HOW TO COMMUNICATE TECHNICAL INFORMATION????

INTRODUCTION

Technical CommunicationTechnical Writing

INTRODUCTION TO TECH. COMM.

Communication means writing, speaking, and showing visuals to other people, as well as listening to and observing others and reading their work.

These two productive skills are seen as the most daunting tasks by most of us. Nevertheless, writing and speaking well are critical for the success of an engineer.

Many surveys have proved the importance of good communication skills for engineering careers.

Most graduate engineers forget that apart from communicating with fellow engineers, they also need to communicate with non-technical audience – managers & administrators who, most of the time, make the decision in a company or organisation.

Engineers must communicate with listeners and readers from a variety of educational and professional backgrounds. Each of these audiences has different needs when reading the documents written by the engineers.

THE RELEVANCE OF TECH. COMM.

Types Examples

Letters and memos

inquiry letter, complaint letter etc.

Advertising & promotional materials

magazine advertisements, business cards, brochures, pamphlets, leaflets etc.

Documents annual reports, operating and repair manuals, parking tickets etc.

Oral communication

presenting a new product, informally explaining etc.

Sabtain AfzalMME-10M-32

CHARACTERISTICS OF TECH. COMM.

Necessity for a specific audienceAudience driven: respond to a specific audience’s needs

eg.: Writing a memo, a letter or a report

The use of visual elements Illustrations: diagrams, headings, font types and size pictures etc.

Ease of selective accessBecause readers have other demands, they may have little time to read.

So, the presentation of information should be easy to understand or catchy, for example, the use of headings, important words in an advertisement.

Has time limit (timeliness)The useful life of technical communication is relatively short.

Structure Ideas are presented in the shortest manner, for example,

a word for advertisement. Direct and simple Some ungrammatical structures are allowed, for

example, you may begin a sentence with “and” or “but”.

INTRODUCTION TO TECH. WRITING What are the differences that you can identify from both

excerpts?

Which can be considered as a part of tech. writing?

Time is a river flowing from nowhere through which everything and everyone move forward to meet their fate.

Time is a convention of measurement based on the microwave spectral line emitted by cesium atoms with an atomic weight of 133 and an integral frequency of 9,192,631,770 hertz.

Zeeshan HameedMME-09M-35

WHAT IS TECHNICAL WRITING?

PreciseObjectiveDirectClearly defined

CHARACTERISTICS OF TECH. WRITING

Deals with technical informationRelies heavily on visualsUses numerical data to precisely describe quantity and direction

Accurate and well documentedGrammatically and stylistically correct

WHAT IS A TECHNICAL REPORT?

A structured presentation of data or information.

Gathered from research / experiment / investigation.

Prepared for a group of audience.At the request of a supervisory authority.To fulfil the specific needs of the audience.

CLASSIFICATION OF TECH. REPORTS

1. Function/purpose of writing Records of activities that have taken place

(progress report) Provide information for various types of decision

making Persuade and influence readers’ attitudes Motivating them to act in a particular manner

(proposal) 3 Categories:

Investigative/analytical Descriptive of a design Construction process, software or product development

2. Audience analysis Formal

Follow certain conventions on format Style (headings, illustrations, etc. Documentation of sources Multiple audience Presentation of comprehensive and relevant

information

Informal Propagate necessary information of ongoing

activities Provide info for decision making Often for a single or restricted reader Structure, tone & style vary