Republic of the Philippines

Tarlac State University

COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
CENTER OF DEVELOPMENT
Lucinda Campus, Tarlac City
Tel. No. (045) 493-0182; Fax No. (045) 982-0110
Re-accredited Level III by the
Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities of the Philippines (AACUP), Inc.

WRITTEN REPORT
In
Five Traits of
Technical Writing

Submitted by:
Marbida, Meljay V.
Bautista, Erickson B.
Yacapin, Kenneth S.
Diamzon, Nexie Erikha Laurine
Group #4

Submitted to:
Criselda Madriaga
 Republic of the Philippines
Tarlac State University
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
CENTER OF DEVELOPMENT
Lucinda Campus, Tarlac City
Tel. No. (045) 493-0182; Fax No. (045) 982-0110
Re-accredited Level III by the
Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities of the Philippines (AACUP), Inc.

Name: Marbida, Meljay V.

Year and Section: BSED ENGLISH 1-2
Group #4

CLARITY

Desired Learning Outcome:

• Students should grasp the significance of clarity in technical writing, recognizing its
impact on communication effectiveness and potential consequences when information is
unclear.

Discussion Proper:

The most important criteria for effective technical writing is clarity. If the audience responds to a
memo, letter, report, or manual with, "Huh?" what has the writer accomplished? If the
correspondence is not clearly understood, the reader will either call the writer for further
clarification, or just ignore the information. In either case, the writer's time is wasted; the reader's
time is wasted; the message is lost.
Clarity, however, is not just a time concern. Think of it from this perspective: your company has
written an installation manual for a product. The manual, unfortunately, is not clear. When the
reader fails to understand the content, three negatives can occur:
BAD - The equipment is damaged. This requires the owner to ship the equipment back. The
company will replace the equipment, costs accrue, and public relations have been frayed.
WORSE - The owner is hurt, leading to pain, anxiety, doctor's bills, and bad public relations.
EVEN WORSE - The company is sued. The company loses money, the writer of the manual
loses a job, and public relations are severed.
If a student fails to clearly understand a poem, a short story, a play, or a novel, that is
unfortunate; however, equipment is not damaged, no one is physically hurt, and no one is sued.

This flawed memo, written by a manager to a newly hired employee, highlights the importance
of clarity.
Nothing is clear in this memo, and the reasons are obvious. The manager has failed to answer
Reporter's Questions: who, what, when, where, why, how.

Ask your students:

• What don't you know in this memo?
• What additional information should the writer have included for clarity?

Obvious responses:
• When's the meeting?
• Where's the meeting?
• Who's the meeting for?
• How much information is "very detailed"?
• How will the presentation be made?
• Why is this meeting being held?
• What does the manager want to be conveyed about sales?

Reporter's Questions:
• Who is the audience? Who will know what? Will the audience know a great deal (High
Tech)? Will the audience know a little about the topic (Low Tech)? Will the audience
know nothing about the topic (Lay)?
• What do you plan to do? What do you want the audience to do? What do you want to
know?
• When should the job be completed? What's the turnaround time? What's the timetable?
What's the desired schedule? When do you need an answer?
• Where will the work take place?
• Why is the task being undertaken (the rationale, motivation, goal)? Why is the desired
date important?
• How should the task be performed? What's the preferred procedure?
Using the Reporter's Questions Checklist as a prewriting tool, the previous memo could be
revised to achieve greater clarity. Above is an example of a revised memo.

When a student answers reporter's questions, he or she has filled a page with words. But all
words are not equal. Words like some, several, many, few, frequently, often, substantial, or
recently will take up space on the page and convey an impression. These connotative words will
not mean the same thing to everyone.
If a memo sent to six employees states that the company has lost a substantial amount of
business, will all employees acquire the same knowledge? One might assume that a substantial
loss equals $ 1,000; another might assume that a substantial loss equals twelve clients. In each
case, the employees are guessing, and that is not the goal of successful technical writing.
(The previous memo using the phrase very detailed would be more clear if the writer had said he
needed an eight hour presentation. Everyone receiving the memo then would know exactly how
much time they needed to set aside to attend the meeting.)
The ultimate goal of effective technical writing is to say the same thing to multiple readers!

Title: Accuracy
Desired Learning Outcome:
• Students should develop an awareness of the potential consequences of errors in technical
writing, recognizing that accuracy is crucial to maintaining a positive image.
Errors in technical writing make the company and the employee look bad. More importantly,
errors can lead to damages, injuries, lawsuits, or just embarrassment and misunderstandings.

Ask your students to try these proofreading techniques:

• Use the computer's spell check—remember, however, that a spell check will not catch
form if you mean from, to if you mean too, or except if you mean accept.
• Let it sit—for a day or a weekend. When the document is cold, students are more
objective about their own writing.
• Use peer evaluations—others will see the errors we miss.
• Read it aloud—sometimes we can hear errors.
• Read it backwards—then you read words out of context. You cannot anticipate the next
word.

