English 3: Technical Writing for BSIT

1. Karen A. Carbungco
ENG3:
TECHNICAL
WRITING

2. is a type of writing where the author
is writing about a particular subject
that requires direction, instruction,
or explanation. This style of writing
has a very different purpose and
different characteristics than other
writing styles such as creative
writing, academic writing or business
writing.
WHAT IS TECHNICAL WRITING?

3. Technical writing transfers
information about a situation,
product, service, or concept, by
written, oral, or visual means, to
audiences of varying levels of
technical knowledge, so that
each member of the audience
clearly understands the message.

4. Transfers information, utilitarian or
occupational, employing appropriate
vocabularies and styles is related to the
workplace.
Seeks to produce action/reaction in or
for a clearly defined audience
Seeks to approach a single meaning.
WHAT DOES TECHNICAL WRITING
DO?

5. Is practical writing done in response to a request,
an invitation, or a need, for a specific named
audience
Has optimal readability and special packaging
Uses effective language to encourage productive
relationships between technologies and their
users
Presents information within the world of work for
a specific audience, purpose, and application.
from the Institute of Technical Communication
(workshop) June, 1998

6. W - Width
(to what extent)
extent or scope of the letter,
article or report
helps the writer to set the limits of
his writing
WRITING PARADIGM

7. R - Register
(what language)
based on the type of reader/s whom the
writer expects to read
e.g. of languages:
group of audience - medicalese
company of lawyers - legalese
computer specialists - computerese
accountants/auditors - commercialese

8. I - Intention
(why)
writer must have a single purpose:
to inform
to entertain
to persuade
must be guided by such purpose

9. T - Tenor
(what tone)
must be singular tone
jubilant
sad
optimistic
depends upon:
occasion
circumstances
attitude of the speaker

10. I - Information
(what)
mostly are informative
entertaining and persuasive
business communication
has bits of information to offer

11. N - Needs of the Audience (what
needs/whose needs)
not to impress, but to express
adapts writing to ones audience
does not brag about all that you
know, but in a manner to provide
what the audience needs

12. G – Genre (which kind)
expository - explains
e.g. business report
descriptive - characterizes
e.g. product's specifications
narrative - tells a story
e.g. firm's history
argumentative - convinces or actuates
e.g. print advertisement

13. Qualities of a
Technical
Writer

14. If you really want to succeed as a
technical writer you should be skilled
in information architecture and
design, typography, training material
development, illustration etc. A good
writer should always show his
expertise in writing technical
documents and reports.
SOLID WRITING CAPABILITY

15. Usually to become a content
writer you need to have a
Technical Writing Certification or
at least Bachelor’s or Master’s
degree on Computer Science,
Creative Writing, English,
Journalism, Chemistry or
Engineering.
TRAINING

16. You should be able to convey your
message in short. The more precise your
content the more people will consider it
to be an effective one. Sometimes,
technical contents are meant for non-
technical people. In that case the writer
must try to understand what the people
are looking for and which approach will
best suit their purpose.
LANGUAGE SKILLS

17. A good writer must have the
ability to teach and lead the
readers. Thus, through their
write-up they should make
them understand what you
are trying to say.
TEACHING SKILLS

18. While writing you
should always
concentrate or else,
the writing flow may
get disturbed.
CONCENTRATION ABILITY

19. Technical writers need to interact
with different people like, editors,
project managers, web designers,
graphic designers, clients, subject
matter experts, engineers,
photographers, accountants,
programmers as well as marketers.
This is why; they should have good
communicating skill.
INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

20. Never react rudely if someone
criticizes you. Sometimes, clients
and editors may give negative
feedback but take it lightly. Often
they may ask you to rewrite and
force you to write according to
their instructions. But try to avoid
opposing them.
TAKE CRITICISM LIGHTLY

21. While working they
should maintain
professionalism and
should handle the
occupational hazards
with dignity.
PROFESSIONALISM

22. The more you will work,
the more you will acquire
knowledge from the
relevant domain and you
will get accustomed with
different terminologies.
EXPERIENCED

23. TECHNICAL VS CREATIVE WRITING

24. METHODS OF
FORMING WORDS
OR CREATING
JARGON

25. 1) A new word is created (neologism)
2) A word/jargon is borrowed from
another jargon-group (jargon blending)
3) A word is appropriated from common
language (strictly speaking, this is
variation of 2 above).
HOW IS A JARGON FORMED? THERE ARE
THREE TYPICAL METHODS:

26. The easiest way to create a jargon is to
create a new word. Creating a new word
allows you to say, “This is our word. It
belongs to our jargon-group. Only those
within this group can understand the
meaning of this word; conversely,
understanding this word is a necessary
process in becoming a part of this group.
Once an individual is a part of this group,
only then may that person engage in a
debate about the meaning of this jargon.”
THE JARGON FORMATION/CREATION
PROCESS, TYPE 1: NEOLOGISMS

27. Another way of thinking about this
statement is to recognize that learning
jargons is part of the jargon-initiation
process. As we learn a jargon, we
simultaneously become enmeshed
within that jargon-group (you can’t
learn a jargon without stepping into
the jargon-group that uses that
jargon–the two processes go hand-in-
hand).

28. Another way to form a jargon is to borrow
a jargon that is already being used by
another jargon-group. Inevitably, this
appropriation creates:
1) confusion (for those standing outside the
two or more groups)
2) a battle between the two (or more) jargon-
groups for the “true meaning” of the jargon
(sometimes this battle is implicit, but it
almost always eventually becomes explicit).
TYPE 2: JARGON
APPROPRIATION/BORROWING

29.  There are a variety of reasons as to why jargon
borrowing takes place; however, it should be said
that the most common reason is the ease of using a
term that is already established. Sometimes it’s just
easier to use a word that people already know, rather
than getting people to accept and understand a new,
“made up” word. Most often, jargons are borrowed
to be used as metaphors (to give a brief example, the
jargons “bug” (a biological jargon) and “virus” (a
medical/biological jargon) are borrowed by the
computer jargon-group because, via metaphor, they
help users to picture how these computer programs
work–more on this later).

30. The third (and most difficult) jargon-
formation method is to borrow a common-
language word. While this method is
common, it is, in fact, much more visible in
its “reversed” form. In other words, it’s
much more common to see a highly
specialized jargon to become popularized,
so that it eventually becomes a part of
common language (which process,
eventually, causes the jargon to lost its
force within its original jargon-group).
TYPE 3: COMMON LANGUAGE
SIPHONING

31. Borrowing a common language term can be
quite difficult for a jargon-group, because it
inevitably causes confusion (“Wait, did you
mean–?”). So, when following this method,
jargon-groups must develop ways in which
to counter this confusion. A common
example is the use of a physical zone.
When individuals enter this zone, they
know to “switch” from common-language
use to jargon-group use.

32. The classic example of such a zone is
a hospital. Hospitals use common-
language words with specialized
jargon meanings. So, when a nurse
(for example) enters the hospital
building, automatically, she knows
(without even thinking about it), that
those common language words will be
used now in the medical-jargon
meaning.

33. The physical process of entering
the hospital building is a
reminder of “jargon switching.”
Likewise, when she leaves the
hospital building, she knows that
the common language usage will
now have to be used.