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SCENARIO
You are an assistant department head with an university considering purchase of a
new information system. A committee of nine employees from departments across the
university have been asked to determine if a new information system is definitely needed
and if so, what kind of system should be purchased to replace the current one. What
should a new system be able to do that the current one can’t do?
The committee, which meets every two weeks for five months, surveys
departments throughout the university, interviews key individuals from areas throughout
the university, emails surveys to employees, brings lists of needs discussed in other
university meetings. Once the data has been collected, the committee chair, Sam
Wilson, asks if you would compile the committee’s report for submission to the
operations VP of the university. Creating the report will require analysis and summary of
all the notes, memoranda, emails, and testimonies of individuals in the organization, as
well as minutes of the committee meetings.
Your task, to compile a report that accurately reflects the results of the six months
of study, clearly will state the recommendations of the committee and the different parts
of the university. You will need to write in such a way that the report can be easily read
by everyone in the organization as well as the Board of Governors, which will have to
approve funding for a new system. But the Board, and the Executive Officers, must be
convinced of the need for a new system based on the report.
You realize that you have to resolve a number of issues: how to design the report
--what elements should be included--how these elements should be arranged and
presented to ensure that the report is read correctly and fully by those who will make the
decision on whether or not to purchase a new system, how to organize the content so that
even casual readers will know what the committee has recommended and what
information it wants included, and how to persuade readers to accept the conclusions of
the committee.
“This should be an easy report,” remarks Kevin Gaither, a member of the
committee. “Over 90% of the people we have talked to believe that we have to have a
new system.”
“Perhaps,” you reply. “But knowing that we need a system and convincing the
Board that the money will be well spent is another matter. Board members have not been
involved in the daily discussions the way we have been. They don’t have the same
perspective we have; they don’t have to use this information system. In addition, the
reasons we give for needing a new system are far from unanimous: a number of people
giving the same reasons say these in different ways. Summarizing a study that accurately
reflects what we’ve discovered the past six months is not going to be easy. In addition,
the Board will want to be convinced that the cost is justified.”
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“You can do it,” Kevin remarks. “You are the best writer in the group. And, the
rest of us will help you once you get a draft. My problem is that I never know how to get
started.”
Lisa and Darren, two other committee members, nod in agreement. Sam then
asks if you can have a working draft in two weeks. “Send us all a copy by email. I want
everybody to read the draft and come ready to make helpful comments. We will meet in
three weeks to give everyone adequate time. This is an important report, but we need to
get it done.”
An Overview of Technical Writing
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The Matter of Definition
The Substance of Technical/Business/Workplace Writing
Writing at Work Versus Writing at School: Eight Basic Differences
Writing and Communicating at Work
The Foundations of Effective Technical Writings
The Nature of Technical Writing
The Qualities of Good Technical Writing
What is “technical” writing, a label for writing people do as part of their jobs or their
professions and careers?
The Matter Of Definition
Technical writing refers to writing done in a work environment. Technical writing may
also be called professional or business writing, or workplace writing, because it occurs in
a business or work setting. In contrast, academic writing is prepared in your course work.
It is writing for school learning activities. While many of the characteristics of academic
writing apply to work-related writing, “technical” writing (or workplace writing) and
academic writing have different goals. These differences define each type of writing.
The Substance Of Technical/Business/Workplace Writing
Throughout your educational experience, teachers have given you writing assignments
that require you to show that you have mastered concepts and facts. Teachers use writing
assignments to determine if you have learned what they wish you to learn. In school,
your teachers become a captive audience: They are paid to read what you write (no
matter how good or bad, how clear or muddled it is), to assess the accuracy of the
content, and to determine a grade for the assignment. The grade and their comments help
you know if you have met their performance objectives.
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You write for teachers knowledgeable about the subject you are addressing in your
assignment. They expect a specific response and will read what you write to determine
the correctness of the content. Even when you do not express yourself clearly,
professors, because of their expertise in the subject and their role as evaluators, can
usually figure out what you are trying to say. And, in most cases, teachers work
diligently to understand your intended meaning.
Academic writing follows a predictable sequence. In a typical class, you submit
assignments which are graded and then returned to you. Your teachers assign and then
expect assignments to be submitted by a specific date. These written assignments have
relevance for a specific course of study for a specific time period, usually several months
(a semester or term). Even if you work as a part of a project team and develop a teamwritten report, you will be working with students who have an academic background
