1

Technical Writing Style

Write for Clarity

Write for Conciseness

2

Who is the average reader?

Only 33% of Americans graduate from college.

College graduates read at a 10th grade level.

If you write for college level, you alienate 66% of the people.

Most businesses write materials at a 6th grade level.

Average = 15 words per sentence and no more than 5 multi-syllabic words per 100.

If they don't read it, you don't achieve your goal.

3

Write for clarity….

Provide specific detail

Answer the reporters’ questions

Use easily understandable words

Limit sentence length; emphasize the important ideas

Limit paragraph length; write coherent paragraphs

4

Provide Specific Detail

Unclear:

“Put enough air in your tires.”

(How much air is “enough”?)

Clear:

“Fill your tires to 32 pounds per square inch.”

Specific detail

Vague word

5

Answer Reporter’s Questions

Reporter’s Questions = who, what, when, where, why, and how

Unclear:“We bought a new machine to solve the problem.”

Who is “we”? What is the “new machine”? When was the purchase made? Where was the machine located? Why was the purchase made—what was the problem? How much did the machine cost?

6

Answer Reporter’s Questions (cont.)

Clear:

“The marketing department bought a

new AABco laser printer ($595) on

June 10 for our production room.

This printer will produce double-side,

color copies unlike our prior printer. ”

Clarity—Provide Specific Detail

Unclear:

The man asked for a raise.

7

Unclear :

An employee presented a proposal.

Clear:Kelly Jones, production manager, presented a plan to stagger working hours.

Clear:Jeff Jones asked for a 10 percent salary increase.

8

Clarity—Use Easily Understandable Words

Hard to Understand:

“We are cognizant of your

need for issuance of citations

pursuant to code 18-B1 CPR

violations.”

NOTE:

Write to express, not to impress! Use words that

are easy to understand.

Define abbreviations like “CPR.”

9

Clarity—Use Easily Understandable Words (cont.)

Easily understood:

“We know you need to send citations because of code 18-B1 Continuing Property Record (CPB) violations. ”

• Know instead of cognizant• Send instead of issuance• Because in stead of pursuant

10

To achieve conciseness ….

Limit paragraph length 4-6 lines of text (average)

50 words per paragraph (average)

Limit sentence length Average 20 or fewer words (average)

Word length - 1-2 syllables (average)

11

Conciseness—Limit Sentence and Word Length

Sentence Length

8 words

15 words

19 words

28 words

Comprehension Rate

100%

90%

80%

50%

Source: American Press Institute

Sentence length = 20 or fewer words

Word length = 1-2 syllables average

12

Conciseness—Limiting Word and Sentence Length (cont.)

Hard to understand

“During the month of July, I

made a decision to positively

impact my writing inabilities

by having a meeting with an instructional

advisor.”

NOTE:

This sentence is 23 words long, and it uses five words over two syllables (underlined).

13

Conciseness—Limiting Word and Sentence Length (cont.)

Easily understood

“In July, I decided to improve

my writing by meeting with a

teacher.”

NOTE:

This sentence is 13 words long, and it uses one word over two syllables (underlined).

NOTE:

All words cannot be 1-2 syllables! You cannot shorten words like “telecommunications,” “engineer,” or “accountant.”

Change the words you can; leave other words alone.

Conciseness—Emphasize the Important Ideas

What are you trying to say?

Position the most important idea at the beginning of the sentence.

Make sure the most important idea is the subject of the sentence.

Place the main idea in a short sentence.

14

All production and administrative personnel will meet at 2pm on May 23 in the main conference room, at which time we will announce a new plan of salary incentives.

On May 23 at 2pm in the main conference room, all personnel will meet to learn about salary incentives.

15

Conciseness—Limit Paragraph Length (cont.)

BAD

Please prepare to supply a readout of your findings and recommendations to the officer of the Southwest Groupat the completion of your study period. As we discussed,the undertaking of this project implies no currently knownincidences of impropriety in the Southwest Group, nor isit designed to find any. Rather, it is to assure ourselves of sufficient caution, control, and impartiality when dealing with an area laden with such potentialvulnerability. I am confident that we will be better served as a company as a result of this effort.

NOTE:

Long paragraphs are hard to

read.

16

Conciseness—Limit Paragraph Length (cont.)

BETTER

Please prepare to supply a readout of your findings and recommendations to the officer of the Southwest Groupat the completion of your study period.

As we discussed, the undertaking of this project implies no currently known incidences of impropriety in the Southwest Group, nor is it designed to find any. Rather, it is to assure ourselves of sufficient caution, control, and impartiality when dealing with an area laden with such potential vulnerability.

I am confident that we will be better served as a company as a result of this effort.

NOTE:

Shorter paragraphs are easier to read.

Spacing gives readers a chance to stop, breathe, and digest the information.

These paragraphs are still hard to read, due to the sentence and word length.

Coherence—Link ideas within your paragraphs…

Use a topic sentence to summarize the main idea of the paragraph All support sentences in the paragraph should relate to the

topic sentence.

Repeat a key idea using the same expression

Example: Employees treat guests as VIPs. These VIPs are never told what they can or cannot do.

Use pronouns to refer to previous nouns

Example: All new employees receive orientation. They learn …..

Use transitional expressions to show connections

Examples include: however, as a result, consequently, meanwhile, etc.

18

Use Transitions for Coherence

Also

Moreover

First... Second...

For that reason,

Therefore,

Additionally

and

Continuation Pause Reversal

For instance

For example,

Strictly speaking,

In other words,

In effect,

As a result,

or

However,

On the other hand,

Conversely,

Nevertheless,

Otherwise,

but