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Technical Writing: Steps and Purpose Essay

Decent Essays

The Technical Writing Process

Describe the three main steps of the technical writing process and how you would use these steps to create the manual mentioned in this scenario.

a) Prewriting – Is the process in which we gather the information to be used in the manual. In this step we must examine the purpose for which we are writing, determine the goal(s) that we want to accomplish, consider the type of audience that will be reading the manual, using all necessary resources we gather the data required to complete the manual and finally, we must determine how we want to convey our information, which is in this case in a manual.

b) Writing – The writing process involves taking all the information obtained in the prewriting process …show more content…

We do this by 1) providing specific details, avoiding the use of vague, abstract words that could be interpreted in different ways, 2) answering the reporters questions, this is done by making sure the who, what, where, when, why and how are answered during the course of the document, and 3) use easily understood words, the rule of thumb is if the reader has to use a dictionary, your writing is not clear enough.

e) Conciseness – the purpose of this step is ensure that the manual is brief and straight to the point, eliminating the use of drawn out words and sentences. This is done by 1) limiting the length of paragraphs, attempting to cram a lot of information in one paragraph hinders the readers ability to comprehend what was read, and 2) limiting the word and sentence length, the bigger the word the more likely it is that the reader will a dictionary to know what it means.

f) Accuracy – the purpose of this step is to validate the document by eliminating any grammatical and spelling errors. The most effective way of doing this is by proofreading your document. This step is a sure way to uncover mistakes made in the initial writing of the document. Some word processor applications have the ability to check your spelling and grammar. If all else fails, ask a friend to read your document to see if they can spot any errors.

g) Organization – the purpose of this step is to organize your thoughts in a way that allows the

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