Conclusion:
Until we tell students what we want in a technical document, they will not give it to us. Once
they know the criteria for successful technical writing, then you can hold them accountable for
these skills.

1. CLARITY – Organization
Important points come first
Reporter's Questions answered
Specific, denotative words used

2. CONCISENESS - Sentence fluency/ word choice

Words are generally one or two syllables
Sentences average 10-12 words
Paragraphs do not exceed six typed lines

3. ACCESSIBLE DOCUMENT DESIGN - Ideas and Content

Highlighting techniques emphasize main points to help access
Highlighting techniques not overused

4. AUDIENCE RECOGNITION – Voice

Writer defines all high-tech terms
Writer considers audience needs
Writer uses pronounsto involve audience

5. ACCURACY - Writing Conventions

Correct punctuation
Correct spelling
Correct grammar & usage
 Republic of the Philippines
Tarlac State University
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
CENTER OF DEVELOPMENT
Lucinda Campus, Tarlac City
Tel. No. (045) 493-0182; Fax No. (045) 982-0110
Re-accredited Level III by the
Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities of the Philippines (AACUP), Inc.

Name: Bautista, Erickson B.

Year and Section: BSED ENGLISH 1-2
Group: #4

CONCISENESS

Objectives:

1. By the end of the report, student should have a clear understanding about what is conciseness.

2. Understand the Importance of conciseness in technical writing.

3. Find various ways to make our writing shorter and more to the point.

Discussion Proper:

WHAT IS CONCISENESS IN TECHNICAL WRITING?

When we say conciseness, it is the quality of being short and clear, and expressing what needs to be said
without unnecessary words.
For example: "I went to the store, and it was a sunny day. I walked around the aisles, carefully selecting a
delicious chocolate cake with rich frosting. After purchasing it, I called my friends, who were all wearing
colorful clothes, and we gathered at my place to share the cake together."
The paragraph is not successful writing. WhyIt fails to communicate clearly because it is too long-winded.
In this case, conciseness actually would aid clarity.
Concise: "I bought a chocolate cake and shared it with friends."
In the concise version, unnecessary details about the weather, the shopping process, and what people were
wearing are omitted, making the message clear and to the point. This helps readers or listeners quickly
understand the main idea without getting lost in extra information.
Remember that the reader is not responsible to figure out what was the message about. The responsibility
is with the writer.

IMPORTANCE OF CONCISENESS

Enhancing Understanding
The main goal of technical writing is to communicate complex information in a way that is easy to
understand. Clarity and conciseness are crucial for achieving this goal. They ensure that the reader can
quickly grasp the information without getting confused or overwhelmed.

Saving Time
In the fast-paced world of technology, time is a valuable resource. By being clear and concise, technical
writers can help their readers save time. They can quickly find the information they need and understand it
without having to read through unnecessary details or confusing language.

Improving User Experience

Clarity and conciseness also contribute to a better user experience. They make the technical document more
user-friendly, which can lead to higher user satisfaction and better outcomes.

TECHNIQUES

Through short sentences we can make our letter concise and easily to understand. You can shorten a
sentence by avoiding: redundancy prepositional phrases passive voice.

1.Avoiding redundancy is when you use more words than necessary to express something, especially
words and/or phrases in the same sentence that mean the same thing.
For example:

Wordy sentence: She has a past history of epilepsy

Less wordy sentence (Consice): She has a history of epilepsy

2.Avoiding prepositional phrases Prepositional phrases create wordy sentences.

Wordy sentence: He drove at a rapid rate.

Less wordy sentence: He drove rapidly.

3.Avoiding passive voice Passive voice constructions are weak for at least two reasons. They are wordy,
and they replace strong verbs with weak verbs.

Passive Voice: “The window was broken by the boys.”

Active voice: “The boys broke the window.”

The first sentence contains seven words and the weak verb was. In contrast, the second sentence contains
five words and the strong verb broke. The emphasis is placed on the individuals (boys) rather than on an
inanimate object (window).

Redundancy, Prepositional Phrase, and Passive voice is what we should avoid.

In conclusion, conciseness plays a crucial role in effective communication by promoting clarity, efficiency,
and understanding. By being concise, we can convey our message more effectively and ensure that our
audience receives the information in a clear and concise manner.
 Republic of the Philippines
Tarlac State University
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
CENTER OF DEVELOPMENT
Lucinda Campus, Tarlac City
Tel. No. (045) 493-0182; Fax No. (045) 982-0110
Re-accredited Level III by the
Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities of the Philippines (AACUP), Inc.

Name: Yacapin, Kenneth S.

Year and Section: 1st year – English 1-2
Group # 4

ACCESSIBILITY
Objectives:
1. Define what is accessibility in technical writing.
2. Identify its characteristics.
3. Give examples of the things that must be considered for users.

