Technical and Business Writing

TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION IN THE WORKPLACE

CHAPTER: 1
 Technical and Business Writing
Text Book:
William S. Pfeiffer. Technical Communication: A Practical Approach 8th Edition
 Reference Books:
Gerald J. Alred, Walter E. Oliu, Charles T. Brusaw, The Business Writer's Handbook 10th
Edition
Mike Markel, Technical Communication 10th Edition
Course Evaluation Criteria

Assessment Item Weight (%)

Assignments 10
Quizzes 5
Formal Report 5
Mid Exam 30
Final Exam 50
Technical communication is the exchange of information that helps people
interact with technology and solve complex problems.

Think about the following tasks:

• Assemble an exercise machine
• Install a new microwave, printer
• Find an answer related to safety of a flu
shot
• Make a decision about offshore investment
Features Purpose Writer’s Audience Criteria of Graphic
Knowledge of Evaluation Elements
Topic

Academic Communicating Less than the The teacher Depth, logic, Sometimes
Writing what the student teacher who who assigned clarity, unity, used to
knows about the evaluates the the project or supporting explain and
topic to earn a writing classmates evidence, and persuade
high grade grammar

Workplace Getting something Usually more Often several Clear content Frequently
Writing done within an than the people with organization, used to help
organization reader’s differing appropriate to readers find
knowledge professional the needs of information
backgrounds busy readers and
understand
ideas
• At workplace we are both the consumers and producers of technical
communication
o Medical professionals, psychologist, social worker or accountant, keep precise
records that are increasingly, a basis of legal action
o Scientist report on research and explain its significance
o Managers write memos, personnel evaluation, inspection reports and given oral
presentations
o Lab or service technicians keep daily activity records and help train coworkers in
installing, using or servicing equipment
o An attorney will research and interpret the law of clients

• We write and communicate through digital tools more than ever

• We often forget to pay attention to basic professional standards for
workplace communication
Features of Technical Writing

1. Contextualized (context based/ situation oriented)

2. Purposeful (objective)
3. Directional (specific audience)
4. Realistic (factual and verifiable)
5. Outcome-based (achieves targets)
6. Interdisciplinary (multiple fields)
An Effective Technical Document
THINGS TO CONSIDER
 Q1. Am I writing primarily to create a record or provide
information, to request or to persuade?
Purpose of Technical Writing
People in the working world communicate technical information for a number of
purposes, many of which fall into one of two categories:
• To help others learn about a subject, carry out a task, or make a decision.
• To reinforce or change attitudes and motivate readers to take action.

TW is done by an informed writer conveying needed information to an

uninformed reader.
 Q2. Who will read what I have written?
 Supervisors and their Superiors
 Colleagues in your own department
 Subordinates in your department
 Employees and other departments or branches
 Clients
 Subcontractors and vendors Audience of
 Professors/ Members of selection committees
 HR Manager
Technical
Writing
 Correspondence

TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS
Memos to your boss and to your subordinates
Routine letters to customers, vendors, etc.
Letters to customers
Sales letters to potential customers
Electronic mail to co-workers or customers
Short Reports
Analysis of problem
Recommendation
Equipment Evaluation
Progress or periodic report
Description of results of a laboratory work or a company trip
Long Reports
Project report in field or laboratory work
Proposal and Feasibility study
Other Examples
Abstract or summary of technical articles
Technical article or presentation
Operation manual
Website
 Q3. Is your tone appropriate to your purpose and your intended
audience?
Tone in Technical Writing
Tone refers to the writer’s attitude/ emotional character towards the reader and the
subject of the message.

Factual Usually serious to a lighter tone

Neutral Appropriate to the target audience
Sincere Avoids a strong emotion
Non-discriminative Avoid streotyping
 Tone in Technical Writing
• Polite tone (especially those who outrank you)
• Don’t sound too tough or demanding about potentially sensitive issues.
• Phrase your sentences in a nonthreatening way
• Emphasize the reader’s viewpoint – the “you” approach

Writer-centered Perspective Reader-centered Perspective

If I can answer any questions, I’ll be happy to If you have any questions, please ask.
do so.
We shipped the order this morning Your order was shipped this morning.
You’ll be glad to know that . . .
I’m happy to report that . . .
EXAMPLE 1.
EXAMPLE 2.
 Negative Wording Positive Wording
We cannot process your claim Your claim can be processed as
because the necessary forms soon as you complete the
have not been completed necessary forms.
We do not take phone call after You may reach us by telephone
3:00 PM on Fridays on Fridays until 3 PM.
We closed your case because we Your case will be reactivated as
never received the information soon as you provide the
requested in our letter of April 2. information requested in out
April 2 letter.
 Positive Language
What are the possible alternatives of “no problem” to make your readers feel
positive?

