Technical Report Writing

Technical Report Writing^{AIA HSW}

This program is registered with the AIA/CES for continuing professional education. As such, it does not include content that may be deemed or construed to be an approval or endorsement by the AIA of any material of construction or any method or manner of handling, using, distributing, or dealing in any material or product. Questions related to specific materials, methods, and services will be addressed at the conclusion of this presentation.

PDH Online | PDH Center

5272 Meadow Estates Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030-6658
Phone & Fax: 703-988-0088
www.PDHonline.com
www.PDHcenter.com

An AIA/CES Registered Continuing Education Provider (#J681)

Course Outline

Working Architects, Engineers, and many Consultants in other fields who are called upon to write technical reports for non-technical audiences will find this course of help and, it is hoped, interest. This six hour online course is designed to reinforce the main ideas needed to produce reports which can be read, and used, by a wide audience. This course includes useful tips, tricks and techniques for improving your writing skills.

The student is required to take a multiple choice quiz at the end of this course.

Learning Objective

At the completion of this course you will have gained some useful tips, tricks and techniques for improving your writing skills. Whatever the subject, this course is predicated on the belief that technical reports need not be deadly dull, poorly.comanized, or uninviting to the reader. More than that, the author also believes that anyone can create a well-written, interesting report through the thoughtful application of the principles presented here.

At the conclusion of this course, the student will learn:

That technical reports can be designed in the same way you design your other project;
How to identify you primary and secondary audiences;
How to improve your writing skills;
How to.comanize your report for maximum effectiveness;
How to avoid unnecessary repetition;
How to include useful repetition;
The art of using graphic report elements;
Where to include persuasive report elements;
How to write more clearly and concisely;
When to tabulate and other concise data presentation techniques;
Where to employ executive summaries;
To edit for both structure and content;
How best to identify the purposes of your reports;
The "outside -in " approach to writing technical reports;
How to improve the appearance of your report;
How to "team write" reports effectively;
To avoid commonly misused words and phrases; and
To employ numerous tips and tricks of good writing.

Course Introduction

Key aspects of writing a technical report include:

Designing your Report so that it will reach, and move, your intended audience.
Identifying your primary and secondary audiences and their needs.
Writing clear, concise purpose statements.
Tips and Tricks for cloning reports,.comanizing for easy reading, and illustrating to save time and space.
Computer aids for Report production that make an impression and make you look like you worked a lot harder than you did.
Integrate CAD, graphics, desktop publishing, web based sources for additional impact.

Course Content

CHAPTER 1........ Introduction

CHAPTER 2........ Audience Analysis

CHAPTER 3........ Report Purposes

CHAPTER 4........ Data Gathering

CHAPTER 5........ Report Organization

CHAPTER 6........ Textual Report Elements

CHAPTER 7........ Graphical Report Elements

CHAPTER 8........ Writing Style, Grammar, Punctuation & Spelling

CHAPTER 9........ Appearance Elements

CHAPTER10....... Putting It All Together

The course content is also presented in a PDF file (1.3 MB) Technical Report Writing for your convenience.

Please click on the above underlined hypertexts to view, download or print the documents for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader.

You may need to download Acrobat Reader to view and print the document.

Course Summary

Engineers, Architects, Contractors and others are often called upon to write technical reports for non-technical audiences. This course provides an orderly approach to such assignments based on the premise that your design skills can be applied with equal effectiveness to writing tasks. Clear, concise and easily read and understood reports can be designed. This course will help you do that.

Related Links

For additional information related to this subject, please visit the following websites or web pages:

Tenlinks.com
Technical Writting
Construction Specifications Institute

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDHonline.com or any other person.comanization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered professional engineer. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.