Effective Communication Techniques

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Technical Writing

• TECHNICAL WRITING is a broad term that
  encompasses a wide variety of documents in
  science, engineering, and the skilled trades.
• The major types of documents in technical writing
  can be grouped into four major categories
• Reports and communications in day-to-day business
• Technical papers, magazine articles, books, and
  theses for purposes of education, teaching, and
  the sharing of information and knowledge
• Patents
• Operational manuals, instructions, or procedures

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Spectrum of Technical Writings
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Attributes of technical Wirtings

• It pertains to a technical subject.
• It has a purpose.
• It has an objective.
• It conveys information/facts/data.
• It is impersonal.
• It is concise.
• It is directed.
• It is performed with a particular style and in a
  particular format.
• It is archival.
• It cites contributions of others.

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Excuses for NOT WRITING

• Lack of Time. I did not have time to write a
  report. This is probably the most common reason
  given by technical people with a dislike for
  technical writing.
• Nobody Reads Reports. Sometimes people have the
  perception that reports are not read by the
  addressees, so why write them?
• Reduces Job Security. Some people feel that they
  should keep their jobs because nobody else can do
  them. They have some skills or knowledge that
  others do not have.
• Trepidation. Some technical people lack
  confidence in their writing skills and do not opt
  to write technical documents for fear that they
  may contain writing errors that cause
  embarrassment. Some managers also do not know how
  to review a document
• E-mail Is Sufficient. Even though e-mail is a
  useful tool, e-mail does not replace the need for
  formal or even informal reports.

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Types of Technical Studies for Engineers
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Problem Solving Reports and Study

• Engineering projects almost always include
• 1. State the problem (get all details)
• 2. Select one approach to solving the problem
• 3. Search literature and perform preliminary
  experiments
• 4. Perform refined experiments
• 5. Analyze data
• 6. Decide if problem is solved or more work is
  needed
• 7. Perform more studies
• 8. Analyze data
• 9. Write report

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Proposing a ProjectThe Idea

• The idea for a project comes from inspiration,
  research, observation, somebodys commentalmost
  any place.
• Technical talks, conferences, and trade shows can
  produce ideas for projects or studies.
• Brainstorming sessions with team members are
  another way to come up with ideas.
• Finally, ideas from projects and products can
  come from patent searches and thorough research
  of a subject
• The idea can come from exploring the solutions of
  existing problems ..?

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Project Proposal

• The average proposal contains about 30 typed
  pages, and most have the following format
• 1. Identification and significance of problem
• 2. Background and technical approach
• 3. Technical objectives
• 4. Work plan
• 5. Commercial potential
• 6. Principal investigator and senior personnel
• 7. Consultants and subcontractors
• 8. Equipment, instrumentation, competitors, and
  facilities
• 9. Equivalent or overlapping proposal to other
  federal agencies
• 10. Current and pending support of principal
  investigation and senior personnel
• 11. Budget

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Writing Strategy for Technical Report Writing
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Analysis of Readers

• Readership is your intended audience.
• The intention of your report determines
  readership.
• The readership selected determines writing level.
• The level of writing must be such that it is
  understood and is useful to all readers.
• Selection of a circulation list (your readership)
  should respect organization hierarchy include
  contributors, sponsors, and potential users of
  your work/recommendations.

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Scope of Writing

• Putting limits on what is included in a technical
  document involves consideration of the following
  factors
• Number of ideas/experiments/studies/subjects
• Depth of writing
• Level of detail
• suitable scope statement in an introduction might
  be like the following
• This report describes the application of the loop
  abrasion test method to rank the abrasion
  resistance of six different test steels. They are
  candidates for P35 first form tools.