similar to yours. Everyone on the team knows that the effectiveness of the assignment
will affect the grade.
Writing At Work Versus Writing At School: Eight Basic Differences
Workplace, business, or technical, writing differs significantly from academic writing
because writing at work and writing in school have different purposes.
Writing at Work Achieves Job Goals: Communication in the business organization
helps it achieve its goals. Without effective communication, the organization cannot
function. Communication among individuals, as well as among departments within the
organization, and with individuals in other organizations becomes the means by which
the organization operates. Communication will be written, virtual, electronic, oral, or
some combination. For example, you may talk with other employees and then follow up
what you have said with written documents—such as a letter or a report.
Communication also enables the individual employee to complete job tasks. Job
effectiveness requires effective writing and speaking. While correctness and accuracy in
use of English remain chief concerns when you write, your purpose is not to convince
anyone that you know a subject for the sake of receiving a grade. You write to persuade
other employees or clients, to instruct them on how to perform specific tasks, or to inform
them about issues important to them. But your main purpose is to help you perform your
job within the organization.
Writing at Work Addresses a Variety of Readers: The reader for whom you write
will no longer be a single reader, a professor, a specialist in the subject area. Employee
communication surveys indicate that employees write to many readers who have varied
educational and technical backgrounds, but most often to people who are less
knowledgeable about a topic than they are. Your supervisor, for example, may have
majored in a field of study very different from yours, or your supervisor’s responsibilities
may have channeled his or her technical knowledge into other areas. For example, you
may report directly to a person whose educational background has been in physical
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chemistry or electrical engineering but whose responsibilities may now be in personnel
management, data base administration, quality control, or financial analysis. You may
have been hired because you bring a specific kind of expertise to the organization, an
expertise that your immediate supervisor does not have. One of your tasks is to share
your expertise with your supervisor and other employees who may lack the expertise and
knowledge you offer. Yet, they need to be informed about your work as they do their
own jobs.
You will often need to communicate with employees from other departments outside the
organization. They will read what you write based on their on job responsibilities,
cultural and work backgrounds, educational profiles, and technical expertise. Early in
your career, you may find yourself supervising employees who have a level of vocational
expertise you have not had the time or opportunity to acquire. Their view of various jobrelated issues may differ markedly from yours due to differences in age, education,
cultural and geographical background. You may also find yourself writing to clients or
customers outside the organization. Unlike students with whom you took classes in
college, those with whom you work and communicate will not have the same educational
and technical background that you do. Your ability to communicate with them will
depend heavily on your ability to perceive the unique background each brings to the job
and the way their backgrounds differ from yours.
Given the international dimension of business, you may need to communicate with
customers, clients, and employees in other countries. Your organization may have
offices throughout the world. You may have clients in several countries. You may want
to sell your company’s products to the European Union or to corporations located on the
Pacific Rim. NAFTA may have opened new business opportunities in South America,
Canada, and Mexico.
Writing at Work Addresses Readers with Different Perspectives: These readers, all
of whom have their own job tasks and who come from a variety of educational, cultural,
and disciplinary backgrounds, will not approach what you write as your professors did.
They feel no commitment to read what you write unless your messages are useful to them
as they do their own work. They will not read all documents completely. As you write
for different readers both inside and outside the organization, you will need to remember
that each reader brings a different background and attitude to your message. Each reader
will approach your message with his/her job responsibilities in mind. Each will be
interested in how your message affects his/her job goals. When you communicate with
readers from other countries and cultures, differences between that reader’s culture and
your own culture may vary significantly.
International readers will approach communications with a perspective different from
yours. Communicating with readers in China, Mexico, and England will require different
approaches for dealing with each group.
Writing at Work Creates Excessive Paperwork and Email: We live and work in an
Information Age where the quantity of information grows rapidly, where people have
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more to read than they can ever hope to read. As a result, few documents—paper or
virtual—are read completely. Most are skimmed. Because business writing is not
material for leisure reading, your readers—all involved in doing their own jobs—will
read as little as possible, and they will read only the parts of a document that will be
helpful to them. As they pick up your report or see your email subject line, they will
immediately be asking: What is this? Why should I read it? How does it affect me?
What am I going to have to do? Readers will want to find the main points and ideas
quickly, and they will become impatient if they are unable to find them by glancing at the
