Overview Of Technical Writing

By Vani Bharathi

Introduction

Technical writing can be defined as an art of presenting technical information in such a way that the audience it is addressed to can understand and use the information. For any task we do, how we do is equally important to what we do. Similarly, in technical writing the style of writing is equally important to the subject that we write. The style of writing is very important because the audience generally judge the technical document by the way the content is written. Technical writing can be said as a field that incorporates or integrates both what to write and how to write.

A person who creates such technical documents is called a technical writer. The technical writer need not be an expert on the subject he/she is writing. Rather the writer should have the ability to understand information and reproduce it in an organized and simple manner. The writer should be creative and should have the ability to present the information in such a way the audience can understand and use the information. This article on technical writing discusses about analysis of audience, the various types of technical documents, tools used and the process involved in technical writing.

Analysis Of Audience

Analysis of audience plays a major role in technical writing, because the document is written, for the audience. It may not be possible to completely analyze the audience. But, it is essential for a writer to gather information on, what the audience need from the document and to what extent the audience is familiar about the subject of the document. Only after gathering these information, the writer decides on various parameters, such as the depth of information, the style of writing, the type of graphics to be used and so on.

For example, when writing a book for an audience who is not familiar about a specific subject, the basic information about the subject needs to be presented. However, for an audience who is already familiar with the subject, the basic information is generally avoided or written briefly. When a writer writes for a varied level of audience, the author presents the information in such a way that the beginner understands the subject and the advanced audience does not feel the presence of unnecessary information.

Types Of Documents

The technical documents are categorized based on the intent or purpose of the document. The following table shows the various types of documents:

Document Type Examples General documents Resume Business letters Documents for marketing and sales Brochure Catalogs User guide Research and development documents White papers Research papers Technical reports Study documents Text books Lab manuals Hand books Corporate level documents Policies and Procedures Process instructions Training material Web pages Online Tutorials Web Advertisements.

Tools Used In Technical Writing

A technical document may contain text data, graphics, tables, lists and so on. Various tools are used to include all these. The tools fall under various categories like: Developing tools: FrameMaker, Microsoft Word and Interleaf. Graphic tools: Corel Draw, PhotoShop and Paint Shop Pro. Help authoring tools: RoboHelp, Fore Help. Web tools: Front Page, and Dream Weaver MX.

Process Involved In Technical Writing

Technical writing is a step-by-step procedure of organizing information. The various steps involved in technical writing are: Understanding the subject: The writer gains an understanding about the subject that is to be written. The writer, only then, will be able to write about the subject. Collecting information: The writer obtains information about the audience, which helps in deciding various parameters such as style of writing and so on. Based on the audience, the writer gathers information on the subject that is being written. Designing the document: The writer sorts the gathered information, creates the outline for the document based on the information. The writer provides a logical structure to the document in such a way that the most important information appears first, then the essential details and examples and at last the supporting information are presented. Creating the document: The writer develops the draft document based on the design. The writing style is simple, readable and easy to understand. Reviewing the document: The editors or technical reviewers review the document for accuracy in terms of language and content. Publishing the document: The reviewed document is then printed or published.

The figure below shows the process involved in technical writing

Thus, technical writing is an organized way of creating various types of documents using different types of tools.