Lec-11 (An Introduction To Technical Report Writing)

An
Introduction
to
Technical Writing &
Presentation Skills
1
Objectives
You need to be able to:
• Know differences between academic and technical writing.
• Identify the characteristics of effective technical writing.
• Identify the steps in the writing process.
• Identify the components of good design.
• Identify the steps in organizing and writing instructions.
• Identify some tips to help your documents.
2
Academic vs. Technical Writing
Academic Technical
Purpose: Demonstrate what you Getting something done
know about a topic
Less than teacher who is More than the reader
Knowledge of
evaluating them
Topic:
Audience: Teacher Several People

Criteria for Depth, logic, clarity, unity Clear and simple
Evaluation: and grammar organization of ideas
3
What is Technical Writing?
“Technical writing is the art, craft, practice,
or problem of translating that which is
logical into that which is grammatical.
4
What is Technical Writing?
“Technical writing conveys specific information about a

technical subject to a specific audience for a specific
purpose…The 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.”
5
Characteristics of Effective
Technical Writing
The four C’s:

• Clarity -- it is easily understood by your intended
audience
• Comprehensiveness -- all of the necessary
information is present
• Conciseness -- it is clear without excess verbiage
• Correctness -- it is grammatical and follows
conventions
6
Theory of Design
Good design is:
1. Visually simple and uncluttered(orderly).

2. Highlights structure, hierarchy(according to their
importance), and order.
3. Helps readers find information they need.
7
Writing
• Write positive language.
• Don’t write in upper case for more than A WORD
OR TWO.
8
Writing (cont.)
• Use lists whenever possible.
• Use the title to define the task.
• Use headings and subheadings.
• Label segments(parts) in away that reflects how

readers are likely to think about the operation or
procedure.
9
The Written Report: Why?
• The medium for most technical communication is

the written report, so you had better be good at it!
10
Some characteristics of reports
1. Everybody hates to write them,

2. Everybody hates to read them,
3. Almost nobody does read them,
4. They take a HUGE amount of time to write,
5. They are absolutely CRUCIAL (extremely
important or necessary ) to YOUR success
in engineering!
11
Further characteristics of reports
They are also almost always:
6. Too long,
7. Badly organized,
8. Incomplete.
12
Basic Technical Overview
• Professionalism and ethics in reporting
• Knowing your audience
• Outline writing
• Report writing
13
Professionalism & ethics in reporting
• Different individuals have different

personalities, and different modes for
communicating.
• If you apply a canned(artificial) formula to your

technical communications, the result may be
awkward.
• Within the general structure of formal technical

communication, there is room for your
personality to show through.
14
Outline Your Writing Purpose
• Why am I presenting this work? What do I

want the audience to get out of this paper or
this presentation?
15
Write the Report, but how long?
• The length of your presentation - either written
or oral - is often dictated by others.
• With respect to oral presentations, you will

often find yourself up against a strict time limit:
 Be sure that you can get your take-home message
across without hurrying
• Hint: carefully rehearse your talk with a stop-

watch in hand…
16
Common Report Formats
There are a number of accepted formats for any
type of document that you write, but…
The commonly accepted standard for reports is

IMRaD - Introduction - Methods - Results - and
Discussion.
Note: Your reports do not necessarily need to

follow this format strictly, but should use this as a
guideline, and contain all of the information
discussed in.
17
• Objectives: Enhance language skills and develop critical thinking
• Course Contents
• Presentation skills
• Essay writing
• Descriptive, narrative, discursive, argumentative
• Academic writing
• How to write a proposal for research paper/term paper
• How to write a research paper/term paper (emphasis on style, content,
• language, form, clarity, consistency)
• Technical Report writing
• Progress report writing
• Note: Extensive reading is required for vocabulary building
18
Steps of formal report writing
• Use a template or in-house format if available
• Set out clearly the terms of reference, such as what the report is
about, why it is necessary, and who it is for
• Conduct your research and analyze data and record findings
• Create a report outline and write the first draft
• Use a title, introduction, paragraphs, subheadings, images,
conclusion, recommendations and appendices
• Write in a formal tone and avoid personal opinions or emotions
• Proofread your report and check for errors and clarity
19
20
21
THANK YOU
22

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An

Audience: Teacher Several People

“Technical writing conveys specific information about a

The four C’s:

Good design is:

1. Visually simple and uncluttered(orderly).

• Use the title to define the task.

• Use headings and subheadings.

• Label segments(parts) in away that reflects how

• The medium for most technical communication is

1. Everybody hates to write them,

They are also almost always:

• Professionalism and ethics in reporting

• Knowing your audience

• Different individuals have different

• If you apply a canned(artificial) formula to your

• Within the general structure of formal technical

• Why am I presenting this work? What do I

• With respect to oral presentations, you will

• Hint: carefully rehearse your talk with a stop-

The commonly accepted standard for reports is

Note: Your reports do not necessarily need to

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