Some forms of writing are geared to telling a story and other forms are geared to expressing opinions. For free writing tips and tutorials visit https://www.technicalcommunicationcenter.com/, “Unparallel Construction” Is How You Lose People Reading Your Copy, The Great Secret of Closing the Sale that Most Salespeople Aren’t Aware of, The 5-Step Method to Write Difficult Letters With Grace and Ease, The New Year’s Unemployment Crisis, by the Numbers, Impressions from Google I/O 2019: Flutter. Writing Is a Process • Good writing doesn’t happen overnight; it requires planning, drafting, rereading, revising, and editing. The following are the characteristics of technical writing: Addresses a specific audience, topic and purpose Audience. You also need to complement your descriptive technical data with a graphic image of the product in focus. TW is a public service. They complement the writing. Writing Is a Process • Good writing doesn’t happen overnight; it requires planning, drafting, rereading, revising, and editing. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Change ). For instance, suppose you have explained complex technical data in the most simple manner, yet it won’t hold the attention of the user if it is presented as one big paragraph. We provide informative and helpful articles about the newest fiction and nonfiction books on the market that you can come back to again and again when you have the urge for a new book to dig into. Learning the characteristics of technical writing is essential if you want to build a successful writing career. However, these are totally different styles of writing. Use of flowery words, double meaning innuendos and explaining the same thing in a different way is often found in essays. It is important to note that you can be honest but still wrong. Whether ever else it is, tech writing must be CORRECT and TRUE, period. You have to TRUST yourself that you’ll eventually get it, just like you did in the past. ( Log Out / All Rights Reserved, expository writing versus technical writing. This has to do with the way that writer decides to approach a certain subject and with how strong the claims he makes are. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. The intended meaning will not be communicated to the reader if the document has ambiguous sentences. There is no room for sleight of hand in technical writing. Are you planning to make a career in this field? Key points pertaining to precautions or warnings may be emphasized using bullets. It HAS TO BE CORRECT. Clarity, rather than creativity, is the key to effective technical writing. One must avoid unnecessary words that may put the readers in a quandary. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Factual information, figures or charts, should all be provided and nothing written there should leave room to interpretation. TECHNICAL WRITING is a broad term that encompasses a wide vari-ety of documents in science, engineering, and the skilled trades. Characteristics of Effective Technical Content Aruna Panangipally October 23, 2020 Tutorials 6 Comments The purpose of technical communication is to get the right information to the users to help them do the right thing and do the thing right; quickly and easily . While your understanding deepens, you must not panic or fluster. Learn how your comment data is processed. The following are the characteristics of technical writing: Addresses a specific audience, topic and purpose Audience. To inform – to provide the information without expecting any action on the part of the reader. Writers who are well aware of their audiences are in a position to give a solution to their problems. You must have the instincts of a JOURNALIST to go out and hunt for information, wherever it may be. Technical writing does not mean that you translate information unquestioningly. The purpose of technical communication is to get the right information to the users to help them do the right thing and do the thing right; quickly and easily. In order to become a successful technical writer, one must know the characteristics of technical writing. Third: a TW should be HONEST and TRUTHFUL. Hi, Technical writers identify the readers to whom they are writing evaluate what they require of the documentation and determine why they will use documentation. The vocabulary used by the written language is more varied than the one used in conversations. However, if the sequence of instructions holds priority, one should go for numbered list. An educational textbook on subjects like physics or biology is also a form of technical writing. Extra attention should be paid when using words with a specific meaning and the writer should know that there is a clear distinction between phonetics and phonemics. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. A well-written technical document always contains answers to anticipated problems in the product or application. They should all be taken into consideration when writing an academic text, but the one that is predominant also dictates the style of that writing. Explore more examples of technical writing to discover other types of documents that use this type of writing. The document is meaningless if the intended audience does not understand what the writer wants to communicate. Purpose will reflect the activity the audience wants to be able to perform after reading the document. Another important characteristic is objectivity. This profession, as many think, is not about writing a bunch of technical words. Technical writing explains how a particular object works or how to complete a task or project. If tech writing is not correct, you can throw it directly into the trash basket since nothing else matters as much.