Topic 4 Technical Genre.pdf

8/20/2019 Topic 4 Technical Genre.pdf

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INTRODUCTION

A genre is a piece of writing that is marked by a distinctive style, form or content.All professional activities require strong and persuasive writing as well asadherence to the formal conventions of a particular audience. This topicintroduces you to some common genres in the scientific and technical domains.Electronic correspondence such as e-mails and reports such as memos areexamples of the major technical genres which will be discussed in this topic.

SENDING MESSAGES: MEMORANDUM

This sub-topic will discuss the meaning and parts of memorandum.

4.1.1 Simple Memos

Memos are usually used for communication between persons in the samecompany. Although the term „memorandum‰ used to be associated withtemporary communication, usage of the term has changed. Today, a memo is

4.1

TTooppiicc

44 Technical

Genre

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

1. Describe the format of technical genres: simple memos, memo reportsand e-mails;

2. Write simple yet effective memos and e-mails; and

3. Construct sentence structures of the causal relationship type.


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TOPIC 4 TECHNICAL GENRE 45

regarded as communication that makes needed information immediatelyavailable. Memos are usually used to:

(a) Make requests;

(b) Make announcements; and

(c) Communicate reports.

4.1.2 Parts of a Simple Memo

A memorandum has two regular parts: heading and body. An additional sectionin the memo is attachment(s).

(a) HeadingThe letterhead is usually part of the heading.

Example of a letterhead: Faculty of Education and LanguagesOpen University Malaysia

Jalan Tun Ismail, 50480 Kuala Lumpur

The text then follows this general format:Date: (complete and current date)To: (readersÊ names and job titles)From: (your name and job title)Subject: (what the memo is about)

Be specific and concise in your subject line. For example, „Cockroaches‰ asa subject line could mean anything from a pest problem to an account ofcockroaches. Instead, use something like, „Overcoming cockroaches in ourkitchen.‰ In addition, for matters which need attention immediately,starting with „URGENT:‰ in the subject line is a good idea.


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TOPIC 4 TECHNICAL GENRE46

(b) Body The body of a memorandum is the message. It is composed in the samemanner as any other business communication. The writer usually initials

the memo just beside the name typed in the „From‰ section. However,some writers prefer to give their signatures at the end of the memo.

(c) Attachments Besides making announcements and requests, memos are sometimes usedto communicate reports. Such reports can be lengthy and may need to be

appended separately. We call such documents an attachment. This is asupplementary document that is attached to a primary document (in thiscase, the memo). Make sure you document your findings or providedetailed information in the form of attachment(s) when necessary. You canattach lists, graphs, tables, etc. Be sure to refer to your attachments in yourmemo and add a notation about what has been attached, just below yourclosing line, as in the example below:

Attached: Several complaints about cleanliness,March-September 2009

Look at the following example of a memo for making an announcement.


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Note that the language is almost telegraphic as the aim is to communicatequickly. Telegraphic language is characterised by the omission of grammaticalitems such as „the‰ and „is‰ and word endings such as „ing.‰ It is usually briefand concise.

Before continuing the lesson, do the following exercise.

Using the example below, write a memo of your own.

ACTIVITY 4.1

Letterhead Name of Company and Address Date:To:From:Subject:

State your purpose for writing the memo.

Signature


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4.1.3

Memo Report

Simple memos are usually informative, persuasive, and to the point. However,

complex memos are sometimes needed, especially in the office setting. Althoughthese business memos may be more formal and complicated, the purpose is thesame there is an objective in mind, which the sender hopes to achieve bysending the memo to the reader.

The heading and attachment segments of a memo report are the same as insimple memos but the body of the message is more structured. Generally, the

body has three segments opening, summary and closing.

(a) Opening segment

The purpose of a memo is usually found in the opening paragraphs and ispresented in three parts, as shown in Table 4.1.

Table 4 1: Parts Describing Purpose of a Memo

Parts Description

Context and problem

statement

The context is the event, circumstance or background ofthe problem you are trying to solve. You may use aparagraph to establish the background and clearly statethe problem, or mention this in the opening sentence as

in the example below:„In our effort to overcome cockroaches in our kitchen....‰

(Include only what your reader needs to know but besure it is clear).

