Technical Writing PW Lec. 1 Handouts

4/24/2016
Ain Shams University

Faculty of Engineering
Public Works Department 4th Year
Technical Report Writing

HUMx12
Lecture (1)
Technical Writing and Types of Technical
Reports
by
Dr. Ahmed Balah

Irrigation and Hydraulics Dept., Faculty of Engineering, ASU
Based on the lectures of
Prof. Dr. Aly N. El-Bahrawy (Irrigation and Hydraulics Dept., Faculty of Engineering, ASU)
Dr. Marwa A. Khalifa (Urban Design and Planning Dept., Faculty of Engineering, ASU)
Technical Writing and Types of Technical Reports
Technical Writing - Lecture 1
Typical Engineers
Day
4/24/2016
How Engineers Spend Their Time:

Early Career
25 50%
25-50%
Engineering: Designing,
Designing measuring
measuring,
calculating, problem-solving
50-75%
Communicating: Writing reports,

letters, memos, proposals; giving
presentations, talking to colleagues
and bosses and customers and clients
Performance evaluation and job advancement

usually depend more on communication skills than
on technical skills.
How Engineers Spend Their Time:

Later Career
5-10%
5
10%
Engineering: Problem Solving
90-95%
Communicating: Writing reports,

letters, memos, proposals; giving
presentations, talking to colleagues
and bosses and customers and clients
As you advance in your career, even more of your

time is spent communicating rather than
calculating.
4
4/24/2016
Engineers and Writing

Engineers write a lot
Engineers
E i
write
it many ki
kinds
d off d
documents
t
Successful engineers require strong
writing skills
Engineers can learn to write well
There is no such thing as good writing.

There is only good rewriting
5
Types of Writing
1 PERSONAL..email,
1.
PERSONAL
email letter
2. CREATIVEnovel, article
p p , thesis
3. ACADEMIC...paper,
4. TECHNICAL.manual, report
6
4/24/2016
Academic vs. Technical Writing

P
Purpose:
Academic
Technical
D
Demonstrate
what
h you kknow Getting
G i something
hi d
done
about a topic
Equal to or Less than peer
reviewers
More than the reader
Audience:
Academia (Researchers)
Professionals and Public
Criteria for
Evaluation:
Depth,
p , logic,
g , clarity,
y, unityy
and grammar
p
Clear and simple
organization of ideas
Knowledge of
Topic:
What is Technical Writing?

Technical writing conveys specific information about a
t h i l subject
technical
bj t to
t a specific
ifi audience
di
f a specific
for
ifi
purposeThe words and graphics of technical writing
are meant to be practical: that is, to communicate a body
of factual information that will help an audience
understand a subject or carry out a task.
- Michael H. Markel
Director of Technical Communication, Boise State University
4/24/2016
Noise and the Communication Process
Encoder
(sender)
Channel
(speech,
writing,
etc.)
Message
Message
Noise possibilities
Decoder
(receiver)
N i possibilities
Noise
ibiliti
Anything that causes reader to hesitate due to
uncertainty, confusion or frustration
is noise
9
Technical Writing Process

Planning
Drafting
Reviewing
Purpose
M h i
Mechanics
Readers/
Receivers
Grammar
Research
Style
Initial
Draft
Outline
Content
10
4/24/2016
Many Kinds of Documents
..What about Text Books, Papers and Theses ??

11
Common Engineering
Documents
Wh
Whatt used
d to
t be
b done
d
b
by secretaries
t i
must now be done or managed by the
performing engineer taken from Joan Nagel
Names of common type
yp of reports
p
vary
y
considerably, but their contents combine in
different ways.
12
4/24/2016
Types of Reports (1)

Inspection or trip report
Briefly report on the inspection of a site,
summarize a business trip, or report on an
accident
Laboratory and field report

Report
p on an experiment,
p
test or survey,
y
present data and discuss theory, method,
procedure, etc.
13

Specifications
Provide detailed requirement for a product:
design, function, operation and construction
Proposals
Seek a contract, approval, funding, or a bid to
get hired to do a p
g
project
j
Progress report
Summarize how your project is going
14
4/24/2016

Instructions
Explain how to perform a certain task, provide
procedures on using equipment
Recommendation reports
Study a situation or problem, report on
various alternatives or options,
p
recommend
the best one
15
Some Preliminaries (1)

Be creative about content and organization
No perfect fit for real
real-world
world report projects
Build on the needs of your audience

Sometimes you must write for different audiences
within the same report
Be careful with Technical Background

Consider what readers may need help with
16
4/24/2016
Some Preliminaries (2)

Be careful with introduction, it
announces the topic

alludes to the situation for writing the report
indicates what is needed to understand the report
provides a brief overview of the topics covered
Dont dive right into the main subject matter
17
Inspection and Trip Reports

Trip reports
Discuss events,
events findings and other aspects
Investigation or accident reports

Describe findings for a problem, explore causes,
consequences and how to avoid it
Inspection of site reports

Report observation of facility
facility, property
property, installation of
equipment; describe and evaluate
18
4/24/2016

Contents and Organization
Introduction
Indicate purpose of report, provide brief overview
of its contents
Background
Explain context of the report: why, who, what is the
situation time
situation,
time, date and place
Factual discussion
Combination of description and narration of facility,
what happened, where, and with whom
19

Actions taken
Contain a step-by-step discussion of how you
determined and corrected the problem
Interpretive, evaluative or advisory discussion
20
10
4/24/2016
21
Laboratory and Field Reports

