Technical Report Writing 2022-2023 PDF

2022 - 2023 Fall semester Technical Report Writing Dr. Mohamed Mahmoud  Chapter 1 Technical report writing Introduction to report writing Learning objectives Explain the communication proces...

2022 - 2023 Fall semester Technical Report Writing Dr. Mohamed Mahmoud  Chapter 1 Technical report writing Introduction to report writing Learning objectives Explain the communication process and the reason for writing. Understand the importance of communication in business, the core categories of business communication and the type of business messages. Describe the writing process and the effective writing strategies. Understand the fundamentals of business writing and the way of writing effective business messages 3 List of topics Lesson 01: The Communication Process and The Reasons for Writing Lesson 02: Introduction to Business Writing Lesson 03: The Writing Process Lesson 04: Fundamentals of Business Writing Lesson 05: ‫أساسيات الكتابة‬ 4 Lesson 01: The Communication Process and The Reasons for Writing Communication Communication plays a very important role in daily affairs, whether in our personal life or our workplace. Communication can be verbal or word written. It can also be through written symbols. Effective communication is about transmitting your message to the other people clearly and obviously. As soon as you move one step from the bottom, your effectiveness depends on your ability to reach others through the spoken or the written word. And the further away your job is from manual work, the larger the organization of which you are an employee, the more important it will be that you know how to convey your thoughts in writing or speaking. 5 Lesson 01: The Communication Process and The Reasons for Writing Researchers generally agreed that the process includes the following order: 1- Sensing a need: sometimes you have a problem on your mind and you believe that a form of communication is needed to help you achieve the desired condition. 2- Defining the situation: You need to be well informed about the situation in order to create a successful message or plan a communication. 3- Considering possible communication strategies: once you defined the situation, you have to consider different options to solve it. What kind of communication will you choose and what do you want to achieve? 6 Lesson 01: The Communication Process and The Reasons for Writing Researchers generally agreed that the process includes the following order: 4- Selecting a course of action: Your decision will include preliminary choices about the message content, structure, type and visual format. And also about the channel you will use to send the message. 5- Composing the message: If you decided to present the message orally, you should make notes or write the whole message or presentation. And if you decided to write your message, you should use good strategies for composing it effectively. 7 Lesson 01: The Communication Process and The Reasons for Writing Researchers generally agreed that the process includes the following order: 6- Sending the message: When you have prepared and planned your message, it is ready to be delivered to the intended recipients through the chosen channels. 7-Receiving the message: The channel you have chosen to deliver your message to the intended recipient who has decided to read or listen to your message. 8-Interpreting the message: Your recipient has to interpret the message you sent, this activity will involve extracting information from the message and guessing your communication purpose, making judgments about you, and what you represent. 8 Lesson 01: The Communication Process and The Reasons for Writing Researchers generally agreed that the process includes the following order: 9- Deciding on a response: When you send a message, you expect to have response from the other party. If your message had been carefully adapted to your recipient, there is a good chance for achieving the desired response. 10- Replying to the message: When the recipient respond to the message, then the receiver is acting as communicator, following the process followed to generate your message. 9 Lesson 01: The Communication Process and The Reasons for Writing Why do you have to write? 1. Intellectual reasons: a) Writing helps you think b) Create Large Amounts of Information 2. Practical reasons: a) Education and Scientific Papers b) Applying for a Job c) Web Writing d) Business Communication e) Government 10 Lesson 01: The Communication Process and The Reasons for Writing Why do you have to write? 1. Intellectual reasons: a) Writing helps you think by: o organizing and filtering your ideas o remembering information by taking written notes to remind yourself with things. o finding logical faults in your own thinking or understanding. o making a list of pros and cons, and as you write you decide where you stand regarding this particular issue. 11 Lesson 01: The Communication Process and The Reasons for Writing Why do you have to write? 1. Intellectual reasons: b) Create Large Amounts of Information by: o using concepts and terms to label your ideas and think in a more theoretical way. o Summarizing your reading for future reference. 12 Lesson 01: The Communication Process and The Reasons for Writing Why do you have to write? 2. Practical reasons: a) Education and Scientific Papers o We learn writing skills in school and college o Exams are a great opportunity to demonstrate your writing skills o Write term papers, reports and theories in your undergraduate courses. o Write more advanced papers, articles, masters and PhD theses 13 Lesson 01: The Communication Process and The Reasons for Writing Why do you have to write? 2. Practical reasons: b) Applying for a Job o Recruiters receive thousands of applications which they sift through. If any candidate needs to be noticed, he or she must write impressive unique content. o The credentials should be presented in a systematic and elegant fashion. It should have a positive impact on the recruiting authority. 14 Lesson 01: The Communication Process and The Reasons for Writing Why do you have to write? 