Technical Writing for Industrial Wastewater Operators Steve Frank, MC, APR, WEF Fellow SDF Communications, Inc

Wisdom of my 7 th grade teacher If you can’t write it, you don’t understand it

Four types of writing  Technical  News/Other media  Academic  Literary

Technical  Correspondence Letters Memos – The “old” writing – The “new” writing  Reports Technical Narrative  Proposals  Job procedures, instructions

News/Other Media  Newspaper  Magazine  Audio/video scripts

Three purposes  To inform  To entertain  To persuade

Your writing strategy  What do you need to say?  Who do you need to say it to?  What do you need them to do after they read what you wrote?

Simple communication model Message Channel Source (You) Receiver (Audience) Encode Decode

Your audience  Source: You are the source. You know something that someone else needs to know  Analysis: You select the information to include—and the information to exclude  Audience: Those who will read what you write and make decisions based upon it  Translation decisions: Decisions you make in adapting your information to the audience

Prose literacy levels in the U.S. * 14%Below basic – Can perform no more than the most simple and concrete literacy skills 29%Basic – Can perform simple and everyday literacy actives 44%Intermediate – Can perform moderately challenging literacy activities 13%Proficient – Can perform complex and challenging literacy activities *National Adult Literacy Survey, 2003

Other audience factors  Age  Race  Language (11 million adults are non-literate in English)  Country of origin  Education level  Economic status  We’re all busy (Most people read at 200 wpm)

 In general, Not as formal as a letter More immediate tone than a letter Generally shorter than letters  Can also be made to sound formal

At the top s are usually formatted as follows: From: To: Cc: Subject:  From, To, and Cc help get the where it’s going. Subject says what it’s about

Blank screen in Outlook

Grab attention with subject  Use the subject line to grab reader’s attention  Squeeze key information into 8 words  Use caps and lower case  DON’T use ALL CAPS. IT’S LIKE SHOUTING  Example: Report of traffic accident; nobody hurt

Composing the report  Example: You were in a traffic accident. You need to report it to your boss and the safety office.  On a clean sheet of paper, jot down all the facts about the accident that seem relevant.  Think about how you would say this if you just said it orally to a friend. What are the most important facts?  Ask yourself: who, what, when, where, how, why.

Content  Begin with the most important information first: “I was in a traffic accident this morning. I am OK and the truck is drivable but will need some body repairs.”  With the information above, a busy person can decide to read the rest or close it and move on.

The rest of the story… On March 27 at about 6 a.m. I was driving truck no. 172 west on CO 128 about two miles from where it intersects CO 93. A deer jumped out on the road from my right side. I jammed on the brakes. The right front fender and headlight hit the deer, breaking the headlight. Nobody was hurt. The deer jumped up and ran off. The truck can be driven to the repair shop. I reported the accident to the police. They came and took a report. No ticket was issued.

Did you…?  Fill in all the addressees in the TO and CC line after you wrote, proofed the ?  Make sure any attachments are attached?  Make sure pertinent details were included?  Make sure irrelevant details were eliminated?  Make sure your conclusion(s) are supported by facts?

Relax, review, revise  Take a breath  Check to see all needed information included  Use and pay attention to spell check, basic grammar, and punctuation  Revise and correct errors before you send your  Check readability of your copy using

Use spell check in Outlook

Value of brevity  Who else might the addressees forward your to  Consider your readers’ time. A 600- word memo takes 3 minutes to read  “I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” —Mark Twain  What to say, Who to, & Why

Questions