Business and Technical English Handouts 201 PDF

Handouts 201 Business and Technical English ENG201 Business and Technical English Business and Technical English ENG201 © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 1 Business and Technical English Contents LESSON 1....................................................................................................................................................................5 INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS & TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION..................................................... 5 LESSON 2.................................................................................................................................................................. 11 ORAL COMMUNICATION.............................................................................................................. 11 LESSON 3.................................................................................................................................................................. 19 READER-CENTERED WRITING...................................................................................................... 19 LESSON 4.................................................................................................................................................................. 27 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS................................................................................................................... 27 LESSON 5.................................................................................................................................................................. 29 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION DEFINING OBJECTIVES-I............................................................... 29 LESSON 6.................................................................................................................................................................. 33 DEFINING OBJECTIVES-II............................................................................................................. 33 LESSON 7.................................................................................................................................................................. 41 ACCURACY, CLARITY, CONCISENESS AND COHERENCE............................................................... 41 LESSON 8.................................................................................................................................................................. 48 THE SEVEN C’S OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION-I..................................................................... 48 LESSON 9.................................................................................................................................................................. 54 THE SEVEN C’S OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION II..................................................................... 54 LESSON 10................................................................................................................................................................ 58 THE SEVEN C’S OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION III................................................................... 58 LESSON 11................................................................................................................................................................ 64 THE SEVEN C’S OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION........................................................................ 64 LESSON 12................................................................................................................................................................ 70 PLANNING BUSINESS MESSAGES................................................................................................. 70 LESSON 13................................................................................................................................................................ 75 COMPOSING BUSINESS MESSAGES............................................................................................... 75 LESSON 14................................................................................................................................................................ 82 REVISING BUSINESS MESSAGES................................................................................................... 82 LESSON 15............................................................................................................................................................... 89 MEMORANDUMS, MEETING DOCUMENTS AND PROPOSALS......................................................... 89 LESSON 16................................................................................................................................................................ 92 © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 2 Business and Technical English LETTERS...................................................................................................................................... 92 LESSON 17................................................................................................................................................................ 96 LETTERS II................................................................................................................................... 96 LESSON 18.............................................................................................................................................................. 100 WRITING DIRECT REQUESTS...................................................................................................... 100 LESSON 19.............................................................................................................................................................. 103 WRITING ROUTINE, GOOD-NEWS AND GOODWILL MESSAGES.................................................. 103 LESSON 20.............................................................................................................................................................. 106 WRITING BAD-NEWS MESSAGES............................................................................................... 106 LESSON 21.............................................................................................................................................................. 109 WRITING PERSUASIVE MESSAGES.............................................................................................. 109 LESSON 22.............................................................................................................................................................. 113 WRITING SHORT REPORTS......................................................................................................... 113 LESSON 23.............................................................................................................................................................. 118 PLANNING LONG REPORTS......................................................................................................... 118 LESSON 24.............................................................................................................................................................. 122 WRITING LONG REPORTS........................................................................................................... 122 LESSON 25.............................................................................................................................................................. 125 GENERAL REPORTS.................................................................................................................... 125 LESSON 26.............................................................................................................................................................. 128 EMPIRICAL RESEARCH REPORT.................................................................................................. 128 LESSON 27.............................................................................................................................................................. 134 FEASIBILITY REPORTS................................................................................................................ 134 LESSON 28.............................................................................................................................................................. 140 PROGRESS REPORTS................................................................................................................... 140 LESSON 29.............................................................................................................................................................. 145 PROPOSALS................................................................................................................................ 145 LESSON 30.............................................................................................................................................................. 152 INSTRUCTIONS........................................................................................................................... 152 LESSON 31.............................................................................................................................................................. 158 USING VISUAL AIDS.................................................................................................................. 158 LESSON 32.............................................................................................................................................................. 161 CREATING TWELVE TYPES OF VISUAL AIDS.............................................................................. 161 LESSON 33.............................................................................................................................................................. 166 WRITING SPECIFICATIONS AND ANALYSIS REPORTS.................................................................. 166 © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 3 Business and Technical English LESSON 34.............................................................................................................................................................. 170 HOW TO AVOID COMMON WRITING PROBLEMS......................................................................... 170 LESSON 35.............................................................................................................................................................. 174 LANGUAGE REVIEW................................................................................................................... 174 LESSON 36.............................................................................................................................................................. 183 LANGUAGE REVIEW: SENTENCES.............................................................................................. 183 LESSON 37.............................................................................................................................................................. 