Online Technical Documents
Markel, M. (2015). Technical communication (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's.
Chapter 8: Communication Persuasively
TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION, like any other kind of communication, calls for making persuasive claims and supporting them effectively. it is a mistake to think that technical communication is only about facts. certainly, facts are important. But communication is about determining which facts are appropriate, describing the context that helps people understand what those facts mean, and presenting a well-reasoned argument about those facts. your job as a communicator is to convince a reader of a viewpoint—about what factors caused a situation, for example, or what a company ought to do to solve a problem. if you are lucky, you will be reinforcing a viewpoint the reader already holds. sometimes, however, you will want to change the reader’s mind. Regardless, you are presenting an argument: an arrangement of facts and judgments about some aspect of the world.
this chapter explains how to craft a persuasive argument, avoid logical fallacies, present yourself effectively, and use graphics in your arguments.
considering the context of Your argument
An argument can be as short as a sentence or as long as a multivolume report. It can take many forms, including oral communication. And it can discuss almost any kind of issue. Here are some examples:
• From a description of a construction site:
Features A, B, and c characterize the site.
• From a study of why a competitor is outselling your company:
company X’s dominance can be attributed to four major factors: A, B, c, and D.
• From a feasibility study considering four courses of action:
Alternative A is better than alternatives B, c, and D.
• From a set of instructions for performing a task:
the safest way to perform the task is to complete task A, then task B, and so on.
Before you can develop an effective argument, you must understand your audience’s broader goals and your own constraints.
UndErStAndinG YoUr AUdiEnCE’S BroAdEr GoALS
When you analyze your audience, consider the values that motivate them. Most people are concerned about their own welfare and interests within the company, but they also want their company and their colleagues to prosper. If your document is intended for the public, as opposed to the employees in an organization, consider your audience’s personal goals—their desire for health and well-being, for example, or their need to feel safe. Your argument is most likely to be effective if it responds to four goals that most people share: security, recognition, growth, and connectedness.
Security People resist controversial actions that might hurt their own inter- ests. Those who might lose their jobs will likely oppose an argument that their division be eliminated, even if there are many valid reasons to support the argument. Another aspect of security is workload; most people resist an argu- ment that calls for them to work more. People also want security outside the workplace—for instance, in their health care, finances, and personal safety. If you are drafting a press release about the addition of bicycle lanes to a town’s already-congested streets, you need to assure residents that the town’s civil engi- neers took the proper steps to ensure that the bike lanes were designed safely.
recognition People like to be praised for their hard work and their suc- cesses. Where appropriate, be generous in your praise. Similarly, people hate being humiliated. Therefore, allow people to save face. Avoid criticizing their actions or positions and speculating about their motivations. Instead, present your argument as a response to the company’s or other stakeholders’ pres- ent and future needs. Look ahead, not back, and be diplomatic. A persuasive advertisement for a hospital’s weight-loss support group will not criticize potential members for their lack of exercise or poor diet; rather, it will recog- nize that they have already been working hard to maintain their health.
One type of workplace document that is used to recognize professional success is a newsletter. A newsletter, a short newspaper published by an organization, can help the organization foster a sense of community within its membership, both internal and external, including customers, employees, investors, and the general public. Newsletters often include descriptions of new activities undertaken by the organization; major investments by the organization in new equipment or facilities; announcements for upcoming events and summaries of previous events, such as presentations, perfor- mances, or lectures given by organization members; notices of jobs available in the organization; profiles of new members, officers, or administrators;
and important changes in relevant laws or regulations. Figure 8.1 shows an excerpt from a U.S. Department of Labor newsletter.
Growth People want to develop and grow. They want to learn new skills and assume new duties. People also want to work for an organization that is developing and growing. Your argument will be more persuasive if you can show how the recommended action will help an organization improve the quality of its products or services, branch out into new areas, or serve new customers and stakeholders. A brochure advertising a CPR certification course might emphasize the sense of empowerment that comes with the ability to assist loved ones in danger.
Connectedness People like to be part of communities, whether at work or at home. In the workplace, connectedness can take many forms, from work- ing with others on project teams to participating in company sports leagues to helping improve the community. Organizations that encourage employees to connect with their peers through social media such as wikis, blogs, and discussion boards help satisfy this human need for community. A new trend in the working world is to encourage employees to spend weeks or even months of company time working on community educa- tional or environmental projects. These projects not only improve the organization’s image but also help employees feel connected to the community.
Figure 8.2 shows an example of a program that takes advan- tage of people’s need for connectedness. Citizens Connect is a Boston-based initiative that enables city residents to download an app that lets them report infrastructure problems, such as graffiti or broken street lights.
WorkinG Within ConStrAintS
In planning a persuasive document, you need to work within the constraints that shape your environment on the job. As a student, you routinely work within constraints: the amount of information you can gather for a paper, the required length and format, the due date, and so forth. On the job, you will face similar constraints, which fall into eight categories: ethical, legal, political, informational, personnel, financial, time, and format and tone.
Ethical Constraints Your greatest responsibility is to your own sense of what constitutes ethical behavior. Being asked to lie or mislead challenges your ethical standards directly, but in most cases you have options. Some organizations and professional communities have a published code of con- duct. In addition, many large companies have ombudspersons: ethics officers who use mediation to help employees resolve ethical conflicts.
Legal Constraints You must abide by all applicable laws on labor practices, environmental issues, fair trade, consumer rights, and so forth. If you think you have been asked to do something that might be illegal, meet with your organization’s legal counsel and, if necessary, with attorneys outside the organization.
Political Constraints Don’t spend all your energy and credibility on a los- ing cause. If you know that your proposal would help the company but that management disagrees with you or that the company can’t afford to approve it, either consider what you might achieve through some other means or scale back the idea. Two big exceptions to this rule are matters of ethics and matters of safety. As discussed in Chapter 2, ethical and legal constraints might mean compromise is unacceptable.
informational Constraints The most common informational constraint you might face is that you cannot get the information you need. You might want your organization to buy a piece of equipment, for example, but be unable to find unbiased evidence that would convince a skeptical reader.
What do you do? You tell the truth. Explain the situation, weighing the available evidence and carefully noting what is missing. If you unintention- ally suggest that your evidence is better than it really is, you will lose your most important credential: your credibility.
Personnel Constraints The most typical personnel constraint you might face is a lack of access to as many collaborators as you need. In such cases, present a persuasive proposal to hire the personnel you need. However, don’t be surprised if you have to make do with fewer people than you want.
Financial Constraints Financial constraints are related to personnel constraints: if you had unlimited funds, you could hire all the personnel you need. But financial constraints can also affect other kinds of resources: you might not be able to print as many copies of a document as you want, or you might need to settle for black and white instead of full color.
time Constraints Start by determining the document’s deadline. (Some- times a document will have several intermediate deadlines.) Then create a schedule. Keep in mind that tasks almost always take longer than estimated. And when you collaborate, the number of potential problems increases, because when one person is delayed, others may lack the necessary informa- tion to proceed, causing a logjam.
Format and tone Constraints You will also be expected to work within constraints on format and tone.
• format. Format constraints are limitations on the size, shape, or style of a document. For example, your reader might like to see all tables and figures presented at the end of the report. If you are writing to someone in your own organization, follow the format constraints described in the company style guide, if there is one, or check similar documents to see what other writers have done. Also ask more-experienced co-workers for their advice. If you are writing to someone in another organization, learn what you can about that organization’s preferences.
• tone. When addressing superiors, use a formal, polite tone. When addressing peers or subordinates, use a less-formal tone but be equally polite.
crafting a persuasive argument
Persuasion is important, whether you wish to affect a reader’s attitude or merely present information clearly. To make a persuasive case, you must identify the elements of your argument, use the right kinds of evidence, con- sider opposing viewpoints, appeal to emotions responsibly, decide where to state your claim, and understand the role of culture in persuasion.
idEntiFYinG thE ELEMEntS oF YoUr ArGUMEnt
A persuasive argument has three main elements:
The evidence: the facts and judgments that support your claim
The claim: the idea you are communicating
The reasoning: the logic you use to derive the claim from the evidence
The claim is the conclusion you want your readers to accept. For example, your claim might be that your company should institute flextime, a schedul- ing approach that gives employees some flexibility in when they begin and end their workdays. You want your readers to agree with this idea and to take the next steps toward instituting flextime.
The evidence is the information you want your readers to consider. For the argument about flextime, the evidence might include the following:
• The turnover rate of our employees with young children is 50 percent higher than that of our employees without young children. The turnover rate for female employees with young children is double that of all employees without young children.
• At exit interviews, 40 percent of our employees with young children stated that they quit so that they could be home for their school-age children.
• Replacing a staff-level employee costs us about one-half the employee’s annual salary; replacing a professional-level employee costs a whole year’s salary.
• Other companies have found that flextime significantly decreases turnover among employees with young children.
• Other companies have found that flextime has additional benefits and introduces no significant problems.
The reasoning is the logic you use to connect the evidence to your claim. In the discussion of flextime, the reasoning involves three links:
• At other companies, flextime appears to have reduced the turnover problem among employees with young children.
• Our company is similar to these other companies. • Flextime is therefore likely to prove helpful at our company.
USinG thE riGht kindS oF EvidEnCE
People most often react favorably to four kinds of evidence: “commonsense” arguments, numerical data, examples, and expert testimony.
• “commonsense” arguments. Here, commonsense means “Most people would think that . . . .” The following sentence presents a commonsense argument that flextime is a good idea:
Flextime makes sense because it gives people more control over how they plan their schedules.
A commonsense argument says, “I don’t have hard evidence to support my conclusion, but it stands to reason that . . . .” In this case, the argument is that people like to have as much control over their time as possible. If your audience’s commonsense viewpoints match yours, your argument is likely to be persuasive.
• numerical data. Numerical data—statistics—are generally more persuasive than commonsense arguments.
statistics drawn from the personnel literature (mcclellan, 2013) show that, among Fortune 500 companies, flextime decreases turnover by 25 to 35 percent among employees with young children.
Notice that the writer states that the study covered many companies, not just one or a handful. If the sample size were small, the claim would be much less persuasive. (The discussion of logical fallacies later in this chapter explains such hasty generalizations.)
• examples. An example makes an abstract point more concrete and therefore more vivid and memorable.
mary saunders tried for weeks to arrange for child care for her two preschoolers that would enable her to start work at 7 a.m., as required at her workplace. the best she could manage was having her children stay with a nonlicensed provider. When conditions at that provider led to ear infections in both her children, mary decided that she could no longer continue working.
Examples are often used along with numerical data. The example above gives the problem a human dimension, but the argument also requires numerical data to show that the problem is part of a pattern, not an isolated event.
• expert testimony. A message from an expert is more persuasive than the same message from someone without credentials. A well-researched article on flextime written by a respected business scholar in a reputable business journal is likely to be persuasive. When you make arguments, you will often cite expert testimony from published sources or interviews you have conducted.
Figure 8.3, excerpts from a white paper published by McAfee, the computer- security company, shows a portion of an argument that combines several of these types of evidence. A white paper is an argument, typically 10–20 pages long, that a company’s product or service will solve a technological or business challenge in an industry. The readers of white papers are technical experts who implement technology and managers who make purchasing decisions.
ConSidErinG oPPoSinG viEWPointS
When you present an argument, you need to address opposing points of view. If you don’t, your opponents will conclude that your proposal is flawed because it doesn’t address problems that they think are important. In meet- ing the skeptical or hostile reader’s possible objections to your case, you can use one of three tactics, depending on the situation:
• the opposing argument is based on illogical reasoning or on inaccurate or incomplete facts. You can counter the argument that flextime increases utility bills by citing unbiased research studies showing that it does not.
• the opposing argument is valid but is less powerful than your own. If you can show that the opposing argument makes sense but is outweighed by your own argument, you will appear to be a fair-minded person who understands that reality is complicated. You can counter the argument that flextime reduces carpooling opportunities by showing that only 3 percent of your employees currently use carpooling and that three-quarters of these employees favor flextime anyway because of its other advantages.
• the two arguments can be reconciled. If an opposing argument is not invalid or clearly inferior to your own, you can offer to study the situation thoroughly to find a solution that incorporates the best from each argument. For example, if flextime might cause serious problems for your company’s many carpoolers, you could propose a trial period during which you would study several ways to help employees find other carpooling opportunities. If the company cannot solve the problem or if most of the employees prefer the old system, you would switch back to it. This proposal can remove much of the threat posed by your ideas.
When you address an opposing argument, be gracious and understated. Focus on the argument, not on the people who oppose you. If you embarrass or humiliate them, you undermine your own credibility and motivate your opponents to continue opposing you.
There is no one best place in your document to address opposing argu- ments. In general, however, if you know that important readers hold oppos- ing views, address those views relatively early. Your goal is to show all your readers that you are a fair-minded person who has thought carefully about the subject and that your argument is stronger than the opposing arguments.
APPEALinG to EMotionS rESPonSiBLY
Writers sometimes appeal to the emotions of their readers. Writers usu- ally combine emotional appeals with appeals to reason. For example, an argument that we ought to increase foreign aid to drought-stricken Afri- can countries might describe (and present images of) the human plight of the victims but also include reason-based sections about the extent of the problem, the causes, the possible solutions, and the pragmatic reasons we might want to increase foreign aid.
When you use emotional appeals, do not overstate or overdramatize them, or you will risk alienating readers. Try to think of additional kinds of evidence to present that will also help support your claim. Figure 8.4 shows a brief argument that relies on an emotional appeal.
dECidinG WhErE to PrESEnt thE CLAiM
In most cases, the best place to state your claim is at the start of the argument. Then provide the evidence and, if appropriate, the reasoning. Sometimes, how- ever, it is more effective to place the claim after the evidence and the reason- ing. This indirect structure works best if a large number of readers oppose your claim. If you present your claim right away, these readers might become alien- ated and stop paying attention. You want a chance to present your evidence and your reasoning without causing this kind of undesirable reaction.
UndErStAndinG thE roLE oF CULtUrE in PErSUASion
If you are making a persuasive argument to readers from another culture, keep in mind that cultures differ significantly not only in matters such as business customs but also in their most fundamental values. These differ- ences can affect persuasive writing. Culture determines both what makes an argument persuasive and how arguments are structured:
• What makes an argument persuasive. Statistics and experimental data are fundamental kinds of evidence in the West, but testimony from respected authority figures can be much more persuasive in the East.
• how to structure an argument. In a Western culture, the claim is usually presented up front. In an Eastern culture, it is likely to be delayed or to remain unstated but implied.
When you write for an audience from another culture, use two techniques:
• Study that culture, and adjust the content, structure, and style of your arguments to fit it.
• Include in your budget the cost of having important documents reviewed and edited by a person from the target culture. Few people are experts on cultures other than their own.
avoiding logical fallacies
A logical fallacy—that is, a mistake in reasoning—can undercut the persua- siveness of your writing. An example is “Antidepressants are a scam; I know that because Tom Cruise says so, and he’s a world-famous actor.” Although Tom Cruise is a world-famous actor, it does not follow that what he thinks about antidepressants is true. Table 8.1 explains some of the most common logical fallacies.
presenting Yourself effectively
No matter how strong your arguments, your audience won’t read them—or won’t read them sympathetically—unless they see you as a professional.
