Assignment No#2

SUBMITTED BY:MUHAMMAD FAREED

SUBMITTED TO:MAAM ANUM TASLEEM

REGESTRATION NO:BSCE02203189

SECTION:C

TECHNICAL WRITING:
The traditional definition says technical writing can be defined as the practice of articulating any
product or service in the form of the document where processes are defined, such as software
manuals or instructional materials. In earlier days, it was limited to user manuals type only.
TRAITS OR CHARACTERISTICS OF TECHNICAL
WRITING:

There are six key properties of technical writing which are as follow
 • Clarity
• Accuracy
• Comprehensiveness
• Accessibility
• Conciseness
• Correctness

CLARITY:
Technical document must convey a single meaning that the reader can understand. Unclear
Technical writing is expensive. They vital communication link among the various employees is
usually the report, if this link is weak, the entire project may be jeopardized. Unclear technical
writing can be dangerous e.g. unclear instruction on how to operate machinery.

ACCURACY:
Unclear writing can cause many problems and even inaccuracy in the report. If you mean to
write 40,000 don’t write 400,000. If you mean to refer to fig 3.1 don’t refer to fig 3.2. Slightest
error can confuse or even annoy the reader of the report. If the reader suspects that you are
slanting information they have the right to doubt the docs.

COMPREHENSIVENESS:
When writing technically, all the information should be provided, its background must be
described and clear description of any process, or method of carrying out a specific work, should
also be given. It also includes results, conclusions and recommendations.

ACCESSIBILITY:
It means the ease with which the readers can locate the information they seek. To increase
Accessibility, include headings and lists in the report. A table of contents, list of illustrations
glossary and index are preferred.

CONCISENESS:
Technical writing is meant to be useful. The longer a document is, the more difficult it gets to use
it. Even it takes more of the user's time. Conciseness works against clarity and
comprehensiveness. Solution to this conflict is to create a balance between the requirements of
clarity, conciseness and comprehensiveness. In short, in T.W every aspect of the subject is
discussed in optimized detail. Document must be long enough to be clear. It must give the
audience purpose and object but no extra details. Technical writing can be shortened 10-20% by
eliminating unnecessary phrases and choosing short words and sentences.

CORRECTNESS:

Qualities of technical report writing also includes correctnes. Good technical report must
also be correct. It. Must be free from grammatical errors, punctuation mistakes, and should have
appropriate format standard. If a report contains grammatical errors, the reader will doubt the
accuracy of the information in the report. Technical writing is meant to convey information and
to persuade the audience. To accomplish these goals it must be clear auccurate, easy to access
and must be economical and correct. If you mean to write "the three persons: person 1, person 2
and person 3 attended a session" but you use commas instead of the colon, your readers might
think 6 people attended the session, not 3.

TYPES OF TECHNICAL WRITING:

• Medical and scientific papers
• User manuals
• Assistance guides
• Assembly manuals
• Technical documents
 • Labortary manuals etc.

IMPORTANCE FOR CIVIL ENGINEERS:

A civil engineer must have complete know how about technical writing because allot of stuff
pertaining to engineering based on technical writing like.
Lab mannuals

Lab reports

Thesis wittings

Article writtings

Journals writings etc.