Ch 4: Technical Editing & Rewriting Lesson Plans
About This Chapter
Weekly Syllabus
Below is a sample breakdown of the Technical Editing and Rewriting chapter into a 5-day school week. Based on the pace of your course, you may need to adapt the lesson plan to fit your needs.
Day | Topics | Key Terms and Concepts Covered |
---|---|---|
Monday | Clarity in technical communication | Using words that are easy to understand and discussing the implications of unclear communication; spatial, importance, chronological and other organizational patterns; verifying facts to ensure the correctness of information |
Tuesday | Proofreading, conciseness and revisions | Techniques for effective proofreading; eliminating excess words; improving readability when errors are found in writing |
Wednesday | Achieving completeness | The importance of including adequate details and citing sources; writing concise, well-structured sentences; structuring a technical document by including headings, a table of contents, subheadings and other sections |
Thursday | Achieving unity and following up on your message | Methods for achieving unity in your technical documents; the importance of following up to ensure that communication was clear |
Friday | Using technology and the importance of good feedback | The usefulness of word processors to construct a professional document; the necessity of constructive commentary and how to provide it |

1. Achieving Clarity in Technical Communication
It is important in technical communication, particularly in document creation, to clearly articulate your objective and what the command or prompt to action is. Learn more about the four ways to achieve clarity in technical writing and why it is important to make documents clear.

2. Organizing Technical Communication for Clarity
Properly organizing technical communication is vital for the sake of clarity and audience understanding. Learn about the five organizational patterns for writing: spatial, chronological, order of importance, compare and contrast, and problem-solution.

3. Grammatical & Contextual Correctness in Technical Communication
In technical communication, it is imperative the information is communicated properly to avoid misunderstandings and false information. Learn about contextual correctness and grammatical correctness, in spelling, punctuation, grammar, and style.

4. Proofreading Your Message for Spelling, Grammar, Accuracy & Clarity
Proofreading is an essential step in the writing process, especially when sending messages. Learn what proofreading is, review how to check your work for spelling and grammar mistakes, and explore ways to improve the accuracy and clarity of your writing.

5. Simplifying for Conciseness in Technical Communication
Technical communication can be complicated and challenging for readers if it is not well written. Learn how to simplify for conciseness in technical communication and explore tips to gain readers' attention. Recognize how to eliminate unnecessary phrases, verbs, and words to make technical documents easier to read and understand.

6. Revising Your Message for Errors, Conciseness & Readability
When drafting a message, it is important to check for mistakes, run-on sentences, and choppy language. Explore common mistakes and tips for how to fix them when revising a message for errors, including spelling or grammar miscues and issues with conciseness and readability.

7. Achieving Completeness in Technical Communication
It is quintessential in achieving completeness in technical communication that the writing itself is accurate, focused and usable in a functional and rational sense. Learn more about completeness in technical communication, how to ensure it and it's importance.

8. Ensuring that Technical Documents Are Easily Understood
Clarity in technical documents is paramount in communicating what the document is trying to teach an audience in the way of information or protocol. Learn more about the importance of making technical documents easily understandable and four ways to write with clarity.

9. Sequence in Technical Documents
Technical writing refers to the style of writing used to prepare documentation, such as instructions for using computer software or employee training manuals. Learn the importance of clear sequence in technical documents: a clear introduction, focused paragraphs, strategically arranged information, and conclusions with reminders of key points.

10. Organization in Technical Documents
If special care isn't taken from the start, organizing technical documents can be a daunting task. Learn how to maintain organization in technical documents by using elements such as headings and subheadings, typographical cues, a table of contents, figures or images, and an index.

11. Achieving Unity in Technical Writing
Unity in writing occurs when the ideas and topics of the document are well integrated, making the text easy to follow for the reader. Learn the definition and purpose of unity in technical writing and explore how to achieve document, paragraph, and structural unity.

12. The Importance of Message Follow-Up
Message follow-up is an important component of business communication that is used to secure a response. Learn about message follow-up & the five methods of message follow-up in business communication.

13. Using Technology to Help Compose Your Message: Formatting & Effectiveness
There are many different ways to effectively compose a message using technology. Discover how to use style sheets, templates, autocompletion, autocorrect, file merge, mail merge, endnotes, footnotes, and wizards to effectively format a message.

14. Giving and Responding to Constructive Feedback
Constructive feedback is usually given by a peer or superior, with the intent that the information will assist the receiver. Discover more about giving and responding to constructive feedback, such as the feedback sandwich and self-evaluations.
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Other Chapters
Other chapters within the Technical Writing Syllabus Resource & Lesson Plans course
- Technical Writing Basics Lesson Plans
- Prewriting Lesson Plans
- Writing Technical Documents Lesson Plans
- Parts of a Technical Document Lesson Plans
- Usability Testing & Technical Writing Lesson Plans
- Informal Technical Reports Lesson Plans
- Formal Technical Reports Lesson Plans
- Business Reports and Proposals Lesson Plans
- Technical Correspondence Lesson Plans
- Writing Resumes & Cover Letters Lesson Plans
- Technical Instructions Lesson Plans
- Technical Manual Writing Process Lesson Plans
- Proposal Writing Process Lesson Plans