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TECHNICAL WRITING

TECHNICAL WRITING. WHAT IS TECHNICAL WRITING?. Fundamental skill for everyone working in science and engineering Technical report is a major form of communication Most science and engineering activities produce technical reports Government and commercial activities involving Research

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TECHNICAL WRITING

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  1. TECHNICAL WRITING

  2. WHAT IS TECHNICAL WRITING? • Fundamentalskillforeveryoneworking in scienceandengineering • Technicalreport is a major form of communication • Mostscienceandengineeringactivitiesproducetechnicalreports • Governmentandcommercialactivitiesinvolving • Research • Development • Financeand, • Commerce • Rely on preciselywrittendocumentstocommunicatecomplexinformationto a widerange of audiencesandformanypurposes. • Technicalwriting is themeansbywhichthesedocumentsareproduced

  3. WHAT IS TECHNICAL WRITING? • Intechnicalwriting • theaudienceand • purpose • arealmostalwayswelldefined in advance • usuallybytheboss • Technicalwriting is basicallyreportwriting • Reportsaimtoshareobjectiveinformationwith an interested, educatedaudience • Technicalreportsaresimplyreportsthatsharethisinformation in a verypreciseway.

  4. Key features of reports • Reports: • are designed for quick and easy communication of information • are designed for selective reading • use sections with numbered headings and subheadings • use figures and diagrams to convey data.

  5. Technicalwriting • dealswithtechnicalinformation • relysheavily on visualls • Equations, photographs, tables, graphs, drawingsorcharts • Visuallsarepowerfullwaystoprovide a largeamount of informationeffectivelyandefficiently • However, theyalmostalwaysrequireinterpretationorexplanation in thetext of thereport. • usesnumerical data topreciselydescribequantityanddirection. • Inmanycasesmathematicaleqautionsandvaluesprovidetherealsubstance of a technicalreport

  6. Technicalwriting • is accurateandwelldocumented • unsupportedassertionshave no place in a technicalpaper • conclusions, recommendations, andjudgementsarealwaysbased on clearlypresentedevidenceorestablishedexpertise • technicalwriting is alwaystechnicallycorrect

  7. Technicalwriting • is grammaticallyandstylisticallycorrect • use an objective, impersonal style • The third person is traditionally used to show an unbiasedpresentation of thefacts

  8. Activeorpassive • use passive voice for the main focus • “ Penicillin was discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming” • use active voice to emphasise the doer • “Sir Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin” • Active is more direct and clear • Passive uses more words – more room for grammatical error • Overuse of passive voice makes for heavy reading

  9. Express IdeasClearly • Keep the sentence structure simple • Avoidover-longsentences • Vary the sentence length – a short sentence after a string of longerones can have greater impact • Choose word order for emphasis • “The machine worked at full capacity after it was overhauled” is betterthan • “The machine was overhauled, after which it worked at full capacity”

  10. Types of Technicalwriting • Proposals / Öneri Raporları • ProgressReports / Gelişme Raporları • FeasibilityReports / Fizibilite Raporları • Laboratoryand Project Reports / Laboratuar ve Proje Raporları • ResearchReports / Araştırma Raporları • Thesis, Journalarticles/ tezler, makaleler • InstructionsandManuals / Yönerge ve Elkitabı • ResumesandInterviews / Özgeçmiş ve mülakat

  11. Writingliteraturereview • Yourreport is not an originalpublication • do not containnew data • Thepurpose of yourreport is toreviewpreviouslypublishedliteratureandto put it intosomekind of perspective • Youshouldoffercriticalevaluation of thepublishedliteratureandoftenprovideconclusionsbased on thatliterature

  12. Writingliteraturereview • SynthesizingInformation • Onceinformation is located, thenext step is tosummarize it into a coherentliteraturereviewforyourdocument • Youmustanalyzeaccuratelyandcritically • Ittakes a lot of skimming of booksandarticlestoidentifywhichsourcesareusefultoyouand in whatcontexttheyareuseful

