Prof.

Dorothy Leal Marapao

BE 2001 – TECHNICAL WRITING IN BUSINESS

LESSON 1: NATURE OF TECHNICAL WRITING

1. What is TECHNICAL WRITING? 5. Technical Writing VS. Other Types of Writing
2. Characteristics or Properties of Technical Writing 6. Vocabulary (terms close/related to TW)
3. Importance of Technical Writing in Business 7. Language Focus: Sentence Fragment
4. Qualities of a Technical Writer 8. Application Exercises
Vocabulary/Language Improvement
Brainstorming Session: activate any schemata or prior knowledge you have each of the following words:
Technical Global Competitiveness
Communication Globalization
Business Arts
Industry Writing process
Science Workplace
Concept Linkers
1. What immediately comes to your mind upon hearing the expression, technical writing?

2. Do you think technical writing is quite different from other ways of writing, such as academic writing, essay
writing, poetry writing, news writing, and other ways of writing? Give reasons for your answer.
1. Etymological Definition of Technical Writing
• This expression came from three foreign terms:

• technikos (Greek)

• techne (French)

• teks (Indo-European)
The first two mean art, craft, or skill; the last, which is the origin of techne, means to weave or fabricate. Being
the root of the word textile, teks indicates that weaving (35,000 BCE) is one of the very first technologies done
by people in this world.
Technical Writing

• is your act of communicating, through writing, whatever you think and feel about your job, business,
industry, profession, and organization.

• It is “on-the-job writing” – a modern way of defining technical writing.

• Defining it traditionally, you think of technical writing as mainly producing outputs about these three fields
of knowledge:
Science
Technology, and
Engineering
 • As an act of writing about a workplace, it pertains to all kinds of organizations, jobs, and professions, in
the field of Architecture, Agriculture, Business, Engineering, Music, Medicine, Law, Psychology,
Radiology, Banking, and so on. Involving varieties of people, products, services, topics, and expressions
that are unique, special, or exclusive to a particular job, this type of writing is apt to use these two words
– diversity and multiculturalism – to characterize its nature (Pfeiffer, 2007)

• Thinking of technical writing as a way of learning that does not deal with theories a lot, but with knowledge
to survive in the “tough and tumble world,” Peeples (2003) stressed that this type of writing always aim
at “getting things done and at the same time inviting a how-to, or

• handbook method of instruction.”

• For McMurray (2002), technical writing takes place within a writer’s field of profession or area of discipline
composed of readers who are familiar with the technical writer’s subject matter and writing style.
Expressions circulating in this group of readers are not understandable or familiar to all kinds of people.
Inclined to using specialized terms, technical writing trends to exclude other readers from its domain.

• According to Reep (2003), having its own subject matter, format, technical terms, and audience, technical
writing exists to others as: Professional Writing, Business Writing, Occupational Writing, or On-the Job
Writing.

• For Holloway (2008), this is a type of writing that has the purpose of “displaying information on the paper
to get results.”

• One French philosopher, Michel Foucault, wrote that technical writing is the “rhetoric of the world of work”
of commerce and production. But this kind of writing according to him does not give the technical writer
the status of an author, but just a “transmitter of messages or a translator of meanings,” who has no
authority to introduce a certain form of discourse in a society at the same time claim ownership of the
mode of rhetoric (Gerson, 2006)