Specific assignment or task In the task statement, you should describe what you aredoing to solve the problem. If the action was requested,your task may be indicated by the opening sentence, forexample:

„You asked that I look at ...‰

If you want to explain your intentions, you might say,

„To determine the best method of controlling thenumber of cockroaches, I will ...‰

Overall purpose of the memo

or purpose statement

Finally, the purpose statement of a memo gives yourreason for writing it and forecasts what is in the rest ofthe memo. You would want to indicate to your readersthe way information is organised in the body of yourmemo.


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For example, you might say:

„This memo presents a description of the currentsituation, some proposed alternatives and myrecommendations.‰

If you plan to use headings for your memo segments, youcan refer to these major headings to provide a guide foryour reader: background, proposed alternatives andrecommendations.

(b) Summary segment For longer memos (beyond a page), you may want to include a separatesummary segment. This segment provides a brief statement of the key

recommendations you are making.For example, you can say, „In summation ‰

(c) Closing segment Close with a courteous ending that states what action you want your readerto take. State how the reader will benefit from the desired actions and howyou can make those actions easier.

For example, you could write, „I will be glad to discuss this recommendationwith you during our trip to Gunung Ledang and follow through on any decisions

you make.‰

Try the following exercise to test your understanding.

Study the following memo report and answer these questions:

1. To whom was the memo sent?

2. Who sent it?

3. What is the problem?

4. What is the specific assignment of the committee?

5. List three recommendations put forward by the committee.

6. What information do you think is presented in the attachment?

ACTIVITY 4.2


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Amiruddin College

University of Malaya

Date: 4 November 2009To: Assoc Prof Dr Tan Xian Sheng (College Head)From: Ms Elise Lee (Ad Hoc Committee Head)Subject: Hazing new students

The attached proposal for a new anti-hazing policy for Amiruddin Collegereflects the work of a committee you asked me to convene. The hazing ofnew students and other abusive or demeaning initiation rites are discussed.

No one knows for sure how much hazing exists at Amiruddin or what formsit takes. If Amiruddin at all resembles other colleges in this regard, hazing ispoorly understood and significantly under-reported. We were pleased totake on this important task because we believe hazing has a dangerouspotential to harm individuals, corrupt organisations and teams, andundermine the educational mission of the College and its fundamentalvalues of respect and community.

We met four times over the semester holidays. A draft of the anti-hazingpolicy was shared with a variety of colleagues and student groups fordiscussion and feedback before the committee reached a consensus about thefinal version we are submitting to you.

Our committee feels strongly that the adoption and articulation of a morestringent anti-hazing policy at Amiruddin, although much needed andoverdue, is in itself not a sufficient response to hazing. We very muchendorse the education/prevention recommendations in the report from theanti-hazing working group, which we understand you have accepted anddirected various College departments to implement. Student organisationalleaders and members need information, clear definitions and guidancerelated to hazing and to inappropriate versus appropriate new-memberactivities. In particular, we support the recommendation that Collegedepartments responsible for working with student organisations continue

and intensify their educational efforts against hazing, especially efforts tohelp organisations distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour and develop positive rites of passage for their new members.

We also support the recommendation of the group adjudication committeefor a more consistent and centralised system of responding to reportedviolations of College standards, including the hazing policy. Similarly, werecognise and support the need for a more centralised coordination andsupport for departmental education and prevention work against hazing.


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SENDING INFORMATION: E-MAIL

Your mind has to work in a different way when you write for delivery online.This is because of the non-linear way people use online documents. For most

people, reading text onscreen is harder optical work than reading words printedon paper. Therefore, online documentation needs to be:

(a) Shorter;

(b) Displayed in smaller parts at one time;

(c) Legible; and

(d) Written according to the conventions of online documentation.

4.2

Amiruddin College

University of Malaya

It is important for the Amiruddin community to receive one clear messageabout hazing, rather than different or potentially conflicting messages. Wethink it would be very useful for all parties concerned to meet periodically withyou, administrators who work with student groups and organisational leadersto discuss some hazing case studies, so that the College can develop and fostera common understanding and clear precedents regarding what kinds of behaviours constitute hazing, what kinds of behaviours may be questionable but are not clear violations and what kinds of behaviours are acceptable.

We hope that the definition and discussion of hazing that we have developedwill be a useful tool in preventing hazing in this community and responding toit vigorously if and when it occurs. We would be happy to meet with you todiscuss our proposal and respond to any questions you might have.