Discussion Proper:

Although people's definitions of accessibility vary, the main goal of accessibility is to enable
users—especially those with disabilities—to utilize technology comfortably. Every member of
your intended audience can utilize your product effortlessly with an accessible design, regardless
of their level of disability.
Regardless of a user's abilities or the assistive technologies they may use, it entails making sure
the information is accessible, clear, and straightforward for all users.

• Accessibility starts with clear organization. Information should be structured logically,

and the format should be easy to navigate. An example of these are headings, bullet
points, and other formatting tools that can help guide the reader.
• The language used should be suitable for the target audience. If the document is aimed at
developers, it should include technical terms that developers understand. However, if it's
for general users, the language should be simpler.
• The document should clearly communicate how to use the product and provide any other
relevant information. This helps users understand the product better and reduces the need
for further assistance.
• Even when the document needs to convey complex information, the language should be
as simple as possible. This makes the document more accessible to people who may not
be proficient in the language it's written in.
 • Instead of relying solely on color to convey information, include labels or text descriptions.
For example, if you have a chart with different colored sections, add labels to each section
so that colorblind users can understand the data.
• Include keyboard shortcuts alongside mouse or trackpad instructions. For instance, in
software documentation, provide instructions like "To save the document, press Ctrl + S"
in addition to mentioning the mouse-click option.
• Ensure proper document structure and use headings to provide a clear hierarchy of
information. Let's say you're creating a user manual for a software application. Instead of
having a long paragraph explaining each step, you can use headings to break down the
information into smaller, organized sections.
• Provide a table of contents or an index at the beginning of the document to help users
quickly find the information they need. Additionally, if the document is available online,
ensure it is properly optimized for search engines to facilitate online searchability.

Accessibility is a necessity in the current world. By making design, writing, platforms and spaces
accessible, you remove barriers to entry and promote inclusivity in the audience. With
accessibility, you give users the autonomy to pursue information in their own way, comfortably.

Republic of the Philippines

Tarlac State University
COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION
CENTER OF DEVELOPMENT
Lucinda Campus, Tarlac City
Tel. No. (045) 493-0182; Fax No. (045) 982-0110
Re-accredited Level III by the
Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities of the Philippines (AACUP), Inc.

Name: Diamzon, Nexie Erikha Laurine

Year and Section: BSED ENGLISH 1-2
Group # 4

AUDIENCE RECOGNITION

1. To identify the levels of audiences.

 2. Explain the techniques in writing with different levels of audiences.
3. By the end of the discussion, students should understand the importance and different
levels of audience recognition.
Discussion Proper

It is important to consider the audience before you write anything. It is like talking to someone
face-to-face. The audience is the intended reader or readers of a technical report or any piece of
writing for that matter. Technical writers always consider the audience as the most important to
think about when planning to write because it must meet the needs, interest, and background of
the readers who will be reading your writing.

Successful technical writers know that they can only achieve clarity by recognizing their
audiences. It is also important to always consider the audience as the most important to think
about.

Types of Audiences:
1. High Tech Peers
2. Low Tech Peers
3. Lay Readers

1. High Tech Peers know as much about a subject matter as you. They have the same job
title, same education, same years of experience, and The same level of expertise. For
example, a university professor writing to another university professor would be writing
high tech to high tech.

2. Low Tech Peers who work in your company know something about the subject matter.
They may not have the same job title, education, years of experience, or level of
expertise. For example, a university professor writing to a newly hired university
professor would be writing High Tech to Low Tech.
3. Lay Readers are your customers. They are completely out of the loop. For example, a
university professor communicating with a student.

Writing successfully with these three types of audiences requires different techniques:

When writing to a High Tech Peers, it is fine to use jargons, acronyms and abbreviations
without explaining the definition.
Ex. The other engineer told the other engineer to review the enclosed OP and EN.
 Writing to a Low Tech Peers requires to explain the jargons, acronyms, and
abbreviations you will use.
Ex. The engineer telling the forman to review the enclosed OP ( operating procedure)
and EN (engineering notice).

When writing to a Lay Readers, the use of jargons, acronyms and abbreviations are
prohibited, you have to explain instead.
Ex. The engineer telling the worker that by following the enclosed operating procedure
and engineering notice, you can ensure that your printer will run to our engineers desired
performance levels.

In addition, aside from identifying your audience level, do not forget to use pronouns in your
technical writing. After all, schools do not write to schools. People write to people. Your readers
want to be spoken to, not spoken at. Pronouns are effective in technical writing. 1, me, my, you,
your, us, we, and our create a personalized tone.
References:
Gerson, S. M. (n.d.). A Teacher’s Guide to Technical Writing. Kansas Curriculum Center,
Washburn University, Topeka, KS.
Lingambhotla, S., & Lingambhotla, S. (2023, June 26). The importance of accessibility in
technical writing – Razorpay Learn. Razorpay Learn. https://razorpay.com/learn/accessibility-in-
technical-writing/
The Importance of Clarity and Conciseness in Technical Writing
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