LESSON 2. CHARACTERISTICS OR PROPERTIES OF TECHNICAL WRITING

Following are the characteristics or properties of Technical Writing:
1. ACCURATE
o A technical written work is accurate when it deals with facts that are completely true, instead of things
whose identity, appearance, or measurements are so difficult to determine.
o An accurate report uses words, sentences, numbers, or figures that exactly express what the written work
intends to convey (Bantin, 2008).
o It avoids the frequent use of expressions for hedging such as may, perhaps, maybe, seem, apparently,
would, etc.
o It uses expressions that convey one and only one meaning instead of an ambiguous term with multiple
meanings.
2. CLEAR
Your written work is clear if, in one reading, your readers are able to get a quick understanding of the main
message or point of the whole composition. You can always achieve this, if you always remember that clear
writing always results from clear thinking, as well as from the use of simple, concise, specific, and grammatically
correct language structures.
o For the sake of clarity, you apply in your work all the principles of good sentence construction like
parallelism, consistency of tense, dangling modifiers, split infinitive, choppy sentences, run-on sentences,
comma splice, wordiness, and so on.
3. FORMAL
In technical writing, you cannot just write anything you like in any way you want on your writing paper,
because some writing standards underlie the structure, pattern, format, and language of this kind of writing.
4. GRAPHICAL
Graphs like tables, charts, figures, diagrams, maps, pictures, and other illustrations are absolutely
necessary in technical writing. This is so because this kind of writing deals with topic that are technical; meaning
it deals with things appealing to certain group of people, or uses words expressing specialized meanings or ideas
known only to a specific set of people.
5. OBJECTIVE
This characteristic of technical writing is shown by any written work of yours that avoids revealing your
individual thinking, personal meaning, or emotional attitude about your subject matter.
o Avoiding to include in your technical paper your inner thoughts, sentiments, or feelings means adopting
an impartial or impersonal stand or attitude towards what you’ve written.
o This is what others call as the You Attitude or Scientific Attitude – your focus is on your reader’s point of
view rather than on your views as the writer.
5. PRACTICAL
Technical writing is practical if it results in a written output that you can apply, use, or carry out in your
day-to-day living. It does not mainly deal with scenarios that you can just imagine or ponder on, but also tackles
up things you can practice in everyday life situations like designing, constructing, repairing, selling, traveling,
buying, bidding, inquiring, cooking, painting and many others.
6. PROCEDURAL
Being a formal and scientific way of writing whereby rules or conventions determine the appropriateness
of your written output, writing adheres to a particular course of writing acts. It presents facts and information in a
systematic or methodical matter.
o Which means you have to identify and analyze your problem, collect data about it, and present your
conclusions, discoveries, or findings about the object of your study.
7. SPECIAL
Writing something to cater to a specific set of people rather than to any group of people using expressions
quite understandable and familiar only to this specific set of readers, not to all kinds of people, is what makes
technical writing special.
o Inclined to be exclusive and selective of its topic, language, methodology, and readers, this kind of writing
is special, unique, or extra different from the other modes of writing.
8. DIVERSIONARY
Considering technical writing as on-the-job writing that is prone to extensive exposure to multicultural
clients, coworkers, cross-cultural or multilingual communication brought about by globalization through the
internet or the Email, you came to think of this kind of writing as one that will lead you to various topics, ideas,
people, methodologies, concerns, purposes, formats, language, tec.
o It has some aspects or features that are as diverse or varied as the different kinds of jobs available to all
kinds of people all over the world.
o Though (Perkins, 2008) argued that intercultural communication is the “highest art and science of human
communication,” your technical writing acts must always be “sensitive pitfalls” or hidden dangers arising
from diversities in a multicultural environment (Canavor, 2010).
9. STRAIGHTFORWARD
A straightforward manner of writing means presenting knowledge or ideas honestly and directly.
o Unlike these other ways of writing – literary and expository writing that permit the writer to hide the
meanings through figurative language – technical writing brings out in frank unequivocal, or clear-cut
way. Metaphorical, idiomatic, or circuitous expression of ideas has no place in technical writing because
your immediate purpose in technical writing is to persuade your reader to say “yes” instantly to what you
have written.
11. AUTHORITATIVE
To describe technical writing as authoritative is to think of it as one clothed with full rights, powers, and
influence to do a thing, to command, or be obeyed, or to enforce something on any one. The authority or power
that your technical writing may wield over your readers springs from the fact that the contents of your output
does not mainly come from your own intelligence but also from other people’s expertise, knowledge, and
experience that could command respect or belief.
o Proofs of the authoritativeness of your technical paper are the properly cited and documented ideas of
knowledgeable writers of technical writing books in your work specifically, the in-text citations, footnotes,
and bibliographical entries in your paper.
12. PRESENTABLE
The physical appearance of a technical writing output somehow mirrors the person who produced such
kind of paper. A dirty-looking technical written work diminishes its power, influence, or authoritativeness. So, if
you want your technical paper to have strong impact on the reader or to elicit an immediate and positive
response, see to it that your written work is free from any grammatical and typographical errors. Present it neatly
whether it is handwritten, typewritten, or computerized.