page. They will not usually read any document completely or bother to respond to it
unless the message at the beginning indicates that they should do so. How they respond
to the first few sentences of your writing will often determine how much more of it they
read.
In short, on the job, your readers are not a captive audience, as your teachers have been.
They do not have to read what you write. If you want your writing to be read, you must
make your message clear and easy to read. You must also make your message as
interesting and relevant as possible. Because your readers will likely read selectively,
conciseness and clarity are basic ingredients of effective business communication.
Mechanical correctness will still be a desirable quality, but correct writing that cannot be
read easily and quickly will not be read.
Writing at Work May Be Read by Readers Unknown to the Writer: Because you
will write to a variety of readers, these readers fall into two main categories: (1) the
primary reader(s), to whom the writing is addressed, and (2) the secondary reader(s), who
will received copies of what you write because the information pertains to their job
responsibilities. Because of the prevalence of email, you really have no idea who will
read what you write, as any message may be forwarded. Reports sent as email
attachments can be easily forwarded. Documents posted online on an organization’s
website are far from secure from prying eyes and hackers.
Whoever your known reader will be, you should always anticipate unknown readers who
may receive copies of your reports or email. Because photocopies can be made and
easily distributed, even paper documents can be easily distributed.
You cannot underestimate the problem that unknown readers present. Copies of your
reports and letters will be placed in files accessible by readers who may not know
anything about you or the situation you are writing about. Yet, these documents will
often be used in assessing your performance and in determining your promotion
potential. Your written communications document your work. How well you write
suggests how well you have done your job. Readers who know little about you will make
decisions about your competence based on what you say, even though they know little,
except by inference, about the issue your report addressed. Unknown readers may also
use your report to gain understanding of a work situation they nave inherited with a new
job assignment. In short, on the job, what you write becomes much more than a
knowledge indictor upon which a professor determines your grade.
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Writing at Work Has an Indefinite Life Span: Nearly everything you write for an
organization will remain in the organization’s data base indefinitely. Because known and
unknown readers may use the documents you write for an indefinite period of time, the
problem of trying to determine who will likely read what you write is further complicated
by the length of time that each document is accessible and usable. While academic
writing is done in response to assignments, applicable only for a specific semester, course
and professor, workplace communications have no specific life span. They can be read
and then used in ways you never intended or envisioned.
Writing at Work Creates Legal Liability for the Writer and the Organization:
Unlike academic writing, prepared and used to evaluate your knowledge of a given
academic subject, writing at work can be used against you in lawsuits. Once your sign
your name to a report or letter, your signature makes you responsible for the content.
You need to remember the indefinite lifespan of work place documents and the difficult
of knowing just who will read what your write. You also need to remember that people
may use your writing for reasons you never considered, and they make take sentences
and even paragraphs out of context for use in situations unrelated to the issue you were
addressing in your original document. They can then use what you say to support claims
against you and the organization you represent. Because we live in an increasingly
litigious society, designing documents that will prevent their misuse should be one of
your primary goals.
Writing at Work Uses a Variety of Written Documents: Most of the academic writing
you have done includes essays, essay examinations, research papers, and laboratory
reports. All are directed to your teachers. However, surveys show that at work,
employees can expect to write a variety of documents not relevant to academic writing
assignments: letters, email, information and procedure memoranda, proposals, progress
reports, project reports, feasibility studies, economic justification reports, policy
statements, travel reports, news releases, speeches, training procedures, budget forecasts,
employee evaluations, user documentation, and perhaps articles for publication. What
you write will change with your responsibilities, the kind of job you have, and your
position in the organization. How you write each document will depend on the topic
being discussed, the situation leading to the document, your readers’ needs and
perspectives, and your purpose in writing.
While writing in school has taught you important concepts such as paragraph
development and correct, effective sentence development, your task on the job will be to
apply these techniques to the design of whatever you need to write to perform your job.
Writing And Communicating At Work
You are probably wondering how you can learn how to develop such a wide range of
documents and deal with the range of communication demands. The answer involves
your learning, understanding, and then practicing a method of writing, one that you can
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apply to any document. The segment called “Composing” explains this method. During
this course, we will apply these principles to various documents.
Being able to write well is critical because communication is critical to an organization.
Organizations produce technical writing for internal and external use. Internally,