  13. Whenwritingtheliteraturereview • Includeonlythoseworkthat is releavanttoyourresearch • Make sure thatyouhavereadandunderstoodcitedwork • Organize yourcontentaccordingtotheideasinstead of individualpublications • Thishelpsensurethesmoothflow of contentsandmakethechaptermorereadable • Do not simplyquotaorparaphrasethecontents of publishedarticles. • Youshouldtrytoweavetheinformationintofocussedviews, incorporating (wherepossible) yourownopinionsandcomments. • Thiswilldemonstrateyourdeeperunderstanding of thetopic

  14. REPORT WRITING • It is veryusefultoprepare an outline of yourreporttoguideyouthroughthevariousstages of yourreport. • Howeverrememberthattheoutline is tentativeandmay be changedas youdevelopyourreport.

  15. TypicalOutline • TitlePage • Table of Contents • List of Figures • List of Tables • Abstract / Keywords • Introduction • SectionsorChapters of report (Main Body) • Conclusions / Recommendations • References • Appendices (ifany)

  16. Body of the report • This is main part of the report, where you present your work. • The introduction and conclusions act as a frame for the body only • Thereforeall the details of your work (including a summarised version of material in the appendices) must be included here in the appropriate section. • It is whereyou put themaincontents of yourreportto • giveinformation • put forwardyourargument • trytofindsolutionstoproblemsetc.

  17. Body of the report • You will need to put some thought into the ordering of the sections; • The presentation of information should flow logically so that the reader can follow the development of your project. • It is also essential that you choose concise but informative headings and subheadings so that the reader knows exactly what type of information to expect in each section.

  18. Headings in the bodyof the report • Eachchapter (heading) shouldhave minimum twosections (subheadings) • Youshould be carefull not todigress (i.e. moveawayfromyourintendedtopic) whenyouwriteyouroutline • All of thesubheadingsshould be relatedtoandserveforthepurpose of yourreport • Provide informative headings • As for thetitle, section headings should tell the reader exactly what type of information is contained in the section.

  19. Headings in the body of the report • They should be specific and content-focused rather than just labels. • It is importantthatyou do not put irrelevantinformationunderyoursubheadings • Devising informative headings as opposed to label headings right from the planning stage will help you to clarify exactly what you want to achieve in each section and subsection.

  20. Body of the report • The body of the report: • presents the information from your research, • organises information logically under appropriate headings • conveys information in the most effective way for communication: • uses figures and tables • can use bulleted or numbered lists • can use formatting to break up large slabs of text

  21. Plagiarism • Plagiarism is the representation of another person's ideas or writing as one'sown. • The most obvious form … is the presentation of all or part of another person‘spublished work as something one has written. • Paraphrasing another's writing without proper acknowledgement may also beconsideredplagiarism. • It is also a violation of academic honesty to represent another's artisticortechnical work or creation as one's own. • This is not to say that students should not use the work of others with theproperacknowledgement.

  22. AvoidPlagiarism !! • Don’t plagiarize under ANY circumstances. (no copying from other sources) • If you decide to paraphrase another author, even a little, REFERENCE theWORK!! (use footnotes, subscripts or numbers attached to ReferencesSection) • The work undertaken must be documented and described in your own words, supported by reference material • Plagiarism could END your academic or professional career in somecircumstances. • As ENGINEERS, you must maintain the highest moral and ethical standards – • breach of this trust may place public lives in jeopardy, • hence there is NO LENIENCY.

  23. Why is a Good Report Important? • Need to communicate ideas to an audience • Knowledge and skills are useless if you cannotcommunicateyourideas • Collect information, organize it, and present it in a logicalandconcise form • Report must convey the exact meaning you intend • Well written reports will help your career A badly-written, or poorly-structured, report could seriously undermine what mayotherwise be an excellent workorproject

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