186 LANGUAGE REVIEW: SENTENCES II........................................................................................... 186 LESSON 38.............................................................................................................................................................. 191 LANGUAGE REVIEW................................................................................................................... 191 LESSON 39.............................................................................................................................................................. 195 LANGUAGE REVIEW: PUNCTUATION II...................................................................................... 195 LESSON 40.............................................................................................................................................................. 202 LANGUAGE REVIEW: MECHANICS............................................................................................. 202 LESSON 41.............................................................................................................................................................. 208 LISTENING AND INTERVIEWING.................................................................................................. 208 LESSON 42.............................................................................................................................................................. 213 PLANNING INTERVIEWS AND CONDUCTING MEETINGS.............................................................. 213 LESSON 43.............................................................................................................................................................. 220 GIVING SPEECHES AND ORAL PRESENTATIONS I........................................................................ 220 LESSON 44.............................................................................................................................................................. 227 GIVING SPEECHES AND ORAL PRESENTATIONS II...................................................................... 227 LESSON 45.............................................................................................................................................................. 234 REVIEW WRITTEN COMMUNICATION......................................................................................... 234 © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 4 Business and Technical English LESSON 1 INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS & TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION Outline Introduction to Business & Technical Communication Books & Materials Modules Importance of Business & Technical Communication Types of Communication Introduction to Business & Technical Communication The main objective of this course is to equip the students with skills that will enable them to communicate clearly and concisely in diverse business situations. The students will learn the importance of planning and organizing effective written messages. The course is divided into two sections: 1. Written Communication 2. Oral Communication Written communication will cover planning, structures, and stylistic issues. The students will learn to write memos and letters, proposals, short and long reports, and procedure & policy documents. Moreover, the students will learn to simplify complex information through editing and revising for enhancing their ability to create powerful documents to sell their ideas. The oral communication section will cover planning and execution of effective presentations; group behavior, planning and conducting effective meetings. Books & Materials The Mayfield Handbook for Technical Writing http://www.mhhe.com/mayfieldpub/tsw/home.htm Business Communication Today by Bovee, C.L. & Thill, J.V. Modules Module 1: Basics of Effective Technical and Business Communication Module 2: Forms of Written Communication: Reports, Proposals, Letters, Memos, Applications, Resumes, Instructions, and Specification documents. Module 3: Research &Writing Module 4: Oral Communication Importance of Business & Technical Communication Learning ‘Business & Technical Communication’ helps a person to identify different roles at workplace. For instance, you will need to identify your two roles at work. As a specialist, you © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 5 Business and Technical English need to generate ideas which will be potentially useful. Secondly, you need to share the results of your ideas with co-workers, customers, etc. as a communicator. Example Naila, a newly hired dietitian, must communicate to make the work valuable to her employer, at a large hospital. She has devised a way to reorganize the hospital kitchen that saves money, etc. Her insights will benefit the hospital only if they are communicated to someone who has the power to implement them, such as the kitchen director. Writing is critical to your success. As a college graduate, you will need to spend an average of 20 percent of your time at work writing. That comes out to one out of every five-day work week. A graph plotted for percentage of hours spent versus the number of people who responded for the survey. The study was conducted for a total number of 896 students in the US Universities. Besides enabling you to do your job, writing well can bring you many personal benefits as well: Recognition in the form of praise Raises Promotions In many organizations, the communication with the upper management is not feasible. In such a company, your memos, reports, and other writings may be the only evidence. They only have specimens of your good written work as either a specialist or a communicator. Writing is an important responsibility of mangers who have to communicate a wide variety of messages to those working above and below them. Consequently, employers look for writings when considering people for advancement. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 6 Business and Technical English In a study, 94 percent of the graduates from seven departments that send students to technical writing classes reported that the ability to "write well" is of "some" importance to them. Furthermore, 58 percent said that it is of great or critical importance to them. In a survey of people listed in the "Engineers of distinction", 89 percent said that the writing ability is considered when a person is considered for advancement. Survey of people listed in the "Engineers of distinction" plotting the importance of writing skills to people versus the number of people who responded. In addition to bringing you recognition, writing well at work can bring you personal satisfaction too. It will enable you to make an important impact. To succeed in any endeavors during your professional career, you will need to influence people's opinions, actions and decisions mostly through your writing skills. Writing at work differs from writing at school To write successfully at work, you will need to develop new writing skills and even new ways of thinking about writing. That’s because writing at work place differs in some very fundamental ways from writing done at school. Purposes of Writing As a student, you communicate for educational purposes, for example, writing term papers or taking a written exam, etc. In contrast, as an employee, you will communicate for instrumental purposes. Most of your communications will be designed to help your employer achieve practical business objectives. At school, where your aim is to show how much you know, one of your major writing strategies is to write as much as you can about your subject. At work, your communications should only include the information your readers need. Extra information would only clog your readers’ path resulting in: o decreased efficiency © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 7 Business and Technical English o increased frustration Audience At school your interaction is only with one person, the instructor. In contrast at work, you will often create communications that will address a wide variety of people with different backgrounds. The use they will make of your information. The kinds of professional and personal concerns they will bring to your presentation. Example Consider the report in which Naila will present her recommendations for improving the hospital kitchen. Her recommendations might be read by her supervisor Mr. Nadeem who will want to know what measures he will have to take in order to follow her recommendations. The vice president of finance, Mr. Altaf, will want to verify the cost estimates that Naila includes. The director of purchasing, Mr. Chauhan, will need to know about the new equipment he will need to order. The head of personnel, Miss Sara, will want to learn whether she needs to write any new job descriptions. And lastly, to assure the kitchen staff that their new work assignment will treat them fairly. So, writing for such a large and diverse audience requires skills that are not needed when writing only to your instructor. Types of Communication People at work write different types of writing for communication than those written at schools. Instead of term papers and exams, they write such things as: © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 8 Business and Technical English Memos Business letters Instructions Project proposals Progress reports Each on-the-job communication has its own conventions. To write successfully at work, you will need to learn how to construct these kinds of communication. Ownership Ownership of a writer’s work is very important. While at school your communication only belongs to you, at work however, your communication will belong only partly to you. It will belong to your employer. What you write at work represents not only you but also your department or your employer. Example If you write a letter or report to a customer, the customer views it as an official communication from your employer. If you write a proposal, your employer will get the contract or lose it. Two other situations are fairly common at work. Employees often work on committees that write reports, proposals, and other documents collaboratively. The final version cannot be accredited to only one individual. People often write communication that is sent under someone else’s name. It is common for departmental reports to be signed by the Head of Department, even though they are written by the staff members. To succeed in a job, you will need to learn to write under the circumstances in which your employer claims ownership of your communication. It is absolutely essential to think constantly about your readers. Think about what they want from you and why? Think about the ways you want to affect them. Think about the ways they will react to what you have to say. Think about them as if they were right there in front of you while you talked together. The communication must affect the individual people you are addressing in specific ways. Example If Naila’s proposal of modifying the hospital kitchen explains the problems created by the present organization in a way that her readers find compelling, if it addresses the kinds of objections that her readers can relate to, if it reduces the reader’s sense of being threatened by suggesting improvements to a system that they set up, then it may succeed. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 9 Business and Technical English On the other hand, if Naila’s proposal leaves the readers confused, and fails to persuade them, it will make Naila seem like a pushy person who has overstepped her appropriate role. As you write in a professional environment, you need to remember three things: 1. Readers create meaning. 