technical writing 5 techniques

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These five techniques will transform your technical writing

Jack elliott.

5 minute read

Illustration of two people thinking and speaking - with gear, lightbulb, speech bubbles and other icons to indicate a technical conversation.

Here is the gist of a conversation I had with a scientist a few years ago. I was teaching a one-day technical-writing course that she was (reluctantly) attending.

‘What do you write?’ ‘Mainly records of experiments and field trials.’ ‘And do you enjoy writing?’ ‘No, I absolutely loathe it.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because it’s just going to sit in a dusty folder somewhere and no one will ever read it.’

My first thought was that I might have a bit of an uphill battle on my hands that day. Happily, I was wrong.

In this short post, I won’t go through the protocols and conventions unique to technical writing, as that’s not necessary to get results (although you may find this article on how to write a paper useful). No, the key is to approach technical writing from first principles – the disciplines every writer, technical or otherwise, should be aware of and practise.

1. Be clear and logical

I usually enjoy training scientists. They have one essential quality that’s gold dust for a writer – they’re trained to think logically and clearly. While their PhD may be in low-temperature physics or fluvial dynamics, they bring a rigorous way of thinking that’s incredibly helpful when it comes to writing up their work. Refreshingly, they’re also often among the most enthusiastic and intelligent students.

When I’m training, the one thing I want people to take away is the power and importance of writing. It obviously helps if you have a love and respect for language as well, but that’s a personal thing. If I could instil in the scientist a sense of pride in her writing, at least, I thought, that would be a start.

2. Focus on the audience

For some 15 years, I was the lead writer for Jaguar. I wrote the launches of their cars and all the company’s major conferences and speeches, some of which were highly technical. But the first question any writer has to ask, regardless of the material, is always the same – who is going to read this? Or, if it’s a speech, who is going to listen to it?

An automotive engineer, for example, will have a clear understanding of terms such as ‘horsepower’ and ‘torque’ and how they influence a car’s performance. They will also be familiar with the host of abbreviations and acronyms that are common parlance in the engineering community. (Is there a sector that doesn’t have its own jargon or buzzwords?)

If a piece of writing is peer to peer, it’s generally fine to use these terms without explanation (but sparingly, please). An engine’s performance may simply be expressed in measurements, graphs and charts – if the information is simply and clearly presented, the knowledgeable reader will be able to extract what they want and interpret it. The writing will have served its primary function, which is to communicate.

3. Consider every word

Most drivers, however, would struggle to explain ‘horsepower’ and ‘torque’, let alone the difference between them. Unless they’re fully paid-up petrolheads, all they may know is that a powerful car will have a lot of both. Car manufacturers know this, of course, and that’s when (supposedly sexy) language starts creeping into the writing. ‘Effortless’ and ‘refined power’, for example, are words Jaguar often use to describe torque delivery for the layman. (I fought long and hard to suppress the truly awful ‘waftability’, but it seems to have crept into the marketing.)

The point is that you use the appropriate language for the audience. The engineer writing the technical report isn’t selling the car, so they don’t need to use adjectives and adverbs (modifying words) to communicate performance – they can let the stats do the talking. In fact, if they submit their findings to scientific journals, they’ll find that most editors delete modifiers anyway, because at best they’re subjective, and at worst vague and confusing, especially for an international audience. Editors encourage authors to ‘unpackage’ concepts – to present them in simple, clear sentences.

4. Keep it brief

Most people have a lot of things they could be doing rather than wading through 50 pages of turgid, unfocused waffle. Know your reader, know what you want to say and know why you’re saying it. Is it relevant to your reader? If not, why are you making them read it? And although you may have spent ages writing something, be aware of ‘Mr Skippy’ – the person who will just skim through the text. He may only read the sub-heads, so make sure they tell the story clearly.

5. Be active and engaging

Get people into your writing. The passive voice (‘the trials were conducted …’) may be the default in most technical writing, but the active voice is more direct (‘we conducted the trials …’). You don’t have to do it all the time: a balance between passive and active is best. But we’re people and we like to read about ourselves, even if it’s just a humble pronoun (‘we’). Incidentally, a surprising number of journals recommend the active voice in their instructions for authors, including Nature.

And the reluctant scientist on my course? I saw her for a follow-up class a couple of months later and her writing had improved immeasurably, largely because she was now thinking clearly and writing short, clear sentences. Most importantly, she was taking pride in her writing and even starting to think of publishing her work. It had been a day well spent.

Would you like Jack or another of our trainers to help your team transform their technical writing? Check out our technical-writing course and get in touch to talk about how we can tailor it for you.

Image credit: VLADGRIN / Shutterstock

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These days he's one of Emphasis' top business-writing trainers, but in previous career lives Jack has written for many public and private sector organisations. He has an in-depth knowledge of the engineering and manufacturing sectors, particularly the UK automotive industry. As the lead scriptwriter for chairmen and CEOs, he has been responsible for proposals, pitches and reports as well as high-profile speeches and global product launches.

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Writing Tips

A Guide to Technical Writing (With Examples)

4-minute read

5th May 2023

You can find technical writing in lots of places, including in your home, at your job, in many industries, and in businesses of all sizes. If you need help with business writing specifically, check out how we can assist you .

In today’s post, we’ll break down what technical writing is and how to do it effectively. We’ll also provide some handy examples.

What Is Technical Writing?

Technical writing doesn’t always look very technical! It can be anything that describes how to do a task or how to operate a machine or system. Or it can cover a specialized topic. Technical writing includes recipes in your favorite cookbook, board game instructions, operator manuals, health and safety regulations, legal documents, and financial reports.

Instructions for Carrying Out a Task

This type of technical writing can be a recipe for a cake, the instructions for a board game, tips on how to walk your dog to heel, or the script for a social media video on how to cut your own hair.