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Number of Subjects

• Most jobs that require written documentation
  involve multiple tasks.
• The tasks that need to be addressed in reports
  must be identified
• For example, a study of a tool failure may
  involve chemical analysis, surface texture
  measurements, hardness measurements, and optical
  microscopy of a metallographic cross section
  taken from the failed part. If the chemical
  analysis of the failed part indicates that the
  tool was made from the wrong steel, a decision
  needs to be made on whether the failure-analysis
  report should include the tests that were
  performed (even if you did not identify the
  rootcause of the failure)

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Depth of Writing and level of details

• Decide on the desired depth of technical
  discussions. How technical should you get?
• Are you going to do a literature survey on your
  subject, discuss previous work, and compare
  theories in your technical document?
• If you have limited knowledge on the subject in
  your planned document, it is usually advisable
  not to attempt an in-depth treatment of the
  subject.
• An expert in a particular subject can go into
  great depth on it. However, the depth of coverage
  should be directly related to the intended
  purpose and objective of the document
• Too much depth and unnecessary technicalities
  should be avoided, if at all possible
• If it is not necessary, it may bore readers and
  end up eliciting a negative reader reaction

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Propose and Objective

• Purpose usually determines strategy. Purpose is
  more immediate.
• You want something to happen as the result of
  your written document.
• You may want more funding.
• You may want to present the status of a project,
• To present final results, or to introduce a
  problem or new design.

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Writing to Various Readers

• The following list indicates the types of readers
  likely encountered in a technical writing
  situation
• Active participants
• Customers Peers Teammates Immediate
  supervisor
• General interest
• Customer management Potential customers
• Your management Library
• Public
• Technical journal Book Handbook Trade
  magazine
• Presentation
• This categorization is based on anticipated
  interest level.
• The people involved with the subject of a
  document will probably have a high degree of
  interest.

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Readership intention and writing levels for
various documents
Document Intended readership Intention Writing level
Daily newspaper Everyone who reads Profit for shareholders High school graduate
Time magazine Adults Profit for corporation College graduate
Civil Engineering magazine Civil engineers Profit for corporation Civil engineers
Ph.D. thesis College examinations board ( BASR) Get degree Technical journal
Research proposal Research Reviewers and fund administrators funding Technical journal
Technical report, department Suppliers of funding requesting work Solve problem Lowest reader level
Resumé Companies with job openings Get a job High school graduate
Field Test report Customer supervisor Answer question Lowest reader level
Bicycle assembly instructions World wide buyers Get the bike assembled No manual skills
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Elements of style
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Word Choice

• The average person born in the United States
  knows about 21,000 English (U.S. modified) words
• It takes about 500 words to fill a single-spaced
  typed page
• Technical documents can be less than one page or
  more than 100
• Most technical journals limit submissions to
  about ten pages or 5,000 words
• 21,000 word repertoire can be broken down by
  grammatical function into four categories
• Utility words like conjunctions (and, or, but,
  if, and so forth)
• Substance words for action (verbs) or subjects
  (nouns)
• Descriptive words that modify other words
  (adverbs, adjectives, clauses)
• Contractions for people who do not have time to
  write out the real words

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Spectra of words
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Word Choices for Technical Reports
- etc. et cetera and so forth - Ibid ibidem
in the same place (cited previously) - et al.
and others - per se by itself - i.e. id est
that is -e.g. exempli gratia for example
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Technical Presentations Skills for
EngineersCommunication technical information to
non technical peopleTechnical Report Writing

• By Engr.Dr. Attaullah Shah

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Being engineers, we are Technical Communicator.

• Engineering is a people-oriented profession.
• Engineering verdicts are given more attentions
• Engineers are exposed to relatively more public
  dealings.
• Engineers not only develop technologies they
  help people make use of technology.
• Engineers must communicate with regulators,
  funding agencies, suppliers, clients, customers,
  the media, and sometimes the general public.

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You must communicate your subject-matter
expertise.

• Engineers communicate their methods, results,
  conclusions, and recommendations so that
  information can be understood and used by a
  variety of people.
• Engineers generate raw data and then turn them
  into information to help people solve problems.

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For instance . . .

• If you are deputed at a site Engineer for a
  construction project, you have to deal with a
  broad spectrum of clients
• With structural Engineer about detailed drawings
  and clearing ambiguities in the construction
  drawings
• With procurement officer for timely supply of
  material
• With Lab Engineer to timely arrange the tests
• With sub contractor for timely availability of
  human resource.
• Many more people in the line

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For which audience is this table
appropriatesupervisor or homeowner?
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A picture might work best for a homeowner.
Residence
Service Station
Monitoring Well
Ground Water
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Data alone are usually not useful.

