This document provides an overview of technical writing and report formatting. It defines technical writing as presenting complex information in an easy-to-understand way for the reader. The key aspects of technical writing are objectivity, accuracy, and conciseness. Technical reports follow standard formats, including a title page, abstract, table of contents, main body with defined sections, and references. Graphics are also used to effectively convey information. The document compares technical writing to academic writing and provides examples of common technical documents.
This document provides an overview of technical writing and report formatting. It defines technical writing as presenting complex information in an easy-to-understand way for the reader. The key aspects of technical writing are objectivity, accuracy, and conciseness. Technical reports follow standard formats, including a title page, abstract, table of contents, main body with defined sections, and references. Graphics are also used to effectively convey information. The document compares technical writing to academic writing and provides examples of common technical documents.
This document provides an overview of technical writing and report formatting. It defines technical writing as presenting complex information in an easy-to-understand way for the reader. The key aspects of technical writing are objectivity, accuracy, and conciseness. Technical reports follow standard formats, including a title page, abstract, table of contents, main body with defined sections, and references. Graphics are also used to effectively convey information. The document compares technical writing to academic writing and provides examples of common technical documents.
Contents What is technical writings? Technical Vs Non-technical writing Why technical writing? format in technical writing How to write information from referred sources? What is Technical Writing? Taking complicated subject matter and transforming into easy to understand information for the reader. • Technical Writers design, write, and edit documents for engineering, scientific, industrial, and governmental organizations. These include technical reports, computer manuals, brochures, proposals, technical specifications, educational and training materials, and marketing or public relations releases. • In technical writing:- • Information is organized, presented and communicated in a specific format. • The writing is concise, clear and accurate. The writing presents information to help readers solve a problem or gain a better understanding of a situation. • The writing conveys technical, complex, or specialized information in a way that is easy for a non-technical reader to understand. How is technical writing different? • The information is organized, presented and communicated in a specific format. • The writing is concise, clear and accurate. • The writing takes into account the audience’s needs, preferences and prior understanding. • The writing presents information to help readers solve a problem or gain a better understanding of a situation. • The writing conveys technical, complex, or specialized information in a way that is easy for a non-technical reader to understand. • Technical writing requires 100% accuracy. • technical writing is Objective Direct Clearly defined precise Why should you care about writing?
You must communicate your work to the world
If people don’t know about it they don’t use it Increase probability of adoption Clear writing requires clear thinking Muddled writing is a sign of muddled thought Be kind to your readers good writing can be a joy; bad writing is agony These skills transfer to other endeavors • A good technical written document : pertains to a technical subject Use a language which is very direct and straight to the point Be clear and straight forward (Avoid vague and abstract language) It is very detailed and informative Be brief, short, summarizing: Take the audience into consideration Use active voice while writing • Passive Example: The electricity meter is read six times a year by a trained technician. • Active Example: A trained technician reads the meter six times a year. It is very structured and should follow standard format Avoid redundancy Overall coherence and logical flow Academic writing vs technical writing
• The three major components of written communication are:
Purpose, Format, Language • Academic Writing has a receiver, but may have a reader or may not have a reader. • Technical Writing will always have a reader. The primary reader is the person who ordered the report Purpose Academic Writing Technical Writing Entertain Inform Persuade Persuade inform Research Cont. Format Academic Writing Technical Writing Paragraphs Major Headings Topic Sentences Sub Headers Pictures Markers Bullets Underlings Bold type White Space Illustrations Graphs Tables Pictures Drawings Cont. Language Academic Writing Technical Writing Words Words Elaborate Active vocabulary Transitions Plain Subjective Easily understood Cogitative Objective Multiple meaning no prejudice on the basis of gender Sentence Structure Avoid pronouns Complex Sentence Structure Uncomplicated Repetition Embellishment Active voice Excessive words Synonyms Passive voice Cont. Academic Technical Writing Writing Descriptive Writing Job Description, Incident Report, Résumé, Process Explanation Narrative Writing Observation Report, Progress Report Analysis Performance Evaluation, Feasibility Report Cause and Effect Analytical Report, Product Field Test Report Compare-Contrast Product Comparison, Feasibility Report Persuasive Writing Proposal, Action Plan Examples of Technical Writing: • Action Plans Feasibility Report Persuasive Proposal • Advertisement Field Test Report Product Comparison • Agenda Incident/case Report Proposal • Audit Report Informational Form Questionnaire • Book Review Informational Poster Research Report • Brochure Instructions Résumé/Portfolio • Budget Job Application Scientific Paper/Report • Business Letter Job Description Training Manual • Business Plan Lesson Plan Travel Guide •Contract Letter of Inquiry Work Order •Data Book or Display Meeting Minutes • Diagram, Chart, or Graph Newsletter Letter of Recommendation Observation Report Marketing Plan Performance Evaluations Technical Vs Non-technical writing • Writings like Lecture Notes and Essays may not be exactly classified under Technical Writing and they are Academic writing. • The academic writer purpose may be to write an assignment, a story, a letter, etc. • Creative writing: The author can write to charm, to arouse interest, to appeal to emotion, to impress the reader. Such style of writing is very restricted in technical writing. • Technical writing: The author writes to persuade, to convince, to describe, to express, to appeal to the readers reason (logic)... Formats of technical report writing Front Matter Text Back Matter
