Technical Reading and Writing Practices Study Notes

EFFECTIVE TECHNICAL READING PRACTICE

• Introduction:

  • Reading is a crucial skill, vital for academic and professional success.
  • Good readers are generally good communicators.
  • Different reading speeds and approaches are employed depending on the material.
  • Skills and techniques of artful reading are essential for students and future professionals.

• Benefits of Effective Reading:

  • Provides comprehensible input.
  • Enhances language skills (listening, speaking, writing).
  • Expands vocabulary.
  • Improves focus and prevents distractions.
  • Enables efficient information extraction within time constraints.
  • Builds confidence with longer and more complex texts.
  • Offers pleasure and relaxation; books as reliable companions.
  • Facilitates development of skills like prediction, comparison, critical thinking, and acumen.

Speed of Reading

• Average college student: 150-250 words per minute (wpm).

• 'Good' reading speed: 250-400 wpm.

• Some individuals can read 1000 wpm or more.

• Purpose of Reading:

  • Memorization.
  • Learning.
  • Comprehension.
  • Skimming.

• Understanding the relationship between reading speed and comprehension is vital.

• Proper training enhances both reading rate and comprehension.

• Reading word by word (plodding) hinders rather than helps understanding.

Efficient vs. Inefficient Readers

• Efficient Reader:

  • Reads for ideas or information.
  • Reads groups of words/multi-phrases.
  • Adjusts reading speed to the text.
  • Sets a reading purpose.
  • Reads smoothly.
  • Visualizes.
  • Possesses a good subject vocabulary.
  • Continuously improves reading pace.
  • Sorts material critically according to importance.

• Inefficient Reader:

  • Focuses on reading individual words.
  • Reads word by word.
  • Reads from beginning to end without adjusting speed.
  • Goes slow and reads everything deliberately.
  • Re-reads to understand the text.
  • Vocalizes or sub-vocalizes words.
  • Has a limited vocabulary which hampers his/her speed and understanding.
  • Rarely attempts speed reading.
  • Reads everything indiscriminately.

Four Basic Steps to Effective Reading

• Figure out the purpose of reading.
  • Identify appropriate reading strategies and background knowledge to anticipate contents.
• Locate relevant parts and ignore the rest.
  • Selective focusing reduces the amount of information held in short-term memory.
• Choose an appropriate reading strategy.
  • Interactive use of strategy develops understanding and confidence.
• Assess comprehension during and after reading.
  • Monitoring helps identify inconsistencies and allows for alternative strategies.

Overcoming Common Obstacles

• Lack of concentration:
  • Stems from poor reading habits; cultivate active interest in reading assignments.
• Eye fixation:
  • Inability to progress beyond a word or expression; divide sentences into thought units and avoid lengthy fixations.
• Regression:
  • Going back to re-read due to lack of comprehension; improve reading habits to move eyes over 2-3 words at a time.
• Reading aloud or turning the head:
  • Affects concentration as focus shifts to articulation; eyes should lead the mind.
• Indiscriminate use of the dictionary:
  • Avoid cramming; understand word usage in context and use new words frequently to aid retention. Rushing to the dictionary disrupts spontaneity; try to infer meaning from context first.

Types of Reading

• Skimming:
  • Quickly gathering the most important information or 'gist'.
  • Eyes run over the text to note important information and key words/concepts.
  • Example: Reading a newspaper to get the general news of the day.
• Scanning:
  • Finding a particular piece of information.
  • Eyes run over the text looking for specific details.
  • Examples: Looking for a specific advertisement or information in a book.
• Extensive Reading:
  • Obtaining a general understanding of a subject.
  • Reading longer texts for pleasure and business reports to know about general trends.
  • Don't worry about understanding every word; focus on the overall meaning.
  • Examples: Reading a novel before bed or magazine articles of interest.
• Intensive Reading:
  • Extracting detailed information from shorter texts.
  • Close and accurate reading of details; understanding each word, information, or fact.
  • Important for understanding concepts and theories.
  • Examples: Reading textbooks and reviewing contracts.
  • Helps to understand, interpret, infer, observe, and intuit the text.

