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by Catherine Hibbard
If you take a technical writing workshop, the materials will address numerous areas; some are very specific while others are more general in nature. A good starting point is to look at six principles of technical writing. Reviewing these basics can provide a great platform from which we can launch forays into specific areas of interest and documentation.
- Use Good Grammar
- Write Concisely
- Use the Active Voice
- Use Positive Statements
- Avoid Long Sentences
- Punctuate Correctly
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The basic principles of good technical writing?
1. Writers should always have in mind a specific reader, real or imaginary, when writing their report and always assume that they are intelligent but uninformed. 2. They should decide on their exact purpose in writing. 3. They should use simple, concrete and familiar language. 4. They should check/review their writing from time to time. 5. They should make the paper as neat and as attractive as possible.
What are the basic principles and good technical writing?
Six Principles of Technical WritingIf you take a technical writing workshop, the materials will address numerous areas; some are very specific while others are more general in nature. A good starting point is to look at six principles of technical writing. Reviewing these basics can provide a great platform from which we can launch forays into specific areas of interest and documentation.1. Use Good Grammar2. Write Concisely3. Use the Active Voice4. Use Positive Statements5. Avoid Long Sentences6. Punctuate CorrectlyPrinciple One: Use Good GrammarYour readers expect technical documents to be written in standard English. Certain grammatical errors can actually cause your reader to misinterpret the information. However, because technical documents must be precise and accurate, readers expect documents to be professional, polished, and flawless. Principle Two: Writing ConciselyIn technical writing, clarity and brevity is your goal. Principle Three: Using the Active VoiceImperative sentences, or command sentences, are written in the active voice. The active voice is more natural to people when they speak, but technical writers often turn to the passive voice when writing technical documents. One of the main reasons you should use the active voice rather than the passive in technical writing is the active voice more closely resembles the way people remember and process information. Principle Four: Using Positive StatementsTechnical writers should word instructions as positive statements. Whenever possible, phrase commands in a positive manner. Principle Five: Avoiding Long SentencesShort sentences are easier to understand than long sentences. For this reason, it is best to write your technical documents in short sentences. If you are asking your readers to perform several actions, begin the step with an active verb. This highlights the action itself Principle Six: Using Standard PunctuationYour readers expect standard punctuation when they read your documents. Complicated or "creative" punctuation will confuse them. One suggestion is to select syntax that minimizes the need for punctuation. You may wish to divide compound or complex sentences into shorter sentences to avoid excessive or confusing punctuation.
Is the APA style most appropriate for technical writing?
APA style is certainly a good choice for most appropriate in technical writing (I am an engineer and that is the style I had to use). It will depend on the requirements of the person or institution that will be the final authority on what style is required for your work.
What is Difference between technical writing and academic writing?
Subject: Academic vs. technical writingFrom: Chaim Chatan Date: Fri, 27 Mar 1998 16:29:29 +0200Since there is a discussion of the differences between academic writing andtechnical writing, let me give you the perspective of someone who has doneboth. There are very important differences between academic and technicalwriting. One must also realize that there are also different types ofacademic writing and different types of technical writing.First of all, the purposes and audiences are different between academic andtechnical writing. The purposes of academic writing can be: 1) to presentthe results of one's knowledge, 2) to present the results gained from one'spersonal research, and 3) to present one's point of view. Of course, bothtechnical and academic writing is laden with jargon, but the jargon is usedfor different purposes. As far as technical writing is concerned, thepurposes of technical writing can be: 1) to teach someone how to use aspecific product or service; and 2) to describe the procedures that areemployed by companies for carrying out various tasks.The audiences are completely different. The academic is writing to fellowscholars, and often, depending on the journal or publication, to thegeneral public. The technical writer is writing to the user of the productor the service, or to government inspectors who need to see how the companycarries out certain tasks. Users, of course, differ from product toproduct. In addition, technical writing differs from area to area. Forexample, writing documentation for software is different from writingdocumentation for hardware.When I took a technical writing course as part of my professionalretraining, I had to unlearn a lot of what I had been doing as an academicwriter. We are dealing with different styles of writing altogether. Also,there is good and bad academic and technical writing, and a good academicwriter may not become a good technical writer and vice versa. I have seendownright awful academic writing, where the author wrote extremely unclearand obscure prose, and I have seen extremely garbled technical writing,where it was difficult to follow the instructions.The important variable here is teachability. If an academic writer whowants to become a technical writer is not teachable, especially coming fromthe academic and liberal arts world, he/she will not be a good technicalwriter. Good academic writing is not enough--teachability is the mostimportant factor. One of the most important tasks of interviewers ofcandidates for technical writing jobs, especially candidates who have nothad professional experience, is not just simply to look at the writingsamples of the candidates, but to assess how teachable they are. If thecandidate has both academic and technical writing samples, the interviewershould be able to assess whether the candidate has grasped the differencesbetween the two types of writing. This is one way to measure teachability.A bit of advice for academics who want to go into technical writing is toperuse all the various types of manuals and documentation written bytechnical writers to get a sense of what is involved in technical writing.
What is the importance of technical writing?
== == One common belief in the global software industry is that, if a program is well designed or well written, it won't need any software documentation. But, as we often se this belief has been proved to be nothing more than hot air. Technical documentation is essential for the smooth functioning of a company. Technical Documentation Services comprises of all activities, means and systems that provide information on how to use a product. This information in turn enables the user to understand the functioning of the product and to handle, maintain, repair and dispose it correctly and safely. Also, in the absence of good and clear documentation written, either by your own company or a technical writing service, your IT staff will end up spending more time dealing with trying to solve technical problems. And this in turn leads to more work and waste of a lot of time that could have been better utilized. And all businesses, large or small, need well-written technical documentation to operate efficiently. Therefore most companies hire technical documentation writing services, especially technical writing services of India, to make the whole process easier for them. However, if end-users feel that the technical documentation is too hard to learn, not easy to use, or too cumbersome, then it will not be effective or useful. So, the importance of good technical documentation writing services in India shouldn't be underestimated. A good technical writing service in India should make a product easy to understand and use, resulting in greater user acceptance. Different companies outsource technical writing services to India for different purposes. Some companies that make products or software outsource technical writing services to India for technical manuals and user guides that'll explain the how to properly use the product. For example, manuals for computer printers; fax machines, modems etc. these are intended for both customers as well as internal use. Most of the time, technical guides and manuals written by technical writing services include quick reference guides that provide organized reference during the use of a hardware or software, software user guides providing instructions on how to use a software product, and hardware installation guides and repair guides that give information on the various features and functions of a hardware product as well as how to install, modify, maintain or repair the piece of hardware. Sometimes there are even user guides that supply instructions on how to use a hardware product and how to modify or program its hardware/software. You can also use the technical documentation written by an offshore technical writing service as a marketing tool, to share valuable information and strengthen the lines of communication between IT and the end-users. However, effective technical documentation written by any technical writing service will take some time and effort, but in the long run, its worth it.
