The Essentials of Technical Communication: Chapter 3

In this Chapter

The third chapter discusses ethical issues in technical writing. It begins by listing the professional obligations of the writer. Then Professional codes of conduct are briefly introduced.  Different types of unethical communication are then discussed in detail. The chapter concludes with advice on managing unethical situations.

Professional Obligations

There are several different ethical obligations that may, at times, conflict with one another. You have an ethical obligation to yourself, your profession, your academic institution, your employer, your colleagues, and to the public in general. When these obligations do conflict, you must carefully consider the situation to determine which should take priority.

Many professions and organizations have codes of conduct which outline the ethical expectations of your position.  These guidelines can be helpful when faced with an ethical dilemma, but it is often necessary to seek advice from a mentor or superior. Some organizations have help lines for reporting ethical breeches and asking for advice about difficult situations.

Unethical Communication

The most obvious forms of unethical communication are plagiarism and intellectual property theft.  Plagiarism is the act of taking content from an external source and reproducing it as if it were your own. While it is alright to borrow from other sources, you must get permission from the owner to use the content and properly cite the original source. It is also important to be aware of other forms of intellectual property. It is important not to divulge trade secrets in unsecure forms of communication that may reach unauthorized readers. Written material is protected by copyright law as soon as it is created. Therefore it is illegal to reproduce copyrighted material without expressed permission from the owner (except for specific fair uses like criticism, teaching, and news reporting)

Another form of unethical communication is the deliberate use of ambiguous or confusing language. This type of writing can be used to mislead readers by hiding or exaggerating information. While this isn’t exactly lying, the results and ethical implications are the same. Technical writing should be candid and precise.  

The use of misleading statistics and illustrations is another problem that is very similar to using ambiguous language. The manipulation of numbers and graphs can be used to present information that is technically true, but is designed to mislead the reader. Again, anything which misleads the reader should be considered unethical and avoided.

Any element of communication which promotes prejudice is also unethical. Content should always be fair and unbiased. You should never draw wild conclusions which reinforce stereotypes. Not only is it ethically wrong to do so, but a reputation for prejudice will likely hurt your chances for promotion in your organization.

Uncritical use of information is also considered unethical. It should be obvious to a reasonable person that lots of incorrect, biased, and generally unreliable information is floating around in the world. As a professional, it is your responsibility to verify your sources and check the accuracy of facts used in your documents.

Managing Unethical Situations

If you find yourself in a difficult situation, use the resources available to you. Use codes of conduct, ethics help lines, and advice from people you respect to reach a decision.  When refusing to do something unethical, it is important to be polite and suggest an alternative. Avoid a self-righteous tone. You should make a decision that you could live with, even it became public and everyone knew about it. 

The Essentials of Technical Communication : Chapter 2

In this Chapter

The second chapter focuses primarily on the readers of business documents and the composition process. First, this chapter discusses what you should know about potential readers before composing a document. The different attributes of the readers which will determine the composition of the document are explained. The position of the writer and purpose of the document are examined in the context of the planning process. The composing Process introduced in Chapter 1 is then explained in detail.

Understanding your Readers

The goals of communication should be to convey information to the audience exactly as intended by the writer, achieve a specific goal (explain, convince, inform, etc.), and maintain goodwill with the audience. To achieve these goals, it is important to understand your audience.  This is especially important and difficult in business writing because the audience may me diverse and unknown to the writer. The writer of a business document should always start my determining as fully as possible who will be reading the document, and what purpose you want the document to serve for these readers. It is also important to understand how the writers’ role in the organization should be reflected in the document. By thinking carefully about who the readers are, the writer can determine the reader’s frame of reference relative to the topic of the document.

One important aspect of all technical writing, regardless of audience, is brevity. Documents are unlikely to be read thoroughly or completely all the time. Therefore, an effective document starts out by telling the reader what it is about, and comes to the important points very quickly. If a document rambles too much, the reader won’t have the patience to dig for the important parts.