The following paragraph shows how a writer can demonstrate the quali- ties of cooperativeness, moderation, fair-mindedness, and modesty:
this plan is certainly not perfect. For one thing, it calls for a greater up-front investment than we had anticipated. And the return on investment through the first three quarters is likely to fall short of our initial goals. however, i think this plan is the best of the three alternatives for the following reasons . . . . therefore, i recommend that we begin planning immediately to implement the plan. i am confident that this plan will enable us to enter the 3-D market successfully, building on our fine reputation for high-quality advanced electronics.
ETHICs NOTE
Seeming honESt vErSUS Being honESt in PErSUASivE WritinG
the young actor asks the old actor, “What’s the key to great acting?” the old actor replies, “sincerity. once you learn how to fake sincerity . . . .” Any discussion of image and persuasion has to address the question at the heart of this old joke. Does a writer have to be honest to appear honest?
there are tricks for appearing honest, and they can work for a while. But the easiest way to appear honest is to be honest. As suggested in chapter 2, you need to tell the truth and not mislead your readers. As suggested in chapter 4, you also need to be cooperative, diplomatic, and constructive. And as suggested in this chapter, you need to remember people’s broader goals: to protect their own security, to achieve recognition, to learn and grow in their profes- sional and personal lives, and to connect with others.
Creating a Professional Persona
your persona is how you appear to your readers. Demonstrating the following four characteristics will help you establish an attractive professional persona.
cooperativeness. make clear that your goal is to solve a problem, not to advance your own interests.
moderation. Be moderate in your judgments. the problem you are describing will not likely spell doom for your organization, and the solution you propose will not solve all the company’s problems.
fair-mindedness. Acknowledge the strengths of opposing points of view, even as you offer counterarguments.
modesty. if you fail to acknowledge that you don’t know everything, someone else will be sure to volunteer that insight.
Using graphics as persuasive elements
Graphics are fundamentally important in communicating persuasively because they help you convey both technical data and nontechnical informa- tion. Figure 8.5, for example, shows how a combination of verbal and visual techniques can make a persuasive argument.
a look at several persuasive arguments
The following examples of technical communication show how the persua- sive elements of an argument differ depending on a writer’s purpose. Figure 8.7 presents two paragraphs from a student’s job-application letter.
WrITEr’s CHECkLIsT
In analyzing your audience, did you consider their broader goals of
maintaining security? (p. 171)
achieving recognition? (p. 172)
growing professionally and personally? (p. 172)
staying connected? (p. 172)
In planning, did you consider the following constraints: ethical? (p. 174)
legal? (p. 174)
political? (p. 174)
informational? (p. 174)
personnel? (p. 174)
financial? (p. 174)
time? (p. 175)
format and tone? (p. 175)
In crafting a persuasive argument, did you use the three-part structure of claim, evidence, and
reasoning? (p. 175)
choose appropriate kinds of evidence? (p. 176)
consider opposing viewpoints? (p. 177)
appeal to emotions responsibly? (p. 179)
carefully consider where to present the claim? (p. 179) consider the role of your readers’ culture? (p. 182)
In writing the argument, did you avoid the following logical fallacies:
ad hominem argument? (p. 182)
argument from ignorance? (p. 182)
appeal to pity? (p. 183) argument from authority? (p. 183)
circular argument? (p. 183)
either-or argument? (p. 183)
ad populum argument? (p. 183)
hasty generalization? (p. 183)
post hoc reasoning? (p. 183)
oversimplifying? (p. 183)
In drafting your argument, did you create a persona that is cooperative? (p. 184)
moderate? (p. 184)
fair-minded? (p. 184)
modest? (p. 184)
Did you consider using graphics as persuasive elements?(p. 184)
