Chapter 2: Technical Writing

Chapter 2 Outline
• Periodic Report
• Progress Report
• Recommendation Report
• Narrative Report
• Case Study
• Proposal

Chapter 2 Objectives
At the end of the chapter, the students should be able to:

a. Retrieve a sample copy of periodic, progress, recommendation, and narrative reports, case study and proposal in
relation to their field of specialization;
b. Evaluate the different kinds of reports based on its content, grammar, language, organization, and mechanics.
c. Compare and contrast the following using their own words:
i. Periodic report versus Progress report
ii. Recommendation report versus Narrative report
iii. Case study versus Proposa

Pre-test

Write TRUE if the statement is correct while FALSE if it suggests otherwise.

______1. Technical writing is primarily focused on conveying complex technical information to a specialized audience in
a clear and concise manner.

______2. Narrative reports often include the use of jargon and technical terms to enhance clarity and accuracy.

______3. Technical documents always have a fixed format used worldwide.

______4. The primary goal of technical writing is to entertain and engage the reader with creative storytelling.

______5. Visual aids, such as diagrams, charts, and graphs, are commonly used in technical writing to complement and
clarify the text.

Introduction

In the previous chapter, you have learned about oral communication and performed tasks related to it. Now that you
have successfully completed it, this next Chapter will help you further your knowledge and skills about technical writing.

Technical writing is one of the critical skills necessary in various industries. Its primary role is to convey technical
information effectively to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and at the same time empower readers in accomplish tasks
and solving problems. Mastering this specialized form of communication will enable you to convey technical information
clearly, concisely and understandable.

The key characteristics of technical writing includes clarity and precision, target audience-centered, purpose-driven,
logically structured and well-organized, aided with visuals such as graphs, charts, diagrams, etc, and highly technical with
the use of jargons.

Some examples of technical writing documents are periodic report, progress report, recommendation report, narrative
report, case study, and proposal.

As you go further to this chapter, prepare yourself to get a good grasp of what technical writing is by learning how to
identify, evaluate and differentiate real-life examples of these documents.
Periodic Report
If there is a particular technical writing document that is regularly submitted within a business, organization,
government agencies and the like, it is the periodic report. This document is prepared to provide updates, status and progress
of a particular project, process or activity to keep stakeholders duly informed regarding its performance and developments
over a period of time.

Some periodic reports are prepared weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually. The schedule is predetermined within
the institution depending on the nature of the project or activity. Examples of periodic reports include monthly financial
reports, quarterly business reports, weekly project status reports, annual performance reports, and monthly sales report.

In terms of periodic report’s structure, the company usually determines its crucial components. But in general, the
expected parts include the following:

• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Scope and Methodology
• Progress and Achievements
• Data Analysis
• Challenges and Issues
• Comparison with Previous Periods
• Future Plans and Recommendations
• Conclusion
• Appendices

To simply put it, periodic reports serve as a means to regularly provide structured overview of progress, performance
and project updates to stakeholders for transparency purposes. These reports are crucial to assess outcomes and make
informed decisions about future actions.

Progress Report
From the word itself, a progress report is a document type essential to businesses for it provides update on the
status, development and achievements of particular project, a task, or activity over a specific period, hence, the word
“progress”. This document is important for monitoring purposes.

As for the parts of a progress report, again, it may or may not follow everything on the list provided below. So, it
is important for you to research on a prescribed format required in your institution before preparing one.

• Introduction
• Work Completed/ Work Accomplished
• Work in Progress/ On-Going Tasks
• Significant Accomplishments
• Issues and Challenges
• Timeline and Schedule
• Budget and Resource Status
• Risks and Mitigation Strategies
• Future Plans
• Conclusion
• Supporting Documentations

Communicating progress and issuing it regularly assure the stakeholders that a project, for instance, is kept on-track.
Maintaining transparency, accountability and clear communication is essential for a successful business.

Recommendation Report
Companies, businesses, institutions and government agencies are not exempted from encountering problems and
issues. So, in order to make a sound decision-making, this document is prepared to propose specific solutions, suggestions
or courses of action in addressing issues.

Basically, a recommendation report starts by presenting the problem that needs attention. It is important to provide
content to readers to understand the significance of the problem. It must also present a thorough analysis of the problem
through research that may include evidence such as data, survey results, statistics and the like. Afterwards, alternatives that
could potentially address the problem should be laid out based on its potential outcomes. Of course, when writing, consider
also the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of these alternatives.

Then, among the alternatives presented, the recommended solution shall be endorsed. It is usually the best option
based on the analysis and research conducted. As such, you should provide a justification why it is the best course of action.

However, not all solutions are perfect ones so, it is equally important to include potential benefits and risks for
adopting the recommended solution through a discussion before summarizing the report and concluding.

Remember that just like the first example above (periodic report), recommendation reports should be well-written,
clear and logically tailored and presented for the target audience to make necessary decision and course of action

Narrative Report
The use of narrative reports as written information is thought to be widespread. It is used to narrate stories having
a distinct beginning, middle, and end in a variety of industries, including business, healthcare, and education.

