To: Nancy Myers

From: TroiEllis Reichlin

Date: April 10th, 2022
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
▪ Let someone else read it
▪ Let it sit
▪ Print it out
▪ Use technology
▪ 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