ENGLISH 103: MODERN COMMUNICATION

Introduction to Technical Writing

Definition

• Written communication about a scientific or technical subject to a specific reader or group of readers for the purpose of giving certain information. It is also called scientific writing.

Definition

• It is characterized by certain formal elements, such as its scientific and technical vocabulary, graphic aids, and its use of conventional report forms.

Definition

• It is ideally characterized by the maintenance of impartiality and objectivity by extreme care.

• W- width (scope)• R- register (what language)• I- Intention (purpose)• T-tenor (tone and circumstances surrounding the

writing)• I- information (subject)• N- needs ( who needs/what needs/expectations• G-genre- (exposition, description,narration, etc.)

How to make every writing effective?

Importance

• Technical writing focuses on materials designed for the fields of business, engineering and technology, trade and industry, medicine and science and politics and many other fields of human endeavour.

• THESE WRITTEN MATERIALS ARE WRITTEN TO INFORM, TO INSTRUCT AND TO PERSUADE.

Qualities of a Technical Writer

• T- Technology driven • E- Effectual• C- Curious W- Workmanly

H- Honest R- Resourceful• N- Neutral I- Interesting• I- Intelligent T- Thorough• C- Careful E - Ethical• A- Active R- Responsible• L- Logical

Technical Writing vs Literary Writing

POINTS OF CONTRAST

TECHNICAL WRITING

LITERARY WRITING

1. Subject Scientific/technical Non- scientific/non-technical

2. Readership Specific General

3. Purpose Informative/persuasive

Entertaining

4. Language Literal/denotative Figurative/connotative

5. Style Impersonal personal

Technical Writing vs Literary WritingPOINTS OF CONTRAST

TECHNICAL WRITING

LITERARY WRITING

6. Tone Heavy/serious Light/amusing

7.Point of View Usually third person, sometimes second person

First person or third person

8.Emotionality Unemotional Emotional

9.Objectivity objective/neutral Subjective/biased

10. Format Formal informal

ABC of Technical Writing

Accuracy- accurate- devoid of errors- every word is precise

Brevity

- brief and short“the shorter the paper, the

better. ”-avoid deadwood,

redundancies and other unnecessary words and phrases

Coherence

- putting ideas together to form a coherent whole- avoiding dangling or squinting modifiersconstructing coordination and subordination properly

Directness

- direct to the point- refrain from going around the bush/roundabout construction- avoids long winded introduction

Emphasis

- highlights main ideas and downplay subordinate ones- use of parallelism, position, proportion, repetition, variation, conciseness, etc.

Factuality

- based on facts- provable, testable and credible

Grammaticality

- does not violate grammatical rules or standards of correctness or structures in the language

Heaviness

- subject matter is serious

Intelligibility

- it must be easily understood- must have a way of making difficult

terms easy on the part of the reader-

Judiciousness

- written judiciously- there is good judgment- clear difference between

fact and opinion, truth and fallacy, relevance and irrelevance

Keenness

- keen and sharp- writer uses intelligence for

readers’ satisfaction

Logicality

- conforms with the principles of logic

- effective technical writing is a product of rational thinking and sound reasoning

Mechanical Correctness

- conforms with the various rules of mechanics

-correct usage of punctuation marks, spelling, spacing, indention, capitalization, italicization, margining, alignment, etc

Neutrality

- not biased- does not favour only one

side- not partial- not prejudiced

Order

-written in an orderly manner- ideas flow smoothly- employs proper formatting and lay outing of materials, textuals and otherwise

Personality

- reflection of the kind of person the writer is

Quality

- lived up to standards and possesses only all the positive traits any technical writer must have-serves its purpose and satisfies its readers

Reader- Friendliness

- adapted to the reader’s needs, interests, and knowledge

- writer produces the right effect because he considers his readers and knows how to make them respond to his writings

Specificity

- technical writing is written by a specific writer to a specific reader for a specific purpose

Thoroughness

- a complete work- thoroughly done-effective writer provides

all important data

Unity

- consistent in purpose, idea, subject, voice, mood, number, person, gender, language

Veracity

- contains no lies- information comes from

reliable sources- no act of plagiarism

Worth

-valuable to its reader or group of readers

- it satisfies the readers’ need for information

-serves other purposes

X- Factor

- x-factor- stands for an unknown factor- unique paper-stands out from other papers

Yuppiness

Yuppy- YUP- young urban professional- new,young,modern and

professional

Zeal

- eager desire or enthusiastic diligence