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Writing Technical Documents & Reports – Training Course Outline

This technical writing course has been designed to build on the skills of Scientists, Engineers, Technicians, Designers and Project Managers who write technical documents or reports.

If your job involves writing any of these…

…this course is for you.

This course concentrates on the principles and processes involved in communicating technical information effectively, whether to the layman or the expert.

What you will learn on this course

By the end of the course, you will know how to:

• Accurately assess the requirements arising from your brief – and what to do if you don't receive a well-detailed one
• Target your audience and analyse their needs
• Set accurate terms of reference for others providing data
• Gather your data and select the relevant information for your audience
• Structure your writing to maintain the readers’ attention
• Write SMART recommendations
• Design tables and graphs that best support your content
• Edit your draft for maximum impact and polish the final product

Is this course right for me?

Plain Words offers three standard report writing courses:

• Structuring & Writing Reports is designed for delegates with little or no previous report writing experience, who have reached a stage in their careers that require them to start producing written business reports.
• Business & Report Writing for Managers is aimed at delegates who are already writing reports but want to revisit the basics, generally raise their game and ensure they are using best practice techniques. It is also frequently chosen by clients who need to achieve greater consistency from their experienced staff.
• Writing Technical Documents & Reports is a technical writing course designed to build on the skills of Scientists, Engineers, Technicians, Designers and Project Managers who write technical documents or reports. It concentrates on the principles and processes involved in communicating technical information effectively, whether to the layman or the expert.

All three courses address some similar concepts, but the content is pitched differently for each of the intended audiences to take into account their different levels of experience and the documents they write.

How we deliver the Writing Technical Documents & Reports course

It is available as a one-day tutor-led Virtual Classroom.

Course Contents

1. A framework for success

• The BASDELL business writing model – a model of the process to create effective technical documents and reports

2. Understanding your brief

• What’s the purpose of a technical document or report?
• Assessing the issues and focusing on the essentials
• Setting a clear objective to save you time and effort
• Building on the skills you have

3. Analysing your audience

• Questions you need to ask yourself about your readers
• Producing a clear set of guidelines on what response you want from each reader
• Understanding different readers and giving them what they need—and in their preferred style and format

4. Designing your structure

• The benefits of structuring before you start writing
• Using techniques like mind mapping™ or Word™ Outline View to sequence and structure your material
• Ensuring your structure supports and delivers what you want from your audience
• Breaking the job down into manageable chunks

5. Creating your executive summary

• What is the purpose of the executive summary?
• Why it’s the most important part of your report
• How to structure your executive summary
• What are the most important things to include?

6. Developing your style

• Plain Words’ eight principles for clear writing
• How to keep sentences short and simple – even though the content is technical
• Writing to express not impress!
• How to write in terms your reader will relate to
• How to use variety in your writing without confusing your reader

7. Writing SMART recommendations

• Why use SMART recommendations?
• Creating Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-framed recommendations

8. When words are not enough

• When and how to use graphics – pictures, screen shots, diagrams, flow charts, tables, graphs, etc.
• How to present numerical data
• Things to check when including illustrations

9. Drafting and polishing your words

• Mindset for drafting – how to avoid writer’s block
• A top-down approach to improving your text
• Ensuring that you achieve maximum impact – things to check when editing your draft
• Common mistakes you can avoid – sentence fragments and run-on sentences
• Merging different writing styles from contributors and ensuring a consistent voice
• Getting the most from your headings
• Hints for proofreading

Enquire about a course Now!

For the timetable of all courses see the schedule.

For more details you can enquire about a public course, enquire about a private course, call us on +44 (0)1235 60 30 22 or email .