Operating Manuals for Machinery, Appliances, or Systems

Technical writing can also be the user guide for a dishwasher, for a factory machine that makes cardboard boxes, a “how to” guide for spreadsheets, or instructions for changing the oil in your motorcycle.

Specialized Topics

The list here could be very, very long! Technical writing on specialized topics includes a company’s business reports, a medical consultant’s letter to a patient, health and safety regulations, employment policies, and legal documents.

So How Do I Produce a Great Piece of Technical Writing?

Let’s take it in three stages: Who? What? How?

Who Is It For?

In any type of writing, knowing your audience is important. This is particularly true of technical writing. Here are some examples of who might read technical writing:

· A renter of an apartment that needs details on their lease

· An electrical engineer who needs to know how the wiring is laid out in the apartment block

· The janitor of that same building who needs to know the location of the emergency lights

· The occupant of apartment 61, who needs to know how to use the oven in their kitchen

They all need information presented to them, but what information do they need?

What Do They Need?

The renter needs a legal document that leaves no room for doubt about their legal rights and obligations and those of their landlord. The document will be very detailed, containing terms that need careful explanation.

The electrical engineer needs accurate, clear information about the wiring, as they could get hurt or cause harm to someone else if the diagram is inaccurate.

The janitor needs clear directions and a map of where the emergency lights are.

The occupant of apartment 61 needs instructions that are written in plain English so they can use their oven safely.

How Should Technical Writing Be Composed?

Follow these steps when writing a technical document:

· Research and know your subject thoroughly.

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· Decide on the appropriate writing style. Just because it’s technical, doesn’t mean it has to contain lots of jargon . Be concise, be direct, and be straightforward.

· Consider whether you need to include diagrams, maps, images, charts, and/or tables.

· If writing instructions, take it one step at a time, write objectively , and make sure the instructions work!

Examples of Technical Writing

Let’s look at some examples:

The first version contains unnecessary words, but the warnings are not specific enough. The instructions should be concise and clear. In the second version, the danger is stated right away, and the critical warnings are concise and specific.

In these examples, the first version is unnecessarily wordy. It provides a lot of detail for minor tasks but gives vague instructions for bigger tasks. The second version is much clearer. The instructions are easier to follow, and they include each necessary step.

Good technical writing needs the following attributes:

1. Relevance

2. Accuracy

4. Accessibility

5. Simplicity

Really good technical writing will include these attributes every time.

Is technical writing difficult?

Technical writing does not have to be difficult if you follow our guide and do your research beforehand.

Are there professional bodies for technical writers?

There are several professional organizations for technical writing. This list from UTA Libraries is very useful.

What can I do if I’m not sure that my technical writing style is appropriate to my subject?

We have experts in many fields who can check your writing and advise on style .

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Technical Writing for Beginners – An A-Z Guide to Tech Blogging Basics

If you love writing and technology, technical writing could be a suitable career for you. It's also something else you can do if you love tech but don’t really fancy coding all day long.

Technical writing might also be for you if you love learning by teaching others, contributing to open source projects and teaching others how to do so, too, or basically enjoy explaining complex concepts in simple ways through your writing.

Let's dive into the fundamentals and learn about what you should know and consider when getting started with technical writing.

In this article, we’ll be looking at:

What Technical writing is

Benefits of Technical Writing

Necessary skills to have as a Technical Writer

The Technical Writing Process

Platforms for publishing your articles

Technical Writing Courses

Technical Writing forums and communities
Some amazing technical writers to follow
Final Words and references

What is Technical Writing?

Technical writing is the art of providing detail-oriented instruction to help users understand a specific skill or product.

And a technical writer is someone who writes these instructions, otherwise known as technical documentation or tutorials. This could include user manuals, online support articles, or internal docs for coders/API developers.

A technical writer communicates in a way that presents technical information so that the reader can use that information for an intended purpose.

Technical writers are lifelong learners. Since the job involves communicating complex concepts in simple and straightforward terms, you must be well-versed in the field you're writing about. Or be willing to learn about it.

This is great, because with each new technical document you research and write, you will become an expert on that subject.

Technical writing also gives you a better sense of user empathy. It helps you pay more attention to what the readers or users of a product feel rather than what you think.

You can also make money as a technical writer by contributing to organizations. Here are some organizations that pay you to write for them , like Smashing Magazine , AuthO , Twilio , and Stack Overflow .

In addition to all this, you can contribute to Open Source communities and participate in paid open source programs like Google Season of Docs and Outreachy .

You can also take up technical writing as a full time profession – lots of companies need someone with those skills.

Necessary Skills to Have as a Technical Writer

Understand the use of proper english.

Before you consider writing, it is necessary to have a good grasp of English, its tenses, spellings and basic grammar. Your readers don't want to read an article riddled with incorrect grammar and poor word choices.

Know how to explain things clearly and simply

Knowing how to implement a feature doesn't necessarily mean you can clearly communicate the process to others.

In order to be a good teacher, you have to be empathetic, with the ability to teach or describe terms in ways suitable for your intended audience.

If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself. Albert Einstein

Possess some writing skills‌‌

I believe that writers are made, not born. And you can only learn how to write by actually writing.

You might never know you have it in you to write until you put pen to paper. And there's only one way to know if you have some writing skills, and that's by writing.

So I encourage you to start writing today. You can choose to start with any of the platforms I listed in this section to stretch your writing muscles.

And of course, it is also a huge benefit to have some experience in a technical field.

Analyze and Understand who your Readers are

The biggest factor to consider when you're writing a technical article is your intended/expected audience. It should always be at the forefront of your mind.

A good technical writer writes based on the reader’s context. As an example , let's say you're writing an article targeted at beginners. It is important not to assume that they already know certain concepts.

