The document discusses the characteristics and purpose of technical writing, highlighting that it must be clear, concise, accurate, and targeted towards a specific audience and purpose. It contrasts technical writing with creative writing and provides tips for writers such as defining the purpose and audience, determining an appropriate level of detail, and organizing information. The document also reviews elements of good technical writing style like using active voice and simple sentences as well as phrases and words that should be avoided.

1. TECHNICAL WRITING:
ABRIDGED
Presented by:
Raissa T. Guldam
BSMT - IV

2. INTRODUCTION TO TECHNICAL
WRITING
 A specialized, structured form of
writing that presents technical
information to readers in such a
way that it :
 is adapted to their needs and
understanding level
 helps to perform a specific task or solve a
specific problem

3. CHARACTERISTICS
 Clarity– easily understood by intended audience
 Conciseness – clear without excess verbiage
 Specific Audience - targeted to particular readers
 Specific Purpose- written for a specific purpose
 Accuracy – is factual, correct and free from bias
 Correctness – follows grammatical and technical
conventions
 Comprehensiveness – contains all necessary
information
 Accessibility – includes Table of
Content, headings, subheadings, indexes

4. TECHNICAL WRITING VS. CREATIVE WRITING
 Factual  Fictional and imaginative
 Informative, instructional  Entertaining, provocative
or persuasive and captivating
 Clear, precise and
straightforward  Artistic, figurative, symboli
 Objective c or even vague
 Specialized vocabulary  Subjective
 Generalized vocabulary

5. WHY TECHNICAL WRITING?
 Inprofessional job, 20-40% of your time will be
writing
 Career advancement
 Expanding knowledge
 Improving communication skills
 Every job profile requires versatility

6. TECHNICAL WRITING ACTIVITIES
In-House Activities
 Letters, memos, e-mail:
To ask or answer queries, to set meeting
agendas
 Reports
Project, progress, trip, incident, feasibility
etc.

7. TECHNICAL WRITING ACTIVITIES
In-House Activities (contd.)
 Proposals
To manager or another department to
highlight problems, suggest solutions and
recommended action.

8. GETTING STARTED
1. Define the purpose of the document and the key
information it needs to convey (task analysis)
 “Convey to the audience what you want them to know or do when
they have finished reading.”
2. Define the audience and their level of technical
understanding (user or needs analysis)
 “Present information to the audience’s level of knowledge.”
3. Determine the level of detail necessary for the document
 “Determining what to leave out is as important as deciding what
to include”
4. Organize the data
 “Only include data that supports the information you want to
present.”

9. YOUR ROLE AS A WRITER
Employ Ethical Principles
1. Avoid language that attempts to
evade responsibility.
2. Avoid language that could possibly
mislead readers.
3. Do not de-emphasize or suppress
important information.
4. Do not emphasize misleading or
incorrect information.
5. Treat others fairly and respectfully.

10. YOUR ROLE AS A WRITER (CONT.)
Give Credit Where Due
 Complete and consistent documentation of your
sources of information can:
􀂃 Help your readers locate the information
and do follow-up research
􀂃 Help you support your position,
recommendations, or conclusions
􀂃 Help you avoid plagiarism

11. STYLE & USAGE
 Common elements of good writing
 Phrases to avoid
 A short, alphabetical list of often-misused
words and phrases, and examples of
correct usage

12. A. ELEMENTS OF STYLE
 Present Tense, Active Voice
Instead of “The material about the business application
will demonstrate…”
Use “The material about the business application
demonstrates…”
Instead of “After reading this material, the board will
determine appropriate
actions…”
Use “After reading this material, the board can
determine appropriate actions…”

13.  In addition, minimize the use of gerunds (verbs
ending in “ing”). These tend to be vague.
 Instead of “Advocate requesting State assistance when
available.”
 Use “Request State assistance when available.”
 Present tense gives the writing energy. In the same
way, active voice is direct and demonstrates who is
responsible for an action.

14. A. ELEMENTS OF STYLE (CONT.)
 Simple Sentences
You can improve many complicated sentences by
splitting them into two simpler sentences, each
expressing a clear idea.
 Gender Neutrality
- try to rewrite the sentence in the plural to avoid
the issue of gender
- Use gender-neutral nouns and pronouns

15. A. ELEMENTS OF STYLE (CONT.)
 Abbreviations and Acronyms
- The first time you use an abbreviation or
acronym in a document, spell it out.
 Lists
- Lists can save readers time
- Bulleted lists present a series of like items. -
- Numeric lists denote sequential items or items
ranked in importance.
- too many lists can overwhelm readers

16. A. ELEMENTS OF STYLE (CONT.)
 Sidebars
 Figures and Tables
 Cross-references
 Footnotes and Endnotes

17. A. ELEMENTS OF STYLE (CONT.)
 Redundancy
Instead of “Other significant features of the
program include expense reporting, detailed
payroll capture, time management modules,
and benefit features.”
Use “Other significant features of the
program include:
 • expense reporting
 • detailed payroll capture
 • time management modules

18. A. ELEMENTS OF STYLE (CONT.)
 Final Edit
To ensure a professional submission, leave
time for a final review of your document.

19. B. WASTED WORDS AND
PHRASES TO AVOID
 all of (replace with “all”)
 as to whether (replace with “whether”)
 at the present moment in time (replace with “now”)
 being that (replace with “since”)
 in order to (replace with “to”)
 irregardless (this is not a word; use “regardless” or
“irrespective” instead)
 necessitate (replace with “require”)
 utilize, utilization (replace with “use”)
 Capable – can
 The fact that – that

20. C. OFTEN-MISUSED WORDS AND
PHRASES
 A or An
 Affect versus Effect
 Alternate, Alternative
 Among versus Between
 And/Or
 Assure, Ensure, Insure
 E.g. versus i.e.
 Less versus Fewer
 Numbers
 Prepositions at the End of Sentence