Methods of Reading

• Subvocalized Reading:
  • Combines sight reading with internal sounding of the words.
  • Can slow down reading and comprehension; may help with complex texts in certain studies.
• Speed Reading:
  • Increasing reading speed without losing comprehension.
  • Can acquire a speed up to 1000 words per minute (wpm) with effort.
• Photo Reading:
  • Processing and understanding information by looking at the page with the whole mind, rather than just reading.
• Proof Reading:
  • Reading to detect typographical errors; can be done rapidly with practice.
• Structure-Proposition-Evaluation (SPE):
  • Popularized by Mortimer Adler; reading in 3 phases for non-fiction:
    • A. Structure of the work.
    • B. Logical propositions/progression.
    • C. Evaluation of arguments and conclusions.
  • Suspends judgment until fully understood.
• Survey-Question-Read-Recite-Review (SQ3R):
  • Immaculate reading to teach, explain, or apply knowledge without notes.
• Multiple intelligence-base method:
  • Draws upon the reader's diverse ways of thinking and knowing to enrich appreciation.
  • Uses auditory, visual, and logical intelligence in a disciplined manner.

EFFECTIVE TECHNICAL WRITING PRACTICE

• Effective Writing: Logical flow of ideas, cohesive (links between sentences/paragraphs).
• Paragraph Structure:
  • Topic Sentence/Introducer: Introduces the main idea, guides the reader, and describes the argument's shape.
    • Structural Function: Describes the shape of the argument.
    • Interpretive Function: Offers a conclusion, reaction, or feeling.
  • Supporting Details/Developers: Sentences that build up and provide details regarding the topic.
  • Concluding Sentence/Terminator: Winds up the discussion.
• Construction of a Paragraph:
  • Narrative Description: Tell a story to engage the reader.
  • Comparisons and Contrasts: Compare similar or contrast dissimilar things to make the argument forceful.
  • Sustained Analogy: Compare things not generally from the same class for a figurative/literary appeal.
  • Cause and Effect: Establish relationships between events and reasons to convince readers logically.
  • Quotations and Paraphrasing: Cite authorities or common people (peer testimony) to substantiate views.
  • Enumeration: List a series of ideas to support topic sentence.
  • Definition: Define a term or issue to prepare readers for line of argument.
  • Testimony: Give peer or expert testimony to lend credibility.
  • Facts, Figures, Instances, and Examples: Illustrate points and create rapport.
  • Episodes: Use episodes in a narrative form.
  • Using Transitions and Connecting Devices: Connect different ideas.
    • Cause and Effect: Therefore, consequently, as a result.
    • Examples: For instance, for example.
    • Wind up idea: Finally, to conclude.
    • Summarize: To sum up, to summarize.
• Extended Definitions: Explain a complex term, including literal meaning and characteristics.
• Features of a Paragraph:
  • Unity: Togetherness of ideas; one central idea outlined by topic sentence.
  • Coherence: Continuity of thought, passage progressing from point to point.
  • Expansion and Emphasis: Ideas expanded and emphasized to achieve intended purpose.
• Descriptive Writing Techniques:
  • Expository: Defining and introducing concepts.
  • Narrative: Storytelling technique.
  • Persuasive: Commonly used by marketing people.
  • Descriptive: Describing an idea, object, process, etc.
  • Argumentative Paragraph: Argues against the common view.
    Analytic Paragraph: Analyses a situation with facts, figures and information attempting to draw inferences.

TECHNICAL REPORT WRITING

• Introduction:

  • Report is a formal communication; generation and analysis are routine for professionals.
  • Reports analyze situations, methods, growth, trends, etc.
  • Understanding how to write reports is mandatory.

• Comprehensive Definition:

  • Formal communication for a specific purpose, conveying authentic information objectively.
  • Describes data collection procedures, analyses facts, reaches conclusions, and makes recommendations.

• Salient Features:

  • Formal: Written with rules and norms, elements follow a pattern.
  • Factual: Account of data or information; facts must be accurate and complete.
  • Specific Purpose: Originates with a need to inform or analyze.
  • Organized: Based on facts, proper planning and presentation.
  • Specific Audience: Awareness of the primary audience for interpretation and use.
  • Objective: Impartial and objective style.
  • Relevant Information: Only essential information.

• Types:

  • Oral
  • Written
    • Informal
    • Formal
      • Informational
      • Interpretive
      • Routine/Periodic
        • Progress
        • Laboratory
        • Inspection
        • Inventory
        • Annual/Confidential

• Informal Reports:

  • Fulfill an immediate requirement without elaborate analysis.
  • Shorter than formal reports.

