Technical writing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Technical writing, a subset of technical communication, is a broad term used to describe specialized correspondence in fields as diverse as computer hardware and software, chemistry, the aerospace industry, robotics, finance, consumer electronics, and biotechnology. Technical writing communicates technical (specialized) information, generally in the form of printed or printable documentation such as white papers (e.g., PDF) and online help.

The type and form of the produced documentation depends on the needs of the audience and on the documented product. A software application, for example, is usually documented in the form of online help. Online help includes instructions that describe how to

  • navigate through the application
  • use the application to perform common tasks (workflow)
  • understand each screen in the application and fill out the fields in each screen

Other documentation is always delivered in printed or printable form. Disaster recovery procedures, for example, are delivered to the user in printed or printable form because it is assumed that these instructions are only required when a computer system fails (is no longer on line). In such a situation, online documentation would be useless.


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The need for technical writers corresponds to the need for engineers, software developers, and other technologists. The late 1990s, with its dot-com bubble, Y2K problem, and overproduction of telecommunications and networking equipment, saw the number of employed engineers and software developers—and therefore the number of technical writers—increase in North America. However, with the dot-com bust, the completion of preparations for the year 2000, and a non-requirement for new telecommunications equipment, the need for engineers, software developers, and technical writers declined rapidly in 2001. Offshoring also decreased the need for these professions in North America although it increased the need for them in Asia in countries such as India, particularly in the cities of Bangalore and [[Hydrabad], where many well-known high-tech companies have established branches.

Despite the reduction in the number of high-tech technical-writing jobs in North America, other technical writing jobs are available. Companies that developed computer systems in the seventies and eighties for their internal processes are finding that these systems are now outdated. Many of these companies are changing their systems and therefore require writers to document the new systems.

As with any writing, technical writers must understand their audience and the purpose of a particular document. If the medium does not communicate the information intended—i.e., what is trying to be conveyed to the audience—then the communication is meaningless. The goal of technical writing is to translate technical ideas into words that the intended audience will understand. Audience analysis is thus a key feature of all technical writing.

Format, organization, and style are important in that they make information easy for the reader to follow. Information should be available only if the intended reader will need it, and ideally should be available just as the reader needs it. For example, something intended for the general public should have a much greater emphasis on speaking in "layman's terms" than a document intended for a primary audience of people who are already technically skilled to some degree in the field.

Format and style also recognize that some types of data naturally have a superior format: for example, a "how-to" manual for working with machines will have a greater need for diagrams and illustrations, and tables of numbers have a relatively poor ability to communicate overall quantitative relationships for the average reader, than do graphs and charts. Although technical writing formally deals only with the written part of technical communication, it must make proper allowances for non-verbal parts of documents and communications material.

They are many forms of technical content created by technical writers, including:

  • Corporate Annual Reports
  • Case studies
  • Design Specifications
  • Disaster preparedness planning
  • Disaster Recovery Procedures
  • Functional Specifications
  • "Getting Started" guides/help text
  • Grant writing
  • Hardware maintenance and repair procedures
  • Homeland security planning.
  • Industrial film or video scripts
  • Installation guides
  • Legal pleadings
  • Magazine articles
  • Network administrators' guides
  • Network configuration guides
  • Network recovery guides
  • Policies and procedures manuals
  • Presentations
  • Proposals
  • Reference documents
  • Release notes
  • Requirements documentation
  • Scientific reports
  • Site preparation guides
  • Telecommunication projects and manuals
  • Test Plans and Reports
  • Training materials
  • Troubleshooting guides
  • Tutorials (including multimedia/interactive formats)
  • User Manuals
  • User Interface test reports
  • white papers

White, Basil (1996) Developing Products and Their Rhetoric from a Single Hierarchical Model, 1996 Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Society for Technical Communication, 43, 223-224. [1]

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