Technical Writing S03 Providence University 1 Technical Writing - Introduction Wu-Lin Chen Department of Computer Science and Information Management PROVIDENCE UNIVERSITY College of Management

Technical Writing S03 Providence University 2 Purposes of Writing Communicating with others in your professional Forming knowledge and making it available to the society of your professional or even the world

Technical Writing S03 Providence University 3 How Writing Makes a Difference 1 “Writing ability is often correlated with a superior manager’s characteristics, such as the capability to synthesize and clarify in complex situation.” “The quality of communication has a strong impact on an idea’s reception.” “Poor proposals and reports mean little or no future with clients.” “Young engineers who write with clarity and make logical presentations tend to become supervisors of other engineers within 5 years of graduation.” Bower, D Technical Communication in Industrial R&D Groups: A Questionnaire Survey. MIT S.B. Thesis.

Technical Writing S03 Providence University 4 Writing Cycles StudentInstructor EngineerSupervisor Manager Top Management Researcher Journal editor Publication Referee Student Workplace Academics

Technical Writing S03 Providence University 5 Before You Write… Aim your audiences –Researchers or writers must consider the audiences, people who will read their writing, i.e. your readers, at all time –Identify readers’ need and interests Ex. An industrial engineer might see automating a manufacturing process as an technical problem. However, the decision maker, the manager, might be more interested in the cost justification of the automation rather than the solution.

Technical Writing S03 Providence University 6 Three Keys to Writing 1.Rewriting! 2.Rewriting! 3.Rewriting!

Technical Writing S03 Providence University 7 Pay Attention To… Style Grammar Punctuation Spelling Word Usage

Technical Writing S03 Providence University 8 About Writing Writing well means taking the time to express clearly what you really mean. Writing concisely is hard work. Henry David Thoreau –“Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long time to make it short.”