• Letter vs. Memo Reports:

  • Letter reports are longer, use letter layout, are less informal, and are for internal/external communication.
  • Memo reports are shorter, use inter-office memorandum format, are more informal, and are for internal communication.

• Formal Reports:

  • Present elaborate data with seriousness.
  • Informational: Conveys information.
  • Interpretive: Analyzes, interprets, and evaluates facts and ideas.
  • Routine/Periodic: Submitted at specific intervals.
  • Progress: Reports on project status.
  • Laboratory: Written by scientists.
  • Inspection: Compiled after investigation.
  • Inventory: Computer-generated, stock data.
  • Annual Confidential: Evaluation of employee performance.

Use of Graphic Aids/Illustration:

• Enhances appearance and communication.
• Graphic aids supplement the text - communicate the report in a more interesting and readable manner, and help give it a professional flair.
• Examples
  • Independent vs Dependent
  • Tables, graphs, charts, figures, maps, photographs, drawings
• Illustrations should be neat, accurate, self-contained, and closely related to the text.
• Explain illustrations and place them close to the first reference.
• Number and caption illustrations.

Preparation and planning

• Preparation and planning in writing a report cannot be overemphasized.

• Before you start writing a professional report, you must do the following:

  • Set your objective.
  • Assess your audience.
  • Decide what information you will need and collect data.
  • Prepare your skeletal framework, that is, form an outline.

• Recognizing the sources of information and collecting information become the primary tasks at this stage.

• Formal writing cannot depend on imagination and assumptions. It requires solid proof.

• Methods of Data Collection:

  • Personal observation: Requires careful observation due to reliance on sensory perceptions
  • Telephonic interview: Saves travelling time if the information sought is considered of a routine nature and only brief answers are sought from a small number of people.
  • Personal interview:
  • Mail questionnaire:

• Analyzing and organizing the data

• Revise your questions and data; add new items to it if necessary. If the information does not fit into your purpose, do not use it.
  Once data collection is done and notes have been taken, the next step for the report writer is to analyse the data.

• Writing and revising

• Preparing an outline

• Structure of the formal report

  • Front matter: Includes cover, preface, title page, acknowledgements, frontispiece, table of contents, copyright notice, list of illustration and forwarding letter.
  • Main body: Consists of introduction, conclusion, discussion and recommendations.
  • Back matter: The back matter of a report would include appendices, bibliography, index, list of references and glossary.

Styles of report

• Follow emphatic word order
• Maintain parallelism in writing
• Prefer using verbs to long nouns
• Carefully use acronyms
• Avoid cliches
• Avoid circumlocution
• Maintain unity in paragraphs
  Avoid punctuation and grammatical errors

TECHNICAL PROPOSALS

• Technical Proposals:

  • Offer from someone with a selling idea to a prospective buyer.
  • Intends to elicit business and hold an important place in business growth and professional relationships.
  • Often confused with a business plan.
  • Identifies the prospective buyer's need to implement new ideas for efficiency, productivity, and performance.

• Proposal vs. Report vs. Business Plan:

  • Proposal: Addresses technical, management, or business problems, recommends solutions, persuasive style, involves the cost to execute the idea, and written for someone whose decision will benefit the writer.
  • Report: Identifies a specific problem, recommends action, formal style, based on interpretation of data, and written to allow someone with the authority to make decisions.
  • Business Plan: To make profit, identifies the workable idea, details financial needs, and target markets, like proposals, it deals with future prospects but involves the risk of potential failure.
    Purposes of Proposals:

• Technical: Modify or create something requiring technical knowledge.

• Business: Improve products/services to meet market demands (sales proposals focus on increasing sales).

• Research: Undertake systematic research, outlining purpose, scope, significance, limitations, etc.
  Importance of Proposals:

• Indicator of growth.

• Invite strategic alliances, joint ventures, etc.

• Improve products and services for competitive edge.

• Enhance productivity and improve performance.

• Secure technology partnerships, fundraising, etc.

• Ensure financial gains.

• Research proposals help create new methods and procedures.
  Types of Proposals:

• Solicited (invited): In response to an advertisement or demand.

