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Technical Writing for Industrial Wastewater Operators

Technical Writing for Industrial Wastewater Operators. Steve Frank, MC, APR, WEF Fellow SDF Communications, Inc. SDFComm@q.com 303-957-7459. Wisdom of my 7 th grade teacher. If you can’t write it, you don’t understand it. Four types of writing. Technical News/Other media Academic

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Technical Writing for Industrial Wastewater Operators

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  1. Technical Writing forIndustrial Wastewater Operators Steve Frank, MC, APR, WEF Fellow SDF Communications, Inc. SDFComm@q.com 303-957-7459

  2. Wisdom of my 7th grade teacher If you can’t write it, you don’t understand it

  3. Four types of writing Technical News/Other media Academic Literary

  4. Technical • Correspondence • Letters • Memos – The “old” writing • E-mail – The “new” writing • Reports • Technical • Narrative • Proposals • Job procedures, instructions

  5. News/Other Media Newspaper Magazine Audio/video scripts

  6. Three purposes To inform To entertain To persuade

  7. Your writing strategy What do you need to say? Who do you need to say it to? What do you need them to do after they read what you wrote?

  8. Simple communication model Encode Decode Message Receiver (Audience) Source (You) Channel

  9. Your audience Source: You are the source. You know something that someone else needs to know Analysis: You select the information to include—and the information to exclude Audience: Those who will read what you write and make decisions based upon it Translation decisions: Decisions you make in adapting your information to the audience

  10. Prose literacy levels in the U.S.* 14% Below basic – Can perform no more than the most simple and concrete literacy skills 29% Basic – Can perform simple and everyday literacy actives 44% Intermediate – Can perform moderately challenging literacy activities 13% Proficient – Can perform complex and challenging literacy activities *National Adult Literacy Survey, 2003

  11. Other audience factors Age Race Language (11 million adults are non-literate in English) Country of origin Education level Economic status We’re all busy (Most people read at 200 wpm)

  12. E-Mail • In general, e-mail: • Not as formal as a letter • More immediate tone than a letter • Generally shorter than letters • Can also be made to sound formal

  13. At the top Emails are usually formatted as follows: From: To: Cc: Subject: • From, To, and Cc help get the email where it’s going. Subject says what it’s about

  14. Blank e-mail screen in Outlook

  15. Grab attention with subject Use the subject line to grab reader’s attention Squeeze key information into 8 words Use caps and lower case DON’T use ALL CAPS. IT’S LIKE SHOUTING Example: Report of traffic accident; nobody hurt

  16. Composing the report Example: You were in a traffic accident. You need to report it to your boss and the safety office. On a clean sheet of paper, jot down all the facts about the accident that seem relevant. Think about how you would say this if you just said it orally to a friend. What are the most important facts? Ask yourself: who, what, when, where, how, why.

  17. Content Begin with the most important information first: “I was in a traffic accident this morning. I am OK and the truck is drivable but will need some body repairs.” With the information above, a busy person can decide to read the rest or close it and move on.

  18. The rest of the story… On March 27 at about 6 a.m. I was driving truck no. 172 west on CO 128 about two miles from where it intersects CO 93. A deer jumped out on the road from my right side. I jammed on the brakes. The right front fender and headlight hit the deer, breaking the headlight. Nobody was hurt. The deer jumped up and ran off. The truck can be driven to the repair shop. I reported the accident to the police. They came and took a report. No ticket was issued.

  19. Did you…? • Fill in all the addressees in the TO and CC line after you wrote, proofed the email? • Make sure any attachments are attached? • Make sure pertinent details were included? • Make sure irrelevant details were eliminated? • Make sure your conclusion(s) are supported by facts?

  20. Relax, review, revise Take a breath Check to see all needed information included Use and pay attention to spell check, basic grammar, and punctuation Revise and correct errors before you send your e-mail Check readability of your copy using www.Storytoolz.com

  21. Use spell check in Outlook

  22. Value of brevity Who else might the addressees forward your email to Consider your readers’ time. A 600-word memo takes 3 minutes to read “I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” —Mark Twain What to say, Who to, & Why

  23. Questions

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