Specific Detail-Quantify your information instead of using vague language. For
example, you can say 30 minutes ago instead of recently.
 Answer the Reporter’s Questions-Another way to write clearly is to answer the
questions-who, what when, where, why, and how.
 Use Easily Understandable Words-Avoid obscure words, for example:
 Use discussed above instead of aforementioned
 Use know instead of cognizant
 Use show instead of disclose
Simplifying Words, Sentences, and Paragraphs for Conciseness

 Conciseness Saves Time-Keep it short; people’s time is valuable

 Technology Demands Conciseness-the size of the device may determine the length of
your communication
 Conciseness Improves Readability-not all people are college graduates
 Limit Word Length for Conciseness-long words make a sentence hard to understand
 Limit Sentence Length-Use active instead of passive voice and delete “be” verbs
 Limit Paragraph Length-In a long paragraph you force the reader to wade through many
words making the paragraph hard to read.
Achieving Accuracy in Technical Communications

 Proofreading Tips
o Let someone else read it
o Let it sit
o Print it out
o Use technology
o Read it out loud

Organizing Technical Communication

  Analysis
 Spatial Organization
 Chronology
 Importance
 Compare/Contrast
 Problem/Solution
 Cause and Effect
The Writing Process at Work

 Prewriting-Brainstorming
 Writing-Write your paper
 Rewriting-Proof read and edit