• Unsolicited (uninvited): Require greater imagination, idea for a product or service.
  Proposal Structure:

• Prefactory

• Main Body

• Supplementary

• Frontmatter:

  • Title Page: Title, organization name, proposer's name/designation, date.
  • Letter of Transmittal: Transmits the proposal and reveals topic, purpose, highlights, favorable response
  • Table of Contents: Quick location of major elements
  • Executive Summary: Project background, purpose, methodology, budget details, significant details, resources.

• Main Body:

  • Introduction: Specifies the intent of the project to address a problem.
  • Technical Section:. Solution (involves a technical plane.) Analyzes technical terms, methods and theories to be followed.
  • Management Section: Credibility of task force, company profile, execution plan.
  • Cost Estimate: includes Equipment purchase, land , and recurrent costs.

• Backmatter:

  • Appendix: Convince the reader about claims made.
  • Draft Contract: Overview of important information.
    Sample Proposal -A Proposal For A Three-day Workshop on Communication Skills for effective Teaching Objective

ACTIVE VOICE AND PASSIVE VOICE

• Active voice:
  • The subject performs the action denoted by the verb.
    • e.g., "The man must have eaten fine hamburgers."
• Passive voice:
  • The subject is being acted upon by the verb.
    • e.g., "Five hamburgers must have been eaten by the man."
• To change an active sentence to passive voice:
  • Move the direct object of active sentence into the subject position of the passive sentence.
  • ex: Active Voice:
    • Marilyn mailed the letter direct object
    • * PASSIVE VOICE
    • The letter subject

Place the active sentence’s subject into a phrase beginning with the preposition by prepositional phrase
ACTIVE VOICE
Marilyn mailed the letter Subject
PASSIVE VOICE
the letter……. By Marilyn prepositional phrase
Add a form of the auxiliary verb be to the main verb and change the main verb's for
ACTIVE VOICE
Marilyn mailed the letter Verb
PASSIVE VOICE
the letter was mailed by Marilynverb + be auxiliary

• Prefer active voice due to smoother flow and ease of understanding, for example:
  ACTIVE VOICE
  At each concert, the soprano sang at least one tune from a well-known opera.
  Doer of action action receiver of the action
  PASSIVE VOICE
  At each concert, at least one tune from a well-known opera was sung by the soprano
  The receiver of actionactiondoer of action

ACTIVE VOICE
Asbestos abatement teams will remove large chunks of asbestos-laden material from the hallways on the second and third floors.
Doer of action action
PASSIVE VOICE
Large chunks of asbestos-laden material will be removed from the hallways on the second and third floors by asbestos abatement team
The receiver of actionaction

• Passive voice is the better choice when
  • the doer of an action is unknown, unwanted, or unneeded in the sentence
    To change a passive voice sentence into an active voice sentence, simply reverse the steps shown above
    Examples

To change a sentence from active to passive voice, do the following:
Move the active sentence's direct object into the sentence's subject slot
ACTIVE VOICE
Marilyn mailed the letterDirect object

• PASSIVE VOICE
  the letter subject Place the active sentence’s subject into a phrase beginning with the proposition by ACTIVE VOICE
  Marilyn mailed the letterSubject

REPORTED SPEECH

• Reported speech:
  • Representing the speech of others or ourselves.
• Direct speech:
  • Repeating the exact words used.
    • e.g., Barbara said, "I didn't realize it was midnight."
• Indirect speech:
  • Changing the original speaker's words.
    • e.g., Barbara said she hadn't realized it was midnight.
  • Focuses on content over exact wording.
    While converting a sentence from direct to indirect,
    Those of you Those of us Their names to me our names to her/him You can we can Your speech our speech You us.
• General Rules
  • Mildred said, "I am busy today". Mildred said that she was busy that day. (I am becomes she was and today becomes that day.)
  • Words expressing nearness in time or places are generally changed into words expressing distance.
  • Change in Pronouns Changes in Tenses
    Changes from Direct Speech
    To Indirect Speech

ANALOGIES

• Analogy:

  • Comparing unrelated objects for shared qualities.
  • Strong verbal device for rational arguments.
  • Examples: Every choice you make is like spinning the wheel of fortune

• Types of Analogy:

  • Literal Analogy- when you are saying that one thing really is similar to another
    • For example, when scientists test a new medicine on laboratory mice, they are arguing that mice and humans really are similar in medically significant ways
  • Figurative Analogy- You are drawing a comparison between two things. For example, comparing children to garden.
    Importance