2. Title Page • Problem Statement 11. Bibliography 3. Abstract/summary • Objectives, scope 12. List of symbols 4. Contents 6. Analysis/main body acronyms and • Methods, Assumptions abbreviations • Procedures 13. Glossary 7. Results and Discussion 14. Index 8. Conclusion 15. Back cover (&recommendation) 9. References Types of Technical Writing Front Matter: • Enable the reader to find the report • Helps reader to quickly decide whether or not the material with in the report relates what they are investigating Text: • Objectives, methods, assumptions, procedures, discussions, results, recommendations Back Matter: • Supplements and clarifies the body of the report, makes the body easier to understand and shows additional information Cont. 1. Cover (Front and back) • For pages of more than 10 • Provides physical protection for the printed doc. 2. Title page • A short, clear, which clearly indicates what the report is about. • The title page will normally include the date and who the report is for. 3. Summary /abstract • A summary of the whole report including important features, aim, methods, scope, results and conclusions • Or should address what is done, why, how, what result • Not more than 200 words • Doesn’t contains undefined symbols, abbreviation &make no reference • Always write abstract at the very end of the writing process • Abstract can be informative, descriptive or Executive summary (hybrid of informative and descriptive abstracts) Cont. 4. Contents: • Lists all section and subsection headings with page numbers • Automatic tables of contents …. • List of tables and figures (Graphics) Graphics: Includes, Pictures, Tables, Graphs and Charts Is a very powerful tool to convey relevant information and data presentation. Note: Numbers and titles for figures, charts and graphs appears bellow the figure, while table numbers and titles are above the table. Cont. 5. Introduction • States the objectives (general and specific) of the report and comments on the way the topic of the report is to be treated. • Includes scope, theory, background and significance 6. Main body of the report • These sections separate the different main ideas in a logical order (may be by chapters) • Includes assumptions, methods (material, design, procedure, measurement), analysis 7. Result and discussion • Describes what you have learned about the problem • How accurate your findings are and significant of results Cont. 8. Conclusions • A short, logical summing up of the theme(s) developed in the main text • Gives your view of significant of the finding to the reader • This is often a decision to be made by the writer of the report 9. References • Details of published sources of material referred to or quoted in the text (including any lecture notes and URL addresses of any websites used. Cont. Cont. Bibliography Other published sources of material, including websites, not referred to in the text but useful for background or further reading. Acknowledgements List of people who helped you research or prepare the report, including your proofreaders Appendices (if appropriate) Any further material which is essential for full understanding of your report (e.g. part and assembly drawings, computer code, large scale diagrams, raw data, specifications) but not required by a casual reader Writing information from referred sources Reference is used to: • to acknowledge the source of information or ideas you used in your writing or • acknowledging other peoples work that you used in your writing or work Reason for referencing: Citations are not only used to avoid plagiarism, but also: To acknowledge and give credit the contribution of other writers and researcher in your work To provide evidence to support the declarations and claims in your own work. To make your writing more persuasive Helps the reader to find the original source if they wish Cont. It is unethical or illegitimate to simply copy and paste others idea in writing, rather one should either, • Summarize (stating the main ideas and findings of a text into your own words) • Paraphrase (captures the entire text and re-expresses it in new language) or • Quote (copying short sentences or passages from the original text word-for- word and places within “quotation marks” ) When to summarize? If passage from a source is too long to quote or paraphrase and only the main ideas of a source are relevant to your paper. When to Quote? when the author's words convey a powerful meaning or to introduce an author's position that you want to discuss When to paraphrase? As another option to quoting or to express someone else's ideas in your own words. • Example Cont.
Re-write the following paragraph by
(a) Paraphrasing (b) summarizing (c) quoting • Main aim of semi-automatic dish washer machine is to reduce human efforts and time with its innovative simple design which is also environment friendly. A dishwasher is a low cost machine made up of easily and readily available parts in daily life. The model of semi-automatic dish washer machine is new concept, which in its one washing cycle does all the operations of conventional dish washing i.e. spraying soda water, scrubbing with brush and rinsing with clean water similar to fully automatic dish washer machines in market. The dishwasher operates with help of DC motor, Universal motor, conveyor belt and microcontroller for time delay. Shilpa N. Dmachine , Government Polytechnic College, Jalna, Maharashtra (India), July 2016 ehedkar , Design of basic model of semi-automatic dish washer When You Don't Need to Cite • When its your original idea (Your own observation, primary data, your own analysis and results, your own conclusion, ...) • When its common Knowledge There are seven days in a week
• When its Common Sense
e.g. Driving within speed limit helps to avoid getting hurt or hurting others
• Historical overviews (When multiple sources provide the same information about historic events) Thank you !!!