Technical Writing and Presentation
(the art and science of knowledge engineering)
“The fundamental purpose of scientific discourse is
not the mere presentation of information and
thought but rather its actual communication. It does
not matter how pleased an author might be to have
converted all the right data into sentences and
paragraphs; it matters only whether a large majority
of the reading audience accurately perceives what
the author had in mind.”
George Gopen and Judith Swan The Science of Scientific Writing
What, Why, How?
Acquiring technical writing skills means the need to
accurately communicate thoughts, ideas, information,
and messages in writing; and create documents such as
letters, directions, specifications, manuals, reports,
presentations, graphs, flow charts, etc.
• Challenges
– What technical writing in schools prepare students for?
– Why technical writing is a good reflection for learners?
– How does technical writing compare to academic writing?
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Academic and Technical Writing
Academic Writing Technical Writing
Descriptive Job Description, Observation Report, Incident Report, CV,
Process Description, Book Review, Email Message, Webpage,
Memo, Agenda, Letter of Recommendation, Survey, Training
Manual, Meeting Minutes, Newsletter, Marketing Plan, Poster,
Brochure, Catalog.
Narrative Observation and/or Progress Report.
Analysis Performance Evaluation, Questionnaire, Cost Analysis, Critique,
Feasibility Study Report, Business Plan.
Cause and Effect Analytical, Product, Field Test Report.
Comparison Product Comparison, Feasibility Report.
Persuasive Proposal, Action Plan.
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What is Technical Writing?
• It is the type of everyday writing that surrounds us at home,
workplace, and community.
• Examples of technical writing may include:
– White papers
– Journal Articles
– Training Materials
– Instruction manuals
– Policy and procedure manuals
– Process manuals
– User manuals
– Reports of analysis and design
– Instructions for assembling and using a product
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Technical Writing for Engineers
• An engineer’s view is necessarily product-centric.
Here are few questions that helps in technical
writing:
– How has this feature been implemented?
– How does the user interact with this feature?
– What information does the user need before they using
this feature?
– What information does the user have after they using the
feature?
– Software: Does this feature involve any changes to the
product user interface (UI)?
– Software: Does this feature involve any changes to the
product application program interface (API)?
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What Makes Technical Writing Different?
• The information should be prepared, presented
and communicated in a certain format.
• The writing should be brief, clear and accurate.
• The writing task should take into consideration
the audience’s needs, biases, and prior
understanding.
• The writing task should present information to
help readers solve a problem or acquire a better
understanding of an issue.
• The writing should convey technical, or particular
information in a simple way that is easy for a non-
technical readers to understand.
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What Skills Students Need to Master Success
and Reflects Verbal and/or in Writing?
• Basic: Read; write; listen, speak, calculate.
• Thinking: creatively; make decisions; solve
Think
problems; visualize, reason.
• Personal Quality: Exhibit responsibility, self-
esteem, sociability, self-management, integrity, and
honesty.
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Technical Writing Ethics
• Language should clearly states who is responsible for what. ˆ
• Correctly represents all data ˆ
• Avoid language that could possibly mislead readers. ˆ
• Treat the views of others fairly and professionally. ˆ
• Clearly cites all sources used to write the report. ˆ
• All recommendations and conclusions should be supported by
facts. ˆ
• All judgments, recommendations, or comments should be
within the scope of the organization’s policies. ˆ
• Acknowledge and receive permission to use copyrighted
information.
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The Feedback Cycle of Technical Writing
At each stage there is the possibility of feedback
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Reflection
Technical Writing and Management Skills
Assume you are working for a company that is
rolling out a new piece of software. You are asked
to write an online help, a printed manual, a quick
start guide, and produce instructional videos for
training.
How are you going to accomplish all done?
Technical writers often need to manage multi tasks
at one period of time. Developing good project
management skills is as important in addition to
good writing skills. Time management also plays an
important role.
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