What is objectivity? How to keep technical writing objective? How to maintain objectivity? These are some of the questions we will find answers to. Objectivity in writing means that the author or writer explains or discusses a topic without subjectivity. It is an impartial attitude of mind.

Subjectivity in writing refers to the text that contains the personal opinion of the writer, the use of I, we and their feelings. Therefore, it can be said that objectivity is removing subjectivity from writing.

An example of objectivity is “SnagIt is a powerful and useful screenshot tool.” If this sentence were written in a subjective format, it would look something like this; “I think SnagIt is a very useful tool for screen capture.” According to many experts like Ugur Akinci, Ph.D., “very” kills the objectivity of a sentence and that it can be much better without this word.

Importance of Objectivity in Technical Writing

Technical writing is about explaining or describing an objective fact, information, or procedure. It does not deal with human emotions, feelings or expressions; it would be likely to say that the technical writing is objective.

There are three categories in technical writing, user documentation, software documentation, and technology marketing documentation. These categories involve products, apps, software, and machines, and writers, specifically technical writers, are unable to express their personal experiences and emotions for them. Writers must be impersonal and objective to convey the product effectively.

For example, I have an IP phone set up to describe its features and procedures; I’d rather use an instructive voice for users than tell them how I use it. Users want to see what the ‘action’ is and not the ‘actor’ because in the position they are in, they themselves are actors. They don’t need to see a competitor sitting next to them.

The users’ interest in the documents is the reason for the technical writing, which must be fairly and impartially objective and clear. The more objective a technical document is, the easier it is to follow the words. Objectivity also changes with the level of the users i.e. layman, experienced and technical along with the three categories of technical writing.

Feature Highlights of Objectivity

The following features can help you maintain objectivity in documents.

1. Objectivity results in no jargon or useless words
2. Objectivity allows you to differentiate between words used in white paper, end user, and marketing documents.
3. Show the product up front, instead of the writer.
4. Objectivity comes with the passive voice
5. The active voice is rarely used