Technical Writing

Catherine Jane P. Pace

CONTENTS
What is Technical Why Technical
Communication? Communication?

Features of
Effective Clarity
Communication

Conciseness Coherence
What is Technical
Communication?
 Technical communication is the
process of transmitting facts and
information to a defined
audience for a specific purpose.

In other words, it is ”writing for

Technical
Communication

understanding”.

4
 “People read literature for pleasure,
essays for enlightenment,
and journalism for news.
People read technical writing to accomplish a job.”

Gerson, 2015
Factors in Technical Communication

AUDIENCE PURPOSE FORMAT STYLE

 Audience
• The Audience could consist of managers,
co-workers, customers and clients, the
general public, or any combination.
• They will have different levels of
understanding and different information
needs that require specific formats and
styles of communication.

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 Purpose
The purpose of a technical document could be to:

Inform Explain

Record
Describe
Your Action

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 Format
Technical communication can be written in
the following formats;
• Reports or documents, such as personals, lab
reports, product specification, or quality-test
results.
• Records-keeping forms, such as service reports,
travel and expense forms or troubleshooting
logs.
• Instructions, such as user guides, online help,
and training manuals.
• Correspondence, such as letters, memos, and
emails.
• Presentations, such as interviews, marketing
calls, or training seminars
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Style
• Writers base the style (language,
organization, and layout) of document on
audience, purpose, and format
• The document might need visible structure of
headings and subheadings or even chapters
to identify the flow of information
• The document might not need visible clues
for structure, such as casual emails or memo
focused on only one topic
Why Technical
Communication?
Why Technical
Communication?
• Research would suggest that on the job, an
employee will spend at least 30% of his or
her time writing.
• This number increases as an employee’s
responsibilities increase.
• Managers spend up to 50% of their work
week communicating.
Why Technical Ahmed (2019) identified 6 reasons
why technical communication is
Communication? important in the workplace.

COMMUNICATION COST INCOME INSTRUCTION CUSTOMER-CLIENT TIME

GENERATION RELATIONS
Features of Effective
Technical Communication
Technical Communication is
denotative.
Communication Continuum
Comparison of common technical and non-technical write ups:

Components Technical Writing Essays Summary

Development • Uses examples, anecdotes, • Uses examples, anecdotes, • Same for both
testimonies, data, research testimonies, data, research
Grammar • It is important • It is important • Same for both
Organization • Provides an introduction, body, and • Provides an introduction, thesis • Similar in some
conclusion statement, body paragraphs, ways, different in
• Uses a subject line vs. a thesis and transitional words, and topic sentences. others
itemization of points vs. transitional
words
• Uses topic sentences only when
needed, dependent upon the type and
length of correspondence

Style • Uses short, demonstrative words; • Uses longer connotative words; longer • Different
short sentences; and short paragraphs sentences; and longer paragraphs

Document • Uses highlighting techniques, such • Not usually a factor • different

Design as graphics, headings, subheadings,
various fonts, white spaces, bullets,
etc.
For example:
Features of Effective
TechnicalCommunication
1. Clarity
2. Conciseness
3. Coherence
4. Accessible Document Design
5. Audience Recognition
6. Accuracy
Clarity
CLARITY
Here’s an example of an unclear memo

Date: September 3, 2021

To: Michelle Fields
From: Earl Eddings Readers might ask…
Subject: Meeting • When’s the meeting?
• Who’s the meeting for?
Please plan to prepare a • How much information is “very detailed”?
presentation on sales. • How will the presentation be made?
Make sure the information
• Why is this meeting being held?
is very detailed.
• What does the manager want to convey?
Thanks.
CLARITY is achieved when the message is COMPLETE
Who is the audience? Who will
What do you plan to do? What do
know what? Will the audience know
you want the audience to do? What
a great deal? (Low tech/High
do you want to know?
Tech/Lay)

When should the job be completed?

What’s the turnaround time?
What’s the timetable> What’s the Where will the work take place?
desired schedule? When do you
need the answer?

Why is the task being undertaken

How should the task be performed?
(the rationale, motivation, goal)
What’s the preferred procedure?
Why is the desired date important?
Revised:
CLARITY is achieved when the message is CONCRETE
The information should always be specific and should be devoid of any
ambiguity.

167m 170m 180m

He is tall
 In the document level CLARITY is achieved through

Structural Clarity Stylistic Clarity Contextual Clarity

Forecasting devices such as simple and direct language the importance, authorization, and
abstracts, table of contents, implication of the document
introductions,
Let’s Try This
 Improve the clarity of the following statements
by making them more specific:

Vague words Specified

1. We will have a meeting soon.
2. Prepare a short report.
3. The student has a low GPA.
4. The computer has a lot of memory
5. There are few candidates for the position

https://jamboard.google.com/d/1S9yL9BFEUNiFsbmbIpfGirXp_H-5WfC4ddecsbR0UTQ/edit?usp=sharing
Conciseness
CONCISENESS

Successful technical writing should help

the reader understand the text, not
present challenges to understanding.
Efficient communication should be brief
and complete.
Here’s an example of a write-up that lacks conciseness:

What do you want

to say exactly? Get
to the point.
How to achieve CONCISENESS.

