Technical Communications

Ancient Chinese Philosopher

Confucius
I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.

Ancient Chinese Philosopher

Confucius
I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.
I practice and I perfect

Key Aspects of Technical

Communications
Precision
Concise
Intent

Precision
When you can measure what you are
speaking about and express it in
numbers, you know something about
it; but when you cannot express it in
numbers your knowledge is of a
meager and unsatisfactory kind; it
may be the beginning of knowledge,
but you have scarcely, in your
thoughts, advanced to the stage of
science William Thompson, Lord

Precision
Precision can achieved by using
measurable quantities and avoiding
vague modifiers like
countless,
some,
approximately,
huge,
tiny,
Microscopic and so on

Replacing imprecise statement with

precise numbers

Imprecise
A few
Some
Many
Most
All

Precise (fractional
form)
1/100
1/20

90/100
100/100

Replacing imprecise statement with

precise range

Imprecise
A few
Some
Many
Most
All

Precise (Range)
<10
10 - 20
21 50
51 - 99
100

Range of Number that could replace

imprecise rate

Imprecise
Always
Frequently
Often
Sometimes
Rarely
Never

Precise (as a ratio)

100%
99% - 70%
75% - 50%
50% - 25%
25% - 1%
0%

Precision
Examples
It is far
It is five miles away
It will no be long
It will take 30 minutes

Concise
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should
contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no
unnecessary sentences for the same reason that a
drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a
machine no unnecessary parts. The requires not
that the writer make all the sentences short or
avoid all detail and treat subjects in the outline ,
but that every word tell [Shrunk and White, 2008]
I have made this letter too long because I did not
have the free time to make it short (Pascal, 1656)

Examples of Conciseness
The mechanism
will require a
substantial
amount of
redesign

There are many

replacement parts
available out
there

Examples of Conciseness
The mechanism
will require a
substantial
amount of
redesign
The mechanism
will require a
substantial
redesign.

There are many

replacement parts
available out
there.
There are many
replacement parts
available.

Examples of Conciseness
These facts, taken
as a whole,
indicate that
system failure is
inevitable.

During the give

and take session
with the customer,
the following
concerns were
raised; A repair kit
must go along
with each unit
sold.

Examples of Conciseness
These facts, taken
as a whole,
indicate that
system failure is
inevitable.
These facts
collectively,
indicate that
system failure is
inevitable.

During the give and

take session with the
customer, the following
concerns were raised; A
repair kit must go along
with each unit sold.
During the dialogue
session with the
customer, the following
concerns were raised; A
repair kit must
accompany each unit
sold

Assignment
Improve the
sentences of the
right by replacing
the words in bold

1. A really strong
odor was
noticeable
2. To start off the
procedure
3. Each unit weighs
more or less
70kg
4. The possible
reasons for a
subsystem failure
are many folds

Intent
There should be no intent to evoke
an emotional response from the
reader
The communicator should simply
convey the information as concisely
and correctly as possible.

Outline

Research Project Layout

Abstract
Literature Review
Formatting with Microsoft Word
Writing References
Writing Citations
Presentations
Making Power Point Slides

Writing a report in General

Must have a title

Executive summary
Introduction
Body
Conclusion
References

Executive summary
An executive summary, sometimes
known as a management summary, is a
short document or section of a
document, produced for business
purposes, that summarizes a longer
report or proposal or a group of
related reports, in such a way that
readers can rapidly become acquainted
with a large body of material without
having to read it all.

Executive summary
It will usually contain a brief
statement of the problem or proposal
covered in the major document(s),
background information, concise
analysis and main conclusions. It is
intended as an aid to decision
making by managers and has been
described as possibly the most
important part of a business plan

Research Project Layout

Title Page
Certification
Letter of Transmittal
Acknowledgment
Abstract
Table of Content
Nomenclature: Acronyms Abbreviations &
Notations
List of Figures
List of Tables

Research Project Layout (2)

Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background of Study
1.2 Aims and objective
1.3 Scope of work

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Introduction
2.2

Chapter 3: Methodology/ Methods and

Materials
3.1 Introduction
3.2

Research Project Layout (2)

Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background of Study
1.2 Aims and objective
1.3 Scope of work

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Introduction
2.2

Chapter 3: Methodology/ Methods and

Materials
3.1 Introduction
3.2

Research Project Layout (3)

Chapter 4: Results and Discussions
4.1 Introduction
4.2 ..

Chapter 5: Conclusions
Appendices
References

What is Research?
An investigation undertaken in order
to discover new facts or to get
additional information
Research is the systematic collection,
analysis and interpretation of data to
answer a specific question, or to
solve a problem

Abstract and Executive Summary

An executive summary differs from an
abstract in that an abstract will usually
be shorter and is intended to provide a
neutral overview or orientation rather
than being a condensed version of the
full document. Abstracts are
extensively used in academic research
where the concept of the executive
summary would be meaningless.

Abstract and Executive Summary

"An abstract is a brief summarizing
statement ... read by parties who are
trying to decide whether or not to
read the main document", while "an
executive summary, unlike an
abstract, is a document in miniature
that may be read in place of the
longer document"

Abstract
An abstract should explain in 1-2 lines, why the
paper/thesis is important
Give a summary of your major results
(preferably including numbers with error limits)
The final sentences should explain the major
implications/contributions of your work
Abstracts generally do not have citations
Be explicit in your writing
Use numbers where appropriate

Abstract (2)
Answers to these questions should be found
in the abstract:
What did you do? What does your research
entail?
Why did you do it? What question were you
trying to answer, that hasnt already been
answered?
How did you do it? State methods clearly.
What did you learn? State major results.
Why does it matter? Point out at least one
significant implication of your research.

