Technical Report Writing - Essay Example

TECHNICAL REPORT WRITING. INTRODUCTION. This is a review on an article on technical writing. It contains a summary of the article, writer’s aims and effects of using the style on the reader. Lastly, the review contains reader’s decision on the credibility of the writer. SUMMARY. Technical reports are normally objective and practical. Writers instruct, describe, explain technical or industrial process and fully convey technical information to the target group. A technical report conveys tasks of information about proposals, reports, definitions and instructions explaining process and procedures. Technical report is written using a style that is concise and straightforward. Repetition of key words and phrases links sentences and paragraph precisely and consistently throughout the report. Instead of passive voice, active voice is used in writing these reports because active voice does not hide information especially when used in giving technical information and technical descriptions. Sentences used in writing technical report are short to make material easy to follow. A topic sentence announces main point in each paragraph. Other sentences in a paragraph give supporting details and clarify the topic sentence. Use of linking and summary statements makes the reader make logical connections between main points. The format used in writing technical reports makes asses easy. This is enabled by signaling devices. These are numbers and headings. They help the reader in indentifying the main points, indicate connections between main and supporting points, indicate connections between main points and highlight any warnings or cautions. Headings divide the report into sections and paragraphs which help the readers find specific information. Use of lists in technical report makes instructional steps easier to understand. They are useful when readers need to gather items such as materials parts and tools. Cautions and warnings in list form are highlighted in bold and italics. They are placed before the steps or procedures they apply to. Notes highlight important aspects of texts or diagrams. Other formatting tools include tables and illustrations. Tables help the reader easily recognize key relationship or make comparison. Illustrations explain technical details clearly while simplifying or emphasizing main points of interest. There are different ways of presenting factual information for a specific purpose. Technical definitions explain a special technical term. These technical terms do not have a similar or equivalent term. They are thus clearly defined to those who are not technical. Technical descriptions give accounts of facts on technical subject. Technical instructions give guidance to a reader in fully understanding efficiency and safe performance of a procedure. Inadequate conveying of instructions can have undesired results to those who rely on the descriptions. Instructions are well organized regardless of the audience. Technical proposal is a well organized convincing document presented to a person or organization to make a decision. A proposal succeeds if it clearly shows its objectives, its strategies, benefits of these strategies and ways of evaluating the results. Tender is a proposal or request to provide a product or a service in a given period of time at a given cost. It clearly shows how the service or product will be offered and how satisfactory it will be offered. MAIN POINTS/CLAIMS. The main points are; Purpose of technical writing. – the writer has highlighted the purpose of writing technical reports. According to the writer technical reports are used to convey tasks of information about proposals, reports, definitions and instructions explaining process and procedures. Styles of writing technical report – the writer has described the style used to write a technical report. Technical report is written using a style that is concise and straightforward. Technical terms are used precisely and concisely. These include repetition of key words, use of active voice, use of linking and summary statements, use of short sentences and topic sentences. Format of writing technical report – the writer has clearly described the format used in writing a good technical report. These include use of signaling devices, use of lists, notes, tables and instructions. These make the report easily assessable. Different types of technical documents – the writer has described the various types of technical reports and their significances. These include technical definitions, technical descriptions, technical instructions, technical proposals and tenders. WRITER’S AIMS/PURPOSES. To clearly describe purpose of technical writing – the writer states the various purposes of writing a technical report are to convey tasks of information about proposals, reports, definitions and instructions explaining process and procedures. To explain to the reader the style used in writing a technical report – the author takes the reader through the style that is used to write a good technical report. To explain to the reader the format used to write a technical report – the reader clearly describes to the reader format used to write a technical report by explaining the use of signaling devices. To describe the different types of technical documents – the writer highlights and describes the various ways of presenting factual information in technical writing. CONTEXT OF THE ARTICLE. The context of the article is technical report writing. Throughout the article, the author continuously describes technical report writing. The author describes purpose, style and format used in technical report writing. The context thus clearly relates to technical report writing which brings out what the article is all about. This is evident throughout the article. EFFECT OF WRITER’S STYLE TO READER. The author has correctly used one of the signaling devices i.e. heading. By breaking the article into various sections each with a clear heading, it attracts the attention of the reader (Dwyer 2006). It allows the reader to have some time to think between the various sections. Use of clear headings also makes the reader to have a grasp of contents of the article. WRITER’S CREDIBILITY. The writer has effectively communicated in the article. This has been made possible by the way the writer introduces technical report writing by first stating its purpose and further describing the style and format used in writing. Effective use of headings in the article has enabled the writer to describe the style and format (Dwyer 2006). It has also helped the writer to clearly describe the various types of technical report writing. CONCLUSION. The article clearly describes technical report writing. The author has described various styles and format used to write technical reports. By using these styles and the layout, the writer has fully communicated to the reader. This was made possible by first describing technical report writing, styles used and format for writing technical report. The reader is also fully made aware of various types of technical reports. References. Dwyer, J 2006, The business communication handbook, Pearson Prentice Hall, New Jersey. Read More