2. Practical reasons: c) Web Writing: o As most of the people these days rely on the Internet whenever they are assigned any task, the presented data on the web has become increasingly important. o However, it is not always the best way of obtaining information, since it might contain mistakes, both technically and linguistically. 15 Lesson 01: The Communication Process and The Reasons for Writing Why do you have to write? 2. Practical reasons: d) Business Communication: o If there is a project or opportunity, you need to present a written proposal. Poor writing skills will give the wrong message thus result in possible rejection of the proposal. e) Government: o For any activity in the government sector, one has to fill out different forms and applications. 16 True or False 1. Writing your CV to reflect your qualification is a practical reason for learning writing skills. 2. Because of technology advancement, the importance of writing is decreasing nowadays. 3. Different situations may require different communication strategies. 4. Writing skills are not essential because we can learn and read scientific research papers online. 17 True or False 1. Writing your CV to reflect your qualification is a practical reason for learning writing skills. 2. Because of technology advancement, the importance of writing is decreasing nowadays. 3. Different situations may require different communication strategies. 4. Writing skills are not essential because we can learn and read scientific research papers online. Answer: 1. True 2. False 3. True 4. False 18 Lesson 02: Introduction to Business Writing Core Categories of Business Communication The communication activities of an organization activities fall into 3 core categories: 1. Internal operational communication 2. External operating communication 3. Personal communication 19 Lesson 02: Introduction to Business Writing Core Categories of Business Communication 1. Internal operational communication: It is all the communication that happens in conducting work within the business internally, including communication among workers, which is done to implement and create the success of the procedures (manufacturing products or providing service). It might include the following: Setting organization's goals. Orders/instructions given by supervisors. Reports prepared by workers. Email messages written by workers. 20 Lesson 02: Introduction to Business Writing Core Categories of Business Communication 2. External operational communication: It is the communication work done with people and groups outside the business; communication with government, the publics, customers, agencies and others. It might include the following: advertising made to customers, website advertising, newspaper and magazine advertising. All external messages convey the organization's image. 21 Lesson 02: Introduction to Business Writing Core Categories of Business Communication 3. Personal communication: It is the exchange of information and feelings between human beings, it helps making and sustaining the relationships upon which business depends. The employees' attitudes affect directly their productivity. Personal communication occurs in different circumstances among workmates. For example it could occur in a waiting room, in an airplane and also in the workplace. 22 MCQ When we consider the communication activities of an organization from an overall point of view, the activities fall into three broad categories: a. electronic, face-to-face, and internal b. external operational, external, and personal c. internal operational, external operational, and personal d. operational, face-to-face, and personal 23 MCQ External communication can involve communicating with all below except___________. a. Suppliers b. service companies c. customers d. Colleagues 24 Lesson 02: Introduction to Business Writing What is a Business Message? - Generally speaking, a business message has precise content that is related to the business. - It could be a message from: external - for clients, creditors and service providers or internal purposes such as the board of directors or employees - It is necessary to fulfill with a degree of formality in transmission the message in order to achieve the goal of disseminating the message to the recipients. 25 Lesson 02: Introduction to Business Writing Types of Business Messages 1. Verbal Business Messages: The Verbal message is the primary mode of passing a message. Verbal Messages are frequently passed on to carry out the routine business activities. 2. Written Business Message: The Written message is used when the information being passed on needs to be filed and compiled. It is not just an ordinary message. Care should be considered so that no mistakes and loss of money arises out of incorrectly written business messages. 26 Lesson 02: Introduction to Business Writing Types of Business Messages 3. Routine Business Message: This is used to convey details about an upcoming event, to relay routine information to a particular audience. An example is an internal email message to confirm the monthly staff meeting date. 4. Positive Business Message: This type is applied to employees and to clients as well. For employees, that is done by commending employees for a well-done job or to a sales man for having reached the month's quota. For clients, it is applied to show an appreciation of doing business with the company. 27 Lesson 02: Introduction to Business Writing Types of Business Messages 5. Negative Business Message: This is to convey a sense of fear or frustration without being rude but just a sense of professionalism being presented with. For example, non-punctual employees may receive a delay notification and a financial penalty warning. 6. Persuasive Business Message: This is to influence the person who is going to receive the message to take action that the message has partakes. For example, a sales letter should be written persuading the reader to take an immediate action to buy a product / service. 28 MCQ There are many types of business message which are: a. Verbal business message. b. Written business message. c. Persuasive business message. d. All of the above. 29 MCQ The business message could not be: a. Verbal. b. Conceptual. c. Positive. d. Persuasive. 30