documents such as memoranda and email are common types of communication. These
documents enable members of an organization to share information and ideas. These
documents show that work has been done or is being done.
Many examples come to mind. The director of information services studies and reports
on the feasibility of purchasing and installing a new computer system. A director of
payroll services may write instructions to employees on how to apply for leave without
pay, how to select and apply for new insurance options; a university department prepares
a proposal to a state government offering to provide research services; an architectural
firm prepares progress reports to inform clients of the status of contracted building
programs; an insurance company writes letters accepting or denying claims by its
policyholders. A financial services organization writes letters to clients about their
investments or prepares lengthy investment recommendation reports to clients. Human
Resources analyzes the potential of developing a self-insurance plan for the company
rather than buying medical insurance from a standard insurance company. The personnel
department instructs new employees about company policies and procedures. Many of
these kinds of documents are written collaboratively. Employees write reports to record
their work and send copies—either in paper or as email attachments—to those in the
company who need to be informed.
The amount and variety of communication done in an organization has grown rapidly
during the past three decades. Survey research indicates that college-educated
employees spend about 20% of their time at work writing. In fact, most college-educated
workers rank the ability to write well as very important or critically important to their job
performance.2 Writing/speaking are the two ways that you perform your job tasks. For
that reason, when you look at job ads, you will note that “excellent communication skills”
is required for most positions requiring a college degree.
The manufacture of information has become a major industry in its own right. Much of
that information is research related. Many government agencies, scientific laboratories,
and commercial companies make research their principal business. They may undertake
this research to satisfy their internal needs or the needs of related organizations. The
people who conduct the research may include social scientists, computer scientists,
chemists, physicists, mathematicians, psychologists—the whole array of professional
specialists. They record and transmit much of this research via reports. The clients for
such research may be government agencies or other institutions that are not equipped to
do their own research. Reports may, in fact, be the only products of some companies and
laboratories.
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Much technical writing goes on at universities and colleges. Professors who do research
publicize results in books, journal articles, papers for professional societies. Many faculty
also write grant proposals to fund their research. Effective grant writing requires skills in
proposal development, progress reports, and summary reports. In short, knowing how to
develop documents for any occasion will assist you in pursuing your career and achieving
career goals.
Many organizations prepare reports for public use. For example, a state department of
natural resources is entrusted not only with conserving woodlands, wetlands, and wildlife
but also with making the public aware of these resources. State and federally supported
agricultural extension services have as a major responsibility the preparation and
dissemination of agricultural information for interested users. Profit-earning companies
have to create and improve their public image and also attract customers and employees.
Airlines, railroads, distributors of goods and services, all have to keep in the public view.
Pamphlets, posted notices, World Wide Web sites, and radio and television
announcements are commonly used to meet these needs.
A broad and sound foundation in the essential elements of workplace writing is a
tremendous asset for those who write technical documents, for it gives them versatility
both on and off the job. They can write a good letter, prepare a brochure, compose a
report. In this comprehensive sense, they are simply writers. The same writing skills that
are important in a college classroom are important on the job. Surveys show that workers
rank writing skills in this order of importance
1.
2.
3.
4.
Clarity
Conciseness
Organization
Correctness—use of standard English
As the previous examples of technical writing make clear, audience awareness is
tremendously important to successful technical writing. What is appropriate for your
professional colleagues may be inappropriate for the general public. In matters of
definition, for example, terms are not normally defined if the audience is expected to
know them. But the indispensable corollary to that proposition is that terms have to be
defined when your audience, for whatever reason, cannot be expected to know them.
Sentences can be fact-filled when the audience is highly professional and highly
motivated. However, when your readers do not share your motivation, profession, and
enthusiasm, you should slow your pace and make your prose less dense. In technical
writing, you have to know your audience as well as your objectives and adapt your style
and material to both.
The Foundations Of Effective Technical Writings
To write clearly and effectively begins with five imperatives which underlie every
chapter in this book
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Know your reader.
Know your objective.
Be simple, direct, and concise.
Know the context in which your communication will be received and used.
Design your communication with imperatives 1-4 as guideposts.
The Qualities Of Good Technical Writing
Because the qualities of good technical writing vary, depending on audience and
objective, we cannot offer you a list that applies equally to everything you write.
However, some qualities are apparent in good technical writing. Good technical writing