You can start out your article by outlining any necessary prerequisites. This will make sure that your readers have (or can acquire) the knowledge they need before diving right into your article.

You can also include links to useful resources so your readers can get the information they need with just a click.

In order to know for whom you are writing, you have to gather as much information as possible about who will use the document.

It is important to know if your audience has expertise in the field, if the topic is totally new to them, or if they fall somewhere in between.

Your readers will also have their own expectations and needs. You must determine what the reader is looking for when they begin to read the document and what they'll get out of it.

To understand your reader, ask yourself the following questions before you start writing:

Who are my readers?
What do they need?
Where will they be reading?
When will they be reading?
Why will they be reading?
How will they be reading?

These questions also help you think about your reader's experience while reading your writing, which we'll talk about more now.

Think About User Experience

User experience is just as important in a technical document as it is anywhere on the web.

Now that you know your audience and their needs, keep in mind how the document itself services their needs. It’s so easy to ignore how the reader will actually use the document.

As you write, continuously step back and view the document as if you're the reader. Ask yourself: Is it accessible? How will your readers be using it? When will they be using it? Is it easy to navigate?

The goal is to write a document that is both useful to and useable by your readers.

Plan Your Document

Bearing in mind who your users are, you can then conceptualize and plan out your document.

This process includes a number of steps, which we'll go over now.

Conduct thorough research about the topic

While planning out your document, you have to research the topic you're writing about. There are tons of resources only a Google search away for you to consume and get deeper insights from.

Don't be tempted to lift off other people's works or articles and pass it off as your own, as this is plagiarism. Rather, use these resources as references and ideas for your work.

Google as much as possible, get facts and figures from research journals, books or news, and gather as much information as you can about your topic. Then you can start making an outline.

Make an outline

Outlining the content of your document before expanding on it helps you write in a more focused way. It also lets you organize your thoughts and achieving your goals for your writing.

An outline can also help you identify what you want your readers to get out of the document. And finally, it establishes a timeline for completing your writing.

Get relevant graphics/images

Having an outline is very helpful in identifying the various virtual aids (infographics, gifs, videos, tweets) you'll need to embed in different sections of your document.

And it'll make your writing process much easier if you keep these relevant graphics handy.

Write in the Correct Style

Finally, you can start to write! If you've completed all these steps, writing should become a lot easier. But you still need to make sure your writing style is suitable for a technical document.

The writing needs to be accessible, direct, and professional. Flowery or emotional text is not welcome in a technical document. To help you maintain this style, here are some key characteristics you should cultivate.

Use Active Voice

It's a good idea to use active voices in your articles, as it is easier to read and understand than the passive voice.

Active voice means that the subject of the sentence is the one actively performing the action of the verb. Passive voice means that a subject is the recipient of a verb's action .

Here's an example of passive voice : The documentation should be read six times a year by every web developer.

And here's an example of active voice : Every web developer should read this documentation 6 times a year.

Choose Your Words Carefully

Word choice is important. Make sure you use the best word for the context. Avoid overusing pronouns such as ‘it’ and ‘this’ as the reader may have difficulty identifying which nouns they refer to.

Also avoid slang and vulgar language – remember you're writing for a wider audience whose disposition and cultural inclinations could differ from yours.

Avoid Excessive Jargon

If you’re an expert in your field, it can be easy to use jargon you're familiar with without realizing that it may be confusing to other readers.

You should also avoid using acronyms you haven't previously explained.

Here's an Example :

Less clear: PWAs are truly considered the future of multi-platform development. Their availability on both Android and iOS makes them the app of the future.

Improved: Progressive Web Applications (PWAs) are truly the future of multi-platform development. Their availability on both Android and iOS makes PWAs the app of the future.

Use Plain Language

Use fewer words and write in a way so that any reader can understand the text.‌‌ Avoid big lengthy words. Always try to explain concepts and terms in the clearest way possible.

Visual Formatting

A wall of text is difficult to read. Even the clearest instructions can be lost in a document that has poor visual representation.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This rings true even in technical writing.

But not just any image is worthy of a technical document. Technical information can be difficult to convey in text alone. A well-placed image or diagram can clarify your explanation.

People also love visuals, so it helps to insert them at the right spots. Consider the images below:

First, here's a blog snippet without visuals:

Here's a snippet of same blog, but with visuals:

Adding images to your articles makes the content more relatable and easier to understand. In addition to images, you can also use gifs, emoji, embeds (social media, code) and code snippets where necessary.

Thoughtful formatting, templates, and images or diagrams will also make your text more helpful to your readers. You can check out the references below for a technical writing template from @Bolajiayodeji.

Do a Careful Review

Good writing of any type must be free from spelling and grammatical errors. These errors might seem obvious, but it's not always easy to spot them (especially in lengthy documents).

Always double-check your spelling (you know, dot your Is and cross your Ts) before hitting 'publish'.

There are a number of free tools like Grammarly and the Hemingway app that you can use to check for grammar and spelling errors. You can also share a draft of your article with someone to proofread before publishing.

Where to Publish Your Articles

Now that you've decided to take up technical writing, here are some good platforms where you can start putting up technical content for free. They can also help you build an appealing portfolio for future employers to check out.

Dev.to is a community of thousands of techies where both writers and readers get to meaningfully engage and share ideas and resources.

Hashnode is my go-to blogging platform with awesome perks such as custom domain mapping and an interactive community. Setting up a blog on this platform is also easy and fast.

freeCodeCamp has a very large community and audience reach and is a great place to publish your articles. However, you'll need to apply to write for their publication with some previous writing samples.

Your application could either be accepted or rejected, but don't be discouraged. You can always reapply later as you get better, and who knows? You could get accepted.

