SOME BASIC PRINCIPLES OF TECHNICAL WRITING

 CONTENT:

            1. Meet your readers' needs.  Consider their purpose and their level of expertise. 
              What do your readers know?  What do your readers need to know?

            2. Meet your needs:  What do you want your readers to know?  What do you want to say?

            3. Emphasize / focus on your main results and what they mean

            4. Explain and analyze facts, data, figures.  (Don't just dump data.)

            5. State your main point clearly. Focus on the main point (use analysis)

            6. Be accurate and fair.  
                Remember, documents do not make decisions; people read documents to get
                                the information necessary to make decisions.)

            7. Use visual aids.  Incorporate them in the text by interpreting them.

 ORGANIZATION:

            1. State your purpose or main point first.

            2. Deal with information in blocks.  (Don't repeat ideas.  Focus on key terms.)

            3. Use headings.

            4. Consider paragraph length:  keep paragraphs relatively short and vary their lengths.

            5. Emphasize main ideas (don't bury them in the middle of the text).

SENTENCE STYLE:

            1. When possible, use simple words.

            2. Consider sentence length:  vary sentence lengths but keep the
                average length short (an average of about 18 words per sentence works
                for most readers).

            3. Do not rely solely on complex sentences.  Use simple and compound sentences along with complex sentences.

            4. Avoid relying on BE verbs.

            5. Avoid relying on passive.

            6. Avoid "I" in formal reports.  Use "I" in progress reports, memos, letters, possibly proposals.

            7. Omit needless words (be concise).

            8. Use correct punctuation, spelling, grammar, word choices. . . .

            9. Consider tone: sound like you know what you're writing about, but be polite.

 FORMAT:

            1. Consider margins, font size, font style.

            2. Leave plenty of white space around figures and tables.

            3. Use page numbers.

  Remember:  Writing is for readers.