Technical Writing Informational Report

1 Corey Dressel

THE PRINCIPLES OF TECHNICAL WRITING

Designing technical documents requires a writer to think about organization, purpose, audience, and aesthetics. A documents organization and coherence can be enhanced by making decisions about page layout and text structures. As Kramer and Bernhardt say, The challenge of design becomes an issue of how to lead readers into documents and how to direct their reading processes once the document has their attention (Teaching Text Design 263). Technical documents are produced by technical professionals (engineers and accountants), who generate the content for the document as well as write the documents, and technical communicators (generally called technical writers or tech writers), who create much of the material considered technical communication.

WHAT IS TECHNICAL WRITING?

There are six major characteristics found in almost all technical writing that help to define what constitutes a technical document:
1. Addresses particular readers 2. Helps readers solve problems 3. Reflects an organizations goals and culture 4. Collaborative use of acquired information and good writing skills 5. Uses design to increase readability
6.

Consists of words or graphics or both

In addition, all technical writers need to maintain eight measures of excellence in their technical documents. Failure to adhere to even one of these compromises the credibility of the information, the writer, and ultimately the organization. The eight measures of excellence include:
1. Honesty: tells the truth and never intentionally misleads the reader. 2. Clarity: conveys a single easily understood meaning. 3. Accuracy: includes only ethically accurate facts. 4. Comprehensiveness: includes all the information the reader needs. 5. Accessibility: designed so that the information is easily accessed. 6. Conciseness: conveys the information economically. 7. Professional appearance: created in a professional, well designed manner. 8. Correctness: maintains proper grammar, punctuation, spelling, mechanics, and usage.

Technical Writing Informational Report

2 Corey Dressel

WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN WRITING TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS

TEXT STRUCTURES
Writers need to consider the following text structures when designing a technical document:
See the page as a grid: The grid is a way of organizing information Readers need this for readability Use active whitespace: Acts as a stylistic tool Can be either active or passive Passive is accidental Active is intentional Use text structures to guide the reader: Margins, justification, and indentation Tabs and columns Headers and footers Headings Lists Create a typeset look through appropriate use of proportional fonts and spacing: Controlling line length, leading, and kerning Understanding the face of type: typography (font types) Control the document through features such as style definitions: Type styling Bold, italic, caps, small caps, underline, doubleunderlined, shadow, strikethrough, and hidden Choosing for Function: display/body/legibility

CROSS-CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS
Here are some helpful guidelines as you write:

Limit your vocabulary: every word should have only one meaning. Keep sentences short: aim for no more than 20 words. Define abbreviations and acronyms in a glossary. Avoid jargon unless you know your readers are familiar with it. Avoid idioms and slang. Use the active voice whenever possible as this is easier for non-English speakers to understand. Be careful with graphics. Be sure someone from the culture reviews your document.