Technical writing is a form of technical communication used in a variety of
technical and occupational fields, such as computer hardware
and software,
engineering,
chemistry,
aeronautics
and astronautics,
robotics,
finance,
consumer electronics, and biotechnology. The Society for Technical Communication
(STC) defines technical writing[1]
as a broad field including any form of communication that exhibits one or more
of the following characteristics: (1) communicating about technical or
specialized topics, such as computer applications, medical procedures, or
environmental regulations; (2) communicating through technology, such as web
pages, help files, or social media sites; or (3) providing instructions about how to do something,
regardless of the task's technical nature. Technical writing involves the
creation of useful documents that can be clearly understood by readers. Good
technical writing clarifies jargon,
presenting useful information that is clear and easy to understand for the
intended audience; poor technical writing may increase confusion by creating
unnecessary jargon or failing to explain it. While grammar, spelling and
punctuation are of the utmost importance to technical writing, style is not; it
can be sacrificed if doing so increases clarity, which is considered more
important to the genre. Technical writing is performed by technical writers,
who may be professionals or amateurs. These writers usually begin such work by learning
the purpose of the document that they will create, gathering information from
existing documentation and from subject-matter experts; technical writers need
not be subject-matter experts themselves. A good technical writer needs strong
language and teaching skills and must understand how to communicate with
technology. Advanced technical writers often move into specialized areas such
as API writing,
document architecture, or
management. Technical writing is often associated with online help
and user manuals.
It also includes product release notes, product troubleshooting
guides, tutorials, installation guides, marketing
documentation, e-learning modules, web content, legal disclaimers,
business proposals, and papers. While the
origins of technical writing can be traced back to antiquity, Geoffrey Chaucer's
Treatise on the Astrolabe has been called
the first piece of technical writing in English. Technical writing began to be
seen as a discipline in and of itself around the time of World War I,
growing out of the need for technology-based documentation in the military,
manufacturing, electronics, and aerospace industries. In 1953, two organizations
concerned with improving the practice of technical communication were founded
in the United States: the Society of Technical Writers, and the
Association of Technical Writers and Editors. These organizations merged in
1957 to form the Society of Technical Writers and Editors, a predecessor of the
current Communication. Technical writing involves analysis of a document's
intended audience in order to translate complex technical concepts and
instructions into a series of comprehensible steps that enable users to perform
a specific task in a specific way. To present appropriate information, writers
must understand the audience and their goals. For example, an audience of
highly trained scientists will require less explanation of technical terms than
a help guide intended for general audiences. The writing also seeks to present
an attractive layout for easy reading and comprehension. A writer must
understand the medium typically used to view the final product. An HTML document, such as a web page,
frequently has a different layout than a print document. The use of elements
such as hyperlinks
and animation will affect the content and form of the writing.
Broadly speaking, technical documentation can be categorized into
three types, depending on the style of writing, the level of knowledge
transferred, and the target audience:
- End-user assistance documents help a user understand a software or hardware product. This includes user manuals for computer programs, household products, medical equipment, mobile phones, and other consumer electronics.
- Traditional technical documentation communicates to a specialized audience. Such documentation includes maintenance guides, repair manuals, engineering specifications, research papers, reference works, annual reports, and articles for technical journals.
- Marketing communication such as product catalogs, brochures, advertisements, introductory pages for web sites, and press releases are sometimes created by technical writers.
The
following types of tools are typically used to author and present technical
documents:
- Desktop Publishing Tools or Word Processors are used to produce printed manuals or digital documents in print format. Microsoft Word and Adobe FrameMaker are two tools commonly used by technical writers.
- Help Authoring Tools are used to create online help systems, which are either packaged with software products, delivered through a web browser or provided as files the user can view on their computer. Adobe RoboHelp, Author-it and HelpNDoc are commonly used tools.
- Wiki Systems are also used to produce technical documents, mainly for consumption within the organization but sometimes also for external users. Mediawiki and Atlassian Confluence are two commonly used platforms.
Professional
associations for technical writing include:
- Association for Business Communication
- Czech Society for Technical Communication
- IEEE Professional Communication Society
- Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators
- SIGDOC Special Interest Group on Design of Communication
- Society for Technical Communication
- Tekom
Types of TW are:
- Creative non-fiction
- Editing
- Instructional design