If you do write for them, they'll review and edit your articles before publishing, to make sure you publish the most polished article possible. They'll also share your articles on their social media platforms to help more people read them.

Hackernoon has over 7,000 writers and could be a great platform for you to start publishing your articles to the over 200,000 daily readers in the community.

Hacker Noon supports writers by proofreading their articles before publishing them on the platform, helping them avoid common mistakes.

Just like in every other field, there are various processes, rules, best practices, and so on in Technical Writing.

Taking a course on technical writing will help guide you through every thing you need to learn and can also give you a major confidence boost to kick start your writing journey.

Here are some technical writing courses you can check out:

Google Technical Writing Course (Free)
Udemy Technical Writing Course (Paid)
Hashnode Technical Writing Bootcamp (Free)

Technical Writing Forums and Communities

Alone we can do so little, together, we can do so much ~ Helen Keller

Being part of a community or forum along with people who share same passion as you is beneficial. You can get feedback, corrections, tips and even learn some style tips from other writers in the community.

Here are some communities and forums for you to join:

Technical Writing World
Technical Writer Forum
Write the Docs Forum

Some Amazing Technical Writers to follow

In my technical writing journey, I've come and followed some great technical writers whose writing journey, consistency, and style inspire me.

These are the writers whom I look up to and consider virtual mentors on technical writing. Sometimes, they drop technical writing tips that I find helpful and have learned a lot from.

Here are some of those writers (hyperlinked with their twitter handles):

Quincy Larson
Edidiong Asikpo
Catalin Pit
Victoria Lo
Bolaji Ayodeji
Amruta Ranade
Chris Bongers
Colby Fayock

Final words

You do not need a degree in technical writing to start putting out technical content. You can start writing on your personal blog and public GitHub repositories while building your portfolio and gaining practical experience.

Really – Just Start Writing.

Practice by creating new documents for existing programs or projects. There are a number of open source projects on GitHub that you can check out and add to their documentation.

Is there an app that you love to use, but its documentation is poorly written? Write your own and share it online for feedback. You can also quickly set up your blog on hashnode and start writing.

You learn to write by writing, and by reading and thinking about how writers have created their characters and invented their stories. If you are not a reader, don't even think about being a writer. - Jean M. Auel

Technical writers are always learning . By diving into new subject areas and receiving external feedback, a good writer never stops honing their craft.

Of course, good writers are also voracious readers. By reviewing highly-read or highly-used documents, your own writing will definitely improve.

Can't wait to see your technical articles!

Introduction to Technical Writing ‌‌

How to structure a technical article ‌‌

Understanding your audience, the why and how

‌‌ Technical Writing template

I hope this was helpful. If so, follow me on Twitter and let me know!

Amarachi is a front end web developer, technical writer and educator who is interested in building developer communities.

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Clarity and Simplicity

Audience awareness, organization and structure, consistency and standardization, visual aids and graphics, final words, 5 principles of technical writing: the key to unlocking your writing potential.

Read in 06 mins
08-Aug-2023

Technical writing plays a crucial role in effectively conveying complex information to a specific audience. It serves as a bridge between technical experts and non-experts, ensuring that the information is communicated clearly, accurately, and comprehensively.

Using a specialized and systematic approach, technical writing transforms complex concepts into easily understandable and actionable content, making it an essential tool in various fields such as engineering, science, technology, and medicine.

Understanding the principles of technical writing is crucial for effectively conveying technical information effectively to a diverse audience. Let us explore the 5 technical writing principles that can assist in enhancing the clarity and effectiveness of technical content.

Using clear and concise language in technical writing is crucial because it helps readers easily understand complex concepts and instructions. By avoiding jargon, acronyms, and overly technical terms, the writer can ensure that the information is accessible to a broad range of readers, regardless of their expertise in the subject matter.
Simplifying complex concepts aids comprehension by making information more accessible, readable, and understandable. When writers avoid jargon, acronyms, and overly technical terms, readers do not need to have a high level of expertise in the subject matter to understand the information.
Using simple language also eliminates confusion or misinterpretation that can arise from using complex or convoluted sentences. For example, instead of saying, "The primary objective of this study is to investigate the correlation between genetic mutations and the development of cancer," a clearer and more accessible version would be, "This study aims to explore how genetic mutations contribute to the development of cancer."
It is necessary to understand your target audience when creating technical content for effective communication. By being aware of who we are speaking or writing to, we can tailor our message in a way that is clear and easily understood by them.
Audience awareness helps eliminate confusion or misinterpretation. . Using simple language and avoiding complex sentences allow you to reach and connect with a global audience to convey your message more effectively.
For communication to be impactful, it is essential to adapt the content to the needs and competency of the audience. It implies comprehending their history, pursuits and needs for any specialized information.
When you tailor your message to your audience's concerns and questions, you can better connect with them and increase engagement. It leads to more successful communication outcomes. For example, when speaking to a group of medical professionals, it would be important to use technical terminology and provide in-depth explanations to cater to their expertise.
On the other hand, when addressing a general audience, it would be more effective to use simple language and relatable examples to ensure understanding and engagement. Adjusting language in this way allows the communicators to efficiently convey their message and connect with the audience on a deeper level.