A narrative report seeks to present a thorough, organized account of events, from start to finish. This can be done
to record observations, events, or experiences by utilizing transitional phrases and descriptions to indicate what came first,
next, and last in the sequence of events.

Typically, narrative reports integrate factual data, first-hand experience, and interpretation to offer a comprehensive
view of a certain subject. Write clear and succinct narrative reports wherever possible. Some readers could become bored
if you use a very technical phrase. You ought to plan as well

Case Study
When you are aiming to conduct an in-depth analysis of a specific individual, group, organization, event or
situation, a case study may be done. Case studies contain a comprehensive discussion of a specified case where empirical
data are presented to draw conclusions and offer recommendations.

Just like any other technical documents, a case study also contains different parts namely:

• Introduction
• Background
• Methods
• Findings
• Analysis
• Discussion
• Conclusion
• Recommendation
• References

Maintaining clarity, coherence, and objectivity throughout ensures the report’s integrity and credibility.
Remember that case studies should provide valuable insights and contribute to problem-solving and sound decision-
making.

Proposal
A proposal is a written document prepared in different fields to seek support of funding for a proposed activity or
project. Generally, proposals are submitted to address an existing problem or issue within a community, institution, or
business by presenting a proposed plan of action, idea, project or activity. It must provide a detailed explanation as to why
the proposed idea is beneficial, how its implementation will be, what the expected outcome will be and the cost that will
convince your reader and potential partners

Proposals has no definite or fix format or form. When preparing, consider the format required by your target
funding agency or stakeholder. But in general, the following parts may be present.
 1. Introduction
2. Background
3. Proposal
4. Benefits
5. Procedure
6. Results
7. Feasibility
8. Schedule of Activities
9. Qualifications
10. Costs and Fees
11. Conclusion
12. References

So, those are the technical writing documents covered in this chapter. Bear in mind that in preparing these documents,
you must identify your purpose, set your goal, organize data, and present your analysis, findings, conclusion and
recommendation. Certain documents may also ask for a slightly different content or format but its purpose should be
retained. For instance, when preparing for a progress report, it should be about the status and update of a particular project.
In contrast, when preparing for a narrative report, you will be required to tell a story about something, an event for example,
in a chronological way. What is important about this chapter is that, as a writer, you must demonstrate your strong writing
skills to inform or persuade your target audience to achieve your goal.
A Look Back on Important Grammar Rules
Tenses and Aspects of Verb

One crucial aspect of preparing reports is choosing the appropriate tense of verb to express completed or on-going
action. That is why mastering the tenses of verb is essential to be able to tell stories, communicate what you are doing
now, what experiences you have had before, and to make plans for the future.

Imagine when writing about future activities or narrating about a past event, your verb tense should match the
time frame as to when the action takes place. Tenses are used to express time in relation to an event that is being
discussed.

While you’ll likely be familiar with the basic tenses – Past, Present, and Future. Each one of these tenses can be
further split into the following 4 categories.

The full list of tenses includes:

• Past Simple, Past Continuous, Past Perfect, Past Perfect Continuous.

• Present Simple, Present Continuous, Present Perfect, Present Perfect Continuous.
• Future Simple, Future Continuous, Future Perfect, Future Perfect Continuous

Present simple
The present simple is used to describe facts, express habitual or repeated behaviors, and to describe emotions.

The most basic form of this tense can be created by pairing a subject with the present tense of a verb:

I run every day

You eat rice for lunch
She/he sings in the choir
They walk to school

Present continuous
The present continuous tense is used to describe activities that are occurring at the time that the speaker is talking.

The tense uses the present form of the verb ‘to be’ and the ‘ing’ form of the main verb, for example:

I am walking
You are singing
She/he is jumping
They are writing

Present perfect
The present perfect tense is used to describe actions or situations which started in the past but have now finished.

This tense is formed using ‘have/has’ with the past participle of the main verb:

I have tasted fish cakes before.

He/she has sung on a stage before.

Present perfect continuous

This final present tense is the present perfect continuous. This tense is used to describe something that started in the
past and continues to the present.

It is formed using ‘have/has’ with ‘been’ and the present participle form of the main verb:

I have been playing the piano for years.

He/she has been eating junk food for every meal.
They have been driving for a year.

Past simple
The past simple is the most basic past tense, and is used to describe events that occurred once in the past,
reoccurring events in the past, or something that was true for some time in the past. For example:
 He ate salad.
She jumped high.

For regular verbs, the past simple tense is formed by adding ‘ed’ to the end of the verb. This gets more complex
when it comes to irregular verbs, which can form the past simple in a variety of ways that must be memorized.

He walked home.
He went home.
He ran every day.

Past continuous
The past continuous tense is used to describe events that were ongoing in the past.

To create this tense, the past form of the verb ‘to be’ is used with a verb in its ‘ing’ form:

He was flying.
They were singing.

