To: Nancy Myers
From: TroiEllis Reichlin
Date: April 10th, 2022
Subject: APLED 121-Chapter 4 Summary
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CHAPTER 4
OBJECTIVES IN TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION
Achieving Clarity in Technical Communication
• Provide Specific Detail-Quantify your information instead of using vague
language. For example, you can say 30 minutes ago instead of recently.
• Answer the Reporter’s Questions-Another way to write clearly is to answer the
questions-who, what, when, where, why and how.
• Use Easily Understandable Words-Avoid obscure words, for example:
✓ Use discussed above instead of aforementioned
✓ Use know instead of cognizant
✓ Use show instead of disclose
Simplifying Words, Sentences, and Paragraphs for Conciseness
• Conciseness Saves Time-Keep it short; people’s time is valuable
• Technology Demands Conciseness-the size of the device may determine the
length of your communication
• Conciseness Improves Readability-not all people are college graduates
• Limit Word Length for Conciseness-long words make a sentence hard to
understand
• Limit Sentence Length-Use active instead of passive voice and delete “be” verbs
• Limit Paragraph Length-In a long paragraph you force the reader to wade
through many words making the paragraph hard to read.
Achieving Accuracy in Technical Communications
• Proofreading Tips
▪ Let someone else read it
▪ Let it sit
▪ Print it out
▪ Use technology
▪ Read it out loud
Organizing Technical Communication
• Analysis
• Spatial Organization
• Chronology
• Importance
• Compare/Contrast
• Problem/Solution
• Cause and Effect
The Writing Process at Work
• Prewriting-Brainstorming
• Writing-Write your paper
• Rewriting-Proof read and edit