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© 2006 Phil Druker
 University of Idaho
 
Content / Overview / Section 2

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Week 1

Sections
 Overview
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
Section 5
Assessment

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What makes technical writing work? 
Instructions:
Read the material below.
 

To summarize the introduction, here are some ideas about technical writing that you need to consider.

bulletAnalyze the writing situation BEFORE you start.
 
bulletConsider/know your readers:
bulletWho are they?
bulletWhat do they already know about the topic?
bulletWhat is their level of technical expertise/education?
bulletWhat is their attitude toward the subject?
bulletWhat is their position in the organization?
bulletHow will they receive the information?
 
bulletConsider / know your readers’ purpose:
bulletWhy are they reading your document?
bulletWhat do they want/need to know?
bulletWhat do they want/need to be able to do?
 
bulletConsider / know your—the writer’s—purpose:
bulletOvert purpose:
bulletWill you analyze? Explain? Teach? Persuade? A combination of these?
bulletWhat do you want your readers to know?
bulletWhat do you want your readers to do?
bulletWhat kind of response do you want?
bulletWhat facts to you want to impart?
bulletWhat important points do you want to emphasize?
bulletWhat do you want to say?
bulletCovert purpose
 
bulletConsider what role you want to play
bulletFriendly? 
bulletImpersonal?
bulletAuthoritative?
bulletPersuasive?
bulletA combination?

REMEMBER:
1. WRITING IS FOR READERS.
 
2. WHEN PEOPLE READ, THEY NEED NEW INFORMATION.
 
3. READERS EXPECT YOU TO BE THE EXPERT. YOU KNOW MORE ABOUT THE TOPIC THAN THEY KNOW. Otherwise, they won’t bother to read what you wrote.

 
Discussion:
Write a short email to me answering the following question (be sure to write this as a paragraph)
  1. Consider the last document you wrote:
    1. Who was your audience?
    2. What made it easy to write the document?
    3. What made it difficult?
    4. Did you receive feedback on the document? How (written, oral, editing help….?)
    5. What kind of response did you get from the readers of the document? Was that the kind of response you wanted or expected?
  2. Did any points in this introduction surprise you? What?

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Phil Druker © 2006  

 

University of Idaho
 Environmental Science Program
 Advanced Technical Writing

thompson@uidaho.edu