Past perfect
The past perfect tense is used to describe something that started in the past and continued until a given time in the
past. It is useful for clearly indicating the order of the past actions. Using a timeline will help you identify what you have
already done in the past and adapt to it accordingly.

This tense uses the verb ‘had’ and the past participle of the main verb, for example:

He had swum two laps of the pool before his mother joined him.

This tense can also be used to illustrate how long a past event occurred before ending at a certain point in the
past:

On the twentieth of July, I had worked at the school for ten years.

Past perfect continuous (past perfect progressive)

The past perfect continuous tense is used to express ongoing actions from the past that continued until another
point. Note that this use of the tense does not specify that the action stopped at the specified past point.

It uses a combination of ‘had been’ and the ‘ing’ form of the verb:

She had been walking for an hour when her phone rang.

This tense can also be used to express an ongoing past event that did stop at a specific past time:

I had been working at the library for a year when I was fired.

Future simple
The future simple tense is used to refer to specific times in the future. There are two ways to do this in English,
both used in two distinct types of situation.

The first form uses ‘will’ and the present tense of the sentence’s verb. This is used to express a promise or a
voluntary action that will occur at some specific time in the future:

I will go to school tomorrow.

He/she/they will cook dinner.

The second form of the future simple tense is used to express plans. It is created using the present tense of the
verb ‘to be’ and ‘going to’. For example:

I am going to win some money.

He/she is going to the party on the weekend.
They are going to run a marathon.

Both versions of this tense can be used to express future predictions:

 I will win the marathon.
He/she is going to win the marathon.

The key with learning this tense can be to emphasise the difference between planned and unplanned future events.
The ‘will’ future form is an instant decision, whereas the ‘going to’ refers to plans.

Future continuous
The future continuous is used to describe fixed events or appointments that will extend over time in the future.

It is created using ‘will be’ and the main verb in its ‘ing’ form:

I will be going to the event on Saturday

He/she/they will be watching the news tomorrow evening

The future continuous is a very polite tense. In casual conversation, English speakers will often use the present
continuous tense to describe future plans or appointments.

Future perfect
The future perfect tense refers to an action in the future as if it has already been completed. This can be a difficult
tense to master, and even native English speakers use it rarely.

It is formed using ‘will have’ with the past participle. There can be other forms of this tense, but this is the most
common:

I will have finished my assignment by Monday.

Future perfect continuous

The final future tense is the future perfect continuous. This tense describes ongoing future actions that will be
completed at some time in the future. It sounds complicated, but it’s actually more simple than some of the other future
tenses.

Its most common form uses ‘will have been’ with the present participle.

In June, I will have been living here for a year.

Those are the different tenses of verb. Mastering these tenses can seem like a difficult challenge but with practice,
it will enable you express action respective of the time of its occurrence.

Grammar Practice on Verb Tense

Encircle the correct verb tense for each sentence.

1. Last summer, she _______ a fascinating course on environmental science.

a) taking b) takes c) took d) take

2. By the time they graduate, they _______ several internships in their field.
a) will complete b) will have completed c) complete d) completing

3. I _______ a lot about business management during my college years.

a) learn b) am learning c) will learn d) have learned

4. Before the meeting started, they _______ their plans for the project.
a) discussing b) discussed c) discuss d) discusses

5. After the lecture, the students _______ the professor some questions.
a) asks b) will ask c) asked d) asking

6. By next semester, she _______ all the required courses for her major.
a) will take b) taking c) will have taken d) take

7. The scholarship _______ to the most deserving student.

a) will award b) awarded c) will be awarded d) awards
8. While I was studying abroad, I _______ to several different countries.
a) will travel b) traveled c) will have traveled d) traveling

9. By the end of the year, they _______ all the necessary skills for the job.
a) will have learned b) will learn c) learned d) learning

10. After the game, the athletes _______ their victory with a celebration.
a) celebrated b) celebrate c) will celebrate d) celebrating

11. Before the semester ends, we _______ a lot of valuable knowledge.

a) will gain b) gains c) will have gained d) gained

12. She _______ her research project for months before presenting it.
a) worked b) works c) will work d) has worked

13. I _______ for this exam for weeks, and I'm feeling confident.
a) have studied b) will study c) studying d) studied

14. By the time I graduate, I _______ a wide range of subjects.

a) will have studied b) will study c) studied d) studying

15. Last night, the students _______ a campus event.

a) attend b) attended c) will attend d) attending

16. He _______ to several job interviews before he got an offer.

a) goes b) will go c) went d) going

17. The college _______ a new program starting next semester.

a) will launch b) launches c) will be launching d) launched

18. While I _______ in college, I made lifelong friends.

a) was b) am c) will be d) will have been

19. She _______ all the requirements for graduation last week.
a) completes b) will complete c) completed d) completing

20. By next year, we _______ our degrees and start our careers.
a) will have earned b) will earn c) earned d) earning