THE PROCESS OF

TECHNICAL
COMMUNICATION
UNIT # 3
Prepared by
Zaheer Ahmad
 Introduction
• Accordingly, a technical communicator or writer has to plan, devise
format, write, review, edit and then produce or publish his or her
written work. How to do it successfully? The answer is provided in
detail in this unit. As a matter of fact, the process of technical
communication requires gathering information as well as its
description through the art of summarizing, defining, and describing
and the most important factor of having the understanding of the
target reader in the communication process. Then, for writing aptly, a
technical writer must know how to use appropriate words, phrases,
and clauses with coherent sentences and well-organised paragraphs.
 OBJECTIVES
• Upon completion of this unit, you will be able to:
• 1. Comprehend the process of effective writing planning;
• 2. Gather information during the communication process;
• 3. Describe information gathered;
• 4. Learn the art of summarizing, defining and describing;
• 5. Learn the importance of understanding the reader in the communication process;
• 6. Use appropriate words, phrases, and clauses with coherent sentences and well-
organised paragraphs
• 7. Write internal and external proposals; and
• 8. Initiate and win research projects and provide a strong basis for any kind of
scholarship.
 AN OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS
• The technical communication process needs the writer to situate
him/herself to determine knowledge of the topic and goal for the
reader. The writer should also consider ethical, legal and global issues,
if any. The content strategy of the writer and the physical appearance
of the document should be the focus of the writer. In the
communication process, the person on the other side of the fence is
the reader. The writer should know about him/herself and then
design the document. Moreover, it should also be in his/her notice
how and what kind of vocabulary required and what type of sentence
structure would be more appropriate for the existing situation.
PLANNING YOUR DOCUMENT
• The planning stage requires the reader (writer) to ask certain important
and relevant questions to carry on the communication process. The
communication process mainly depends on the situation, which can
guide the reader to plan whether the document will be brief or lengthy.
Wordy expressions for minor situations and short messages for detailed
situations create hurdles in communication and reflect negative
expressions. During the writing process, the writer should ask the
following questions to him/herself:
• Who is the audience?
• Which format does the document require? and
• How much time is required for the whole process?
 Situate Your Document
As mentioned earlier, the writer has to adjust him/herself according to
the situation and better ask the following questions
• What is your goal?
• How much project knowledge do you have?
• Is there any model to help you focus your thinking?
• Are global issues involved?
• Are legal or ethical issues involved? (Riordan).
Create an Audience Profile
• The audience profile allows the writer to plan and organise messages
by keeping the audience in mind. Knowledge of the audience is very
important because every audience is different from the other and
requires certain things that are not required by many others. To
create an audience profile, the writer should know who the audience
is, what is the role of the audience in this communication, what is the
knowledge level of the audience, what internal and external factors
can affect the communication process
Create a Document Plan
• Creating a document plan enables the technical writer to document
the message properly and comfortably. Thus, the writer knows the
content to incorporate in the message. The topic is very clear to the
writer and he/she adjusts the information according to what is at
his/her disposal. It helps the writer to adopt a certain strategy to
benefit the reader so that he/she may understand the content of the
message as it was intended.
 Design Your Information
• Instead of choosing to plan the whole information, the writer should
plan to organize the information within the organization. A reader's
attention operates over getting a sketch of the writer's intention
through message, especially with cueing devices incorporated by the
writer in his/her message and decoding by the reader to understand
the intended meaning.
Design Your Template
• Every writing genre has its template. Sometimes, the writer is aware
of the template of the company and sometimes, he/she may have to
find the template from the company's website or on request, it can be
made available if the writer is new in the company. Otherwise, the
writer can design his/her template as well use the templates of other
companies if required.
Create a Production Schedule
Every type of communication has its production requirements. The
writer develops a chronological list of activities and follows the list. This
is not merely a routine list; it is very important and needs serious
attention and consideration. Some documents are lengthy and very
detailed, while others are short and it is the writer who can decide and
finalize a better schedule. If schedules are not designed or if designed
but not followed, they can create many problems for the writer, reader
and the entire situation as well.
DRAFT AND FINALISE YOUR
DOCUMENT
More often, drafting is part of planning. During the writing process,
which may be a letter, application, proposal, or report, new ideas can
come to the mind of the writer. Such new ideas are very important
because they come to the mind with unconscious deep thinking. The
writer incorporates these ideas into the message. So many changes
occur during drafting, which the writer has to modify and re-modify in
order to finalize the document.
Research to Discover
Information
In some cases, the writer does not know about the topic as he/she has
been directed by the head to write it. In such situations, the writer is
blind and helpless because, without comprehensive information,
writing a message is never easy. He/she may consult the boss and learn
about the topic and requirements. Often, it is taken in some companies
as a negative attempt and the writer is understood as an incompetent
person. So, the writer should bring all the necessary information on the
table, which can be beneficial for the message and make sure he/she
has gathered sufficient information through which he/she can
document a reasonable document.
Design Your Information to Help
Your Reader
It is important to use a proper format since every organisation has a different
format developed or followed by any other organisation's format, which may
be considered a standard format. After deciding on the format of the
message, the information should be signed by the technical writer. A
deductive approach is used for a receptive audience and an inductive writing
approach used for the traditional type of reader. Moreover, requirements of a
national organisation are quite different compared to those of a global
organisation. The writer has to design the information gathered with great
effort. Designing the information out of a large amount of material is, no
doubt, a challenging task. The purpose of designing the information is to
benefit the reader, otherwise, it would be a herculean task to sort out the
information by the reader and understand it.
