Technical writing is a specialized form of writing.

Its goal is to help readers use a technology or understand a process, product, or concept. Often these processes, products, or concepts are complex, but they need to be expressed in a much simpler, more readable way.

Thus, within the genre of technical writing, you will find: technical reports, installation and maintenance manuals, proposals, white papers, online help, process standards, instructions and work procedures.

While each discipline has its specific requirements, some basic elements are common. But before looking at them, the most important thing for a technical writer to consider is the audience.

Audience:

• How familiar are readers with the topic and the specialized terms and abbreviations you need to use?
• What is the best way to explain those terms or abbreviated forms: footnotes, endnotes, glossary, table of abbreviations, appendix, links?
• Do you need to accommodate secondary readers (for example, the manager or financier who will make the decision on the proposal), and how will you do it?

Now for those all-important items:

1. Clarity – The logical flow of the document will help readers understand the content. It can be helpful to ask someone unfamiliar with the topic to proofread your writing before you finalize it. The use of headings, illustrations, graphs or tables can be helpful; your goal is to make it as easy as possible for your readers to understand what you have written. Consider how the text is positioned on the page or screen – another clue to maximizing clarity for your readers.
2. Precision – The information and interpretation of the data presented must be truthful. If not, your readers will question the credibility of the content. Take care to clearly differentiate between fact and opinion, and to accurately cite references to other works.
3. Brevity – Strive to find a balance between the amount of information presented and the time needed to read the document. Remember that you can use an appendix or link to provide additional or background information. Consider using an illustration, chart or graph instead of words to explain a concept, but remember, if you use a ‘picture’, don’t give a long written explanation.
4. sentence length – Generally, complex or unknown concepts are better presented in shorter sentences. This will give readers time to digest small bits of information before moving on to the next. While this may be difficult to achieve, try to aim for about 25 words per sentence. If you find that you have written a series of long sentences, look for ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘however’ and similar words where you can break up the sentence.
5. paragraphs – The old rule of one topic per paragraph is a useful guide. That doesn’t mean you can have just one paragraph for each topic, but it does mean that having just one topic in each paragraph makes for clear and logical writing.
6. Focused on the reader – You are writing for your readers. Make it as easy as possible for them to understand your work.

Keep these basics and other principles in mind as you go about your technical writing assignments.