Lesson 3 – Five Traits of Technical Writing
Activity 3.1
Name:
Course/Year/Section:
Date
Submitted:
I. Clarity
A. How do we achieve clarity in technical writing? Discuss the important points to
consider.
Clarity is very important in Technical Writing and to achieve clarity, we need
to know the purpose of the technical document, to simplify words, to spell out
acronyms and to write sentence in active voice. It is important to have clarity in
technical document so that the target audience can understand the complete thought.
Lack of clarity leads inefficient instructions, confusion and missed opportunities.
B. Critique the following statements, memos whether clarity is achieved.
Consider the following Report’s questions Checklist.
1.WHO is the audience? Who will know what?
Who is your audience?
2. WHAT do you plan to do? What do you want the audience to do? What do you want
to know?
What do you want your audience to know? What do you want them to do?
3.WHEN should the job be completed? What’s he turnaround time? What is
the timetable? What’s the desired schedule? When do you need an answer?
When should the job be completed? What is the desired schedule? When do
you need the answer?
4. WHERE will the work take place?
Where will the work take place?
5. WHY is the task being undertaken (the rationale, motivation, goal)? Why s the
desired date important?
Why is the task being undertaken and why the date is important?
5. HOW should the task be performed? That’s the preferred procedure?
How should the task be performed? What is the procedure?
1. The equipment is damaged. This requires the owner to ship the
equipment back. The company will repalce the equipment, costs,
accrue, and public relations have been frayed.
Course Code: EL 169
Descriptive Title: Technical Writing
Instructor: DR. GEMMA BARROGA-SOMERA
ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
Tagudin Campus
MODULE
2. A memo is written by a manager to a nwely hired employee.
Revise for clarity. Date: January 10, 2022
To: Michelle Dela Cruz
From: Paul Mercado
Subject: Meeting
Please plan to prepare a presentation on sales.
Make sure the information is very detailed.
Thanks.
II. Conciseness
A. What is conciseness? How to achieve it in writing?
B. Critique the paragraph below taken from an actual business
correspondence. Rewrite it to achieve clarity and conciseness.
“In order to facilitate an efficient meeting and fule thought processes
prior to June 25, I want to provide you with a brief overview of
discussions recently carried out at the director and manager level
within the process. These discussions involved personnel from
Accounts Payable, Information Services, procurement/Materials
Management, Financial Systems, and Property Accounting
centering on a proposed framework for managing process
improvement moving forward.”
C. Revise the following sentences to achieve conciseness.
1. In order to successfully accomplish their job functions, the team
has been needing more work space for some time now.”
2. The used car will cost the sum of Php 300, 000.
3. We collaborated together on the projects.
4. This is a brand new innovation.
5. The other alternative is to eat soup.
6. He drove at a rapid rate.
7. I will see you in the near future.
8. I am in receipt of your e-mail message requesting an increase in
pay.
D. Change the following sentences that are in the passive
voice to active voice. 1. It is my decision to run for office.
2. There are sixteen people who tried out for the basketball team.
3. The computer was purchased by Tom.
E. Revise the italicized vague words and phrases, specifying exact
information.
Specificity
Vague Word(s)
1. I have a low GPA.
2. The b-ball player was really tall.
Specified
3. I’ll be home as soon as
possible.
4. The team has a losing record.
5. The computer has lots of
memory.
F. Change the following long words to short words.
Changing Long Words to
Short Words
Long Word
Short Word
utilize
anticipate
cooperate
indicate
initially
Course Code: EL 169
Descriptive Title: Technical Writing
Instructor: DR. GEMMA BARROGA-SOMERA
ILOCOS SUR POLYTECHNIC STATE COLLEGE
MODULE
Tagudin Campus
presently
prohibit
inconvenience
G. Change the following long phrases to one word.
Changing Long Phrases to
One Word
Long Phrase
In the event that
At this point in time
With regard to
In the first place
Is of the opinion that
One Word
Due to the fact that
Make revisions
Take into
consideration
With the exception of
Make an adjustment of
H. Revise the following long sentences, making them shorter.
1. I will be calling you on May 31 to see if you have any questions at
that time.
2. If I can be of any assistance to you in the evaluation of this
proposal, please feel free to give me a call.
3. The company is in the process of trying to cut the
cost of expenditures relating to the waste of unused
office supplies.
4. I am of the opinion that Acme employees have too much work to
do.
5. In the month of July, my family will make a visit to the state of
Arkansas.
6. It is the company’s plan to take action to avoid problems with
hazardous waste.
7. On two different occasions, the manager of personnel met with
at least several different employees to ascertain whether or not
they were in agreement with the company’s policies regarding
overtime.
III. Accessibility
A. What is meant by accessibility of document? How do we achieve it?
What are the highlighting techniques as a way of accessing
content in a document? Give example each.
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IV. Audience Recognition
A. What is audience recognition as one of the traits of technical
writing? How do we achieve it? What are the three levels of
audiences? How do we achieve audience recognition in these
three levels of audiences?
V. How is the Five Trait Rubric being used in Technical Writing? What
are the points to consider in rating a technical paper using the
said rubric?
Lesson 4. Technical writing Applications
There is no type of correspondence defines technical writing.
Instead, technical writing consists of many different types of
documentation.
- Letters
- Memos
- Reports
- The Job Search
-Brochures
- Newsletters
- Fliers
- Graphics
- PowerPoint Presentations
A. Answer the following questions comprehensively:
1. What are the essential components of a business letter?
2. What are the criteria of an effective letter?
3. What are the types of business letters?
4. What is a memorandum? What are the
components of a memo? 5. What are the
differences between a memo and a letter?
6. Why e-mail is important? What are the benefits in writing emails? Write one example of business e-mail.
7. What is a report? What are the components of report? What
are the types of technical reports? Give one example each.
8. What is a job search? What are the components of job
search? Where should students look for job?
9. What is a résumé? What are its components and types?
Activities:
a. Go online (Internet Explorer or Netscape). Then, look at
the different ways in which Internet resumés can appear and
write your own resumé.
b. Write the following samples of business letters
composing the essential parts;
1. Sales letter
2. Letter of Order
3. Application Letter (solicited and Unsolicited)
4. Follow –up Letter
5. Letter of Instruction
6. Letter of Recommendation
c. Write the following samples of Report:
1. Memorandum Report
2. Letter Report
3. Progress report
4. Annual Report
d. Make a power point presentation on the following topics:
1. The nature of Technical Writing
2. Differences between technical writing and essay
3. Five traits of technical writing
4. Samples of technical reports
e. Make a simple brochure about teaching as the noblest profession
f. Make a simple flier about ISPSC Tagudin Campus
Note:
Send your answers (for letter activities d) in our google classroom
before January 30, 2022. Include these activities in your module on the
topics specified and and be a part of your module. Submit your module in
our google classroom and a hard copy(soft bound) to me personally. (take
note on what we agreed upon on the mode of submission if travel
restrictions will still be a risks).
Prepared by:
GEMMA B. SOMERA, PhD LE
Instructor