Read Also : Things to Know About Technical Writing Essentials

An organized structure is among the essential principles of technical writing for developing technical documents, as it helps readers navigate through the information easily. By organizing the structure of the content in a logical manner, it becomes easier for readers to locate specific information and understand the flow of the document.
A well-structured technical document helps to convey complex and rigid ideas and concepts in a clear and concise manner. Headings, subheadings, and bullet points are commonly used in technical documents to provide a clear and hierarchical structure.
Headings and subheadings are used to introduce major sections or topics, while subheadings are used to break down those major sections into smaller, more specific topics. Using h1,h2, and h3 content, readers can quickly scan the document and locate the information they need without having to read through the entire document.
Bullet points, on the other hand, are useful for presenting information in a concise and easy-to-read format. They are often used to list key points, steps, or features, allowing readers to quickly grasp the main ideas without getting overwhelmed by lengthy paragraphs.
Bullet points help to emphasize important information and make it stand out visually. When used effectively, headings, subheadings, and bullet points can significantly enhance the readability and organization of a document, making it more accessible and user-friendly for readers.
Ensuring consistency and standardization is necessary in any document to maintain clarity and professionalism. Keeping consistent terminology allows readers to understand and follow the content without confusion. It also helps to establish credibility and reliability, as it shows that the information presented is well-researched and thoughtfully organized.
Formatting consistency is equally important, as it creates a visually appealing and cohesive document. It allows readers to navigate through the content effortlessly and locate specific information quickly.
Standardizing formatting elements such as font size, spacing, and indentation helps to create a uniform look and feel, enhancing the overall professionalism of the document.
Style guides and templates play a crucial role in achieving consistency in documents. A style guide provides a set of guidelines and rules for formatting and presenting information, ensuring that all documents adhere to the same standards. Principles and styles of technical writing outline details such as font styles, heading hierarchy, spacing, and punctuation, ensuring that all documents have a cohesive and professional appearance.
Templates, on the other hand, provide a pre-designed structure and formatting for specific types of documents, such as reports or presentations. They serve as a starting point, ensuring that the overall layout and formatting are consistent across different documents.
By using style guides and templates, organizations can save time and effort in creating new documents from scratch.
Visual aids and graphics play a crucial role in enhanced understanding and retention of information. They provide a visual representation of data and concepts, making it easier for your audience to grasp and retain complex ideas.
Visuals can include charts, graphs, diagrams, illustrations, photographs, and videos. These elements make the content more engaging and visually appealing and help break down complex information into more digestible chunks.
Presenting information in a visual format allows key points and relationships between different elements to be easily identified, leading to a better understanding of the subject matter.
Diagrams, charts, and illustrations are powerful tools for effectively communicating information. They provide a visual representation that can simplify complex concepts and data, making it easier for audiences to grasp the content at hand.
Diagrams help to highlight connections and relationships between different elements, allowing viewers to see the bigger picture.
Charts present data in a clear and organized manner, enabling viewers to interpret trends and patterns quickly. When used strategically, illustrations can bring stories to life and evoke emotions in a way that words alone cannot achieve.
Together, these visual elements enhance engagement, comprehension, and retention of information, ultimately facilitating a more impactful and memorable learning experience.

Bonus Read : Comprehensive Guide: What are the Uses of Technical Writing

Keeping up with the principles of technical writing, mentioned in this document, is essential in today's rapidly transforming industries. Simple, clear, and effective communication is essential for success in professional fields ranging from engineering and technology to healthcare and finance. You can take advantage of our abstract writing service for writing user manuals, creating instructional videos, or developing technical reports, as presenting complex information in a way that is easily understood is crucial.

Do you want to become a technical writer? If so, then you may be responsible for creating content while breaking down complex concepts and instructions into simple, step-by-step processes that the user can easily follow. With the continuous advancement of technology and the emergence of new industries, the demand for skilled technical writers is expected to increase. So, whether you're a student considering a career in technical writing or a professional seeking to enhance your communication skills, investing in the art of technical writing services is a wise choice.

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Mary has extensive experience of over 5 years in writing on a wide range of topics, including healthcare, technology, science, and business. She is highly knowledgeable and skilled in researching and crafting accurate, well-structured, and engaging content. Mary is a reliable and professional writer who is always willing to go the extra mile to ensure her clients are satisfied with her work. She is committed to delivering quality content on time and within budget.

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9 Technical Writing Tips Every Writer Needs to Know

Create a persona, beware of scope creep, writing should be easy, be timeless, use attributions, use global english, forget the word count, use graphics to illustrate.

Technical writing takes high-level details and explains them clearly and concisely to an audience.

While the result of technical writing is clear, succinct, and simple, the process can be the opposite. The technical writer ’s challenge is to transform complicated information into an accessible document. To meet this challenge, technical writers use different strategies.

This article will provide you with a selection of these distinct, action-oriented strategies to improve your technical writing.

Learn technical writing with an online course

The crux of good technical writing is writing for your audience. The audience needs to be defined in the document planning process and then considered at each step of the writing process. Technical writers know that a tech-savvy boss needs different information about a product than a 73-year-old grandmother.

After identifying your audience, refine it further by creating a persona. Imagine the exact person who will be reading your document.

The persona will be obvious if you are writing for a known person, such as your department supervisor. For other documents, the persona can be fictional. Assign your reader a specific age, gender, educational background, career, a story for why they are reading the document, even a hobby. Instead of writing for a theoretical audience, write for a specific, albeit fictional, person.

The more accurately you can imagine your reader, the more accessible your writing will be for them. Instead of wondering if the wording is right for the audience, write and review the wording with this persona in mind. It will be obvious whether or not the text is right for your reader.

Good technical writers keep in mind the document’s goal at each writing stage. The goal and scope should be clearly outlined in the initial document planning.

During the planning and even the writing process, document content can grow. Technical details are not isolated. They are built on previous developments, and you may want to include supplemental information or additional user instructions. Colleagues may suggest valuable background information or data.

Some extra details are useful. Too many details will cause the scope to creep.

As technical writing strives to be succinct, scope creep creates unnecessary work that ultimately produces a less valuable document for the reader. If you feel the scope needs to broaden, return to the goal. Evaluate if that content is really necessary. Cut it or if necessary, consider separation through appendices and even an additional document.

If you’re thinking ‘writing is always difficult for me,’ writing is probably not your real problem.

