COMM SKILLS 3

• Technical writing


  Writing on technical subjects, generally more difficult to communicate than everyday social issues
• Reasons why technical subject-matter is difficult to communicate

  • Audience's depth of knowledge in the subject-matter varies
  • The audience's familiarity with terminologies used
  • Abstractions, computations may be complex
  • Deficiencies in the writer's own knowledge level, depth and breadth
  • The writer's poor analytical prowess, low reasoning and problem-solving skills
  • Language or presentation deficiencies of the writer
  • The writer's assumptions arising from worldview and ethos
• Worldview


  The universe that a group constructs
• Ethos


  The values and dispositions that a group maintains
• Because of the relative difficulty to communicate technical issues, the golden rule in technical writing is: Keep your writing simple
• The use of simple language eases the communication of technical subject-matter
• Writing simply not only makes the understanding the content easier for the reader, it also makes your life as a technical writer easier and more effective
• Before writing


  1. Conceptualize your idea

  2. Ascertain the theme

  3. Know your audience

  4. Determine the context

  5. State the objective

  6. Write a topic outline
• Conceptualization


  Thoroughly thinking out an idea - what it is, its causes, effects, what affects it, how it behaves and changes, why it operates the way it does, why it does not operate in certain ways, how it interacts with humans or other systems, what causes it to remain constant or to change
• Theme


  The topic being analyzed, the main item around which all the writing will revolve
• Audiences


  • Primary audience
  • Secondary audience
  • External audience
  • Initial audience
• Understanding your audience


  • Education: literacy level, knowledge and skills
  • Occupation: specialization, expertise, opinions
  • Cultural background: Language, beliefs and values
  • Context: The social activity or situation in which the audience is participating
• Legibility


  The letters, words and graphics must be clearly seen
• Readability


  The writing must be simple to read, using simple language with good style to maintain readers' attention
• Comprehensibility


  The document follows a logical structure, with any topic discussed based on the preceding topics
• Context


  The socially-based activity or situation in which communication is occurring
• Objective


  The purpose of the report, stated in one clear, specific sentence
• Topic outline


  1. List the points to write about and sort them into logical groups

  2. Ensure every heading contributes to the objective

  3. Remove unnecessary or irrelevant points
• General/simple topic outline


  The topic list, showing the main headings and topics to be covered
• Detailed/structured topic outline


  Adds more specific points below the main headings, serves as a tool for guiding research and checking organization
• Other plans that may be incorporated into the structured topic outline

  • Numbering plan
  • Question plan
  • Sentence plan
  • Research plan
  • Time plan
• Functions of a topic outline

  • Puts ideas in order
  • Organizes writing
  • Avoids omission of relevant topics
  • Avoids inclusion of irrelevant topics
  • Makes ideas clear
  • Helps with research
  • Makes writing easier
  • Saves time