TechWriting.pdf

CSUS Spring 2014 – Technical Writing Notes
Network Analysis Laboratory

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Technical Writing: Notes

1. Objectives
The goal of these notes is to discuss some basic technical writing concepts.

2. Introduction
Technical writing is all about explaining a technical topic simply and clearly.

3. Concepts
Below are five basic technical writing concepts.

Keep it Concise:

Avoid using excessively complicated words and phrases.

Word/expression
to avoid :

Simple alternative: Word/expression to
avoid :

Simple
alternative:

utilise use endeavour try

facilitate help terminate end, stop

at this time now transmit send

in respect of about demonstrate show

commence start initiate begin

terminate end, stop assist, assistance help

ascertain find out necessitate need

in the event of if in excess of more than

Keep it Simple.

Avoid redundancy in your writing.

Example: Simple alternative:

advance plan plan

actual experience experience

already existing existing

period of time period

start out start

introduced a new introduced

CSUS Spring 2014 – Technical Writing Notes
Network Analysis Laboratory

2

Use the correct words.

Choose words which will successfully communicate the idea that you are trying to convey, do

justice to your abilities and that are consistent throughout your report.

Present Tense vs Past Tense

If you are writing about what you did in the lab, make sure that your verbage is past tense.

Example: The device characteristics were simulated in PSPICE.

Vocabulary

Here are some vocabulary terms which will support the kind of writing you will be doing in

your upcoming labs.

Hand Calculations: calculate, analyze, compute, evaluate, solve, expected values

Simulations: simulate, characterize, use PSPICE tool to

Physical Measurements: measure, actual, evaluate, characterize

Note that some of these terms are interchangeable, but some absolutely are not. If you are

discussing calculations, you do not refer to them as a “simulation” or a “measurement”

because that is not what they are.

Test setup: Test bench (this goes for either simulations or the physical circuit)

Issues/problems with test setup or circuit: Troubleshoot

In Lab 1 we learned how to read the resistor values from the color code and how to measure

the actual values. The resistor values that can be read from the color code are the “stated”,

“listed” or “ideal” values. The measured value is the “actual” value. This is also true for

capacitors.

Values: Ideal, non-ideal

CSUS Spring 2014 – Technical Writing Notes
Network Analysis Laboratory

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Label Everything.

Give each figure and each table a number and a name. Label axes on graphs and give equation

numbers for each equation. Labeling accomplishes two things: first it gives you an easy way to

refer specifically to what you want the reader to look at and second, it gives the reader

information on what they are looking at.

Bad Example:

The functionality is shown below.

B5 B4 B3 B2 B1 B0 Vout

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 1 1 1 1 1 0.484375

0 1 1 0 1 1 0.421875

0 1 1 0 0 0 0.375

1 0 1 0 0 0 0.625

1 0 1 0 0 1 0.640625

0 1 1 0 1 1 0.421875

1 1 1 1 0 1 0.953125

1 1 0 0 1 1 0.796875

1 0 0 1 0 0 0.5625

1 1 0 1 0 0 0.8125

1 1 0 1 1 1 0.859375

1 1 0 1 1 1 0.859375

0 1 1 0 0 1 0.390625

0 1 0 1 0 0 0.3125

Some obvious questions the reader can ask are:

Is the plot and the table showing the productivity of the burrito maker at Taco Bell each hour?

What are we looking at here? What is the functionality? Are the plot and the table related?

What is the plot of? What does the data represent?

CSUS Spring 2014 – Technical Writing Notes
Network Analysis Laboratory

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Better Example:

The goal of the transfer curve is to graphically show the analog output voltage of the digital-to-

analog converter (DAC) as a function of the input bits increasing from 000000 to 111111, the full

scale range of the DAC. The transfer curve of Figure 1 is monotonic since the analog output

voltage increases as the DAC code increases and the slope of the ideal transfer function is 1. The

non-ideal DAC output voltage will vary from the ideal values as shown in Table 1.

000000 100000010000

1/4

1/2

3/4

110000

63/64

111111

1

/ 1 / 64 1 LSB
LSB REF

V V  

/
OUT REF

V V

DAC Input Code

Figure 1: Ideal 6-bit DAC Transfer Curve

B5 B4 B3 B2 B1 B0 Vout

0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 1 1 1 1 1 0.484375

0 1 1 0 1 1 0.421875

0 1 1 0 0 0 0.375

1 0 1 0 0 0 0.625

1 0 1 0 0 1 0.640625

0 1 1 0 1 1 0.421875

1 1 1 1 0 1 0.953125

1 1 0 0 1 1 0.796875

1 0 0 1 0 0 0.5625

1 1 0 1 0 0 0.8125

1 1 0 1 1 1 0.859375

1 1 0 1 1 1 0.859375

0 1 1 0 0 1 0.390625

0 1 0 1 0 0 0.3125
Table 1: Non-ideal DAC Output Voltage Values

Here, the author referenced both the figure and the table specifically (Figure 1 and Table 1),

explained what the figure was (transfer curve) and how to interpret the plot and the data

presented. Both the figure and the table have numbers and meaningful names associated with

them.

CSUS Spring 2014 – Technical Writing Notes
Network Analysis Laboratory

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Proof read.

Take time to proof read your writing for spelling, punctuation and grammar mistakes. Writing is a

challenge, technical writing is an even greater challenge, especially if English is your second

language. Find a classmate or teacher (yes, I will volunteer) to proof read your report if you know

that you struggle with writing.

4. Conclusion
The goal of technical writing is to clearly communicate your thoughts, methods, brilliance etc to the

reader. Invest the time in yourself to become a better writer, it is worth it. Use lab reports as an

opportunity for growth and progress.

The best engineers I’ve worked with are not merely smart, they have a hard working gritty mentality.

You all are junior level engineering students so I know that you are smart and I know that you can

work hard, which means you have what it takes to be amazing engineers. It takes work to write a

great report (especially since us engineers are not known for our writing abilities) but if you want to

communicate the level of effort you put into a project or the work that you accomplished, it is crucial

to write a report that does attests to and does justice for your abilities as an engineer.

“The fundamental purpose of scientific discourse is not the mere presentation of information and

thought but rather its actual communication. It does not matter how pleased an author might be to

have converted all the right data into sentences and paragraphs; it matters only whether a large

majority of the reading audience accurately perceives what the author had in mind.” -George Gopen

and Judith Swan, The Science of Scientific Writing