LESSON 3. IMPORTANT OF TECHNICAL WRITING

You find the value or importance of Technical Writing in the following aspects:
1. Completion of task
Technical reports on the progress indicate a thorough, careful, and systematic planning, and performance
of work. Giving a definite course of action, reports written technically assures serious involvement of people and
things in their desire to make the project reach its full ending.
2. Facility of work
a modern view of technical writing is to think of this as an act of communicating what are happening in a
workplace.
o Writing at a workplace, you make all parties involved in the work get an update of the present, past, or
future of the work regardless of their distance from the place of the main task. Near or far, through a
written communication about the job, all project workers are given the opportunity to be informed of the
status of the job and to be aware of the things they have to contribute for the perfection and completion
of the task.
3. Improvement of interpersonal relationships
The ultimate objective of technical writing is to initiate a meeting of minds between two or more people
in relation to the accomplishments of a certain project.
o Applying the principled and ethical ways of communicating ideas about the project by means of the
various technical writing products (reports, resumes, brochures, fliers, manuals, etc) and writing letters,
Emails, and memos, technical writing plays an important role in building better working relationships
among people (Gerson, 2006).
4. Increase of income
Money is always involved in technical writing. Through research proposals, bid proposals, brochures,
sales letters, order letters, and many others, buying-selling activities happen. Well-written resumes, sales, letters
and proposals are capable of getting the nod of clients or buyers for the purchase of items or the carrying out of
a big project involving millions of pesos that will consequently enrich you by the millions, too. (Holloway, 2008).
5. Means of job promotion
It is every worker’s desire to be promoted to a higher rank for this would mean higher pay and better
working conditions. The vehicle to any job promotion is technical writing abilities and skills that will make you
produce written works reflecting your thinking prowess communicative competence, and professional
preparations. Shown by your technical written work, these qualities of yours are your instrument to getting a job
promotion (Beer, 2005).
6. Improvement of personality traits
Viewed in a modern way, technical writing requires a great deal of reading and writing on different areas
of knowledge science, engineering, technology, commerce, psychology among others. Engaging in these
activities makes you do a higher - order thinking skills (HOTS) like inferring, analyzing, criticizing, evaluating,
creating, and appreciating. A frequent practice of these thinking acts enhances your cognitive abilities.
o Technical writing does not depend mainly on your mental aspect but on your emotional stability,
interpersonal relationships, and ethical standards, as well. The interplay of all of these in your acts of
writing technical reports, business letters, research proposals, and the use of information technology,
gives you enough opportunity to enhance the moral, mental, emotional, physical, and social aspects of
your personality (Kolin, 2006).
7. Security of records
Transactions, dealings, or agreements have to be recorded or documented for safekeeping purposes or
for knowledge transmission. Mere verbal exchange of ideas and reliance on various modern electronic
communication devices that are prone to mechanical defects do not guarantee a permanent or lasting existence
of essential information or ideas. Technical writing prevents a possible loss or change of data involved in any
working project (Locker, 2009).
LESSON 4. QUALITIES OF A TECHNICAL WRITER
Qualities of a Technical Writer
Gathered from some technical writing experts, the following are the traits or skills of a successful technical
writer:
1. Superior Communication Skills
Listening, speaking, reading, and writing are the four basic communication skills that any kind of writer
has to master to be able to exchange ideas excellently with others.
o While writing is the most used skill in technical writing, the other skills of listening, speaking, and reading
are your means of obtaining data for your technical written work.