Writing should be easy because the planning process was thorough. The planning process should take up to 50% of overall document preparation time. All key materials, relevant details, and the audience will be captured and organized. The result is your complete document in a condensed format. Writing simply fleshes out this compact version.

If you’re unclear of how to phrase an idea while writing, reflect on your audience and how they would want to read it. If you’re not sure if a data set should be included, refer to your mind map to see if it fits within it. Any writing question can be answered by a complete planning process.

If the writing is difficult, stop typing and return to your plan. There is at least one aspect of the planning process that needs more development. Once you have a thorough plan, only then should you start to write. And it will be easy.

You may be interested in our other article: 87 Business Writing Tips

A technical document is your contribution to posterity. That’s right, you are passing on technical knowledge for readers now and in the future.

Most technical writers focus on today’s audience. While very important, these documents often serve future readers, too. A site assessment may not be read again for 30 years until the property comes up for sale. Software instructions act as the basis for the future manual of an updated version.

To write timelessly, always include dates and timelines where relevant. Avoid including time-dependent or temporary information. If you must, explain its current context for future readers. For example, a health and safety report references current legislation. The act is carefully identified so that it can be differentiated from future revised codes. Your document should be clear and comprehensible now and 20 years from now.

Good attributions are efficient. They allow the reader to reference relevant details without including the information directly. The readers who need that additional information can easily find it, while others can continue on in the document without being buried in background information.

See references as a tool for maintaining a concise and valuable document for your audience.

English is an international language. Writing technical documents in English allows them to be broadly read and shared. However, many readers will be non-native speakers.

Some writers race to a word count, seeing it as the goal marker. In technical writing, word count is a poor judge of completion.

Technical writing should be concise. The same instructions can be conveyed in 500 words or 5000 words. The better instructions are the ones that are most effective for the reader, regardless of the word count.

Use word count as a general guide, not a rule. Never force words onto a page meet a word count. If you can write the same idea in fewer words, it’s better for the reader.

Writing is an iterative process. Through good planning, thoughtful writing, and constructive feedback, you will grow and improve your technical writing skills. Each review offers its own lessons.

Be welcoming of feedback from supervisors, peers, and experts. Learn from mistakes, confusions, and comments. Each review session offers an opportunity to grow as a writer . Be humble and accept these educational opportunities.

Graphics can help illustrate your message. In technical writing, the goal of graphics is to help convey information not act as decoration. In our online technical writing course , we teach that graphics should be focused on the reader. Poorly designed graphics can confuse readers and do more harm than good. To learn more about adding graphics to your documents see our article on the topic .

Technical writing is centered on good planning and audience focus. The above tips provide different perspectives and practical methods to accomplish these goals.

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Top 10 Tips for Great Technical Writing

Category: Technical Documentation

Last updated on Dec 29, 2023

Good technical writing is in the eye of the beholder, or so they say. But the reality is, we all know what good looks like, and often we’re left wanting.

Great technical writing is hard to find as the majority is either overly complicated, long-winded or just lacking good basic grammar. It can genuinely be really tough to find sources worth reading and this is a shame, because with a few simple tweaks, an average piece of technical writing can be turned into a great one.

Here are 10 tips you should consider to improve your own technical writing efforts:

1. Understand what your audience is already likely to know

When you’re writing to inform or educate, understanding just how much your audience already knows about your subject matter is essential – particularly when discussing technical subject areas. It’s no good explaining the inner workings of a subject topic if the audience don’t have a foundational understanding to work from. It’s the equivalent to trying to teach multiplication before you teach numbers, it’s just impossible for the audience to keep up because they don’t have what they need to understand what you’re saying. With an appreciation for your audience’s knowledge and capabilities, you can educate them in a way that helps them build the foundation they need to appreciate your wisdom.

2. Think about how you present your information

It may be cliché, but when it comes to imparting highly technical information, how you say it is just as important as what you say. It’s often very difficult to develop engagement with an audience when the subject matter is somewhat complex. So with this in mind, it’s worth considering how your audience would like to engage with the information you have to share. The more you can do to make the knowledge you’re offering engaging, the greater the value of your output.

3. Embrace supporting imagery

This is probably a bit of an obvious one, but the modern reader has a shorter attention span than ever before and so you want to engage using a variety of assets. By including images in your writing, your not only breaking up your copy with something different, which helps to both improve flow and avoid unattractive chunks of text, but you also engage with those people who don’t connect well with written words. Many of your audience will likely be visual thinkers and so accommodating for these people with great complimentary imagery just makes good sense.

Also, Check out: Must Attend Technical Writing Conferences of 2024

4. Simplify language at every opportunity

Technical writing is an art form, and it can be very easy to overcomplicate what you’re saying, just because you can. However, it’s worth trying to keep your technical creativity in check when you’re aiming to help your audience understand a particular system, process or concept. A common pitfall in a lot of technical writing is that it’s written without any consideration that the reader may not be all that familiar with the subject in question. There is often a failure to accommodate for these audiences, and in some case these people may actually be the majority. The lower the barrier to entry for your writing and wisdom, the better for all involved. Remember, the shortest and simplest way to explain something complicated is often the best.

5. Be clear what readers will get from your content

Outlining what your writing will cover at the early stages of your content ensures readers understand exactly what to expect from your offering. This is important to setting and fulfilling expectations. You don’t want to waste your reader’s time and if they’re looking for a particular piece of information, providing a summary of what you’re covering at the start will help them find exactly what they’re looking for. Good technical writing gives the reader what they want, when they want it.