• Information is data made useful for other people.

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Information life cycle

• Data are what we record, observe, copy.
• Information is data that have been synthesized,
  put in context, and made meaningful.
• Knowledge is enough information to allow you or
  someone else to do something that produces new
  data or information.

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Information Life Cycle
Data
Knowledge
Information
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Necessary Skills for Engineers

• Manage information
• Write technical information for many audiences --
  often with conflicting needs
• Design graphics for technical information
• Elicit expert information interview others
• Present information verbally
• Work collaboratively -- write collaboratively!

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Engineering documents you may be involved in
writing

• Progress reviews and reports
• User manuals -- software and hardware
• Training materials
• Guidelines and reports
• Safety policies and instructions
• Technical proposals
• Technical reports

The last two types bridge the gap between the
workplace and the academy.
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Academic writing

• dissertation proposals
• theses
• dissertations
• journal papers
• and technical presentations
• oral presentations
• posters
• as well as proposals and reports.

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Audiences

• Academic audiences
• other researchers
• faculty
• students
• supervisor now only!

Even academic audiences have varying degrees of
expertise and knowledge. And everyone is busy
and reads fast!
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Research Audiences

• Experts
• Executives/Managers
• Technicians
• Regulators
• Funding Agencies
• General public
• Combination

Now your audience is expert, but later to whom
may you have to present results?
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Business Audiences

• Inside the organization
• Management
• Colleagues
• Support staff
• Salespeople
• Technicians

• Outside the organization
• Customers
• Regulatory agencies
• Financial institutions
• Suppliers/vendors
• News media

Your message here
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Communicators Triangle
Communicator
Audience
(most difficult)
Subject
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Multiple Audiences

• Different parts of the document are geared toward
  different audiences
• Abstract technical public
• Introduction interested public
• Bulk of paper researchers and subject-matter
  experts

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Writing Process and Planning

• You organize for yourself (outlines, etc.), and
  you organize the document for the reader.

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First, organize for yourself.
Feel like a tiny child when it comes to writing?
Most people do. Heres how to help yourself.
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1. Recognize that writing is problem-solving

• As a product, writing solves problems for your
  audience
• As a process, it solves problems for you!

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You can use writing to help answer many critical
questions

• What is it you really want to say?
• What will convince your audience?
• What data or information do you still need to
  collect?
• When you explain your methodology, what gaps are
  still there?

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2. Recognize that writing is a process.

• Defining objectives
• Planning
• Drafting
• Evaluating
• Revising

Learn to separate these stages!
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You cannot collapse these stages together!
You cant get it right the first time around!
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Manage the writing process.

• Start early
• Manage your time
• Learn to draft avoid need for perfection at
  this stage
• Learn to separate the creative and critical parts
  of your personality.

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Managing the Process of Writing

• Defining objectives
• Planning
• Drafting
• Evaluating
• Revising

Pre-Writing (Outlining)
Peer Review
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3. Realize that writing activities are
incremental and iterative.

• Move back and forth between doing
  research/engineering work and doing writing.
• Writing helps you understand what you really know
  and what you are still unsure about. Helps you
  plot direction.

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Sequence of Drafting

• Revise Introduction
• Revise middle three chapters
• Revise Conclusions
• Revise Introduction
• Write Abstract

• Write draft of Introduction
• Write draft of Methods
• Write draft of Literature Review
• Write draft of Results
• Write draft of Conclusions

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But I still have a hard time beginning to write!!
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Planning your Document Organizing for
Yourself
Most people begin planning their document by
creating an outline.
Dont be trapped by your outline! Any outline
evolves constantly until the document is sent or
published.
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Planning Tools Many kinds of outlines and lists

• Doodles and lists of keywords
• Topic Outline
• Can become headings for your document.
  Eventually, becomes the Table of Contents.
• Sentence Outline (helps connect topics)
• Helps writers refine ideas and link them
  together
• Transistors have been around a long time.
  --eventually that sentence becomes a heading
  History of Transistors

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Brainstorm Outline how it works

• Draw an oval
• Write documents central purpose in center
• Think of all related ideas, facts, descriptions
• Write these in spokes around oval
• Dont prioritize or sequence ideas until later
• Discard later what you dont need.