Attached: Proposal for New Anti-Hazing Policy

Adapted from: Anti-Hazing Policy Committee Memo.

(Note: Hazing someone means to initiate, as into a college fraternity, byexacting humiliating performances from or playing rough practical

jokes upon the person.)


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4.2.1 Benefits of E-mail

The value of electronic mail (e-mail) in both corporate and personal domains

goes without saying. Basically, an e-mail is:(a) Cheaper and faster than a letter;

(b) Less intrusive than a phone call; and

(c) Less hassle than a fax.

In this topic, we will not talk about the mechanics of sending e-mail such aswhich buttons to push or how to attach a file. Instead, we will focus on thecontent of e-mail, that is, how to write messages more efficiently, clearly andeffectively.

4.2.2 Structure of an E-mail Message

Like memos, e-mails have two regular parts header and body. In most cases,you will be interested only in the body, which comprises the message proper.

(a) Header The header contains items such as „Date,‰ „From,‰ „Subject‰ and „cc.‰Sometimes, there are lines such as „X-Mailer‰ and „X-Originating-Ip‰

which do not concern you but are necessary for programming anddebugging purposes. Figure 4.1 shows a sample header.

Figure 4 1: Sample header information

X-Mailer: MIME-tools 5.41 (Entity 5.404)

X-Originating-lp: 165.127.8.254

X-Originating-Server: ws2-7.us4.outblaze.com

Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 06:58:08 +0800

Reply-To: Instructional Vgejpqnqi{ Hqtwo

Sender: Instructional Vgejpqnqi{ Hqtwo

From: Louise Miller

Subject: Re: Evaluation of Learning Objects in e-learning

To: [email protected]


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(b) Subject lines As in memos, a subject line that pertains clearly to the body of the e-mailwill help people to mentally shift their attention to the issue at hand before

they even begin to read your message in full. The subject line:(i) Should be brief (as many mailers truncate long subject lines);

(ii) Does not need to be a complete sentence; and

(iii) Should give a clue as to the contents of the message.

The following is an example:

Subject: Re: Evaluation of learning objects in e-learning

The subject line should summarise important details of the message. If yourmessage is in response to another e-mail, your e-mail software willprobably preface the subject line with Re: (for Regarding). If your e-mailcomposition software does not do this, it would be helpful to type in „Re:‰

Subject: Re: Evaluation of learning objects in e-learning

It may be a good idea to start the subject line with the word „URGENT:‰ ifthe matter is pressing and you know that the recipient gets a lot of e-mail),for example:

Subject: URGENT: Need three computers by Friday

If you are offering non-urgent information that requires no response from

the recipient, prefacing the subject line with FYI: (For Your Information) isnot a bad idea, as shown here:

Subject: FYI: Coffee and scones in my room

(c) BodyEvery new communication medium develops its own protocols for openingand closing.

(i) Telephone conversations start with „Hello‰ and end with „Goodbye.‰

(ii) Letters open with „Dear‰ and end with „Sincerely.‰

As e-mail is fairly new, there are no firm rules on how to open and closethem but you should take the culture and customs of all parties intoconsideration. Many people do not use a salutation or signature in e-mail.While a letter can get separated from its envelope easily, it is difficult toseparate an e-mail message from its header information. The message itselfoften states who the e-mail is to and from.


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(d) Greetings Salutations are tricky, especially if you are not able to tell whether you areaddressing a man or a woman. The family name is used first in some cultures

and last in others. Honorifics vary, depending on status or age.It is probably not a good idea to use „Sir‰ or „Mr‰ unless you are certain thatyour correspondent is a male. Similarly, it is safer to use „Ms‰ instead of„Miss‰ or „Mrs‰ unless you know the preference of the woman in question.

If you are addressing a group of people, you can say „Dear‰ plus theunifying attribute. For example:

Dear All

Dear Project Managers

Dear EinsteinÊs FansAs e-mail is relatively informal, it is possible to dispense with names andtitles altogether, especially if you are in a higher position than yourcorrespondent, as shown below:

Hello! I went through your educational courseware and

You could also write a simple „Hi‰ to people you already know, like this:

Hi! Are you interested in getting together for Satay Kajang next week?

Wishing „Good Morning‰ and „Good Afternoon‰ in e-mails does not make

sense as the sun may have moved significantly by the time the recipient ofyour e-mail reads it. „Good Day‰ might make more sense. Underlying all ofthese is awareness of cultural differences in greetings.

