Organization is really important when writing any sort of document. Technical writing also uses an introduction-body-conclusion structure, like most typical reports or essays. This chapter will teach you how to create informal and formal outlines, prepare storyboards for long documents, and shape effective paragraphs. I will also discuss how to determine the best sequence for your material, how to group your information into discrete units, and how to create an overview of a longer document.
In order for your reader to understand your writing, you must organize it in a way that makes sense to them. There are several questions to consider when organizing your document (Lannon, pg. 191):
· What relationships do the collected data suggest?
· What should I emphasize?
· In which sequence will users approach this material?
· What belongs where?
· What do I say first? Why?
· What comes next?
· How do I end presentations?
Since your organization must be logical from the reader’s perspective, the best pattern to follow is the standard introduction/body/conclusion format. The introduction will grab the reader’s attention and provide a brief overview of what will be contained in the document. The body of the document provides the evidence and data to support the claim you initially made. And the conclusion summarizes the contents of the document by taking a position and making recommendations to the reader.
Outlining is an essential part of writing because it can help you visualize your document; especially if it’s long, and it can help you make sure that your document flows logically. A first step in creating your outline is to create a list of the essential information you want to include. You can then organize this list into an outline with an introduction, body and conclusion section. A formal outline is only necessary for a longer document, because it requires much more than just a simply list. Also, alphanumeric notation is replaced by decimal notation for technical documents—this form is usually preferred in the workplace, as it makes things easier to reference. Your outline can also convert into a sentence outline, which is oftentimes preferred in a collaborative project where different team members prepare different sections of the document. Your finished outline won’t be finalized until your final draft, and it is more of a model to check that you document has a clear line of thinking.
Storyboarding is another helpful tool, if you are preparing a long document, as it allows you to visualize each section of your outline. This is most helpful when you are collaborating in a group project, and it can be displayed on whiteboards, poster boards, flip charts, or computer screens.
Paragraphs can take on many different forms as well, and each support paragraph should be able to stand alone in meaning. The topic sentence is the sentence to which all sentences relate in a given paragraph. Each topic sentence should include an idea or argument for your case, while at the same time explaining the point. The topic sentence also appears as the first sentence in a body paragraph. A paragraph is considered to be unified when all sentences relate back to the topic sentence, so keep this in mind when constructing your paragraphs. Coherent paragraphs are where everything not only belongs, but is linked together. This can be damaged by choppy sentences, sentences in the incorrect order, bad transitions, or a faulty line of reasoning. Paragraph length also depends on the purpose of the document and the reader’s capacity for understanding. Highly technical documents will probably use short paragraphs, or even a list. The most important thing, however, is how well a given paragraph makes your point.
Sequencing is also an important element of document formatting. Information should always be arranged in a logical presentation—a single paragraph will follow one sequence, but a longer document will probably have several sequences. Spatial sequencing begins at one location and ends at another, and it is most useful when you are describing something. Chronological sequence is an actual sequence of events, and it explains how to do something or how something was done. Effect-to-cause sequencing is a problem solving analysis, while cause-to-effect sequencing follows an action to its results. Emphatic sequencing makes certain things stand out, by offering reasons of support to a specific viewpoint. Problem-causes-solution first describes the problem, then diagnoses it, and finally solves it. Comparison-contrast sequencing evaluates given items on their similarities or differences.
Chunking breaks information down into smaller units, based on a given reader’s needs or the document’s purpose. Material that is well chunked will be easy to follow and visually appealing.
An overview of your document is all about showing the “big picture”, and you should first start out with the things that the readers really want to know, like the purpose of the document, why they want to read it, and what information they will get from it. Overviews are placed near the beginning of the document, and their size and shape will vary for each document.
Group Discussion Question: One thing that this chapter did not bring up is the thesis statement, which is normally found in the introductory paragraph. Do you think this is essential in a technical document? Why?
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