Writing technical papers and reports

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Writing technical papers and reports

• Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP)
  district surveillance officers (DSO) course

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Preliminary questions to the group

• Do you have to write technical reports?
• If yes, what difficulties did you face?
• What would you like to learn about technical
  writing?

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Outline of the session

1. Types of reports
2. The six S of technical writing
3. Common errors to avoid

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Audiences for which a district surveillance
officer may need to write

• Administrators
• District health officials
• State surveillance unit
• Elected representatives

Reports
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Types of report that a district surveillance
officer may need to write

• Initial First information report
• Full outbreak investigation report
• Rapid assessments
• Scientific publications

Reports
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General framework of an outbreak investigation
report (1/2)

• Executive summary
• Background
• Territory, origin of the alert, time of
  occurrence, places, staff met
• Methods used for the investigation
• Epidemiological methods
• Case definition
• Case search methods, data collection
• Analytical studies if any
• Data analysis
• Laboratory methods
• Environmental investigations

Reports
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General framework of an outbreak investigation
report (2/2)

• Major observations / results
• Epidemiological results (population at risk,
  time, place and person characteristics)
• Experience/expected outcome of affected, Pathogen
  involved, laboratory diagnosis
• Environmental investigation results
• Current status of transmission, control measures
  adopted/ initiated
• Conclusion Diagnosis, source, vehicles
• Recommendations

Reports
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Annexes of an outbreak investigation report

• TIME Epidemic curve
• PLACE Map
• Spot map
• Map of incidence by area
• PERSON Table of incidence by age and sex
• Analytical study results if any
• Relevant figures to illustrate the source /
  vehicle(s)

Reports
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The six S of technical writing

1. Simple
2. Short
3. Structured
4. Sequential
5. Strong
6. Specific

The six S
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The six S of technical writing

• Simple
• Use simple words to explain what is meant
• Explaining the concept to a lay person
• Dont use jargon technical or statistical jargon
• Short
• Structured
• Sequential
• Strong
• Specific

The six S
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Writing simply

• Primary data on number of cases and death for two
  age groups (under five and above five) due to
  diseases / syndromes listed above are collected
  using a uniform format by all reporting units
• Facilities report cases and deaths for 12
  diseases among two age groups

The six S
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The six S of technical writing

• Simple
• Short
• lt 10 pages, lt 5 tables / figures
• Use short sentences with one idea each
• Split complex sentences
• Cut unnecessary elements
• Structured
• Sequential
• Strong
• Specific

The six S
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The summary

• The audience of your report may be too busy to
  read it completely
• Always add a summary of
• lt one page
• lt 300 words
• Structure your summary with subheadings

"I'm sorry to write you a long letter. I had no
time to write a shorter one Mark Twain
The six S
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The six S of technical writing

• Simple
• Short
• Structured
• Have headings, subheadings
• Write under the high level outline
• Follow the logic argument
• Sequential
• Strong
• Specific

The six S
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Using high-level outlines

• Skeleton of the report in bullet points
• Outline of various sections
• Spell out all titles
• Use outline format of word processors
• Summarize each paragraph with a bullet point
• List of tables and figures
• Spell out titles
• Reach consensus with contributors on the outline
• Expand when the outline is strong and clear

The six S
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The six S of technical writing

• Simple
• Short
• Structured
• Sequential
• Take the reader by the hand step by steps
• Start each sentence where the previous ended
• Strong
• Specific

The six S
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Being sequential

• The pipeline was repaired on 31 July. This was
  followed by a sharp decrease of incidence after
  one cholera incubation period. Moreover, cholera
  was isolated from stool specimens.
• The first two sentences are sequential, not the
  third

The six S
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The six S of technical writing

• Simple
• Short
• Structured
• Sequential
• Strong
• Use the verb as the centre of gravity
• If the verb is weak, the sentence is weak
• Specific

The six S
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Using the right verbs

• We conducted an investigation of the outbreak
• We investigated the outbreak
• We took a sample of the population
• We sampled the population
• We made an assessment of the situation
• We assessed the situation

The six S
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The six S of technical writing

• Simple
• Short
• Structured
• Sequential
• Strong
• Specific
• Say clearly and exactly what you want to say
• Do not paraphrase
• Prefer numbers to qualifiers

The six S
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Being specific

• The village was very affected and the disease was
  severe
• The attack rate was 13, with a case fatality of
  3 and 23 of case-patients hospitalized
• Health workers are not aware of case definitions
• Of 23 health workers interviewed, 35 could not
  quote the reporting criteria for measles

The six S
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Avoid passive voice

• Passive voice
• Suggest lack of ownership in the process
• Imprecise
• OK if subject is unknown or irrelevant
• Active voice
• Reflects the responsibility taken
• Precise
• To use by default (use grammar checkers)

Common errors
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Examples of passive and active voice use

• Passive voice
• A study was conducted
• A sample was selected
• Questionnaires were administered
• Active voice
• We conducted a study
• We selected a sample
• Field workers administered the questionnaires

Common errors
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Avoid the wrong terms to document the level of
evidence

• Show (Leave it to music hall)
• Indicate
• Prove (Leave it to mathematicians)
• Indicate
• Reveal (Leave it to photographers)
• Indicate (or suggest)
• It appears (Leave it to crystal balls)
• Spell out what data suggests that
• Use suggest for indirect / partial evidence and
  indicate for clear / direct evidence

Common errors
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Get rid of should

• Should is passive and vague
• Use the find function of word processors to
  hunt your should
• Tuberculosis patients should be counselled
• Use imperative
• Counsel tuberculosis patients
• Explain why it should be done
• Counselling will decrease default rates
• Do both
• Counsel tuberculosis patients to decrease
  default rates

Common errors
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Dont be the bearer of bad news

• Avoid general, undocumented, finger-pointing,
  negative statements
• The district medical officer has not even started
  programme implementation in this district
• Prefer specific, documented, diplomatic
  opportunity statements
• Review of 6 out of 7 indicators indicated that
  the programme is still at an early phase in the
  district, allowing for some adjustments

Common errors
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Say it well, say it once

• The same information is displayed in duplicate
• In two locations in the text
• In two tables
• In a table and in a graph
• In the text as well as in the table or/and figure
• The information needs to be presented only once,
  and in the place that is most appropriate to
  serve the point made

Common errors
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Be technical, not anecdotal

• Avoid reporting anecdotal events that do not
  contribute to the technical aspects of the report
• The District Medical Officer and the Assistant
  Secretary of Health joined a team comprised of
  myself and three field workers to go to the site
  of the outbreak that could not be reached before
  three days because of rains
• Focus on technical aspects
• Because of logistical constraints the rapid
  response team initiated the investigation on 16
  March 2003
• You could actually omit the logistical
  constraints as the reason does not really matter

Common errors
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Be objective, not subjective

• Subjectivity The author is writing from the
  psychological perspective of the reader or writer
• Subjective considerations (e.g., interests,
  surprises, shock) vary and are more likely due to
  backgrounds or transient feelings than from
  facts
• Focus on the ideas that are relevant to the
  issues examined and on the consistency of
  hypothesis with available evidence
• Objective statements

Common errors
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Take home messages

1. Write for your audience, not for yourself
2. Place a six S checklist above your desk
3. Identify and eliminate your errors