The Technical Writing Process

Lecture-2

(14-02-2012)

Prepared By:Syed Abrar Hussain

Shah

An Overview Of the ProcessThe goal of the writing process is to

generate a clear, effective document for an audience.

Experienced writers achieve this goal by performing three types of activities:

Prewriting (Planning)

Writing (Drafting)Post writing (Finishing)

Prewriting

Plan

Determining the

Goals Audience Constraints Basic Facts Tentatively

Establish Outline format

and Tone

Draft

Apply strategies of style, organization and interest.

Apply strategies to help yourself brainstorm and tree.

Revise to help reader’s comprehension.

Finish

Edit for consistency and accuracy.

Understand your method of producing the report.

Don’t finish too soon.

Usual Forward Path

Path Back to Help Yourself

Post-writing Writing

1- The Prewriting Stage

1- The Prewriting Stage

In the prewriting stage the writers discovers the dimensions of their topic.

In this stage writers use number of techniques to discover everything they need to know to write clearly.

They treat this stage carefully. Experienced writers ask and

clearly answer EIGHT important questions.

Eight Important Questions1. Who is my audience?2. What is my goal in this writing

situation?3. What affect this situation?4. What are the basic facts?5. What is the expected final form of the

document?6. What is an effective outline?7. What format and visual aids should I

use?8. What tone should I use?

1- Who is my Audience?The AUDIENCE is the person or people

who will read your document. The more you clarify who they are, the better you can write to them. You should ask these questions about your audience:

1. Who will read this document?2. How much do they know about the

topic?3. Why do they need the document?4. What will they do with it or because of

it?

2- What is my goal in this situation?You actually have two goals: to

communicate a specific message and to achieve a specific purpose.

In other words, you ask and answer two questions:

1. What is my basic message?2. What is my purpose?

3- What Constraints Affect This Situation?

Constraints are physical and psychological factors that affect your ability to write document and your reader’s ability to read it.

By thinking about constraints, such as time and money, you achieve a clear picture of how you can produce the document.

Basic Constraints

Constraints Writer’s Viewpoint Readers Viewpoint

Time Time available to complete writing

Length of time to read before starting to act

Length How many pages to write?

How many pages to read?

Money Cost to produce the document.

Cost to purchase the document.

Physical Location

Place in which to write the document.

Place in which to read the document.

Production Method Easy to use. Easy to read.

4- What are the Basic Facts?

Determining the basic facts for your document is a key planning activity.

You must spend time collecting these facts by reading , interviewing or observing.

5- What is Expected Final Form?Many Technical Writing

documents require a particular final form.

If you know what is expected, you have a place to start.

Knowing what is expected to write makes document easier to write because you know which information to include and where to place it.

6- What is the Effective Outline?As you begin to think about

drafting, you should first construct a preliminary outline.

The intended outline is very common. It is an informal list of major and minor points you want to make.

You arrange your material into an order that will guide you as you write.

7- What Format and Visual Aids shall I Use?You need to decide how your

page will look.It is important to select a format

and choose visual aids that will help and not hinder your message.

The two basic format elements are margins and heads. (Headings)

8- What tone should I use?As you begin to draft, you must

consider the tone of your document.

Unfortunately, tone isn’t a very objective term. It means what the writing sound like?

Should it sound funny or serious?Should you give silly examples or

in joke form work?

2- Writing

In the writing stage you produce draft.

You already have done careful planning and produced an outline and now you start actual writing.

You try to put on paper the words that explain the ideas in your outline.

Theoretically, if you have planned thoroughly, all you need to do is flesh out the outline and describe the visual aids.

2- The Writing Stage Drafting and Revising

Checklist for Drafting

Consider the following while drafting:

1. Follow your initial plan and outline.

2. Be aware that writing occur in burst.

3. Write a first draft in which you express your main ideas.

4. Be prepared to change your outline if you discover a new way to present the material.

5. Develop a sense of: Style strategies – try to use the voice and

parallelism. Organization strategies – use a structure

that sets up each section. Reader-interest strategies – add

comparisons, examples, or brief narratives.6. If you are stuck, brainstorm or construct

trees.7. Write second and further draft, revising the

first. Revise sentences so they are clear to

reader. Revise paragraphs so they are clear. Reorganize sentences if needed. Rework for deductive order – definitions

and overviews first, details second.

Checklist for Drafting

3 – The Postwriting Stage: Finishing

In Postwriting, the last stage in the process, you craft the document into a product that effectively guides your reader through the topic.

This stage consists of two types of activities:

1. Editing2. Producing the document.

3 – The Postwriting Stage: Finishing

1 – Editing Editing means to develop a

consistent, accurate text.In this stage you change the

document until it is right.You check spelling, grammar,

punctuation, basic grammar, format of the page, and accuracy of fact.

When you edit, ask yourself:Is this Correct?Is this consistent?

2 – Producing the DocumentProducing a document has two

dimensions:a) The physical completion of

a document Andb) The psychological

completion of it.

a) Physical Completion

Physical completion means typing or printing the final document.

This dimension takes energy and time.

Failure to allow enough time for this stage and its problems will certainly cause frustration.

b) Psychological Completion Psychological completion means

to attend to your emotions as you near completion and to manage your time properly.

Poor writing is the result of “finishing too soon.”

If you permanently decide that you are finished, you probably will not listen to other readers’ suggestions.

Any Question

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