• Make abstract ideas more concrete( Teachers, professors, and technical writers - who explain difficult ideas one way to make it easier is to draw analogies to things your readers or students are already familiar with
  Add depth and feeling to an image
  Making a persuasive argument

WORDS CONFUSED/MISUSED

• Confusion in Word Usage:
  • Homographs- words with same spellings but different meanings such as: Bat( animal )/ Bat (equipment.) or Present (gift) / Present( available)
  • Homophones,- words with same pronunciation different spellings. E.g.: To, too , two.
  • Homonyms- words with sound and spelling but have different meaning e.g.: Address (location/ addressing something)
    Examples

Accident An unfortunate happening The driver was seriously injured in thecar accident.
Incident An event An incident in his life changed his views on money.
Lose To miss something They are going to lose the book.
Loose Not firmly fixed My shirt is loose.
Altar 2. Bridal 3. Discrete 4. Lightning 5. Childish

COLLOCATIONS

• Collocations Definition: Combination of words commonly used together in English that sound natural to native speakers i.e. stiff wind, round of applause.
• Types of Collocations:
  • adverb + adjective completely satisfied (NOT downright satisfied)
  • adjective + noun excruciating pain (NOT excruciating joy)
  • noun + noun a surge of anger (NOT a rush of anger)
  • noun + verb lions roar (NOT lions shout)
  • verb + noun commit suicide (NOT undertake suicide)
  • verb + expression with a preposition burst into tears (NOT blow up in tears)
  • verb + adverb wave frantically (NOT wave feverishly)
    If you park there, you will have to pay a fine.

THE LISTENING COMPREHENSION:

• Listening comprehension: encompasses the multiple processes involved in understanding and making sense of spoken language

• Encompasses recognizing speech sounds understanding the meaning of individual words understanding the syntax of sentence.

• Requires drawing influences based on context, real-world knowledge

• Start of the campaign: The Campaign For Real Chocolate
  Aim: to promote real chocolate made with onlyCocoaMass, Cocoabutter and sugarsood chocolate contains only, a little sugar and up to 70% of cocoaPoor quality chocolate contains: up to 50% sugar and only 5%.

  SPOTTING ERRORS:

• In spotting the errors, you are presented with a paragraph/sentence containing certain errors which you need to rectify. Usually, these errors are related to parts of speech, genders, infinitives, participles, the form of tenses, use of articles etc. Hence, you need to be well acquainted with all the rules of grammar to solve spotting errors questions
  Examples from a list of Nouns Pronouns Adjectives etc.

I have been living in this city since last several years but have never experienced any discrimination

SENTENCE IMPROVEMENT EXERCISES:

. Examples

The tribunal has postponed the adjourned hearing to December 15The workers are very determined on –hell bent fighting for their dues.I will buy the provided house it is quite sound

CLOZE TEST:

• A cloze test is an exercise, test, or assessment consisting of a portion of language with certain items, words, or signs removed (cloze text), where the participant is asked to replace the missing language item. Cloze tests require the ability to understand context and vocabulary in order to identify the correct language or part of speech that belongs in the deleted passages. This exercise is commonly administered for the assessment of native and second language learning and instruction.
  I do remember it. And I'm grateful. But I can't help feeling that a woman capable of taking other people's lives and juggling with them as if they were India-rubber balls as she did with ours, is likely at any moment to break out in a new place. My gratitude_TIPPY to her is the sort of [hat tip] you would feel toward a cyclone if you were walking home late for dinner and it caught you up and deposited you on your doorstep. Your Aunt Lora is a human CYCLONE [storm]. No, on the whole, she's more like an earthquake.

THEME DETECTION EXERCISE

• This test checks someone’s comprehensionskills so it could summarize the passages in different. The attainment of individual and organizational goals is mutually interdependent and linked by a common denominator - employee work motivation. Organizational members are motivated to satisfy their personal goals, and they contribute their efforts to the attainment of organizational objectives as a means of achieving these personal goals.
  The passage best supports the statement that motivation: is crucial for the survival of an individual and organization.
• Deforestation results from removal of trees without sufficient reforestation; however, even with reforestation, significant biodiversity loss may occur. There are many causes, ranging from slow forest degradation to sudden and catastrophic wildfires..
  The passage best supports the statement thatc) It's not just the total number of species preserved that matters; it's the number of key species.