ENG 333 Communication for Science and Research

Jamie Larsen, Instructor

Technical Writing Notes

Before discussing specifically the content and format of professional documents, I think it is important to first discuss the question, What is Technical Communication? By definition, it is an applied communication that makes scientific and technical information accessible to many readers, viewers, and listeners. Because this is information that is used by readers, there are ramifications that need to considered that are not related to other types of writing.

Ownership often distinguishes technical communication from other types of writing that you may do. In school, you, as a student, own what you write in your various courses. As a professional, your company will own what you create. Also, there are social and political aspects that need to be considered. Remember Oliver North during the Iran/Contra trials? All the paperwork that he was sifting through during his questioning contained emails, which were being used as evidence. Even this seemingly non-permanent type of writing should be taken seriously on-the-job.

I would also go as far as to suggest that there can be potentially fatal consequences to ineffective technical communication. The Three Mile Island incident is a good example. Two years before this near nuclear meltdown, a memo was written by a junior engineer for the Babcock & Wilcox Company, who manufactured the nuclear reactor. This memo documented the potential for a near meltdown to occur if a certain sequence of actions were taken by an operator. Two things were wrong with this memo that caused it to be bucked around the company for two years before Three Mile Island occurred.

First, the junior engineer who wrote the memo sent it to the wrong person. He sent it to a manager who had just handled a serious departmental problem and who did not want any more trouble, so the manager had sent the memo on where it floated from desk to desk within the company. This flawed audience analysis could have been remedied if the junior engineer had asked for someone else's feedback before sending it out.

Second, the memo was terribly written. Read the Babcock & Wilcox short memo and see if you can note why this is a classic example of what NOT to do.

From the subject line on, this memo is ineffective because it is unclear. The subject line should have grabbed the readers' attention right away and alert them that something was seriously wrong. Also, the use of technical jargon was obviously not going to be understood by everyone on the lengthy distribution list. Finally, the hesitant, uncertain writer's tone creates the impression that the matter being discussed can be dismissed.

Your goal as a writer is to focus your readers immediately on why they need to read what you have written. Once readers are unclear about why they need to read something, they will stop reading, and communication between writer and reader is broken. We will work throughout this semester on direct, audience based, reader centered writing.