6. Don’t take yourself too seriously

Most technical writing covers serious matters, but that doesn’t mean everything has to be taken seriously to the point where there’s no room for wit or humor. Sometimes a technical subject needs to be spruced up to really engage with the audience, and stepping back and having a little fun with the subject is a great way to do that. Remember, you’re writing your technical content so people will read it, and while in an ideal world, the information should be enough, it’s often not the case. Incentivize the reader to engage at every opportunity for maximum impact.

7. Avoid references to time-sensitive information

The best content remains relevant for the long haul, so you’ll want to make sure you avoid references to years if possible, phrases like ‘In 2019’ and ‘this year’ will quickly date your content and reduce its validity and value over time. You want to future-proof your writing wherever possible! If you need to refer to a time period, try to generalize with phrase like ‘in the last 5 years’ or ‘throughout the last decade – these less specific references still give your argument a time reference, without sacrificing its long-term value.

Documenting, storing, and sharing technical manuals made easy.

8. Analyze your competitor’s content for pointers

See what works for your competition. Take a look at how they’re engaging and take the best bits for yourself. There’s no shame in sneaking a peak at how your competition are discussing technical topics, in fact, sometimes it’s the best way to determine just how good your current writing is comparatively and where it can be improved. Don’t be afraid to embrace other technical writing pieces to improve your own.

9. Revise and update your content over time

Things change fast in the technical world, so it makes sense to update your content accordingly. If you’re seeing regular traffic to particular pieces, it’s in your interest to keep them fresh so your audience can take maximum value. This optimizes the potential of your writing and ensures it reflects the current state of working.

10. Get a 3rd party to read and review all writing before publishing

We’ll round off with a simple and easy tip that applies to pretty much all writing, but arguably is more critical in the technical field than any other. Always remember to get someone to read and review everything you write, this person should be looking for grammar errors and ideally, fact-checking, to ensure the statements you’ve made make sense and are accurate. It’s amazing what a 3rd party can pick up – if you can avoid it, do not QA your own writing.

Let’s not beat around the bush, good technical writing is hard to achieve and often quite rare, but with these tips in hand, you can take your writing to the next level and really maximize the value your audience take from your output.

Also Read: 10 Most Popular Tools for Technical Writing

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Document360 Team

Aug 1, 2019

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The 5 Steps of Technical Writing

Want to know more about technical writing? Check out our 5-step approach to technical writing in this article.

What is technical writing and what does a technical writer do? Have you ever had to write an instruction manual and struggled with how to proceed? Well, let’s begin with the assumption that any technical document —whether it is a datasheet, a technical report, or an API guide — serves one purpose: informing the user. All kinds of technical documentation (e.g. operating manuals, handbooks, technical reports, etc.) are part of the product itself. Therefore they must be user-oriented as part of a whole content strategy inside the organization.

The process of writing is a complex one, but here you can find the five main steps with useful tips.

1. Collecting info — the first step in the writing process

This step consists in collecting every piece of information you can find about the product you are about to describe. This is the most important part of the process because all the subsequent steps and the whole content rely on this preliminary phase.

During this phase, you must carry out an in-depth analysis of the content and the context. For instance : scope, schedule, the legal framework of the target market, audience, and last but not least, the product and how to use it. This means:

Interviewing SMEs ( Subject Matter Experts ) and stakeholders. Ask questions to all those who are involved in the development and design process, in order to gain knowledge about the product and the subject matter as well as any applications and features.
Studying contracts and specifications. Any technical document must comply with the applicable legal requirements, mainly dealing with product safety, so read them all thoroughly and carefully.
Accessing the risk analysis. Use this internal document to write your technical documentation and draft correct safety warnings and instructions for use.
Analyzing your target group of users. This task aims to produce an understandable technical document tailored to the need of your potential readers , in terms of language, type of output media, and graphics.

2. Writing needs structure

During the structuring phase, you will create a well-defined Table of Contents. You need to dedicate time to establish a clear structure because this will be the backbone of your writing journey. However, you should be prepared to modify it along the way, as some fine-tuning may be needed.

3. Drafting —put into practice your technical writing skills

This is the step where you really get into action. As a technical writer, you must always consider the user, and adopt an action-oriented — or “task-oriented” — approach, bearing in mind that your reader is a user who is looking to accomplish a task. Also, always keep an eye on your style and use writing techniques suited to a possible subsequent translation .

Opting for Simplified Technical English as a powerful writing tool

Originally developed to make maintenance documentation for aircraft and their components easier to understand for a global audience, ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English (STE) is a controlled language standard. It helps to improve readability and translatability of technical documentation.

Among the syntax rules, note the use of:

Active voice
Simple verb tenses
Simple sentence structure
Term consistency

If you are curious and want to learn more, check out this article about the benefits of STE.

4. Submitting your technical documentation for review

One may be tempted to skip this step, but this is actually a crucial phase. Always submit your draft to the Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). There are two reasons to do this. Firstly, as a technical writer you always need to validate the content of your writing. Secondly, you want your text to be free of errors such as typos or grammar mistakes. Another set of eyes is always great support.

Once your content has been updated with remarks and corrections implemented, you can proceed to the DTP (Desktop Publishing) step. You should carried this out at the very end of the process, to avoid unnecessary reworking of layout and formatting.

Writing technical documentation may be seen as putting together building blocks to shape an effective and coherent structure.

As further reading, I suggest checking out this interesting article about small but useful tips to survive as a technical writer .

Did you like this blog post on how to write technical documentation? Share it on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

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5 Types of Technical Writing

Become a Certified Technical Writer

From detail-oriented technical reports to extensively researched white papers, the examples of technical writing span dozens of industries and operations.

Additionally, this genre of content is so commonplace that we all come across several types of technical documents at every step of our life and career.

It’s an expansive field, filled with countless niches of its own. However, for the sake of clarity, here are the 5 most prevalent types of technical writing that you can adopt as a career. If you’re interested in learning via video, then watch below. Otherwise, skip ahead.

