What Is Technical Writing

Unit 1 Introduction to Technical Writing

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1.1What is Technical Writing?

"Technical writing conveys specific information about a technical subject to a specific audience for a specific purpose. The words and graphics of technical writing are meant to be practical: that is, to communicate a body of factual information that will help an audience understand a subject or carry out a task."

—Michael H. Markel
Director of Technical Communication
Boise State University

Examples of technical writing:

Differences between Technical & Creative/ Academic Writing

Writing can be grouped into five basic types: technical, creative, expressive, expository, and persuasive. To help understand technical writing, it may help to compare it to the other types.

• Technical writingconveys specific information about a technical subject to a specific audience for a specific purpose.
• Creative writingis fiction—poetry, short stories, plays, and novels—and is most different from technical writing.
• Expressive writingis a subjective response to a personal experience—journals and diaries—whereas technical writing might be objective observations of a work-related experience or research.
• Expository writing“exposes” a topic analytically and objectively, such as news reports. Like technical writing, the goal of expository writing is to explain or reveal knowledge, but expository writing does not necessarily expect a response or action from the reader.
• Persuasive writing depends on emotional appeal. Its goal is to change attitudes or motivate to action.

• factual, straight-forward

• imaginative, metaphoric or symbolic

• specific

• general

• inform, instruct, persuade

• entertain, provoke, captivate

• formal, standard, academic

• informal, artistic, figurative

• objective

• subjective

• specialized

• general, evocative

• sequential, systematic

• arbitrary, artistic

Characteristics of Effective Technical Writing

Technical writing usually requires action, follow-up, dialog, or input from the audience. Therefore, effective technical writing is clear, accurate, and correct. Because technical writing is seldom read from beginning to end, like a novel generally is, the various sections must be easily accessible and well organized. And while technical writing needs to be comprehensive, it is also concise and carefully worded. It MUST be:

i)Clear-is easily understood by the intended audience without ambiguities.

ii)Accurate-is factual, correct, free from bias.

iii)Correct-follows both grammatical and technical conventions.

iv)Comprehensive-contains all necessary information.

v)Concise-is clear and complete without excess or redundant verbiage.

vi)Accessible-includes headings and subheads, indexes, and table of contents.

1.2General Characteristics of a Target Audience

Every target audience shares common characteristics. Some common, shared characteristics are:

• Age
• Gender
• Location
• Occupation
• Income
• Education
• Interests

You will notice that these are the same characteristics taken into consideration by marketing companies. For the technical writer, though, there are other characteristics that may be even more important than these.

Specific Characteristics of a Target Audience

When writing procedures especially you need to ask:

• Who will use the product?
• Under what conditions?
• What is the user's expertise, training, level of experience?

4 Important Questions

1.Who will read what I write? (Identify youraudience.)

2.Why should they read what I write? (Establish yourpurpose.)

3.What do I have to say to them? (Formulate yourmessage.)

4.How can I best communicate? (Select yourstyle and tone.)

Identifying Your Audience

Keep in mind:

 Members of each audience differ in backgrounds, experiences, needs, and opinions.

 How you picture your audience will determine what you say to them.

 Viewing something from the audience’s perspective will help you select the most relevant details for that audience.

Some Questions to Ask About Your Audience

1. Who is my audience?
2. How many people will make up my audience?
3. How well does my audience understand English?
4. How much does my audience know about the writing topic?
5. What is my audience’s reason for reading my work?
6. What are my audience’s expectations about my written work?
7. What is my audience’s attitude toward me and my work?
8. What do I want my audience to do after reading my work?

Establishing Your Purpose

At the start of your message, state your goal clearly.

E.g.: I want to teach new employees the security code for logging on to the

company computer.

State your purpose clearly at the beginning of every email, memo, letter, or report.

E.g.: This email will explain new employees with the security measures they must

take when logging on to the company computer.

In the following opening purpose statement, note how the author informs the reader

what the report will and will not cover.

E.g.: As you requested in the last meeting, I have conducted a study of our use

of the Internet to advertise our services. This report describes, but does

not evaluate, our current practices.

Formulating Your Message

A message includes what facts, recommendations, scope and details of your communication.

* Keep in mind:

•For technical audience - supply a complete report with every detail noted in an appendix.

•For other readers - give a short discussion or summary yet complete and helpful.

Selecting Your Style and Tone

Style

•how something is written rather than what is written.

•helps to determine how well you communicate with an audience, how well your readers understand and receive your message.

•It involves the choices you make about:

- the construction of your paragraphs,

- the length and patterns of your sentences,

- your choice of words.

* Note:

Technical language and symbols can only be used if the potential readers are specialists in your field.

Tone

• Like tone of voice.

• Can be formal and impersonal (a scientific report) to informal andpersonal (email to a friend or a how-to-article for consumers).

• Important in occupational writing since it reflects the image you project to readers. This will determine how they will respond to you, your work and your company.

Now, let’s try this: (TUTORIAL TASK)

Look for 5 different samples of technical writing and 5 different samples of academic writing.

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UWB 20302 Technical Writing1