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The Elements of a Successful Technical
Proposal
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1The title

• Choose a title that conveys information about
  your project.
• Avoid acronyms that have negative connotations.
• Make it Brief

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2 The abstract

• This is the first (and could be the only) part of
  the proposal that a busy reviewer will see.
• The abstract should be a map of the rest of the
  proposal.
• Write the abstract last to make sure it reflects
  the final version of the proposal.

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3 Problem statement

• Provide a clear objective statement of the
  problem.
• Describe the factors that have contributed to the
  problem.
• Describe what has and has not worked in the past.
• Indicate what needs to be done (by you) now.

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4 The rationale

• Never assume the
• proposal reviewer
• knows what you know.
• Convince the reviewer
• that the problem is
• IMPORTANT!

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Persuasive rationales

• Describe how the project will
• Resolve theoretical questions
• Develop better theoretical models
• Influence public policy
• Improve teaching/learning
• Improve the way people do their jobs in a
  particular field
• Improve the way people live

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5 Literature review

• Display your awareness of the problem or need as
  well as the contributions that have been made by
  otherssome of whom may be reviewers of your
  proposal!

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Show you understand the problem!

• Use the Funding Agencies Terms and Vocabulary
  to Describe the Problem.
• Provide the most recent data and/or information
  about the problem.
• Describe the gaps and contradictions that
  currently exist.

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Show you know the solution!

• Describe a solution to improve the situation.
• Back up your solution with data if possible.
• Quote or cite well known authorities on the
  topic.

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6 Project design

• Goals, Objectives and Activities Should Always
  Relate to One Another

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Program elements

• Goals
• Broad Statements of Intent
• Objectives
• Measurable Outcome Statements
• Activities
• Implementation Steps

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Well written objectives

• State Who is Responsible
• State What is to be Accomplished.
• State When the Objective should be Accomplished
• State a Criterion for Success

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Well written activities

• Focus on How the objective is to be accomplished.
• Use Action words, e.g., recruit, analyze,
  evaluate, disseminate

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Research methods

• State your research questions clearly
• Choose an appropriate research design
• Detail all procedures
• Control for validity and reliability
• Describe limitations
• Answer reviewers questions before they are
  asked!

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8 Key personnel

• Describe the people that will help to make
  decisions in how the project is carried out.
• Provide a description of their background,
  training, and expertise.
• Highlight everyones accomplishmentsthis is not
  the time to be modest!

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9 Facilities resources

• Describe where the project will be conducted.
• Describe any special equipment or resources you
  will have access to.
• Describe any special capabilities or experiences
  possessed by your agency to carry out the project.

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10 Budget

• Ask for the funds that you need to be
  successful, but do not pad your budget.
• Be aware that proposal reviewers know how much
  things cost!
• If you ask for too little money to do the work
  you propose, you will appear naïve and
  inexperienced.

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11 Time lines

• Sponsored project activities can take longer
  than anticipated.
• Do not propose to do too much in any given
  project period.
• Develop a time line for the reviewer.

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12 Evaluation

• Describe how you will find out if your project is
  working.
• Describe how you will know if you have succeeded
  when the project is over.
• Describe how you will adjust your procedures and
  timelines to deal with real life events.
• Tell the proposal reviewers who will conduct the
  evaluation and review the information collected.

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13 Dissemination

• Inform the proposal reviewers of the
  dissemination strategies that you will use and
  the audiences that will receive information on
  your findings.
• Information about your project can be
  disseminated via articles in peer reviewed
  journals and presentations at professional
  conferences.

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14 Continuation funding

• Sponsored Projects are of limited duration, e.g.,
  1 to 3 years
• Plan your next project before the current project
  ends!

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15 Follow through

• Keep your program officer in mind send copies
  of all publications and media coverage related to
  your project.
• Network with others Look for ways to
  collaborate on future projects.