o You are welcome/You're welcome.

o It was my pleasure/My pleasure.
o We're here to help!
o Thank you!
o Thanks for asking about our ...
o Thanks for the question, which helped me update our instructions.
o I'm glad to hear I helped.
o Thanks for letting me know I was helpful.
o Nice to know I helped.
o We appreciate your business.
o We appreciate your business, and I'm here to help.
A suggested revision
of letter’s opening
paragraph:

Thank you for

purchasing our
product and for
taking time to
contact us about it.
We apologize for the
unsatisfactory
condition of your
Superior microwave
dinner.
EXAMPLE 4.
Politeness
Paragraph-breaks
segment the content

Polite closing and

offer of assistance
reinforce positive
tone
 Task 1.
Locate an example of technical communication, such as users guide, manual, or a document
borrowed from a family member or an acquaintance who works, and prepare a brief
analysis in which you explain:
1) The purpose for which the piece was written
2) The apparent readers and their needs
3) The way in which the examples differ from typical academic writing
4) The relative success with which the piece conveys the message (organization, special
features of technical writing)
Ethics and Culture
Ethics Guidelines at Work

■ Be honest
■ Do no harm
■ Be fair
■ Honor intellectual property rights
■ Respect confidentiality
■ Be professional
Documents should pass the ETHICS test.

The online Encyclopedia Britannica

defines ethics as “the discipline
concerned with what is morally good
and bad, right and wrong.”
“our product is just what you need”

“our artificial sweetener is composed of proteins that occur naturally in the

human body [amino acids].”

“our Krunchy Cookies contain no cholesterol”

Such claims are technically
accurate but misleading.

Amino acids in certain sweeteners can alter body chemistry and cause headaches,
seizures and possible brain tumors
Processed food snacks often contain saturated fat and trans fats, from which liver
produces cholesterol

In addition to being informative and persuasive, communicators must be ethical.

 Meaning Examples
Suppression of Burying to data to hide inconvenient truths A company fails to reveal product-testing results that indicate
Information potential danger to consumers
Falsification or Changing or inventing data to support a A company boasts of a fictitious enterprise to lure investors
fabrication desired outcome into supporting a new venture
Overstatement Exaggerating the positive aspects of a A public-opinion survey describes 55 percent of the
or situation of downplaying negative aspects to respondents as a “substantial majority” and 45 percent as “a
understatement create the desired impression small percentage”
Selective Deleting words from quoted material to A supervisor changes a report’s conclusion that “this
misquoting distort meaning proposal will seem feasible only to workers unfamiliar with
the situation” to “this proposal will seem feasible.. to
workers”
Subjective Using terms deliberately chosen for their A company advertises “customary service charges”, knowing
Wording ambiguity that “customary” is open to broad interpretation.

Conflict of Exploiting behind-the-scenes connections to A board member of a community agency encourages the
interest influence decision-making agency to hire her company for paid services rather than
soliciting bids
Withholding Refusing to share relevant data with A computer-savvy employee provides misleading answers
information coworkers about new software to make recently hired coworker appear
incompetent
Plagiarism Taking credit for someone else’s ideas, An employee assigned to prepare a report written by
findings someone at another company, downloaded from internet
 “Just do or say
“Can you rework these
whatever it
findings to make them
takes to get the
sound better.”
job done.”

“We will be “This mistake

A writer’s will cost us a
counting on you to
be a team player.”
ethical values fortune – if
word gets out..”

“Don’t put it in
“We didn’t have writing.”
this conversation.”
Case Study
Just as your automobile company is about to unveil its new pickup
truck, your safety engineering team discovers that the reserve gas tanks
(installed beneath the truck but outside the frame) may, in rare
circumstances, explode on impact form aside collision. You know that
this information should be included in the owner’s manual or at a
maximum. In a letter to the truck dealers. But the company has spent a
fortune building this truck and does not want to hear about this
problem.

What will you do in this situation?