(e) Signatures Many e-mail programmes allow you to set up a default signature to beincluded at the end of every message. Many people use this as a way togive their name and alternate ways of reaching them. Figure 4.2 shows anexample.

Figure 4 2: Example of a signature

Hi! How about a haircut? Li Chin PengSynergy Hair Saloon888 Jalan Mayang43600 Bangi(603) 8123-4567(off)[email protected]


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Some people add artwork, philosophical sayings, jokes or quotations aftertheir signatures. This is all right but do not overdo it. A good practice is tokeep your signature segment at, or under, six lines long.

After arranging for a signature that is included automatically, it is easy toforget about it. Your e-mail software might not show it to you or it might

become so routine that you never look at it again. Note that it is importantto revise your signature if any of the accompanying information changes.And if you have sayings that go with your signature, change them everyonce in a while. It would be tiresome for your e-mail recipients to bereading the same joke for the 60th time.

Placing a signature at the end of your e-mail is a good way of letting yourcorrespondent knows that the message has been transmitted properly. In e-

mail, there is no body language to signal that you are „done talking‰ andsometimes, e-mail transmissions do get interrupted midway, resulting inonly half the message getting through.

(f) Other featuresEmoticons and shorthand notations (acronyms)

There are hundreds of textual stand-ins for gestures in e-mails. A facialgesture can be represented by a smiley or emoticon a textual drawing of afacial expression. The most common three are as shown in Figure 4.3.

Figure 4 3: Examples of smileys

To understand these symbols, turn your head slighty and look at themsideways, as shown in Figure 4.4. You should see little faces. The followingare universally understood:

Figure 4 4: Meanings of certain smileys

E-mail communities such as Usenet newsgroups or Internet Relay Chat (IRC)often use their own shorthand notation. The need for this arises because ofspace limitation. Furthermore, most groups of people who spend timecommunicating with each other tend to develop their own informal shorthand.

:-);-):-(

:-) : Happy or do not take me too seriously;-) : Being cheeky or showing disbelief:-( : Sad or disappointed


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Figure 4.5 shows some common acronyms and expressions.

Figure 4 5: Examples of shorthand notation

Figure 4.6 show examples of common jargon used in online communication.

Figure 4 6: Examples of jargon used


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Look at the example below to see how emoticons can help to promote theintended meaning of the writer. Suppose you are typing a statement such as:

I think IÊll let you settle the bill the next time we go for lunch.

The reader cannot be absolutely sure what emotion you were feeling when youtyped this. Were you being sarcastic, making a proposition or simply joking?Compare it with this statement:

I think IÊll let you settle the bill the next time we go for lunch. :-)

See the difference? The emoticon :-) suggests to the reader not to take the matterseriously. In other words, you were just joking.

A word of caution: Use capitalisation sparingly in e-mail as capitalised wordsmay imply that you are shouting. See the message below:

I THINK IÊLL LET YOU SETTLE THE BILL THE NEXT TIME WE GO

FOR LUNCH

It is better to avoid using capital letters in e-mail in order to preventmisunderstanding.

By now, you should have a good grasp of how to write e-mails. Test yourunderstanding by trying the following exercise.


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EXPLANATIONS OF "CAUSE"Causality structures are commonly found in scientific and technical English texts,especially in reports which express causal relationships between pieces ofinformation. Cause-and-effect writing gives reasons and explanations for events,conditions or behaviour that relate to actual or hypothetical causes and effects.

(a) Structure 1Since the tanker is larger, it can supply more petrol.The tanker can supply more petrol since it is larger.

4.3

1. Search the Internet for three other emoticons, acronyms or e-mail jargon.

2. You received the following e-mail from your good friend Alex.Reply to his message, taking into account the e-mail conventionsyou have learnt, including the use of emoticons, acronyms and

jargon. Send a copy of the mail to your tutor for comments.

Hi Lyn,

HowÊs work coming along? Thanks for the birthday message

. I finally received it after it b ounced

twice. ItÊs worth the wait.