2. Readers’ responses are sharpened by the situation. 3. Readers react on a moment-by-moment basis. Readers create Meaning Instead of receiving the message, people interact with the message to create meaning. While reading, we build larger structures of knowledge from small fragments of sentences. These structures are not the words we have just read but our own creation. Readers’ responses are shaped by the situation Responses to a communication are shaped by a total situation surrounding the message such as the readers’ purpose of reading, their perceptions of the writer’s aims, their personal interests and stake in the subject discussed, and their past relations, if any, with the writer. Readers react on a moment-to-moment basis On job, people react to each part of the memo, report or other business communication as soon as they come to it. Exercises 1. Find a communication written by someone who has the kind of job you want. Explain its purpose from various points of view of both the writer and the readers. Describe some of the writing strategies the writer has used to achieve those purposes. 2. Find a piece of writing that you believe to be ineffective. (You might look for an unclear set of instructions or an unpersuasive advertisement of some business or a technical product.) Write a brief analysis of three or four “reading moments” in which your interaction with the text is in a way that inhibits the author’s desired results. 3. Now analyze an effective piece of writing. This time, write about three or four “reading moments” in which you interact with the text in a way that helps the author bring about the desired result. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 10 Business and Technical English LESSON 2 ORAL COMMUNICATION Outline Types of Oral communication Modes of Delivery o Extempore o Impromptu o Memorization o Reading Preparation and Delivery of a Presentation Delivery Guidelines Using Visual Aids Types of Communication Oral Presentations Oral presentations can be formal or informal depending upon their explicit and implicit purposes and the delivery situation. An oral presentation can be almost any report type such as a design review, a proposal, or a conference talk. Whatever the specific type, however, an effective oral presentation is carefully planned with your objectives in mind and pays close attention to the demands of your audience. Effective oral communication is a combination of many skills: outlining and planning preparing overheads or other display media © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 11 Business and Technical English rehearsing delivery Formal and Informal Oral Reports An oral report may be delivered around a small table with just a few listeners or in a large auditorium to hundreds of people. Formal oral reports are usually prepared well in advance of presentation and are, therefore, well-rehearsed. Your manner of delivery is extremely important in a formal oral report situation. Formal oral reports may follow an outline similar to the parts of any formal written report and may be presented to an audience of one's peers or to an interested general or mixed audience in a setting such as a large auditorium or hall. Informal oral reports are generally characterized by small-group settings with a high degree of audience interaction and a relaxed manner of delivery and dress. Informal oral presentations can foster the free exchange of ideas and can be important for producing action items. Oral presentations in a professional environment generally fall into two categories: Informative speaking Persuasive speaking a. Informative Speaking Informative Speaking has audience learning as its primary goal. An informative speech may explain a concept, instruct an audience, demonstrate a process, or describe an event. In a professional setting, the informative speech may take many different forms: Individual or Group Report Oral Briefing Panel Discussion Oral Critique b. Persuasive Speaking Persuasive Speaking is used to influence what an audience thinks or does. Some of the goals of persuasive speaking include: To reinforce the attitudes, beliefs, and values an audience already holds To inoculate an audience against counter persuasion To change attitudes To motivate an audience to act Delivery Methods There are at least four methods for making an oral presentation: 1. Extempore 2. Impromptu © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 12 Business and Technical English 3. Memorization 4. Reading Extempore In this method of delivery, the thought is planned before starting to speak, either in a few hurried minutes or in the course of long, elaborate and exacting preparation, but the exact wording is left to the moment of speaking. The extemporaneous method involves significant effort but results in a degree of quality that tells your audience that you care about them. It requires the detailed laying out of the presentation from beginning to end. Doing your homework to fill in your knowledge gaps. The use of 3 x 5 cue cards or similar method to jog your memory on specifics and keep your presentation on track. Impromptu The impromptu speech is given without any advance preparation, any notes or other additional materials; it is a spontaneous reaction to the topic at hand which may introduce an interesting turn to the discussion. Memorization A memorized speech is a speech that is recited from memory rather than read from cue cards or using the assistance of notes. This method of speech delivery does not come as highly recommended as other methods. The memorization method is risky; you can lose your place or leave something out and, in a panic, you might revert to the impromptu method, resulting in disaster. Reading The drawback of reading is that when you read your speech, you are communicating with the text instead of the audience. Novice speakers often believe that if they memorize their speeches by reading them over and over word for word, they will be able to stand up and deliver the speech verbatim without reading. It is a great idea but it just does not work. If you practice by reading from a written manuscript, you will become so devoted to the paper that it will be virtually impossible to break away from it. You also lose most of the expressiveness and engaging body language that make speeches work in the first place. Preparation of the presentation Irrespective of the method of delivery, the presenter must consider the following parameters in preparing for the presentation: knowledge of the audience knowledge of subject use of time rehearsal © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 13 Business and Technical English personal appearance and grooming Additionally, the preparation and use of visual aids is an important element of any effective presentation. a. Knowledge of the Audience You should know about your audience’s pre-existing knowledge. Know the age level of the audience as well as its members’ level of educational sophistication and special interests. Then tailor your presentation accordingly. b. Knowledge of the Subject Whether you use notes, manuscript, or strictly memory, you must know your subject well. If gaps exist, you should fill them up. c. Use of Time and Rehearsal Time limits are to be observed. Even if no time limit is given, you should strive to do justice to your subject in as little time as possible but not at the price of an incomplete presentation. d. Personal Appearance Your personal appearance affects your credibility. Informal clothing is rarely appropriate for a professional presentation. Pay significant attention to personal grooming. Delivering an Oral Presentation A well planned and well-structured presentation can almost be ineffective because of bad presentation delivery. Keep in mind the following factors: Poise and Enthusiasm Eye Contact Use of Voice Use of Time a. Poise and Enthusiasm Be well prepared and strive for muscular control, alert attention, vibrant interest in the subject, and an eagerness to communicate. Avoid distracting mannerisms, but don't stand in a "frozen" position. Moving about, if not excessive, can accentuate your enthusiasm. b. Eye Contact During your presentation, try to make eye contact with most of the people and, if possible, every person in the room. Avoid fastening your gaze on your notes, on your chart or screen, or on some point in space above the heads of your listeners. c. Use of Voice Don't speak too soft, too fast, or mumble. Your audience must be able to: hear what you say understand what you say © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 14 Business and Technical English d. Use of Pace Without adequate preparation, it is easy to become nervous and start rushing through a presentation. Instead, use the pacing established during your many rehearsals. Making a Formal Presentation The material of your presentation should be concise, to the point, and tell an interesting story. In addition to the obvious things like content and visual aids, the following are just as important as the audience will be subconsciously taking them in: Voice - how you say it is as important as what you say. Body language - a subject in its own right and something about which much has been written and said. In essence, your body movements express what your attitudes and thoughts really are. Appearance - first impressions influence the audience's attitudes to you. Dress appropriately for the occasion. As is the case with most personal skills, oral communication cannot be taught. Instructors can only point the way. So as always, practice is essential both to improve your skills generally and also to make the best of each individual presentation you make. Preparation Prepare the structure of the talk carefully and logically just as you would for a written report. Keep in mind: the objectives of the talk the main points of the talk Make a list of these two things as your starting point. Write out the presentation in rough, just like a first draft of a written report. Review the draft. You will find things that are irrelevant or superfluous - delete them. Check that the story is consistent and flows smoothly. If there are things you cannot easily express, possibly because of some doubt, it is better to leave them unsaid. Never read from a script. It is also unwise to have the talk written out in detail as a prompt sheet; chances are you will not locate the thing you want to say amongst all the other text. You should know most of what you want to say - if you do not, then you should not be giving the talk. So, prepare cue cards which have key words and phrases (and possibly sketches) on them. Postcards are ideal for this. Do not forget to number the cards in case you drop them. Remember to mark on your cards the visual aids that go with them so that the right OHP or slide is shown at the right time. Rehearse your presentation, to yourself at first and then in front of some colleagues. The initial rehearsal should consider how the words and the sequence of visual aids go together. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 15 Business and Technical English Making the Presentation Greet the audience (for example, 'Good morning, ladies and gentlemen') and tell them who you are. Good presentations then follow this formula: tell the audience what you are going to tell them, at the end tell them what you have told them. Keep to the time allowed. If you can, keep it short. It is better to under-run than over-run. As a rule of thumb, allow two minutes for each general overhead transparency or Power Point slide you use but longer for any that you want to use for developing specific points. 