Use Context-Setting
Introductions
• Context-setting introductions of the writer may help the reader to
grasp the details. The writer may assist readers in three ways as
follows: The writer can define the terms and make them easy to
understand since the purpose of communication is not to influence
the readers, showing expression of scholarly personality rather, it is a
process of exchange of ideas, emotions and feelings to others; the
writer has to tell the reader the cause of writing the message and if
the writer has become successful in transferring this information to
the reader and is convinced, then half of the job is done
Place Important Material at the
Top
Placing material is a very important step and placing important material is
another important task the writer has to do. Thus, it is advisable for more
important material to be written at the top.
• Use Repetition and Sequencing:
Repetition of words and expressions in any written or oral communication is
never suggested but here, repetition means keywords or phrases from the
preview list. The second term used in this heading is sequencing, which refers
to the use of keywords in the same order as in the list.
The purpose of such repetitions and sequencing is to make the document
more understandable and if the reader is a busy person and has to go through
the document, then he/she may understand the overall gist of the message.
Use Coordinate Structures
Understanding the structure of the document is very essential for the
reader because once he/she has followed the logic in the structure,
he/she will behave positively. This is why international organisations
pay thousands of dollars to technical writers who understand the pros
and cons of writing and have a grip over adopting and changing,
modifying, or re-modifying structures of documents. However, within
the paragraphs, there should be sequencing and good sentential
organisation. A simple formula for the preparation of a document text
is that it should start with the introduction, followed by the
explanation, descriptions, and illustrations of figures if required and
then close with appealing sentences to initiate the desired actions.
EDITING
Editing means developing a consistent
and accurate text. It is the process of
correction, concentration, organisation,
and many other adjustments performed
with the intention of fabricating an
exact, steady, correct and
comprehensive work.
In this stage, you refine your document
until everything is correct. You are
looking for surface, consistency
problems. You check spelling,
punctuation, basic grammar, the format
of the page and accuracy of fact
conti.......
Below is a simple benchmark set for a web document created early in a
college technical writing course
• Style Design
• • No spelling or grammar errors
• Information Design
• • Title appears
• • Introduction appears: The introduction tells the point of document
and, if it is long, sections of the document.
• • Body sections are structured [Link] type and depth of points.
• Page Design
• • Fonts are standard roman, and large enough to be readable.
• • Heads appear and indicate the subject of the section.
• Visual Design
• • Visuals appear to support a point in the text or provide a place for the text to begin.
• • Visuals are effectively sized, captioned and referenced.
• Navigation Design
• • Every link works.
• • Link size and placement indicate the type of content (e.g., return ton homepage or
major section of the document) that it connects to. Links provide helpful paths
through the work.
Producing the Document
Once the document is complete, it needs revision and correction.
Headings are arranged, and sub-headings organised and numbered.
Using a computer checker, the writer has already corrected most of the
mistakes but still, it needs attention because numerous mistakes should
be corrected otherwise, they may create a negative impression of the
writer. Thus, producing a document is a very challenging and careful
job, which needs the proper attention of the producer (writer).
WRITING PROPOSAL
• A proposal letter consists of identifying a problem, proposing a
solution and providing evidence that implementing the proposal will
achieve its goal.
• In its initial stages, the letter follows a simple proposal format. When
you ask, "What is a proposal letter?", you should already know that
even in a paperless office, you do not send your proposal as an email.
You create a formal letter and save it to whichever cloud storage
option your company favours. Begin the document as you would
when sending any other formal correspondence: with the heading.
Planning Your Proposal
• following steps are involved in planning a proposal.
• (i) Define Your Audience
• (ii) Define Your Issue
• (iii) Define Your Solution
• (iv) Keep Elements of Style in Mind
• (v) Make an Outline
External Proposal
External proposals are written outside an organisation by state and
local governments, public agencies, education, and the industry as a
response to large and small corporations requested for various
purposes. These proposals are highly formal. They may range from 4-5
pages up to 100 pages or more depending on the nature of the project
or issue
Planning for External Proposal:
(a) Consider the audience
(b) Research the situation
Internal Proposal
• Proposals that staff members and consultants submit to your
company provide lifeblood, whether you run a for-profit business or
not. The main categories of proposals include solicited or unsolicited,
formal or informal and internal or external. Although each type has its
strengths and weaknesses, the internal proposal usually results in
lower costs for investment, interpretation and implementation than a
solicited external proposal.
SUMMARISING
• Summaries guide readers about the important points derived from
large reports or articles. In today's busy world, readers do not have
sufficient time to go through lengthy documents rather, they need to
get a gist of an entire long manuscript and the summaries provide this
facility to them. Later, when they are free, they can read the whole
document. Therefore, as a writer of an article or document, you have
to write summaries, or sometimes, you need to summarise other
people's documents.
DEFINING
Definitions provide different concepts that help readers understand the
whole phenomenon under consideration. The traditional way to define
a term is to place a term in a familiar class and explain that it is
different from other members of related classes. A definition is highly
skilled work and needs specific vocabulary to be added up and give
every related term a particular place to make the definition more vivid
and understandable. There are two different types of definitions as
follows:
• Simple Definitions
• Extended Definitions
Describing
• Certain concepts need description and, in technical writing,
description of some terms, concepts, or machines is very important. A
technical writer has to describe various things to provide in-depth
detail and clarity of related terms, words, phrases, or statements.
• Planning the Mechanism of Description
• The basic purpose of mechanism of description is to create
confidence in the audience that he/she is fully understanding the
concept given in the report or abstract
THANK YOU