LEARNING MODULE

English 1023 (Advanced Technical Communication)

AY 2024-2023

Lesson 1: Introduction to Technical Communication

Topic: Definition and Characteristics of Technical Communication

Learning Outcomes: At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Define technical writing;

2. Compare different categories of writing communication;
3. Accomplish worksheet on the importance of technical communication;

LEARNING CONTENT

Introduction:

Technical communication is written for and about business and industry, focusing on products and services:
how to manufacture them, market them, manage them, deliver them, and use them. Technical writing is written: in
the work environment or for supervisors, colleagues, subordinates, vendors, and customers. Technical writing,
which must be understood easily and quickly, includes: memos and e-mail letters, reports, instructions, brochures
and newsletters, the job search, web pages, fliers, PowerPoint presentations, and graphics. Technical
writing/Technical Communication is the resume that helps get a job and the web page that promotes a company. In
each case, the technical document must be quantifiable, precise, and easily understood.

Why would you study technical communication? Is your learning not enough without adding one more
assignment or series of assignments? What’s the point?

You often do not believe that you will have to write at work. Do not assume that once your education is
completed, writing will be a distant memory because you are wrong! Once you are employed, you will have to write
on the job. One reason for studying teaching technical communication is so you will know the types of documents
you will write on your future job.

So, let’s prepare ourselves for an enjoyable technical writing experiences!

Lesson Proper:

What Is Technical Communication?

Technical information is frequently communicated through documents such as proposals, emails, reports,
podcasts, computer help files, blogs, and wikis. Although these documents are a key component of technical
communication, so too is the process: writing and reading tweets and text messages, for example, or participating
in webinar or videoconference exchanges with colleagues. Technical communication encompasses a set of
activities that people do to discover, shape, and transmit information.

When you produce technical communication, you use the four basic communication modes — listening,
speaking, reading, and writing — to analyze a problem, find and evaluate evidence, and draw conclusions. These
are the same skills and processes you use when you write in college, and the principles you have studied in your
earlier writing courses apply to technical communication. The biggest difference between technical communication

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and the other kinds of writing you have done is that technical communication has a somewhat different focus on
purpose and audience.

Difference of Technical writing to other types of written communication

Technical writing is different from other types of written communication. But it doesn’t mean you have to re learn all
the skills you’ve already learn to accommodate this new communication beast. Many of the writing skills you’ve
come across are applicable to technical writing.

College lasts only four to five years. Thus, you should continue to prepare yourselves by studying essays. In
addition, you also need to prepare for what comes next—your jobs. After you graduate, you will go to work where
you will write memos, letters, and reports. This is the importance of understanding the difference of technical writing
to other types of written communication.

Technical Writing versus Academic Writing

Academic and technical writing are two forms of writing between which a key difference can be identified. Most
people assume that a technical writer is, in fact, an academic writer as well. This, however, is a false assumption.
Although both academic writing and technical writing require excellent writing skills, the key differences between
these two types of writing are the audience and purpose of writing. Academic writing is a form of writing that is used
in academic disciplines. On the other hand, technical writing is a form of writing that is mostly used in technical
disciplines. As you can see, the context of the two forms of writing differ from one another. Also, the target audience
for academic writing is mostly scholars, but not in the case of technical writing. Even a lay person can be the target
audience.

Technical Writing versus Creative Writing

Technical writing and creative writing are two styles of writing, which may very well be distinguished just by having
a look at their traits. The principal between every of them is that, creative writing is written to enthrall, entertain and
arouse a certain felling in a reader, whereas technical writing is to show the viewers with the factual knowledge and
is launched in a logical technique.

Below is a poem about a tennis shoe as well as technical specifications for manufacturing the same shoe. These
two writing samples further illustrate the difference between technical writing and other types of writing.

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UNDERSTANDING PURPOSE

Technical communication begins with identifying a problem and thinking about how to solve it. Because of the variety
of problems and solutions in the working world, people communicate technical information for a number of purposes,
many of which fall into one of two categories:

• Communication that helps others learn about a subject, carry out a task, or make a decision.
For instance, administrators with the Department of Health might hire a media production company
to make a video that explains to citizens how to use a website to manage their Medicare benefits.
The president of a manufacturing company might write an article in the company newsletter to explain
to employees why management decided to phase out production of one of the company’s products.
The board of directors of a community-service organization might produce a grant proposal to submit
to a philanthropic organization in hopes of being awarded a grant. Figure 1.1 shows a screen capture
from an online video that explains how to create a facebook web page.

FIGURE 1.1 A Communication That Helps Others Carry Out a Task

The purpose of this online video is to help viewers carry out the task on how to create their own web page.

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 • Communication that reinforces or changes attitudes and motivates readers to take action. A
wind energy company might create a website with videos and text intended to show that building
wind turbines off the coast of a tourist destination would have many benefits and few risks. A property
owners’ association might create a website to make the opposite argument: that the wind turbines
would have few benefits but many risks. In each of these two cases, the purpose of communicating
the information is to persuade people to accept a point of view and encourage them to act — perhaps
to contact their elected representatives and present their views about this public-policy issue. Figure
1.2 shows an excerpt from a website that promotes the building of wind turbines off the coast of
Massachusetts.

FIGURE 1.2 A Communication That Aims to Change Attitudes

The purpose of this website, created by an energy development company, is to generate public support for an
offshore wind park.

