Technical Writing Skills: Correspondence, Reports, Minutes of Meetings

Technical Writing Skills
Correspondence, Reports, Minutes of Meetings

Writing is really very
easy. Tap a vein and
bleed onto the page.
Everything else is
just technical.
Derrick Jensen.
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
Written communication is more than just being

about how to write well. It is about articulating
your ideas in a meaningful and easy-to-
understand way. Successful written
communication minimizes misunderstandings
and helps to keep the workplace running
smoothly.
What is Technical Writing?
• Communication written for and about
business and industry, focusing on
products and services, how to
manufacture them, manage them, deliver
them and use them.
What is Technical Writing?
• It is done in the work environment for
supervisors, colleagues, subordinates and
customers
• It is simplifying the complex
5 Components of Writing
Development -composition
-adding details to support the main idea
through information or illustrations
Grammar -system and structure of language
Organization -logical sequencing

-use of transitions
Style -word usage, sentencestucture,

paragraph length
Document Design -physical layout of the correspondence

Technical writing is written to a
different audience for a different
purpose than essays.
The reader of technical writing

does not have time, nor the interest
in the subject matter.
People read literature for pleasure,
essays for enlightenment and
journalism for news. People read
technical writing to accomplish a
job.
5 Traits of Technical Writing
1. Clarity
2. Conciseness
3. Accessible document design
4. Audience recognition
5. Accuracy
Clarity- being clearly understood
Who is the audience?Who will know what?
What do you want to do? What do you wan the audience to

do? What do you want to know?
When should the job be completed? When do you need the

answer? What’s the timetable?
Where is the meeting? Where will work take place?
How should the task be performed? What’s the procedure?

Clarity is achieved through specificity.
The government has invested a substantial

amount of money for Pantawid Pamilya.
In 2014, 60 billion pesos was invested for

Pantawid Pamilya implementation in
Region VI.
Conciseness- brief, uses
shortwords and sentences.
Conciseness- brief, uses
shortwords and sentences.
AVOID REDUNDANCY
Avoid prepositional
phrases
WORDY CONCISE
He drove at a rapid rate. He drove rapidly.

I will see you in the near I will see you soon.
future.
I am in receipt of your I received your email

email message requesting message requesting a
an increase in pay. pay raise.
Avoid prepositional phrases
1.6
Six foot seven
By midnight.
3 and 12.
16 GB
Example of fat writing found in a typical e-
mail
TO: All Employees
FROM:Brian Tinklenberg, Operation Manager
This is to inform you that a new Audi, gray in color, was

actually left by someone in the back parking. Due to the
to the fact that the car has continued to remain there for
several weeks and is still yet unclaimed, the company
has been given permission by the police to auction off the
car if we make a donation of the monies earned to some
type of charitable organization. If you are willing and
able to be in charge of the auction and to run the
subsequent committee, please stop in at this point in time
to take the time to discuss the most important and
essential elements of the auction proceedings.
A possible rewrite
Someone left a gray Audi in the back lot several

months ago. Because no one has claimed it , the
police have given us permission to auction it off.
We’ll donate the money raised to a charity. If you
would chair the committee to run the auction,
please see me.
Accessible Document Design
How is the document presented?
•Kdjfksdgkdgklbsdkvb BOLDFACE
•Ksbdvkfksdkfbsdkbfk italics
•Sdbfksdbkdsbkbsdkg
•bsdkbksdbksdbgksbd
Audience Recognition
Who is writing to whom?
Audience analysis: high tech? layman?
Accuracy
Proofread.
Use spellcheck.
Review (let it sit, reread, use peer evaluation.)
Read it aloud.
Read it backwards.
writeshop
How to write a business letter
How to write a business letter
HOW TO WRITE A BUSINESS LETTER
•Keep the letter brief and to the point.
•Do not use shortened verb forms write them out

(i.e. use ’do not ‘instead of ‘don't’).
•Always keep a copy of correspondence for future

reference.
Block Form

5 Hill Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53700
March 15, 2005
Ms. Helen Jones
President
Jones, Jones & Jones
123 International Lane
Boston, Massachusetts 01234
Dear Ms. Jones:

Ah, business letter format-there are block formats, and indented formats, and modified block formats . . . and
who knows what others. To simplify matters, we're demonstrating the block format on this page, one of the two
most common formats. For authoritative advice about all the variations, we highly recommend The Gregg
Reference Manual, 9th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001), a great reference tool for workplace
communications. There seems to be no consensus about such fine points as whether to skip a line after your
return address and before the date: some guidelines suggest that you do; others do not. Let's hope that your
business letter succeeds no matter which choice you make!
When you use the block form to write a business letter, all the information is typed flush left, with one-inch
margins all around. First provide your own address, then skip a line and provide the date, then skip one more
line and provide the inside address of the party to whom the letter is addressed. If you are using letterhead that
already provides your address, do not retype that information; just begin with the date. For formal letters, avoid
abbreviations where possible.
Skip another line before the salutation, which should be followed by a colon. Then write the body of your letter
as illustrated here, with no indentation at the beginnings of paragraphs. Skip lines between paragraphs.
After writing the body of the letter, type the closing, followed by a comma, leave 3 blank lines, then type your
name and title (if applicable), all flush left. Sign the letter in the blank space above your typed name. Now
doesn't that look professional?
Sincerely,

John Doe
Administrative Assistant
Indented Form

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Technical Writing Skills

Correspondence, Reports, Minutes of Meetings

Written communication is more than just being

Grammar -system and structure of language

Organization -logical sequencing

Style -word usage, sentencestucture,

Document Design -physical layout of the correspondence

The reader of technical writing

What do you want to do? What do you wan the audience to

When should the job be completed? When do you need the

Where is the meeting? Where will work take place?

How should the task be performed? What’s the procedure?

The government has invested a substantial

In 2014, 60 billion pesos was invested for

He drove at a rapid rate. He drove rapidly.

I am in receipt of your I received your email

Six foot seven

This is to inform you that a new Audi, gray in color, was

Someone left a gray Audi in the back lot several

•Keep the letter brief and to the point.

•Do not use shortened verb forms ­write them out

•Always keep a copy of correspondence for future

Dear Ms. Jones:

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•Do not use shortened verb forms write them out