Composing the Document

Once you understand the perspectives of your readers, your own position in the organization, and the goal of the document, it is time to plan the content.  After analyzing the situation (readers, goal, context, etc.) the writer should compose and compile the actual content required to accomplish the intended goal. Next, the content should be arranged to accomplish the goal effectively. Content should be logically organized and the important points should be easy to find and read quickly. The organization of content will depend on the type of document and templates established by the organization. Next is drafting. Drafting is an evolutionary process where the document is composed in steps.  With each step, the document should become more complete. Drafting techniques vary widely by individual. Once a draft is complete it should be revised. With each step in this process, the document should become more correct, concise, or fluid. The final step is editing. The editing process should fix any grammatical or spelling errors in the document. Each edit of the document should focus on a specific type of error. For example, the first edit might look for mistakes in grammar and spelling, the next edit might look for formatting errors, and the next might examine documentation of sources.  The final edit should look at the document as a whole to make sure it looks and sounds the way it should.  The document should then be ready for delivery to the readers.

The Essentials of Technical Communication : Chapter 1

In this Chapter

The first chapter of this book presents a basic introduction to technical writing. It explains the differences between technical and academic writing, presents a process for effective business writing, and describes the qualities of a good business document.

Technical vs. Academic Writing

Technical writing is defined as writing that occurs in a work setting. Many organizations produce large quantities of technical writing because it is a very important form of communication in the business world. Technical writing is different from academic writing because it targets a broader audience and serves a different purpose. Academic writing has an audience of one and its purpose is to demonstrate knowledge. Technical writing, however, is used to convey information from a person or group to varying audiences with the purpose of conveying information needed to perform work duties. Basics like grammar, spelling, and punctuation are required in both academic and technical writing, but technical writing has additional requirements unique to workplace communication.

                

There are five aspects unique to technical writing. The first is that the technical writer must be aware of the legal liability inherent in workplace communication. Information handled by many organizations is subject to privacy laws, and misuse of such information may be criminal. Much of the information generated by employees of a firm is confidential and vital to the firm’s competitive advantages. It is very important that security protocols are always followed.

                

The second important consideration is the uncertainty of the audience. Documents may be forwarded to many people inside and outside the organization. The writer should keep this in mind to avoid statements which could be misinterpreted by unknown readers and have a negative impact on the writer or organization.  

                

The third difference from academic writing is that technical writing achieves job goals. Documents produced in the workplace are often the primary responsibility of an employee, and the only documentation of their efforts.

                

The fourth characteristic of technical writing is that it addresses a diverse set of readers with differing perspectives. The readers will vary in many ways, including technical expertise and position in the company. Cultural differences can also be important, especially internationally.

                

The fifth and final attribute of technical writing is that it requires the use of a wide variety of documents. Examples include letters, memos, proposals, presentations, forecasts, and articles. Each type of document will have specific requirements and different goals.

The Process

Effective document composition has six steps: planning, determining content, arranging ideas, drafting, revising, and editing. This is not a linear process, but rather a cyclical one. The writer will work through the steps as needed to produce the best document possible.

The Qualities

Good technical writing should be accurate, clear, concise, readable, useful, and grammatically correct. It is important that the document reflect well on the author, their organization, and their profession. The document should never waste the reader’s time with pointless fluff. If the information needed to do a job can be conveyed in just one hundred words, then there’s no reason to write more than that.

Hello! My name is Eric Brady and I'm a senior finance major at Clemson University. This is a blog for my technical writing course and this is my first time writing a blog. I've also never used twitter before. I've changed my major quite a few times, so I've spent a lot more time at Clemson than I had planned. This is one of the last classes I need to graduate, and I can't wait to finally get out into the real world. I'm planning to move to Arizona after graduation and start a company with some friends of mine. So far, it seems like this class will a lot more interesting than I thought it would be.