Exemplifies effective design. It makes a good impression when it is picked up,
handled, and flipped through or read online.

Has been so designed that it can be read selectively—for instance, by some users,
only the summary; by other users, only the introduction and conclusions; by still other
users, the entire report.

Has a rational and readily discernible plan, such as may be revealed by the table of
contents and a series of headings throughout the report.
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Reads coherently and cumulatively from beginning to end.

Answers readers’ questions as these questions arise in their minds.

Has the necessary preliminary or front matter to characterize the report and disclose
its purpose and scope.

Has a body that provides essential information and that is written clearly, without
jargon or padding.

When appropriate, uses tables and graphs to present and clarify its content.

Has, when needed, a summary or set of conclusions to reveal the results obtained.

Conveys an overall impression of authority, thoroughness, soundness, and honest
work.
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Can stand alone and be understood by readers who were not part of the initial
readership.
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Makes a positive statement about the writer and the organization.
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Beyond all these basic characteristics, good technical writing is free from typographical
errors, grammatical slips, and misspelled words. Little flaws distract attention from the
writer’s main points and call into question the writer’s literacy.
Questions to Consider
1.
What kinds of writing do you anticipate you will need to do in the early years of
your career? What do professional publications in your field suggest about
communication in your career field?
2.
Bring one or more examples of technical writing from your discipline. Be ready
to explain how these examples reflect the characteristics of technical writing.
How do you know that the examples you have selected are technical
writing?
3.
How is technical writing used in your disciplinary area? Email a faculty member
in your discipline. Ask that faculty member about the kind of writing he/she does
and the kind of writing that people working in your discipline-related industries
do.
4.
Professional associations will often publish articles in a magazine or on the
association’s official website that describe a day in the life of a prominent
individual in the field. Locate such a news article for a professional in your field.
How much of his or her typical day includes speaking and writing? How much
email does he or she have to answer? What kinds of letters, memos, and reports
does he or she have to write? Summarize your findings in a one-page memo to
your instructor.
5.
Examine a document you have received from your university. Is the document
easy to read? If not, how would you improve it? Does this document exemplify
the characteristics of good technical writing? How and why?
6.
Examine the reports under on the RTI website. Be prepared in class to discuss
the reports. Which one is the most effective from your perspective as a new
reader? Why? Which report makes the best first impression? Why?
7.
Examine the document below, which was written for a broad audience. Do you
think it exemplifies the qualities of good technical writing? Why or why not?
Implications of Recent Clinical Trials for the National
Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel
III Guidelines
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I. Cleeman; C. Noel Bairey Merz; H. Bryan Brewer, Jr; Luther T. Clark; Donald B.
Hunninghake*; Richard C. Pasternak; Sidney C. Smith, Jr; Neil J. Stone, for the
Coordinating Committee of the National Cholesterol Education Program, Endorsed by
the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, American College of Cardiology
Foundation, and American Heart Association
Abstract
The Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) of the National Cholesterol Education Program
issued an evidence-based set of guidelines on cholesterol management in 2001. Since the
publication of ATP III, 5 major clinical trials of statin therapy with clinical end points
have been published. These trials addressed issues that were not examined in previous
clinical trials of cholesterol-lowering therapy. The present document reviews the results
of these recent trials and assesses their implications for cholesterol management.
Therapeutic lifestyle changes (TLC) remain an essential modality in clinical management.
The trials confirm the benefit of cholesterol-lowering therapy in high-risk patients and
support the ATP III treatment goal of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) <100
mg/dL. They support the inclusion of patients with diabetes in the high-risk category and
confirm the benefits of LDL-lowering therapy in these patients. They further confirm that
older persons benefit from therapeutic lowering of LDL-C. The major recommendations
for modifications to footnote the ATP III treatment algorithm are the following. In highrisk persons, the recommended LDL-C goal is <100 mg/dL, but when risk is very high,
an LDL-C goal of <70 mg/dL is a therapeutic option, ie, a reasonable clinical strategy, on
the basis of available clinical trial evidence. This therapeutic option extends also to
patients at very high risk who have a baseline LDL-C <100 mg/dL. Moreover, when a
high-risk patient has high triglycerides or low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC), consideration can be given to combining a fibrate or nicotinic acid with an LDLlowering drug. For moderately high-risk persons (2+ risk factors and 10-year risk 10% to
20%), the recommended LDL-C goal is <130 mg/dL, but an LDL-C goal <100 mg/dL is
a therapeutic option on the basis of recent trial evidence. The latter option extends also to
moderately high-risk persons with a baseline LDL-C of 100 to 129 mg/dL. When LDLlowering drug therapy is employed in high-risk or moderately high-risk persons, it is
advised that intensity of therapy be sufficient to achieve at least a 30% to 40% reduction
in LDL-C levels. Moreover, any person at high risk or moderately high risk who has
lifestyle-related risk factors (eg, obesity, physical inactivity, elevated triglycerides, low
HDL-C, or metabolic syndrome) is a candidate for TLC to modify these risk factors
regardless of LDL-C level. Finally, for people in lower-risk categories, recent clinical
trials do not modify the goals and cutpoints of therapy.
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/110/2/227