You know, the most bizarre thing happened to me last week. Rememberthe interview I told you about? Well, I attended it yesterday. The interviewwas with a woman who is I MHO a splitting image of Einstein on a badhair day! If that isnÊt bad enough, her windowless room was filled withworkstations and servers. ;-) With the electrostatic waves emitting from themachine, sheÊs practically a walking human electrostatic wave current. :-)

I couldnÂt answer most of her computer-science questions. Even with herhints, I was lost. Her final question was: What are your computer-relatedhobbies? She didnÊt want to know what kind of plain old hobbies I had, just my computer hobbies. I told her I played the drums and learnt foreign

languages but she wasnÊt interested in that answer.So you guessed it. I didnÊt get the job :-(

BTW

Fatimah sends you her regards.

TTFN

Regards,

Alex

ACTIVITY 4.3


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In these statements, the part which begins with „since‰ is a clauseexplaining why the main event took place.

The common cause-words which are used in this structure are shown in

Table 4.2.

Table 4 2: Examples of Cause-Words

Since

As

In view of the fact that

On account of the fact that

Owing to the fact that

Seeing that

metal expands when it is heated, expansion joints are fitted to steam pipes.

Other useful structures are shown below:

The reason why expansion joints are fitted to steam pipes is that metalexpands when it is heated.

Metal expands when it is heated. This explains why expansion joints arefitted to steam pipes.

Metal expands when it is heated. This accounts for the fact thatexpansion pipes are fitted to steam pipes.

(b) Structure 2In Structure 1, we saw some examples of cause-words which are used whena verb follows, that is, they introduce a clause.

Structure 2 looks at cause-words which are used when a noun follows. Inother words, they introduce a phrase as shown in Tables 4.3 and 4.4.

Table 4 3: Examples of Cause-Words followed by nouns

Steam pressure fails

because of

on account of

owing to

due to

condensation in thecylinder.


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Table 4 4: Examples of Cause-Words followed by nouns

Because of

On account of

Owing to

Due to

the high temperature, special alloys are used.

You have reached the end of this topic. Before you proceed to the next topic, trythe following exercise to test your understanding of what has been discussedthroughout this topic.

ACTIVITY 4.4

1. Use the appropriate cause-words to link the following statements:

(a) Neutron is an uncharged particle. No repulsive forces areexerted on it by the nucleus.

(b) Atomic power is not available in sufficient quantity. Coal isstill a very valuable source of power.

(c) The apprentices had very little training. The quality of theirwork was very poor.

(d) The increase in temperature, there is an increase in pressure.

(e) Their greater viscosity, liquids are less likely to leak thangases.

2. Collect at least five memo. Using what you have learnt about thestructure of memos as a guideline, select the most effective memo.Explain why each memo is effective or ineffective.

3. Analyse the following text for cause-and-effect relationships.

When exposed to radiation, the cells that make up the human

body can be damaged. The cell membrane can be broken or its structure permanently changed. Chromosomes can be altered. Th cellÊs ability to divide can be hampered. The extent of cell damagedepends on how much exposure to radiation is received, ho quickly the radiation is absorbed by the cells and which cells are


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Memos are usually used to make requests and announcements as well as to

communicate reports.

A simple memo comprises a heading and a body but sometimes also hasattachments.

A memo report is like a simple memo but it has a more structured body,which comprises three segments opening, summary and closing.

Online documentation needs to be shorter in length, displayed in small parts,legible and written according to the conventions of online documentation.

affected. Cell damage can result in leukemia, which may appear years after exposure to radiation, and birth defects in future

generations. If the cells absorb a large amount of radiationimmediate death can occur.

(a) Fill in the table below to indicate your understanding ofthe causal relationships in the text.

Cause Effect

(b) Rewrite three of the causal relationships in the text aboveusing the cause-words you have learned.

Example:

Original sentence:

When exposed to radiation, the cells that make up thehuman body can be damaged.

Rewritten:

Due to radiation exposure, cells in the human body can bedamaged.


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An e-mail is cheaper and faster than a letter, less intrusive than a phone calland less hassle than a fax.

An e-mail has a header and a body but usually, you will be interested only inthe body, which is the message.

The subject line of an e-mail should be brief and give a clue to the messagecontent but does not need to be a complete sentence.

Many e-mail programmes allow you to set up a default signature to beincluded at the end of every message.

A facial gesture can be represented by a smiley or emoticon a textual

drawing of a facial expression.

Causality structures are common in scientific and technical English textsespecially in reports.

Cause-and-effect writing gives reasons and explanations for events,conditions or behaviour.

Attachment

Body

E-mail

Genre

Memo

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