35mm slides are generally used more sparingly and stay on the screen longer. However, the audience will get bored with something on the screen for more than 5 minutes, especially, if you are not actively talking about it. So switch the display off or replace the slide with some form of 'wallpaper' such as a company logo. Stick to the plan for the presentation, don't be tempted to digress - you will eat up time and could end up in a dead-end with no escape. Unless explicitly told not to, leave time for discussion. Five minutes are sufficient for clarification of points. The session chairman may extend this if the questioning becomes interesting. At the end of your presentation, ask if there are any questions. Avoid being terse- when you do this, the audience may find it intimidating (i.e. it may come across as any questions?If there are, it shows you were not paying attention). If questions are slow in coming, you can start things off by asking a question from the audience, so have one prepared. Delivery Guidelines Following are some very useful and practical guidelines for delivering a smooth presentation: Speak clearly. Do not shout or whisper. Judge the acoustics of the room. Do not rush or talk deliberately slow. Be natural - although not conversational. Deliberately pause at key points - this has the effect of emphasizing the importance of a particular point you are making. Avoid jokes - always disastrous unless you are a natural expert. Use your hands to emphasize points but do not indulge in too much hand waving. Ask colleagues occasionally what they think of your style. Look at the audience as much as possible, but do not fix on an individual - it can be intimidating. Pitch your presentation towards the back of the audience, especially in larger rooms. Do not face the display screen behind you and talk to it. Also, do not stand in a position where you obscure the screen. In fact, positively check for anyone in the audience who may be disadvantaged and try to accommodate them. Avoid moving about too much. Pacing up and down can unnerve the audience; although, some animation is desirable. Keep an eye on the audience's body language. Know when to stop and also when to cut out a piece of the presentation. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 16 Business and Technical English Using Visual Aids for Oral Presentations Visual aids significantly improve the interest of a presentation. However, they must be relevant to what you want to say. A careless design or use of a slide can simply get in the way of the presentation. What visual aids you use depend on the type of talk you are delivering. Here are some possible visual aids you can benefit from: Overhead projection transparencies (OHPs) 35mm Slides Computer projection (PowerPoint, applications such as Excel, etc.) Video and film Real objects - either handled from the speaker's bench or passed around Flipchart or blackboard - possibly used as a 'scratch-pad' to expand on a point Keep it simple though - a complex set of hardware can result in confusion for both the speaker and audience. Make sure you know in advance how to operate equipment and also when you want particular displays to appear and when and what signals you will use. Edit your slides as carefully as your talk - if a slide is superfluous then leave it out. If you need to use a slide twice, duplicate it. Slides and OHPs should contain the minimum information necessary. To do otherwise risks making the slide unreadable or will divert your audience's attention so that they spend time reading the slide rather than listening to you. Try to limit words per slide to a maximum of 10. Use a reasonable font size and a typeface which will enlarge well. Typically use a minimum 18 pt. Times New Roman on OHPs and preferably larger. A guideline is: if you can read the OHP from a distance of 2 meters (without projection) then it's probably ‘OK’. Avoid using a diagram prepared for a technical report in your talk. It will be too detailed and difficult to read. Use color on your slides but avoid orange and yellow which do not show up very well when projected. For text only, white or yellow on blue is pleasant to look at and easy to read. Books on presentation techniques often have quite detailed advice on the design of slides. If possible, consult an expert such as the Audio Visual Centre. Avoid adding to OHPs with a pen during the talk - it's messy and the audience will be fascinated by your shaking hand! On this point, this is another good reason for pointing to the screen when explaining a slide rather than pointing to the OHP transparency. Room lighting should be considered. Too much light near the screen will make it difficult to see the detail. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 17 Business and Technical English On the other hand, a completely darkened room can send the audience to sleep. Try to avoid having to keep switching lights on and off, but if you do have to do this, know where the light switches are and how to use them. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 18 Business and Technical English LESSON 3 READER-CENTERED WRITING Outline In this lesson, you will learn the following steps for writing a resume & letter of application: Defining your objectives Planning Drafting Evaluating Revising Writing your Resume a. Defining your objectives The first activity of writing- defining objectives- is especially important while you are writing a simple letter or job application letter. When defining your objectives, you tell what you want your communication to do. Thus, your objectives form the basis of all your other work of writing. To take the reader centered approach, you need to look at three things: a. The final result you desire. b. The people who will read your communication. c. The specific way you want your communication to affect the people as they read your communication. In the first stage, employers try to attract applications from as many qualified people as possible. At this stage of recruiting, resumes are usually read by people who work in a personal office. To understand the first stage, you may find it helpful to draw an imaginary portrait of the person going through your resume. Imagine a man who sat down to read a stack of 25-50 new applications that arrived in today’s mail. He does not have time to read through all the applications, so, he quickly sorts those applications which merit additional consideration. He quickly finds reasons to disqualify most applicants. Only, occasionally, does he read a full resume. As you write your resume you must keep in mind that it must quickly attract and hold that man’s attention. In the second stage of recruiting, employers carefully scrutinize the qualifications of the most promising applicants. Often this involves the visit of the candidates to the employer’s work place. The second stage reader of your resume includes managers of the department you have to work for. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 19 Business and Technical English To imagine your reader, you can imagine the head of the department at this stage. This person is shorthanded and wants rapidly to fill one or more openings. When s/he gets the resumes, s/he knows precisely what qualifications she seeks. Of course, some job searches vary from the two-stage recruiting procedure as described above. If you interview at a campus placement center, you will probably hand in your resume to the company recruiters at the same time you meet them. Deciding how you want your resumes to affect your readers is important. After you have identified the readers, you should determine how your resume will affect them in the job that you are seeking. More precisely, you should define how your resume is to affect your readers while they read it. To determine how your resume will affect your reader, you can think about two things: The way you want your communication to alter your reader’s attitude The task you want to help your readers perform while they read Altering your Audience’s Attitudes First determine how your audience feels before reading what you are writing, and then decide how you want them to feel after they have read it. However, your reader’s attitude before they read anything is neutral towards you. Once you have described your reader’s present and desired attitudes, try to find out things about your reader that will help you plan a strategy for persuading them to change their attitudes the way you specified. To begin, find out what will appeal to your audience. Altering your employer’s attitudes As common sense will tell you, your employers will want to hire people who are capable – applicants must be able to perform the tasks assigned to them. Responsible – applicants must be trustworthy enough to benefit the organization. Pleasant – applicants must be able to interact compatibly with other employees. The reader of your resume will look for specific terms. Instead of asking, “Is this applicant capable?”, he will ask “Can this person program in Java?”, etc. Helping your readers perform their tasks Different kinds of communication involve different tasks. When you know what those tasks are, you can write your communication in a way that will help your readers perform them easily. While reading your resume, your reader’s primary task is to get the answers to the following questions: What exactly does the person want to do? What kind of education does the person have for the job? What experience does the person have in this or a similar job? © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 20 Business and Technical English What other activities has the person engaged in which have helped him prepare for the job? How can I get more information about the person’s qualifications? Knowing that your readers will be looking for the answers to these questions tells you a great deal about what to include in your resume. b. Planning When you plan, you decide what to say and how to organize your material. In addition, you should find relevant expectations your readers have about your communication. Those expectations may limit the choices you make concerning content and organization. Deciding what to say provides you with direct help in determining what to say. In addition, your resume is a persuasive argument whose purpose is to convince your readers to hire you. The persuasive argument has two elements: a claim and an evidence to support your claim. Your definition of your objectives tells you what the implicit claim of your resume should be. That is: you are the kind of capable, responsible, and pleasant person that employers want to hire. You identify the specific facts you can mention as evidence to support the claim about yourself. Your objectives do that by alerting you to the kind of questions your readers will be asking about your resume. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 21 Business and Technical English Organizing your material When planning a communication, you need to decide not only what you will say but also how you will organize your material. For example, your definition of resume objectives requires you to emphasize the points as major evidence that you are qualified for the job you seek. More than one organizational pattern can be used to achieve those objectives. Most resumes are organized around an applicant’s experience. Thus, you can categorize them under educational experiences, work experiences, and so on. However, some individuals choose to organize a substantial part of their resume around their accomplishments and abilities. Such a resume is called a functional resume because it emphasizes the functions and tasks the applicant can perform. Whichever organizational pattern you choose, you must still decide the order you will use to present your resume. If you imagine your readers reading your resume, you will see that you have to make your name and professional achievements prominent. If you are writing conventional resume, you can provide the desired prominence by placing the name and professional objectives at the top. If you are designing a non-conventional resume, you may place your name along the bottom or side. After stating your professional objective, you should organize your remaining material by following one of the most basic strategies for writing at work: put the most important information first. This will ensure that your hurried readers come to the most important information quickly. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 22 Business and Technical English For example, people in conservative fields take a similar conservative approach to resumes. To them, resume should be typed in a white, buff or gray paper with the applicant’s name and address at the top. Keep in mind, the conventions in your fields may be different and you may have to do some investigation to learn whether or not that is the case. c. Drafting When you draft, you transform your plans, notes, outlines, and ideas into a communication. For your resumes that you create at work, you must not only draft a prose but also draft the design and the visual appearance of your message. Drafting the Prose While you draft the prose of your resume, keep in mind the imaginary portraits of your readers. Remember that your purpose is to enable those people to locate the answers to their questions relating to you. Your professional objectives are statements which are one or two sentences long and are usually general enough that the writer could send them, without alteration to many prospect employers. Example If you follow the convention, for example, you would not say “I want to work in the process control department of Adam Jee cloth manufacturing unit.” Instead, you would make a more general statement like “I want to work in the process control of a mid-sized cloth manufacturing unit.” This does not mean, however, that you need to develop a single professional objective that you can send to all employers you might contact. Professional Objectives When you state your professional objective, you answer your reader’s question, ‘What exactly do you want to do?’ Your answer is extremely important to the resume. In contrast, people in other fields such as advertising are accustomed to seeing highly unconventional resumes, perhaps printed on a pink paper. You could write multiple resumes each with professional objective suited to respective fields. Consequently, the challenge you face when writing your professional objective is to be neither too general nor too specific. You have struck the proper balance if you could send the same resume to several companies and if your readers can see that you want to work in a particular kind of organization. Education When describing your education, you provide evidence that you are capable of performing the job you applied for. The basic evidence is your college degree, so you should name the college and your degree and the date of graduation. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 23 Business and Technical English Remember If your grades are good, mention them. If you have earned any academic honors, mention them. If you have any specialized academic experience, such as a co-assignment or internship, describe it. Example By looking at Ramon and Sharon’s resumes you can see how three very different people have elaborated on the way their education qualify them for the jobs they want. Ramon, for example, describes his honors in a separate section, thereby, making them more prominent than they would have been under the simple heading of ‘Education’. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 24 Business and Technical English © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 25 Business and Technical English Ordering your job experience When deciding on the order in which to present your jobs, remember that you want to enable your busy readers to see your most impressive qualification. Most people can achieve that objective by stating their jobs in the reverse chronological order because their most recent job is also their most impressive. d. Evaluating & Revising Revision literally means to "see again", to look at something from a fresh, critical perspective. Writing is a process of discovery, and you do not always produce your best stuff when you first get started. Revising is an ongoing process of rethinking: reviewing your evidence, refining your purpose, reorganizing your presentation, reviving stale prose and correcting grammar and punctuation. So, revision is a chance for you to look critically at what you have written to see: if it's really worth saying if it says what you wanted to say if a reader will understand what you are saying © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 26 Business and Technical English LESSON 4 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS Outline In this lecture, you will learn ‘Audience Analysis: Target Audience Writing for Experts Types of Experts o General experts o Specific experts Audience’s use of Document Target Audience ‘Target audience’ is a specified audience or demographic group for whom a message is designed. Your target audience is the individuals, groups, communities and bodies of decision makers who can influence your target. Your target is the individual or individuals who have direct decision- making power over the issue your organization is working to address. Often a document will be read by readers with different levels of expertise. A mixed group of audience may be based on experts, technicians, managers, and laypersons. Target your audience by identifying audience type, characteristics and level of expertise. Determine your audience's needs by assessing their expertise and their purpose in reading the document. Determine document density. People read technical documents for different reasons, and readers have varying levels of technical expertise. To be effective, technical writing must target its audience or audiences. Target your audience by identifying your audience type and level of expertise, your audience purpose in using the document, and your audience attitude towards both you and the content of your document. Writing for Experts Distinguish between two types of experts: General experts Specific experts Both kinds are readers with extensive technical knowledge of the document's subject matter. General experts possess extensive knowledge about a field in general, but they might be unfamiliar with particular technical terms, specific equipment, or recent advances in your document's subject matter. Specific experts, on the other hand, share or surpass your knowledge about a document's subject matter. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 27 Business and Technical English Audience’s Use of a Document Experts read technical and scientific documents for a variety of purposes: To maintain and expand their own general expertise To obtain specific answers to their own research and writing To evaluate a document's technical or scientific content Strategies for Writing to Technicians Following are the strategies for writing to technicians: Keep introductions and background information brief. Make information accessible. Provide short definitions or explanations of any unfamiliar terms, tools, devices, or procedures. Managers read technical and scientific documents for a variety of purposes: To aid in making decisions To assess current situations To maintain their general level of expertise To evaluate projects and employees In general, managers read for the bottom line, a concise summary of the present situation and specific recommendations for action. Audience’s General Use of Document Readers of technical and scientific writings, whatever their level of expertise, read a document for three general purposes: To acquire information To help make decisions To learn how to do something On the other hand, if the audience does not know you or does not consider you an expert, or if the reader has had past negative experience with you or your organization, the document should include extensive explanations of your conclusions and recommendations to create trust and establish credibility. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 28 Business and Technical English LESSON 5 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION DEFINING OBJECTIVES-I Outline In this lecture, you will learn: Defining Objectives Document Purpose a. Explicit Purposes o to provide information o to give instructions o to persuade the reader o to enact (or prohibit) something b. Implicit Purposes o to establish a relationship o to create trust and establish credibility o to document actions Defining your Communication Objectives Defining Objectives – determining what your document needs to accomplish to be successful. Defining the objectives of your communication is extremely important. Defining objectives has a strong link with the audience analysis covered in the last lesson. Purpose for writing documents Document Purpose Documents should be created for explicit purposes or goals that both the writer and the reader would readily agree on. Although there are many explicit purposes for creating a scientific or technical document, there are four general categories: To provide information To give instructions To persuade the reader To enact (or prohibit) something Points to keep in mind while writing a document Make the explicit purpose clear at the beginning of your document in an abstract, an executive summary, an introduction, or all of these. Sometimes, a formal statement of objective is called for. You may also need to identify the person, the agency, or the contract requiring or authorizing the document or research. In addition to explicit goals, however, writers almost always write with unstated but still extremely important implicit goals in mind. Among the most common of these goals are to establish a relationship, to create trust and credibility, and to document actions. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 29 Business and Technical English a. Explicit Purposes of a Document Explicit purpose means the purpose which is clearly stated. As discussed earlier, most scientific documents have, as their principal (explicit) purpose, one or more of the following actions: To provide information To give instructions To persuade the reader To enact (or prohibit something) Whatever is the general purpose of an overall document, certain sections of a document always have a specific purpose. Documents that provide information Document Types Literature reviews Specifications Sections in Document Background Theory Materials Results Tables Example “This document will discuss the reasons behind constructing a new Trade Center in Islamabad.” Documents that give instructions Document Type Proposals Sections in Document Procedures Work plan Example “This document outlines a procedure for constructing a new Trade Center in Islamabad.” Documents meant to ‘persuade’ the reader Document Types Proposals Recommendation Reports Job application Letters Résumés © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 30 Business and Technical English Sections in Document Discussion Conclusion Recommendation Example “This document proposes a feasibility study for constructing a new Trade Center in Islamabad.” Documents meant to ‘enact’ something Document Type Acceptance Letters Regulations Patents Authorization Memoranda Example “NOTICE: Construction site for Trade Center ahead; no unauthorized persons allowed.” b. Implicit Purposes of a Document Implicit purpose means the purpose which is not clearly stated in the document. Keep your implicit goals in mind when writing a document. In addition to explicit goals, writers almost always write with other unstated but still extremely important implicit goals. Common goals are: To establish a relationship To create trust and establish credibility To document actions To Establish a Relationship Communication not only conveys information but also establishes a relationship between a speaker and listener, or a writer and reader. A well-written letter of inquiry, for example, can begin a professional connection that may last for years. Readers of research reports often initiate long and fruitful correspondences with the authors. Even seemingly impersonal documentation and instructions can, if written carefully to address a user's need, establish a positive relationship between the user and producer of the product. To Create Trust and Establish Credibility An underlying goal of all technical and scientific writing is to get the reader to trust the writer's credibility. Scientific and technical writing is based on precision. Accordingly, any technical or scientific document should justify the reader's confidence in the accuracy of its content, style, and organization. Carefully qualify statements that need to be qualified. Do not make claims that are merely suppositions. If your reader begins to doubt your ability or intent to analyze and shape data with a minimum of distortion, the document will no longer be effective. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 31 Business and Technical English To Document Actions Scientists, engineers, and managers often use writing to create permanent records of their thoughts and actions. One of the primary differences between most forms of written and spoken communication is that writing can be fairly permanent; whereas, speech vanishes as soon as it is produced. Consequently, technical communication is often more effective when it is written down. Make important observations, suggestions, or objections in writing. Similarly, communicate important tasks and deadlines in documents such as project plans. Keeping precise records of experiments and procedures in notebooks is crucial to a project's overall accuracy and to establishing intellectual-property rights. Statement of Objective If appropriate, state your document's objective at the beginning. Readers of technical writers are often busy people; such a statement will alert them that it is important to read further. The sentence given below is from a memorandum by an engineer at a Hydro-electric Power Plant where he warns his superiors of the problem that later caused the explosion in one of the plant’s sections and it provides an example of a good statement of objective. “This letter is written to ensure that management is fully aware of the seriousness of the current erosion problem in the section III from an engineering standpoint.” How do you actually go about defining your objectives? Example Consider the example of Ali, a fresh graduate from FAST who has been appointed as the junior Software Engineer in Adam Soft. Today Ali’s boss dropped by and asked him that the two vice presidents of Adam Soft have asked Ali for a report on his progress. Ali must now decide what he has to write in the report. If he writes his objectives clearly and precisely, they can guide him through all his work at writing. Guideline-I (Identifying the final result you want from your communication.) When defining your objectives, start by identifying the final result you want from your communication. Doing so will help you remember that when you write, you are performing an action for your desired result/outcome. Examples You want your boss to approve the project you are describing in your proposal. You want two new people to assist you in the new project you have been assigned by your employer. You want a new printer as sharing the old one with the whole department reduces your efficiency. People’s response on reading something When people read they respond in two ways simultaneously. They think and they feel at the same time. Focus your attention on accurately understanding the communication to be delivered and present it in such a way that it is viewed favorably. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 32 Business and Technical English LESSON 6 DEFINING OBJECTIVES-II Outline In this lesson, you will learn to identify the tasks you will help your readers perform while they read. You should: Tell how you want to change the readers’ attitudes. Learn your readers’ important characteristics. Learn the types of your possible readers. Fill in a sample worksheet that should be kept in mind when defining objectives. Learn the importance of ‘Appropriateness’ in business and technical communication. Identify the tasks you will help your readers perform while they read. When you identify the tasks, you are describing the enabling element of purpose. At a general level, all tasks are the same for all readers. Readers perform tasks of locating, understanding, and using information in many ways, depending on the situation. As discussed earlier, not only do readers vary but different readers’ tasks are helped by different writing strategies. It should be part of your aim while writing to enable your readers to perform their reading tasks quickly and efficiently. Example Consider the example of Ayesha, an engineer, employed by a Steel Mill. Her task is to study two types of furnaces and present a proposal to help the upper management decide which one to buy. She has two options to present the immense amount of information she has gathered. Divided Pattern Alternating Pattern Furnace A Cost Cost Furnace A Efficiency Furnace B Construction Efficiency Time Furnace A Air pollution Furnace B Furnace A Construction Time Cost Furnace A Efficiency Furnace B Construction Air Pollution Time Furnace A Air pollution Furnace B As the information in both the patterns is exactly the same, she cannot decide for herself which furnace to choose. But she has produced the results of her study in a manner that it is easy for her © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 33 Business and Technical English superiors to judge the best path. Should she choose a writing pattern which is easier to write? But then ease of writing is a writer-centered consideration, not a reader-centered one. She should choose an alternating pattern keeping in view the reader-centered approach. She knows that her readers will surely want to compare the two furnaces in detail in terms of various criteria they consider important. To make your writing reader centered, you should: Identify the questions your readers will ask. Identify the strategy to answer all these questions. Identify the ways in which your readers will use your answers. Guideline-II (Tell how you want to alter the readers’ attitudes.) Consider how you want your communication to alter the readers’ attitudes. Begin by identifying the attitudes you want to alter. Sometimes, you will want to reinforce an existing attitude. For example, you might aim your presentation in a way that the readers feel more favorably impressed by your qualifications. At other times, you might try to reverse an attitude you want your readers to abandon. For example, you might want to persuade them to like something they don’t like. You might need to persuade them that a problem exists where they feel that everything is fine. Finally at times, you might need to shape your readers’ attitude about a subject they have not thought about seriously. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 34 Business and Technical English Guideline –III (Identify and learn about your readers’ important characteristics.) You might want to think of your readers in terms of the following three roles: Decision Makers Advisors Implementers Learn your readers’ important characteristics. Decision makers The decision maker’s role is to say how the organization, or some part, will act when confronted with a particular situation. Advisors Advisors provide information and advice for the decision makers. Implementers Implementers carry out the decisions that have been made. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 35 Business and Technical English Familiarity with your topic Your readers’ familiarity with your topic will determine the amount of background information you will need to make your communication understandable to your audience. Keep in mind that people unfamiliar to your topic will also want you to explain how the information relates to them. Preferred Communication Style Most people have preferences concerning the style of communication they read. To a certain extent, the peoples’ communication preferences are shaped by the customary practices in the organization that employs them. Information style may vary from a simple prose writing to illustration with tables, graphs, and charts, etc. Special Factors Each reader is unique, so you should be on the outlook for special reader characteristics you would not normally need to consider. For example, you might be facing an individual who detests certain words, insists on phrasing certain statement, etc. Sometimes, you will also need to consider the settings in which your reader will be reading. How to consolidate information about readers? You must consolidate all information in the same way that will let you keep the key points about your audience in mind as you write. Remember, you should view the key points not merely as list of facts but as a dynamic resource which you can use to guide yourself as you perform the rest of the writing tasks. Guideline-IV (Learn the types of your possible readers.) Learn the types of your possible readers: Phantom Readers Future Readers Complex Readers a. Phantom Readers In some situations, most important readers may be hidden from you. Written communications addressed to one person are used by others. These real but unnamed readers are called phantom readers. Phantom readers are real but unnamed readers who use communication addressed to others. For example, you might have written your document for the decision makers in your company but they pass your material on to advisors.You did not know while writing that your material was going to be read by these advisors. In this case, the advisors would be called phantom readers. b. Future Readers While identifying your readers, you should keep in mind the possibility that your communication may be used weeks, months or even years from now. The readers who will be reading your document/s in future are your future readers. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 36 Business and Technical English c. Complex Readers Complex readers are the readers consisting of diverse groups with widely varying backgrounds and responsibilities, each with a different agenda, each with a different way of functioning and communicating. Guideline-V (Fill in a sample worksheet that should be kept in mind when defining objectives.) Defining Objectives a. Overall Purpose These are the questions to consider while trying to find out the overall purpose of your document: What are you writing? What prompts you to write? What outcome do you desire? b. Reader’s Profile Following questions are important to consider for knowing a reader: Who is the primary reader? What is the reader’s relationship to you? What are your reader’s job title and responsibilities? Who else might read your communication? How familiar is the reader with your communication? How familiar is the reader with your specialty? Does your reader have certain communication preferences? c. Reader’s Information Needs Consider the following questions for evaluating the readers information needs: What are the key questions your reader will ask while reading? How will your reader search for answers? d. Reader’s use of the information provided Following questions are important to consider the readers’ use of the information we provide them with: How will the reader use the information you provide? What will be their points of comparison? Also, try to determine how the information you provide will affect the reader/s and the organization. e. Reader’s Attitude The following questions should be considered to judge the reader/s attitude: What is the reader’s attitude towards your subject? © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 37 Business and Technical English What is the reader’s attitude towards you? Sample Worksheet to Define Objectives a. Overall Purpose What are you writing? A proposal that our Software Company, Adam Soft, should assign the international projects to most reliable engineers. What prompts you to write? I think this way we would complete foreign projects promptly and build the company’s credibility. What outcome do you desire? I would like the new method to be put to effect as soon as possible. b. Reader’s Profile Who is the primary reader? Ms. Zahra Saeed What is the reader’s relationship to you? We see each other daily but still have a formal relationship. What are your reader’s job title and responsibilities? She is the Head of the project assignment committee for Adam Soft. Who else might read your communication? Mr. Omair Hafeez, Mr. Khawaja Usman and Miss Zahra’s chief assistants may read it. How familiar is the reader with your communication? She is the head of the present system of assigning. She has used the current system for 3 years. She doesn’t know that I am proposing an alternative. How familiar is the reader with your specialty? Very familiar Does your reader have communication preferences? She likes all the communication to be “business like”. c. Reader’s Information Needs Following are the questions related to the readers information needs: What are the key questions Ms. Zahra will ask while reading? What would I have to do differently? How will Ms.Zahra search for answers? How exactly would the new system work? What makes you think that something is wrong with the present system? © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 38 Business and Technical English What will be the criteria for selecting an appropriate engineer for this particular project? d. Reader’s use of the information provided You have to think how ms. Zahra will use the information you provide. Attempt to determine how the information you provide will affect her and the organization. e. Reader’s Attitude What is the reader’s attitude towards your subject? She is not in favor of the new system; she thinks that it will create competition among the new employers. What is the reader’s attitude towards you? She thinks of me as a novice. *Revision of Guideline-V Identifying the Readers by Role Decision Makers Advisors Implementers Identifying the Readers by Type Phantom Readers Future Readers Appropriateness Because a reader's knowledge or experience determines the level of comprehension of a technical material, appropriateness is largely determined by your audience. For example, a fact expressed in a mathematical equation may not be effective in a report addressed to a managerial audience. All technical writing should also be appropriate to the specific institutional context that motivated its creation. It should not only serve the writer's and the reader's purposes but also conform to the goals and conventions of the institution in which it exists. Institutional goals and conventions are sometimes clear and explicit. For example, in large companies, the specific goals of various documents, as well as the preferred form and style, are often described in the company correspondence and style manuals. Although the context is not always clearly delineated, it always can be worked out. Research reports should conform to the general goals and specific conventions of the scientific or technical community in which they are created. Style Guidelines Style guides are widely used in the professions and in organizations to achieve a uniform document look by identifying the formal requirements for s document’s appearance. They are task-oriented documents in the sense that they provide definite instructions for preparing a document. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 39 Business and Technical English In the style guides, instructions are generally provided for numerous document elements including most of the following: Page formats (title page and sample page with headers or footers) Numbering systems (page, graphics, sections) Headings and subheadings Graphics elements Usage Punctuation and mechanics Document packaging For many documents, it is a good idea to identify a standard of style, so that you may achieve a consistency of style. Consistency is important, not only because it genuinely improves the reader's ability to understand your material, but also because it gives the reader confidence in your ability to assert control over any detail. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 40 Business and Technical English LESSON 7 ACCURACY, CLARITY, CONCISENESS AND COHERENCE Outline In this lesson, you will learn the importance of the following in effective communication: Accuracy o Document Accuracy o Stylistic Accuracy o Technical Accuracy Clarity Structural Clarity Stylistic Clarity Contextual Clarity Conciseness Coherence o Paragraph Development: Strategies to Develop Coherent Paragraph exemplification analysis comparison and contrast definition enumeration description Characteristics of Effective Technical Communication A good technical communication is: accurate clear concise coherent appropriate In the prose of science and technology, these qualities are sometimes difficult to achieve. Not only do science and technology depend heavily on specialized concepts and terminologies, but they also make extensive use of numbers and graphics. Consider the example given below: Example The flow of electrical current can induce the migration of impurities or other defects through the bulk of a solid. This process is called electro migration. In simple electro migration, the force on the defect is thought to have two components. The first component is the force created by direct interaction between the effective charge of the defect and the electric field that drives the current. The second component, called the "wind force," is the force caused by the scattering of electrons at the defect. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 41 Business and Technical English (--J.A. Stroscio and D.M. Eigler, "Atomic and Molecular Manipulation with the Scanning Tunneling Microscope," Science) The preceding example is accurate in two ways. It is stylistically accurate in its precise use of language. It is technically accurate in its use of specialized terms- technical terms-such as electro migration, charge, electric field, and scattering whose meanings are based in the context of a technical discipline. Both kinds of accuracy, i.e., accuracy of phrasing and accuracy of technical concept are of foremost importance in technical and professional writing. The example is also clear because it is written in simple and direct sentences. Although the technical context is the highly specialized realm of theoretical and applied nanotechnology, the sentence syntax, that is, word order--is restrained and structurally very simple. Part of this clarity is achieved by the rhetorical device of defining a term, electro migration. The example is concise in its use of minimum words to express the basic idea of electro migration. It is not wordy, and it does not digress from the point being made. The example is coherent because it develops its subject matter in an easy-to-follow line of thinking. The sentences are further linked by referents such as "this process”, “the first component and the second component." Finally, the example is appropriate to its purpose of presenting a general description of the process of electro migration, and to its audience, educated readers of Science, who are not necessarily experts in the field of nanotechnology. What is accuracy and why is it important? 1. Accuracy Cultivate accuracy in your writing. Accuracy, which is the careful conforming to truth or fact, has three main aspects: Document Accuracy Stylistic Accuracy Technical Accuracy What is document Accuracy and why is it important? Document Accuracy Document accuracy refers to the proper coverage of your topics in appropriate detail. Often an accurate document needs to focus clearly on a problem. Document accuracy is generally cultivated by a clear problem statement and by a preliminary outline. These writing tools help you focus your writing effort by reducing your data in a way that solves a theoretical or practical problem. What is Stylistic Accuracy and why is it important? Stylistic Accuracy © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 42 Business and Technical English Stylistic accuracy concerns the careful use of language to express meaning. Accurate language requires the careful use of paragraph and sentence structure and word choice to describe and analyze your topics effectively. As a writer, you gain command of accuracy by studying the elements of style and by learning to apply those elements to your drafting, revising, editing, and proofreading. Stylistic accuracy is also a matter of using words precisely. What is technical accuracy and why is it important? Technical Accuracy Technical accuracy requires stylistic accuracy but is not based solely on it. The effective document in science and technology must be grounded in a technically accurate understanding and representation of the subject. Technical accuracy depends on the writer's conceptual mastery of the subject and its vocabulary, as well as on his or her ability to analyze and shape data with a minimum of distortion. In science and technology, enormous creative energy is given to mastering this technical aspect of subject development. What is Clarity and why is it important? 2. Clarity Strive for clarity in your writing. Clarity, which refers to ease of understanding, is a special problem in technical and professional writing. Specialized languages, mathematically detailed analyses, and complex conceptual schemes can make technical subjects hard to grasp even when prepared by skilled writers and read by expert readers. You can increase the clarity of your material by securing the following: Structural Clarity Stylistic Clarity Contextual Clarity What is Structural Clarity and why is it important? Structural Clarity At the level of the whole document, you can promote structural clarity thus making it easy for the reader to get the large picture. Use abstracts and other forecasting strategies such as introductions that state the purpose and scope of the document. How can you promote structural clarity? Table of contents, problem statements, and even strategic repetition also promote structural clarity. Graphs and tables, effectively designed and placed, help focus and clarify information. Descriptive titles and frequent subject headings guide readers and help keep the large picture in focus. What is meant by Stylistic Clarity and why is it important? Stylistic Clarity © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 43 Business and Technical English Stylistic clarity is promoted by simple and direct language. Simplicity in language is obtained with directly worded sentences. Using simple sentences and avoiding overloaded sentences & excessive normalization also contribute to clarity. Word choice is a factor in stylistic clarity: use simple language wherever possible to counteract the abstract, highly specialized terms of science and technology. What is meant by Contextual Clarity? Contextual Clarity Contextual clarity, in which the importance, authorization, and implications of your work are made available, also contributes to ease of understanding. All work has a context and your readers want to understand what the context of your document is: What prompts you to write? What is your purpose? Whose preceded work has influenced yours? What is the organizational and intellectual context of your problem? You answer those questions in introductions and problem statements and in your citations and other references. What is ‘Conciseness’ and why is it important? 