Being CULTURALLY sensitive while
writing…
 Culture and its Impact on Communication

“Our accumulated knowledge and experiences, beliefs and values,

attitudes and roles – in other words, our cultures – shape us as
individuals and differentiate us as people… Most important for
communicators, our cultures manifest themselves in our information
needs and our styles of communication… our expectations as to how
information should be organized, what should be included in its
content, and how it should be expressed.”
(Culture and Communication, Robert G. Hein)
An effective communication style in one culture may be offensive elsewhere.

For example, a survey of top international executives reveals the following attitudes
towards U.S. communication style (Wandycz):

Latin America” “Americans are too straightforward, too direct..”

East Europe “An imperial tone… it’s always about how [Americans] know best.”

Southeast Asia “To get my respect, American business [people] should know
something about [our culture]. But they don’t.”

Western “Americans miss the small points.”

Europe
Central Europe “Americans tend to oversell themselves.”
North American business culture is accustomed to plain talk” that gets
right to the point

Eastern cultures consider it rude, preferring indirect, more ambiguous

messages, leaving interpretation up to the reader

In certain cultures like Far East and Middle East Asia, even disagreement
or refusal might be expressed as “We will do our best” or “This is very
difficult” instead on “No” – to avoid offending and to preserve harmony.

Consider how cultural differences might create misunderstanding in your situation,

and seek an approach that bridges these differences.
 Strategies for Communicating
Internationally
1. Be flexible
2. Be non-judgemental about the business at hand
3. Be tolerant of ambiguity
4. Be respectful
5. Be non-judgemental about personal beliefs
6. Be empathic
7. Be able to take turns

In an intercultural communication settings, it is all too easy to become trapped

by invisible walls or barriers to communication. Although these walls are hard
to perceive, they are not imaginary. The only way to “escape” is to learn to see
them and avoid making the communication mistakes that come from them.
Task 2. Introductory Email to Instructor
I want to know more about you, your motivation for taking this course, your
career goals, and your writing skills.
• See, P. 167 – 172 , (Technical Communication, Pfeiffer) for guidance.
• Send an email to [email protected] by 5 PM on Friday, 26th August
2022.
• Include an appropriate subject in the subject line.
• The email should concisely describe the following:
o Your course goals for the semester
o A description of your employment, if any, and your favorite activities
o An assessment of your current communication skills, including strengths and weaknesses
o Let me know if you have any teacher pet peeves
Grading Rubric for Email
• Did you email the assignment to [email protected] by 5PM,
Friday, August 26, 2022?
• Did you summarize the main idea in the subject line?
• Was the appropriate salutation included?
• Did the body concisely describe each of the required components?
• Was the body organized into paragraphs so it was easy to read quickly?
• Did the email end with a summary or closing thought?
• Did you include full contact information after your name?
• Was the email free of any grammatical errors or typos?
Network etiquette, is the contemporary term for the proper way we
communicate and interact with each other using email over the Internet. Lets
look at the Yale University’s guidelines for sending and responding to emails:
• Review your organization’s policy regarding the appropriate use of e-mail.

• Maintain a high level of professionalism in your use of e-mail.

Do not forward jokes or spam, discuss office gossip, or use biased language.
Do not send flames (e-mails that contain abusive, obscene, or derogatory language) to attack someone.
Do not use clever or hobby-related e-mail usernames (sushilover@ domain.com); instead use, e.g.
[email protected].
Do not use emoticons

• Provide a subject line that describes the topic and focus of your message.
• Adapt forwarded messages: revise the subject line to reflect the current content and cut irrelevant
previous text, based on your purpose and context.
• Use the “cc:” (courtesy copy) address line thoughtfully to keep others informed and follow your
organization’s practice or protocol for copying messages to others.
• Include a cover message for all e-mail messages with attachments (“Attached is a copy of my
budget proposal for your review. . . .”).
• Do not write in ALL UPPERCASE LETTERS or in all lowercase letters.
• Avoid abbreviations (BTW for by the way) used in personal e-mail, chat rooms, and text messaging.
 STRUCTURE
Technical Writing
 ABC Format
• Abstract: A brief beginning component is represented
by the narrow top of the diamond, which leads into
the body.
• Body: The longer middle component is represented by
the broad, expansive portion of the diamond figure.
• Conclusion: A brief ending component is represented
by the narrow bottom of the diamond, which leads
away from the body.
References
• S. Pfeiffer, William George. Technical Writing: A Practical Approach
(Pearson), 2012
• Lannon & Gurak, Technical Communication., 14th Edition, 2016