UNDERSTANDING AUDIENCE

When you communicate in the workplace, you have not only a clear purpose — what you want to achieve — but
also a clearly defined audience — one or more people who are going to read the document, attend the oral
presentation, visit the website, or view the video you produce. Sometimes audience members share the same
purpose, but not always. It’s possible, even likely, that a piece of technical communication will have multiple
audiences with different purposes.

In most of your previous academic writing, your audience has been your instructor, and your purpose has been to
show your instructor that you have mastered some body of information or skill. Typically, you have not tried to create
new knowledge or motivate the reader to take a particular action — except to give you a “95” for that assignment.

By contrast, in technical communication, your audience will likely include peers and supervisors in your company,
as well as people outside your company. For example, suppose you are a public-health scientist working for a
federal agency. You and your colleagues just completed a study showing that, for most adults, moderate exercise
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provides as much health benefit as strenuous exercise. After participating in numerous meetings with your
colleagues and after drafting, critiquing, and revising many drafts, you produce four different documents:

• a journal article for other scientists

• a press release to distribute to popular print and online publications
• an infographic for use in doctors’ offices
• an animated blog post for your agency to share on social media

In each of these documents, you present the key information in a different way to meet the needs of particular
audience.

The Challenges of Producing Technical Communication

One of the most challenging activities you will engage in as a professional is communicating your ideas to
audiences. Why? Because communication is a higher-order skill that involves many complex factors.

The good news is that there are ways to think about these complex factors, to think through them, that will help you
communicate better. No matter what document you produce or contribute to, you need to begin by considering five
sets of factors.

AUDIENCE-RELATED FACTORS

What problem or problems is your audience trying to solve? Does your audience know enough about your subject
to understand a detailed discussion, or do you need to limit the scope, the amount of technical detail, or the type of
graphics you use? Does your audience already have certain attitudes or expectations about your subject that you
wish to reinforce or change? Does your audience speak English well, or should you present the information in more
than one language? Does your audience share your cultural assumptions about such matters as how to organize
and interpret documents, or do you need to adjust your writing approach to match a different set of assumptions?
Does your audience include people with disabilities (of vision, hearing, movement, or cognitive ability) who have
requirements you need to meet?

PURPOSE-RELATED FACTORS

Before you can write, you need to determine your purpose: what do you want your audience to know or believe or
do after having read your document? Do you have multiple purposes? If so, is one more important than the others?
Although much technical communication is intended to help people perform tasks, such as configuring privacy
settings in a social-media environment, many organizations large and small devote significant communication
resources to the increasingly vital purpose of branding: creating an image that helps customers distinguish the
company from competitors. Most companies now employ community specialists as technical communicators to
coordinate the organization’s day-to-day online presence and its social-media campaigns. These specialists
publicize new products and initiatives and respond to questions and new developments. They also manage all of
the organization’s documents — from tweets to blog posts to Facebook fan pages and company-sponsored
discussion forums.

SETTING-RELATED FACTORS

What is the situation surrounding the problem you are trying to solve? Is there a lot at stake in the situation, such
as the budget for a project, or is your document a more routine communication, such as technical notes for a
software update? What is the context in which your audience will use your document? Will the ways in which they
use it — or the physical or digital environment in which they use it — affect how you write? Will the document be
used in a socially or politically charged setting? Does the setting include established norms of ethical behavior? Is
the setting formal or informal? Settings can have a great deal of influence over how audiences think about and use
technical communication.

DOCUMENT-RELATED FACTORS

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What type of content will the document include? How will the content aid problem solving? Does your subject dictate
what kind of document (such as a report or a blog post) you choose to write? Does your subject dictate what medium
(print or digital) you choose for your document? Do you need to provide audiences with content in more than one
medium? If you’re using a document template, how should you modify it for your audiences and purposes? Does
the application call for a particular writing style or level of formality? (For the sake of convenience, we will use the
word document throughout this book to refer to all forms of technical communication, from written documents to oral
presentations and online forms, such as podcasts and wikis.)

PROCESS-RELATED FACTORS

What process will you use to produce the document? Is there an established process to support the work, or do you
need to create a new one? Do you have sufficient time for planning tasks, such as analyzing your audience and
purpose, choosing writing tools, and researching and reading background information? Does your budget limit the
number of people you can enlist to help you or limit the size or shape of the document? Does your schedule limit
how much information you can include in the document? Does your schedule limit the type or amount of document
testing you can do? Will the document require updating or maintenance?

Because all these factors interact in complicated ways, every technical document you create involves a
compromise. If you are writing a set of instructions for installing a water heater and you want those instructions to
be easily understood by people who speak only Spanish, you will need more time and a bigger budget to have the
document translated, and it will be longer and thus a little bit harder to use, for both English and Spanish speakers.
You might need to save money by using smaller type, smaller pages, and cheaper paper, and you might not be
able to afford to print it in full color. In technical communication, you do the best you can with your resources of time,
information, and money. The more carefully you think through your options, the better able you will be to use your
resources wisely and make a document that will get the job done.

*** END of LESSON***

REFERENCES

Galano, R., Rivera, E. &Amiel, John. (2019). Technical Writing: a resource guide to writing across disciplines. Manila:
Lorimar

Online Reference

Technical Communication: Twelfth Edition. Retrieved August 6,

[Link]://[Link]/39392566/Technical_Communication_by_Mike_Markel

[Link]

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Learning Materials

1. Worksheets (teacher-made)
2. LMS learning materials (teacher-made)

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