1. Avoid MUL-TI-SYL-LA-BIC words

How to achieve CONCISENESS.

2. Use SHORT sentences.

How to achieve CONCISENESS.
3. Avoid redundancy.
How to achieve CONCISENESS.
5. Avoid prepositional phrases.
How to achieve CONCISENESS.
6. Avoid passive voice.
Let’s Try This
 Improve the conciseness by changing the long
words into shorter ones:

Long Word Short Word

Utilize
Inconvenience
Anticipate
Terminate

https://jamboard.google.com/d/1S9yL9BFEUNiFsbmbIpfGirXp_H-5WfC4ddecsbR0UTQ/edit?usp=sharing
Improve the conciseness by changing the long
phrases into one word:
Long Phrases One Word
in the event that
with regards to
in the near future
take into consideration
Improve the conciseness of the following
sentences:
Long Sentences
I will be calling you on November 23 to verify the possibility of you
having any inquiries at that time.

It is the company’s future plan to take the course of action to avoid

troubles caused by the problems with the pandemic.
Coherence
Coherence
• A coherent document has a logical
connection among the different parts and a
smooth flow of ideas
• Coherence can be achieved through:
1. Logical Order
2. Repetition of Key words
3. Use of pronouns
4. Use of transitional words and
phrases
5. Use of parallel structure
COHERENCE: Logical Order
Ideas are more accessible if they flow in a logical manner.
So, a writer must start with an outline
Thesis
Statement

I. Thesis Statement
A. Main Point 1 Main Idea 1 Main Idea 2 Main Idea 3
1. Supporting Idea
a) Examples
B. Main Point 2
Specific Specific Specific
I. Supporting Ideas Examples Examples Examples

Summary/
Conclusion
COHERENCE: Logical Order

CAUSE – EFFECT PROBLEM – SPATIAL CHRONOLOGICAL

SOLUTION

ALPHABETICAL DEDUCTIVE INDUCTIVE

ORDER ORDER
COHERENCE: Repetition of Key words

• Repeating key words or

phrases helps connect and
focus idea(s) throughout
the document. It maintains
the focus of the readers on
the right direction.
COHERENCE: Use of pronouns
• Pronouns are used to link
or connect sentences by When Gillette first invented disposable razor
referring to preceding
nouns and pronouns.
blades, he found it very hard to sell the
disposable razor blades. He found it very
• Pronouns can also help hard to sell the disposable razor
create paragraphs that are
easy to read by eliminating
blades because nobody had marketed a
wordiness and throw-away product before.
unnecessary repetition.

When Gillette first invented disposable razor

blades, he found it very hard to
sell them. This was because nobody had
marketed a throw-away product before.
 COHERENCE: Use of pronouns
Summary of Pronouns

Personal Pronouns Indefinite Pronouns

SUBJECT/ OBJECT/ POSSESSIVE POSSESSIVE SINGULAR PLURAL
NOMINATIVE OBJECTIVE ADJECTIVES PRONOUNS
Each Many
PRONOUNS PRONOUNS
Either Few
I Me My Mine
Neither Several
You You Your Yours
Someone
He Him His His Anyone
She Her Her Hers Everything
It It Its Its Somebody
We Us Our Ours Nobody
They Them Their Theirs Anybody
Everyone

Lifted from Ivy Global SAT Grammar Review, 2021

COHERENCE: Transition Words and Phrases
Transition words/phrases connect information to facilitate the smooth
flow of topics.
COHERENCE: Parallelism

• Parallelism is the use of the same grammatical structure.

verb noun

nouns
COHERENCE: Parallelism
• Parallelism is the use of the same grammatical structure.

Infinitive (noun)

nouns
COHERENCE: Parallelism

• Parallelism is the use of the same grammatical structure.

verb
noun

verbs
COHERENCE: Parallelism
• Parallelism is the use of the same grammatical structure.
Let’s Try This
 a. He starts his day by putting on his black cape and
tall black hat.
b. When he arrives, he puts on a performance that
These sentences are form includes jokes, card tricks, illusions, and magic tricks.
a paragraph, but they are
not in the best order. c. When his performance ends and the audience is
Read the sentences, then happy, Michael returns home, satisfied that he has
number them from one done his job as a magician well.
to five to indicate the d. Michael’s typical day at work is far from ordinary.
best order.
e. He then grabs his magic wand, gets into his car,
and drives to a different location each day, usually a
birthday party or other special event.
 1. Mr. Holloway enjoys reading and to
Revise the following
play his guitar at weekends.
sentences to make them
parallel. 2. The doctor told Mrs. Franklin that she
should either eat less or should
exercise more.
THANK YOU!
f.catherinejane.pace@cmu.edu.ph
ASSIGNMENT
Application

• Observe public postings in the campus.

• Pick one that caught your attention.
• Applying your knowledge on the features of
technical communication, assess and
improve the posting's clarity, conciseness,
and coherence.
• Upload the original posting and your
improved version.
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