Introduction
Indicate purpose of report and provide overview of
contents
Background
Enable readers to understand why you are doing
this work
Literature review
Discuss research literature related to your project
22
11
4/24/2016

Theory, methods, procedures and equipment
Discuss common thinking, explain your method,
procedures, equipment and facilities
Observations, data, findings or results

Collect, organize and present data, use tables,
graphs or charts
Conclusions
Draw conclusions based on data and explain why
they are valid
23

Implications and further research
Explore implications, outline further research
possibilities
Information sources
List information sources used
Format
Memorandum or formal report
24
12
4/24/2016
25
Specifications
Particular style, format and organization
Two columns lists or tables
Sentence style specification
Open/performance (what component do), or
closed/restrictive (what it consists of) style
Cross-reference not repeating
Use specific
p
concrete language
g g
Numerical specifications in words and symbols
26
13
4/24/2016
Specifications
Contents and organization
General description
Part by part description
General to specific (whenever applicable)
27
28
14
4/24/2016
29
Proposals
Types of proposals
Whether the recipient requested them
Solicited
Unsolicited
The occurrence context

Internal
External
30
15
4/24/2016
Proposals
Contents and organization
Introduction
State the purpose and give an overview of the contents
Background
Discuss the problem or opportunity
Demonstrate your full understanding
Actual proposal statement

State clearly what you offer and what you don
dontt
Description of the work product

Describe the results of the work
Benefits and feasibility

31
Proposals
Method or approach
pp
Explain how to plan to go about the project
Qualifications and references

List key qualifications
Schedule
Timeline for major milestones
Costs
Detail various expenses involved
Conclusion
Urge recipient to consider your proposal
32
16
4/24/2016
Proposals
Format
Memorandum
Short, within your company, use headings
Business-letter
Short, outside your company, use headings
Separate
p
p
proposal
p
with cover memo
Long (gt 4 pages), within your company, reviewers
Separate proposal with cover letter

Long, outside your company, reviewers
33
34
17
4/24/2016
Progress Reports
Introduction
Purpose of topic, intended audience, overview of contents
Project description
Summarize details like purpose, scope, start and completion
dates, suppliers and clients
Progress
g
summary
y
Discuss what is completed, in progress and remaining
Three approaches: Time period, Project tasks, combined
35
Progress Reports
Problems encountered
Changes in requirements
Overall assessment of the project
Other sections
Financial data
Results of product testing
Frequency of Progress Reports

Typically, at the end of every month or every quarter
Schedule established by supervisors/clients
The larger the project the more formal the report
36
18
4/24/2016
Progress Reports
Format
Can be lengthy for large projects
Formal elements include
Title page
Table of contents
Abstract
Appendices
37
38
19
4/24/2016
Recommendation Reports
Some Distinctions
Recommendation reports
Evaluation reports
Feasibility reports
Proposals

Background on the situation
Requirements
Technical background
39
Recommendation Reports
Description
Point-by-point comparisons
Conclusions (Summary)
Recommendations
Graphics in Recommendation Reports
40
20
4/24/2016
41
42
21
4/24/2016
Questions ?
43
22

Technical Writing PW Lec. 1 Handouts

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Descrizione originale:

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Technical Writing PW Lec. 1 Handouts

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

4/24/2016

Ain Shams University

Technical Report Writing

Dr. Ahmed Balah

Technical Writing and Types of Technical Reports

Technical Writing - Lecture 1

Technical Writing and Types of Technical Reports

Technical Writing - Lecture 1

How Engineers Spend Their Time:

Communicating: Writing reports,

Performance evaluation and job advancement

Technical Writing and Types of Technical Reports

Technical Writing - Lecture 1

How Engineers Spend Their Time:

Engineering: Problem Solving

Communicating: Writing reports,

As you advance in your career, even more of your

Technical Writing and Types of Technical Reports

Technical Writing - Lecture 1

Engineers and Writing

There is no such thing as good writing.

Technical Writing and Types of Technical Reports

Technical Writing - Lecture 1

Technical Writing and Types of Technical Reports

Technical Writing - Lecture 1

Academic vs. Technical Writing

More than the reader

Professionals and Public

Technical Writing and Types of Technical Reports

Technical Writing - Lecture 1

What is Technical Writing?

Technical Writing and Types of Technical Reports

Technical Writing - Lecture 1

Noise and the Communication Process

Technical Writing and Types of Technical Reports

Technical Writing - Lecture 1

Technical Writing Process

Technical Writing and Types of Technical Reports

Technical Writing - Lecture 1

Many Kinds of Documents

..What about Text Books, Papers and Theses ??

Technical Writing and Types of Technical Reports

Technical Writing - Lecture 1

Technical Writing and Types of Technical Reports

Technical Writing - Lecture 1

Types of Reports (1)

Laboratory and field report

Technical Writing and Types of Technical Reports

Technical Writing - Lecture 1

Types of Reports (2)

Technical Writing and Types of Technical Reports

Technical Writing - Lecture 1

Types of Reports (3)

Technical Writing and Types of Technical Reports

Technical Writing - Lecture 1

Some Preliminaries (1)

Build on the needs of your audience

Be careful with Technical Background

Technical Writing and Types of Technical Reports

Technical Writing - Lecture 1

Some Preliminaries (2)

announces the topic

Dont dive right into the main subject matter