CLO1 Introduction to technical communication
What is Technical Communication?
Oral and written communication for and about business and industry.
Why is teamwork important?
Teamwork enhances productivity, collaboration and successful completion of projects.
What are audience types? explain each
High tech: Has similar educational & work background, has shared understanding, needs minimal background info & details
Low tech: May be co-workers or supervisors, may be familiar with topic, but not expert, may need some clarification and details
Lay:May customers or clients, may have minimal or no prior knowledge, provide sufficient explanation without patronizing tone
Multiple: Mixed levels of knowledge, may be unintended audience, provide reference to more detailed explanation
What are the three main stages of writing?
Prewriting-writing and rewriting
How do we achieve unity in an essay?
An essay has unity when it, as a whole, and its individual paragraphs work to develop the main idea.
Your essay has unity when every key idea in the body relates to the paper’s main topic sentence
Your essay has unity when every sentence in a paragraph supports its topic sentence
Who uses TC?
◦superiors
◦colleagues
◦subordinates
◦vendors
◦customers
Why is teamwork important?
◦diversity of opinion
◦checks and balances
◦broad-based understanding
◦empowerment
◦team building
How do you define terms to your audience?
parenthetically
in a sentence
in an extended paragraph
in a glossary
as online help with a pop‐up definition
What does the prewriting stage involve?
Examining purposes |
Determining goals |
Considering audience |
Gathering data |
Deciding what action audience should do |
Determining the most effective channel |
How do you achieve coherence in an essay?
Through the use of parallel structures, repetition of key words, clear pronoun reference and use of transitional expressions
Why do we use TC?
For customer service
For industry instruction manuals
For letters of complaint
For seeking employment (application letter and resume)
What is groupware?
Electronic communication tools that are used by dispersed teams.
Why do we care about diversity?
Diversity is protected by law
Respecting diversity is the right thing to do
Diversity is good for business
Diversity keeps company competitive
Give examples of prewriting techniques.
Reporter Questions |
Mind mapping |
Brainstorming |
Outlining |
Storyboarding |
Organizational chart |
Flowcharting |
The ultimate goals of technical communication are:
clarity
conciseness
accuracy
ethics
Technical communication depends on:
◦audience (who?)
◦purpose (why?)
◦situation (when and where?)
Why is Silo building not good for organisations?
Because it encourages isolation, poor communication/accessibility and discourages cooperation
What things you need to keep in mind in order to communicate effectively with diverse audiences?
}Respect your audience’s cultural diversity
}Avoid ageist language
}Avoid biased language about people with disabilities
Avoid sexist language
◦Don’t ignore women or treat them as secondary
◦Don’t stereotype
◦Don’t use sexist pronouns
◦Don’t use gender tagged nouns
What are writing organizational patterns?
•Spatial
•Chronological
•Importance
•Comparison/Contrast
•Problem/Solution
How do you achieve clarity and conciseness in TC?
Clarity: by giving specific details, answering the Reporter’s Questions, defining acronyms, abbreviations and avoiding jargon, and use of active voice.
Conciseness: Providing more detail with fewer words, limiting the number of words per sentence, avoiding There and It, avoiding redundancy, avoiding “shun” words and avoiding camouflaged words.
Why is TC important?
To be successful at your job you need to write and speak effectively to others- constantly to saves time and money
To maintain good customer-client relations (follow-up letters)
To generate income (sales letters, brochures, fliers)
What is the difference between diverse and dispersed teams?
Diverse refers to teams from different national, organizational and individual backgrounds. Dispersed refers to colleagues regularly conducting business via means other than face-to-face communication like holding teleconferences with partners on the other side of the world
How do you ensure your audience involvement?
Personalized tone- makes your audience feel included. Use pronouns and names
Reader benefit- Show readers how they’ll benefit from your technical communication by: explaining the benefit and using positive words.
What does usability testing focus on in the rewriting stage?
Retrievability |
Readability |
Accuracy |
User satisfaction |
What is proofreading?
Making sure that a written document is absolutely perfect in terms of grammar and vocabulary. The focus is on the following areas: