Reading Longer Technical Texts

UNIT-II

4. READING LONGER TECHNICAL TEXTS

Technical texts are reading materials aiming to instruct or educate the readers. Text on camera is a technical text where as comedy special on Netflix is not technical.

Technical Text: A camera manual is a technical text because its purpose is to provide instruction for readers about using their camera.

Technical text: An APA style guide (APA is one of the major types of citation style used in academics) is meant to instruct readers on how to use APA; therefore, this is an example of a technical text.

General Text: A comedy special on Netflix, or any other entertainment provider, is not a technical text because its purpose is to entertain, not to inform.

General text: An op-ed is meant to express an opinion and to engage readers in a current event; op-eds are not highly-specific texts meant to educate or to instruct readers and are usually accessible to general audiences.

Required Elements for Writing a Technical Text:

✓ Clarity

✓ Conciseness

✓ Accessibility

✓ Audience-focused design

✓ Accuracy

Example

I. Passage on Demonetization

In demonetization, the current form of money used in day to day life is removed from circulation. Furthermore, the replacement of this form of money occurs with new notes or coins. Sometimes, a nation completely introduces a new currency in place of old currency. Demonetization is a move in which a government bans the notes or coins of a certain denomination.

Advantages of Demonetization

First of all, demonetization significantly reduces corruption. It certainly puts a full stop to corrupt practices. Demonetization significantly hampers individuals dealing in black money from carrying out their evil ideas. It makes the corrupt people scared of hoarding money. Demonetization improves the banking system significantly. It would certainly infuse more sophistication in the banking system. The economy of a nation will move into a cashless direction/digital nation due to demonetization. Moving in the cashless direction would mean better access to credit and revamping of financial operations.

Another notable advantage of demonetization is reduced liability for the government. This is because demonetization reduces the risk and liability of liquid currency. Furthermore, handling soft money is far easier than handling hard money. Also, every note is a liability for the government. Hence, demonetization reduces this liability by removing certain notes from circulation. Therefore, the old currency becomes useless for those who don't disclose their income.

Demonetization will lead to fewer instances of tax avoidance. This certainly is a massive advantage of demonetization. Money that is deposited will be taken track of by income tax authorities. Therefore, people will hesitate to use tax avoidance tactics. Furthermore, the loan transaction will also be under scrutiny. Consequently, there would be an increase in the flow of taxes. This would certainly result in government undertaking more public welfare measures.

Challenges in Demonetization

The first challenge is the internet connection and availability. Due to demonetization, many people would go cashless. Therefore, they would resort to E-cash and E-payment. However, in many developing nations, internet connectivity is quite poor. Hence, this forms a major challenge for any government which intends to implement demonetization.

Cash shortage is a natural consequence of demonetization. The scarcity of cash can certainly lead to chaos. This is exactly what took place during the 2016 Indian banknote demonetization. Furthermore, people face various difficulties in depositing or exchanging the demonetized banknotes. Also, the ATM's can run short of cash for many weeks or months.

Rural areas face huge trouble due to demonetization. This is because rural areas and the agricultural sector highly depend upon cash. Furthermore, these people lack the financial literacy to handle the situation. Moreover, most people in such areas are ignorant of computing technology and the cashless economy.

To sum it up, demonetization is certainly a revolutionary step in a country's economic system. It is something that has been practiced by countries from time to time. Furthermore, the objectives for demonetization remain more or less the same the world over. Most noteworthy, the decision to demonetize should come by keeping the national interests at the forefront.