3. Conciseness Learn the strategies of conciseness. Conciseness has a special value in technical fields. Writers are often tempted to include everything that could be relevant to their subject, rather than merely everything that is relevant to the communication task at hand. The concise document is a piece of writing that conveys only the needed material. At the level of the whole document, conciseness is helped mostly by focus and the narrowing of document scope to a manageable problem and response. Preparing a clear introduction and developing a detailed outline are two strategies that give you control over document length and scope. Identify and eliminate material that is not necessary to support your claims. Look for sections including appendixes that are not essential to your work. Graphics are powerful aids to conciseness because they cut down on the amount of prose necessary to describe objects and processes, summarize data, and demonstrate relationships. How do you make your document more concise? Conciseness requires careful revising. Become familiar with the strategies for reducing wordiness. Look for ways of cutting useless words, sentences, and sections from the document. What is coherence and why is it important? 4. Coherence Look for ways to improve the coherence of your writing. Coherence is the quality of hanging together, of providing the reader an easily followed path. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 44 Business and Technical English Writers promote coherence by making their material logically and stylistically consistent and by organizing and expressing their ideas in specific patterns. Efforts to emphasize the relationships among the elements of a document strengthen its impact. Coherence can dramatically improve the reader's ability to understand your material by promoting its flow or readability. Coherence is especially valued in technical communication and writing because of the inherent complexity of the subjects. At the level of the whole document, coherence helps to provide the larger picture in which the connections among the parts of the document are made clear by the writer. Give readers a roadmap to help them anticipate the content of your work. Abstracts, clear titles, introductions, and problem statements all promote coherence by linking various parts of a piece of writing. Paragraph Development: Strategies to Develop Coherent Paragraph The paragraph is one of the most powerful instruments of coherence. By organizing material into a topic sentence and supporting sentences, paragraphs pull together material and emphasize various forms of conceptual development. Paragraph development is achieved partly through the specific strategies of: enumeration exemplification comparison and contrast analysis definition description All of the above furnish distinct approaches to developing ideas. Transitional devices also operate at the paragraph level to provide links among sentences and paragraphs. a. Enumeration Use enumeration in paragraphs when you want to itemize or list a set of topics or a series of some kind. Enumeration is a powerful way to establish a series of observations and to emphasize each element. In the following paragraph, the items are enumerated in a series of itemized recommendations. Have your blood cholesterol measured if you have never had it done. Finger-prick tests at health fairs and other public places are generally fairly accurate, especially if they are offered by a hospital or other reputable health group. When you know your “number,” follow these guidelines: If your cholesterol is under 200 mg/dl, maintain a healthy lifestyle-- including eating a low-fat diet, getting regular exercise, maintaining a healthy body weight, and not smoking--and get another test within five years. If your cholesterol is between 200 and 239 mg/dl, have a second test performed and average the results. If that number falls in the same range, and if you do have any form of cardiovascular disease, change your diet to improve your cholesterol. In addition, eliminate any other risk factors you have and get tested again in about one year. If your cholesterol is 240 mg/dl or more, © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 45 Business and Technical English your physician should order a more detailed cholesterol analysis and recommend therapy based on the results. You should begin a cholesterol-improving diet immediately. b. Exemplification Exemplification refers to the use of anecdotes or examples to bolster your argument or whatever you are writing about. Use exemplification paragraphs to provide instances that clarify your topic statement. In the following paragraph, the topic sentence is supported in examples that illustrate, support, and clarify the main point. Vitamins and minerals can be added to enrich (replace nutrients lost in processing) or fortify (add nutrients not normally present) foods to improve their nutritional quality. Bread sand cereals are usually enriched with some B vitamins and iron. Common examples of fortification include the addition of vitamin D to milk, vitamin A to margarine, vitamin C to fruit drinks, calcium to orange juice, and iodine to table salt. (--P. Insel and W. Roth, Core Concepts in Health) c. Comparison and Contrast Use comparison and contrast to develop a topic by examining its similarities or dissimilarities to another thing, process, or state. Comparison emphasizes the similarities, contrast, the differences. A paragraph may use both comparison and contrast. In the following example, two kinds of electrical cable are compared. The aim here is to convey the superiority of A over B for two categories of performance. Coaxial vs. Fiber-Optic Cable: Comparative Cable-Length Performances For a number of critical performance characteristics, fiber-optic cable offers considerable advantages over standard coaxial cables. The most obvious distinction between the two is the great bandwidth-distance capacity of fibers. The high-frequency capacity of coaxial cables decreases rapidly with increased length, but the bandwidth of a commercial fiber-optic system will remain constant with length. A commercial fiber-optic system like that of Artel remains constant for a bandwidth over a distance of 4, 000 ft, while three different sizes of coaxial cable rapidly drop in less than half the distance. (--Artel Communications Corporation, "Fiber Optics in RGB Color Computer Graphics Communications," Application Note CG-1) Use Transitional Words and Phrases Use transitional words and phrases to clarify and smooth the movement from idea to idea. Compare the following paragraphs: Weak Reducing drag in an aerospace vehicle is an important design consideration with financial and operational consequences. Poorly designed rocket fuselage scan triples fuel and launch costs. Drag increases stress on the key joints. This proposed project will develop a model to reduce aerodynamic drag on the RX100. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 46 Business and Technical English Improved Reducing drag in an aerospace vehicle is an important design consideration. For example, poorly designed rocket fuselages can triple fuel and launch costs. Moreover, drag increases stress on the key joints. Therefore, this proposed project will develop a model to reduce aerodynamic rag on the RX100. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 47 Business and Technical English LESSON 8 THE SEVEN C’S OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION-I Outline In this lecture, you will learn the following seven C’s of effective communication: Completeness Guidelines to secure Completeness in your writing: o Provide all necessary information. o Answer all questions asked. o Give something extra, only when desired. Credibility Conciseness Guidelines to secure Conciseness in your writing: o Eliminate wordy expressions o Include only relevant material o Avoid unnecessary repetition To compose a written or oral message, you must apply certain communication principles. These are called the seven C’s of effective communication. Following are the seven C's of effective communication: 1. Completeness 2. Conciseness 3. Consideration 4. Concreteness 5. Clarity 6. Courtesy 7. Correctness The seven C’s apply to both written and oral communication. Although, this lesson discusses these principles on a sentence level, yet they are applicable to all forms of communication. To some extent, the principles overlap because they are based on a common concern for the audience, whether the audience consists of listeners or readers. 1. Completeness Your message is complete when it contains all the facts readers or listeners need for the reaction you desire. Communication senders need to assess their message from the eyes of the receivers to be sure they have included all the relevant information. © Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan Page 48 Business and Technical English Benefits of Completeness Complete messages are more likely to bring the desired results. They do a better job at building goodwill. Communication that seems inconsequential can become very important if information it contains is complete and effective. Guidelines to secure Completeness in your writing Provide all necessary information. Answer all questions asked. Give something extra, only when desired. a. Provide all the necessary information Answer the five Ws that make the message clear. Who What When Where Why Example When requesting merchandise, make sure: What do you want? When do you need it? To whom and where is it to be sent? And how would the payment be made? b. Answer all the questions asked Look for questions. Some may appear buried within a paragraph. Locate them and answer them precisely. A colleague or a prospective customer’s reactions to an incomplete answer are likely to be unfavorable. The customer may think that the respondent is careless or purposely trying to conceal a weak spot. In general “omissions cast suspicions” whether you are answering an inquiry about your product or recommending a former employee to a new job. If you have no information on a particular question, say so clearly. If you have unfavorable information in answer to certain questions, handle your reply with both tact and honesty. Example In one instance, a software distributor when replying to a customer’s letter answered only four of the seven questions. The original questions had somewhat hidden and buried five long paragraphs so the respondent apparently overlooked them. The reply was incomplete and unfriendly and caused the distributor to lose business. © Copyright Virtual

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