Literature Review
Not a chronological catalog, but an evaluation
All sides of an argument must be clearly
explained, to avoid bias, and areas of
agreement and disagreement should be
highlighted
It is not a collection of quotes and
paraphrasing from other sources
A good literature review should also have
some evaluation of the quality and findings of
the research

Purpose of Literature
Review
1. Provide a context for the research
2.Justify the research
3.Ensure the research hasn't been done before (or that it is
not just a "replication study")
4.Show where the research fits into the existing body of
knowledge
5.Enable the researcher to learn from previous theory on the
subject
6.Illustrate how the subject has been studied previously
7.Highlight flaws in previous research
8.Outline gaps in previous research
9.Show that the work is adding to the understanding and
knowledge of the field
10.
Help refine, refocus or even change the topic

Table of Content
LIST OF FIGURES.. vi
LIST OF TABLES.......................... vii
NOMENCLATURE. viii
CHAPTERS________________________________________________
1. INTRODUCTION..
1
1.1
1.2
2. LITERATURE REVIEW...
2
2.1
2.2
3.

4.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX

Using Microsoft Word

Dividing Document into

Sections
There are three sections by pagation
Cover page
Pages i, ii, iii , iv c
Pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, .. 999

Dividing Document into Sections (2)

For Older versions of Microsoft Word:

Click between two parts of your document that you want to number differently.
On the Insert menu, click Break; then click Next Page, Even Page, or Odd Page.
Click in the first section.
On the View menu, click Header and Footer.
On the Header and Footer toolbar, click Insert Page Number, and then click
Format Page Number.
In the Number format box, click the format that you want for the numbers in this
section.
Do one of the following:
If you want the page numbering for the first page in this section to start at a particular number
other than the first number in the format series, click Start at under Page numbering, and
then enter the first number that you want to appear on the first page of the section.
If you want the page numbering to continue from the previous section, click Continue from
previous section.

On the Header and Footer toolbar, click Show Next.

Repeat the above steps for the page numbering in this section.
On the Header and Footer toolbar, click Close.

Dividing Document into Sections (3)

For Newer versions of Microsoft Word:
Click on the Page Layout tab, and select Breaks
Then scroll down to the Section Breaks section,
and choose Next Page
Click on the Insert tab, and choose Page Number
Select Format Page Number and then instead of
choosing to continue from previous section, you
choose the new numbering format you want and
what number exactly to start from (1,2 3)

Tables
Use Table
They should reflect the Chapter
Example:
Table 6.1 is the first Table in Chapter 6
Table 10.9 if the ninth Table in Chapter
10

Table numbering is at the Top

Figures
Use Fig. or Figure; be consistent
Figure numbering is a the bottom (of
the figure), and should reflect the
Chapter
Example
Fig. 6.1 is the first figure in Chapter 6
Figure 10.9 if the ninth figure in Chapter
10

Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as
the "wrongful appropriation,"
"close imitation," or "purloining
and publication" of another author's
"language, thoughts, ideas, or
expressions," and the representation
of them as one's own original work

Avoiding Plagiarism
Please note that any paper, book, or
journal that impacts your work, must
be referenced in your Bibliography
You can avoid plagiarism by doing
any of the following:
Citation
Summarizing
Paraphrasing

References/Bibliography
All entries into the list of references
have the following format:
For the Harvard Standard
Author, Date, Title, Publication Information

For the APA Standard

Author, (Date), Title, Publication Information

References
Used to demonstrate to your readers that
you have conducted a thorough and
appropriate literature search, and
reading.
An acknowledgement that you have used
the ideas and written material belonging
to other authors in your own work.
As with all referencing styles, there are
two parts: citing and the reference list.

Bibliography
There may be items which you have consulted
for your work, but not cited. These can be listed
at the end of your assignment in a bibliography.
These items should be listed in alphabetical
order by author and laid out in the same way
as items in your reference list.
If you can cite from every work you consulted,
you will only need a reference list.
If you wish to show to your reader (examiner) the
unused research you carried out, the
bibliography will show your extra effort

Citations
When you use another persons work in
your own work, either by referring to their
ideas, or by including a direct quotation,
you must acknowledge this in the text of
your work. This acknowledgement is
called a citation
When you are using the APA or Harvard
style, your citation should include:
1. The author or editor of the cited work
2. The year of publication of the cited work

Citing From Works With No Obvious

Author
If you need to cite a piece of work which does not have an
obvious author, you should use what is called a corporate
author. For example, many online publications will not have
individually named authors, and in many cases the author will
be an organization or company.
The number of dementia sufferers in the UK has been recently
estimated at 570 000 (Department of Health, 2008).

If you are unable to find either a named or corporate author,

you should use Anon as the author name.
Be careful: if you cannot find an author for online work, it is
not a good idea to use this work as part of your research.
It is essential that you know where a piece of work has
originated, because you need to be sure of the quality and
reliability of any information you use.

Citations

Sources of information

Books
Journals
Magazines
Conferences Proceedings
Newsletters
Webblog

Do you know a hard-working man? He

shall be successful and stand before
kings!
Proverbs 22: 29