Objectivity of Technical Writing - Final

TEAM - KSS
Khushbu Regmi Subash Joshi Sanjaya Tamang

Objectivity of Technical
Writing
• What is objectivity?
• How to keep technical writing objective?
• How to maintain the objectivity?
• Why Objectivity?
These are some of the questions, we will

find answers to.
Subjective
• Subjective is a term that refers
to someone’s personal opinions
or feelings regarding a particular
subject matter.
• Subjective views or opinions are
not based on truth or fact.
• They are one person’s unique
interpretation of an idea and
their own thoughts, feelings, and
background.
Objective
• Objective most commonly means
not influenced by an individual’s
personal viewpoint—unbiased.
• When someone gives you an
objective assessment of a topic, it
is formulated from data, verifiable
facts, or other irrefutable evidence
without considering the speaker’s
personal feelings.
• Allows the readers to make their
own judgements.
Journalists strive to objectively report facts,
as not to influence their readership with
their subjective personal biases.
Subjective vs. Objective
1. Facts versus feelings
An objective reading of a text
focuses on the facts and data-based
information, regardless of the
person’s feelings. A subjective
reading of a text focuses on a
person’s unique feelings and
experience.
Subjective vs. Objective
2. Embracing versus denying bias.

Subjectivity refers to the personal
opinion that a subject has,
embracing personal biases. Being
objective means erasing any
personal bias that a reader may
have.
Examples :
Subjective: “This carpet is my
favorite color of red.”
Objective: “This carpet is red.”
Subjective: “I don’t like folk music.”
Objective: “Even though I don’t like
folk music, many professional folk
musicians are objectively skilled
players.”
Subjective: “Living in a place that doesn’t have cold
winters is better than living in a place that does.”
Objective: “Places that are close to the equator do not
have cold winters.”
Tips on Using Subjective or
Objective
 Examine the context.
Think critically about the context of the
information before you make an objective or
subjective statement.
 Distinguish between feeling and fact.

When distinguishing between making subjective
and objective statements, remember that using
“I think” or “I feel” indicates your point of view
is based on emotion or bias rather than an
objective perspective.
Objectivity and Subjectivity in
Writing
• Objectivity in writing means that
the author or writer explains or
discusses on a topic without
subjectivity. It is an unbiased
mental attitude.
• Subjectivity in writing refers to

the text that contains writer's
personal opinion, use of I, We,
and their feelings.
Merits Of Objectivity in technical
writing
1. It allows the reader to see the problem in a manner
that is unaffected by emotional biases
• An emotional bias is a distortion in decision making due to
emotional factors
• For example, a person might be inclined:
to attribute negative judgements to neutral events or objects
to believe something that has a positive emotional effect, that
gives a pleasant feeling, even if there is evidence to the contrary.
to be reluctant to accept hard facts that are unpleasant.
2. Confirmation Bias
• Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall
information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values.
• A 2006 brain-imaging study shows that our political predilections are a product of
unconscious confirmation bias
Which of the following sequences is more likely to occur
when a coin is tossed 6 times
– HHHHHH or HTHTTH?
3. Cognitive biases
• A cognitive bias is a systematic error in thinking that occurs
when people are processing and interpreting information in
the world around them and affects the decisions and
judgments that they make.
4. Statistical Sources are more
trustable.
• When the same thing you want to state is provided by
another source, use their credits.
• Example:
 According to 2020 report of UN, About 829 million people
globally are undernourished.
 I think more than 800 million people are undernourished.
5. Objective data and observations shows that you’ve done broad
research on the subject
6. Shows your fairness by considering both sides of an argument
without making judgements.
7. Lets the readers decide how they feel about the evidences and facts.
8. Being objective also makes your work more professional and
credible.
9. Facts give clarity and often transparent the obviousness of the truth.
Demerits of objectivity in technical
writing
• Writing becomes unnecessarily Long and boring.
• Obvious statements are replaced by bunch of facts which are hard to
connect together.
• Reader can deviate from what you wanted them to understand.
• Being too objective cause you to fail to add morality and responsibility
into the picture.
• We often misunderstand the meaning of objectivity
When to use
1.Findings in the neutral detached language.
• When reader has no emotional feelings towards the topic.
• Eg: Biology,Engineering,Actuarial terminologies and so on.
2.When statistics need to speak louder than the person.
Example:
According to the census of 2078 B.S.,the population of Nepal was
found to be 28.09 million.
 She said that the population of Nepal was found to be 28.09 million.
When not to use
• When your views need to speak louder than the statistics.
Example: This is a terrible idea.
• When you want to shift your writing to the casual/informal side.

• When you need loaded words for expressing your opinions.
Example:
 Incentive is the best way to motivate employees.
 According to the statistics of 2020, Incentive is the best way to
motivate the employees.
Things to be considered
Once we have decided to choose objective writing,

here are a few things to consider.
1.Use passive tone.

But some of you guys might ask, “Aren’t I supposed to avoid passives?”
Unfortunately, using actives will shift focus towards first person which
we don’t want.
For example:
What to avoid What you should opt for instead
I conducted an experiment. The experiment was conducted.
I measured the length of string . The length of the string was

measured and found to be 5
cm(say).
NOTE:
• We can use ergative verbs instead of using passives as well.
• These verbs are the bridge between active and passive verbs.
• Some examples of this verb are dissolve,start,increase,decrease and
so on.
• Once we use one of these verbs, there is no need to use passive tone.
• Structure of the sentence
Sugar dissolved in water.
Sugar was dissolved in water.
2. Work on evidences and sources
• Focus on evidences and work on gathering the sources as well.

• In case of lacking evidences, there is no point in writing objectively.
• Make the ‘evidence’ the subject.
Example: The graph/data/findings illustrates/shows/displays……….
The conclusions are….
• Generally uses active voice.
3.Use evidence from sources.
• For this, we need to use the concept of citation.

• Citations generally use third person+active
Example:
Mr.Hopkins(2021) shows that this isn’t the case. He further shows
that….
4.Use impersonal phrases
• Construct sentences with “It” and “There”

• Often used with hedges+boosters
Hedges-soften information
Boosters-strengthen information
Example:
It is clear that his blood sugar level is high.
 It appears that she is feeling sick.
• We can see that the first sentence shows stronger view point by the
use of is clear verb and it is a booster.
• Similarly, in the second one, we have used hedge(appears) to soften
the certainty of her sickness.
5.Personify the writing
• To treat as if something were human.(Make the writing/essay/article
the subject)
• I will consider the role of actuaries in making the mortality table.
• This writing will consider the role of actuaries in making the mortality
table.
Questions
1. What is Objectivity in Technical Writing ?
2. What are the differences between subjectivity and objectivity ?
3. What things would you consider while writing objectively?
4. What are ergative verbs and how are they beneficial during
objective writing?
Sources
• www.eapfoundation.com
• Technical Writing for success

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TEAM - KSS

Khushbu Regmi Subash Joshi Sanjaya Tamang

These are some of the questions, we will

2. Embracing versus denying bias.

 Distinguish between feeling and fact.

• Subjectivity in writing refers to

• When you want to shift your writing to the casual/informal side.

Once we have decided to choose objective writing,

1.Use passive tone.

What to avoid What you should opt for instead

I conducted an experiment. The experiment was conducted.

I measured the length of string . The length of the string was

• Focus on evidences and work on gathering the sources as well.

• For this, we need to use the concept of citation.

• Construct sentences with “It” and “There”

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