PILOT logo, post doc PILOT logo, information PILOT logo, literacy PILOT logo, online PILOT logo, tutorial welcome information contents page search and retrieve contents page acquiring and managing information contents page new technologies contents page
digital footprint contents page
copyright contents page IL pilot license contents page databases contents page publication process contents page
Welcome

Technical writing

Audience
You should tailor your communication to meet the audience needs. Ask yourself - who are your intended readers? You should use different language when addressing a technical expert as opposed to an audience that has limited knowledge. Think about what the audience members will do with the information. Consider their knowledge level.

Context
The context determines how the reader or listener will receive and interpret the message. It helps the writer determine what format is appropriate and how the subject should be approached.

Some more top tips for writing your paper

Organisation
Identify the one central and novel contribution of your paper. Write this down in one paragraph. As with all your writing, this must be concrete. A contribution includes an addition to your field’s overall knowledge

How do you add value?
Don’t write “I analyzed data on executive compensation and found many interesting results.” Explain the central results. For example, Fama and French (1992) start their abstract with:
“Two easily measured variables, size and book-to-market equity, combine to capture the cross-sectional variation in average stock returns associated with market B, size, leverage, book-to-market equity, and earnings-price ratios.”

Distilling one central contribution will take some thought. Focus on one contribution, and help readers to get it quickly. Your readers are busy and impatient. Never assume that they will read the whole paper from start to finish. Make it easy for your readers to skim. Readers want to know your basic result.

GCU logofont +  |   font -  |   Nextsmall plane | small plane Back |  unit home small plane

Creative Commons License
PILOT - Technical writing by Marion Kelt, GCU, Vince Ricci, CIEE, Joe SChall, PennState University and Glynis Perkin, Loughborough University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://www.slideshare.net/tokyovince/introduction-to-technical-writing-4305074 http://www.slideshare.net/engCETL/technical-report-writing-handout https://www.e-education.psu.edu/styleforstudents/c1_p15.html .