o You need varieties of ideas, information, opinions and other forms of knowledge to write on your paper
or computer screen. The answer to this writing need is the activation of all your communication skill.
o Listening to people’s ideas, exchanging ideas with others, and reading books or journals, especially those
related to your target topic are therefore your ways to substantiate your technical paper. It is through
reading that you get opportunities to increase vocabulary, improve your language abilities, and widen
your perceptions about life.
2. HOTS or Higher-Order Thinking Skills
Higher-order thinking skills require more and deeper mental effort from the thinker. Thinking this way is
not just focusing your attention on what appeal to your senses but also on those beyond your sensory experience
called abstract knowledge. Abstract thinking makes you entertain ideas beyond or apart what your eyes can
see. This takes place when you perform top-level thinking acts of interpreting, evaluating, creating, and
appreciating. All these methods of thinking elicit meanings based not mainly on concrete objects but more on
the readers’ viewpoints or personal thoughts and feelings.
Among the higher-order thinking skills that you ought to practice frequently in technical writing is critical
or evaluative thinking.
o You perform this thinking skill when you present your technical paper in a problem-solving technique that
requires you to evaluate situations well so you can distinguish the most important issues from the most
significant ones.
o In organizing the parts of your technical paper, you likewise use critical thinking for your readers’ easy
and coherent understanding of the entire composition (Locker, 2009).
3. Persuasive Skills
In technical writing, two parties are basically involved:
a. the writer or seller; and
b. The reader or buyer
Between the two, the first one (the writer or seller) has the burden of proof or the responsibility to persuade
or convince the other party of the excellence of the technical paper or of the object of the selling act. To succeed
in this, you need to know and practice the art of persuasive writing where you have to apply ethos (appeal to
one’s moral, educational, or ethical values or standards), pathos (appeal to one’s emotions or feelings), and
logos (appeal to one’s logical, systematic, or orderly thinking).
4. Integrity
Sometimes you hear people, “Money is in business. If you want to be rich, you must go to business.”
being an act of buying and selling, business is always equated with money and one sure vehicle towards a
profitable business is excellent technical writing that will make you offer ideas, services, products, or systems for
clients for fees. However, for the sake of money, stiff competition enough to erode your integrity or honesty as a
technical writer, may arise between you or among several technical writers.
o It is possible that wanting to win a bid or earn a bigger amount, you may become morally unsound in
succumbing to a temptation of producing a technical written work full of falsities or gross exaggerations
or, desiring to appear extra-impressive to your readers, you may make the gross dishonest act of owning
experts’ ideas by presenting these borrowed ideas undocumented in your technical paper.
o Keep in mind that a successful and learned technical writer must always practice integrity in all his written
projects or assignments. A long and lasting wealth is based on Godly things.
5. Zest
The expression, technical writing may sound difficult to some, but a zestful technical writer like you knows
how to turn anything difficult to something that is easy and enjoyable.
o Your technical reports, business letters, research proposals, instructional manuals, memos, brochures,
or flyers and other written applications of technical writing have the power to stimulate your curiosity and
your readers’ interest if your technical written work reflects your sense of humor, optimism, or positive
thinking.
o As a person with zest, your positive dispositions in life makes you consider failures as a test of courage
and your stepping stone to success.
o You know the right way to overcome hindrances or difficulties that may prevent you from producing
effective technical written works (Perkins, 2008).

Prof. Dorothy Leal Marapao

INSTRUCTOR:
BE 2001 – TECHNICAL WRITING IN BUSINESS
Jan Roi Alvin C. Ulla
STUDENT:
BSPA SECOND YEAR SECOND SEMESTER 2022-2023