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/persuas
ive
Entertaining
4. Language Literal/denotative Figurative/connotati
ve
5. Style Impersonal personal
Technical Writing vs Literary Writing
POINTS 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
modifiers
constructing 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 readers 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