TECHNICAL WRITING

RAFAEL Y. BENITO
DEPARTMENT OF LIBERAL ARTS
MAPÚA UNIVERSITY
TYPES
Technical Writing
• YOU are the expert
• Technical background, professionals in the
field
• Clear and simple organization; visually
appealing and easy to follow; acceptable on
the job.
• Graphics, charts, and numbers are used
very frequently to support conclusions
Academic Writing
• YOU are still a learner
• Wide range of academics and general
audiences
• Depth, logic, clarity, unity and grammar;
teacher accepts the work.
• Graphics, charts, and numbers are
sometimes used to explain and
demonstrate knowledge
 Technical Writing Creative Writing
• Factual • Fictional and imaginative
• Informative, instructional or persuasive • Entertaining, provocative and captivating
• Clear, precise and straightforward • Artistic, figurative, symbolic or even vague
• Objective • Subjective
• Specialized vocabulary • Generalized vocabulary
Which type of writing do you prefer?
TECHNICAL WRITING

• Technical writing is a type of writing where the author is writing about a particular subject that requires
direction, instruction, or explanation. This style of writing has a very different purpose and different
characteristics than other writing styles such as creative writing, academic writing or business writing.
• Technical writing is writing or drafting technical communication used in technical and occupational
fields, such as computer hardware, software, engineering, chemistry, aeronautics, robotics, finance,
medical, consumer electronics, biotechnology and forestry.
• Technical writing is a specialized form of exposition: that is, written communication done on the job,
especially in fields with specialized vocabularies, such as science, engineering, technology, and the
health sciences. Along with business writing, technical writing is often subsumed under the heading
of professional communication.
GOALS

• To deliver technical information for

readers in a manner that is adapted • To communicate with specific
to their needs, level of audience, for a specific purpose.
understanding, and background.
CHARACTERISTICS

• Understanding what is the purpose and why you are writing.

• To inform? To instruct? To propose? To recommend or to persuade?
• Writing for audience.
• Who is the audience? What is their background? What do they need?
• Satisfying document specifications (Appropriate genre/type of document)
• What is the document type? How about the required format?
• Providing accurate information.
• Technical writing document is not about opinion.
CHARACTERISTICS

• Expressing information clearly.

• No room for ambiguity!
• Using appropriate writing style and the right punctuation marks.
• Be careful of typos, sentences in conversational tone, and punctuation problems
• USE EFFICIENT WORDS!
EFFECTIVE TECHNICAL WRITING

• Clarity
• Conciseness
• Accuracy
• Organization
• Process
CLARITY
• Avoid obscure words.
• Limit and/or define your use of abbreviations, acronyms and jargons.
• Use the active versus passive voice.
• Passive Voice: It was decided all employees will take a ten percent cut in pay.
• UNCLEAR: Who decided?
• Active: The board of directors decided that all employees…
• PASSIVE: Overtime is favored by hourly workers.
• WORDY
• Active: Hourly workers favor overtime.
CONCISENESS

• Limit paragraph, word and sentence length.

• Proofread for accuracy
• Avoid redundancies
• During the year of 2019
• During 2019
ACCURACY

• The importance of correct grammar

QUESTIONS?