Technical Writing is important. We all rely on it, and it's not fancy.
Technical writing communicates about technical functions such as computer programs, medical procedures, and mechanical devices. It's common among instruction manuals and with sources like Wikipedia.
It's a tool for communicating the basics of something and the basics of how to do something.
These are six principles to consider when technical writing:
1> Know and consider your audience
- Who will be interpreting this written information?
- What is their objective in reading this information?
- What is their education level of the topic being described?
2> Use Lists.
- They eliminate unneeded words.
- They are easy for the reader to skim.
3> Replace most commas with periods. This simplifies syntax.
As an example, consider if I had written the above two sentences this way:
"In the art of technical writing, the writer should reduce the use of commas, as this will simplify the syntax of their sentences."
4> Use as few words as possible while remaining as clear and specific as possible. #3 (above) provides an example.
5> Avoid idioms. Example: "Right off the bat, you'll want to..."
6> It's not about the writer. It's about everyone other than the writer.
This is how Kurt Vonnegut described technical writers:
“Technical writers are trained to reveal almost nothing about themselves in their writing. This makes them freaks in the world of writers, since almost all of the other ink-stained wretches in that world reveal a lot about themselves to the reader.”
Write well. Write clearly. Value the words. Consider the reader.
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