Five Types of Technical Writing in 2024

From detail-oriented technical reports to extensively researched white papers, examples of technical writing span dozens of industries and operations.

Additionally, this genre of content is so commonplace that we all come across several types of technical documents at every step of our life and career.

It’s an expansive field filled with countless niches of its own. However, for the sake of clarity, here are the five most prevalent forms of technical writing that you can adopt as a career.

Medical and Scientific Papers

Technical writing within the medical and science realm comes under the traditional technical writing umbrella.

This was the first example of taking technical information and modifying it to make it understandable for a specific audience.

Researchers use this academic to interpret their findings, organize and condense them into engaging content, and publish it in various journals, newsletters, and online platforms.

The skill requirements for medico-scientific papers include:

Exceptional attention to detail, especially when breaking down high-value experiments and findings
A high level of accuracy when inserting names, dates, citations, etc.
Effective organizational skills, especially when taking all the raw data and organizing it into a user-friendly content form
A flair for authority and credibility that lends itself very well to academics in general

User Manuals and Assistance Guides

User guides are a common form of technical writing that even non-technical professionals encounter.

This type looks to answer specific usage-related questions for consumer products and improve the end-user experience for everyone.

User help guides mean breaking down the product into its constituent parts, explaining how each part functions, and answering questions about each piece’s solutions. Furthermore, it involves answering queries as consumers use the product for an extended period.

If you’re interested in technical writing for user guides and other technical documentation, check out our Technical Writing Certification Course.

Common skill requirements for the technical writing of user guides include:

Thorough knowledge of how to organize instruction manuals into stages and sections based on how the product works
A knack for creating solution-oriented content that perfectly explains how to solve a specific problem
Complete understanding of each product
A direct and no-frills style with clear and concise points and minimal use of fluff or filler content

Product manual or repair manual writers can find jobs with a wide range of employers, from copywriting firms to production companies. However, it’s a somewhat limited field of technical writing, so look for an employer that offers progressive growth when applying for a job in this genre.

Books and Guides by Technical Writers

Writing technical books and long-form guides is different from the previous genre due to the length of the content, its conceptual nature, and the amount of detail they go into.

This type of writing extends a simple user guide. It talks about the intentions and purpose behind the product (usually software products).

Interestingly, even though they are more detailed, technical books have to be written so that any user can comprehend them.

The skill requirements for writing this form of technical documentation include:

The ability to transform complex, jargon-heavy information into simplified and informative content
Complete understanding of the formatting, structure, pacing, and length that’s ideal for these technical documents
Knowledge of when and how to insert visual aids such as graphs, images, and tables to make the content more engaging
Some experience in writing long-form content on a variety of subjects

These books can also take the form of troubleshooting guides for software programs. In this role, they have to account for all the possible problems the program could run into and explain solutions for each one.

Assembly Manuals

Probably the most common form of technical writing in a company’s mechanical maintenance department, assembly and repair manuals are another niche form of technical writing.

This is due to the technical skills required to understand the disassembly and re-assembly process of a specific machine or piece of equipment. Most general repair guides contain a variety of assembly manuals for various types of machinery.

Assembly guides are different from any other form of technical communication because most (if not all) companies require you to have the ability to perform disassembly.

The skill requirements for assembly manuals and guides include:

A theoretical and practical understanding of the equipment and repair processes involved
Experience working with and repairing machinery of a similar type or function
Ability to research (to find better, more efficient disassembly and repair processes)
Extensive knowledge of how production lines work and how to keep the machinery operating optimally

While it’s true that most companies are looking for a technician with writing skills, some accept career writers when they’re willing to learn about processes.

Technical Documents, Reviews, and Reports

Corporate content development contains reviews and reports for stakeholder meetings, proposals, and business pitches.

It’s another versatile form that mixes academic reporting and technical research-based guides. Reports are technical documents that explain the process and outcome of any research, be it scientific or business-centric.

Technical reports come in several forms, such as feasibility reports, primary research reports, business plans and prospectuses, short-form proposals, press releases, case studies, etc.

High-level understanding of the process that’s under focus, as well as how similar processes progress over time
Complete knowledge of the product, as well as past, current, and (proposed) future operations
The ability to communicate in a business-savvy manner while also maintaining an adequate amount of technical know-how in the content
Excellent English language skills with an emphasis on conveying a business message

Technical reports are essential parts of corporate operations. This makes the job quite well-paying in most cases.

Technical Writing Skills in 2024

When it comes to academic skills such as writing and linguistics, there is no substitute for an education that supports the skills.

The same is mostly true for technical writing, with the only caveat being that you also need to be knowledgeable in the actual technical processes.

But simply education and technical knowledge won’t bring you career success as a technical writer in 2024. You need a few more skill pointers to become a great technical writer in this day and age.

Here they are:

Research Skills: The ability to perform highly detailed research is the cornerstone of a successful career. Most technical writing involves some form of research and study before the actual bit. Ensure to develop the ability to research extensively and be highly observant throughout the research to find the most valuable points for your content.
Efficient Planning: Unless you have a complete timeline to develop your technical content, you will need to learn how to manage your research, outlines, content writing, and distribution efficiency. Planning for the content ahead of time or developing a system to wrap up high-level content quickly will help you stick to deadlines without compromising quality.
Observation Skills: Most technical content is long-form and involves many complex data points. Make sure to develop a keen sense of observation which will help you pick valuable data from a sea of random information.
Being Tech-Savvy: Digital ages require knowledge of content development software systems in 2024, especially to develop more high-quality content in a short time. If you’re not already, be sure to take online courses in content writing software systems before applying for a job.

These technical writing skills will help you succeed in your career. Additionally, make sure that this type of content appeals to you as a technical writer and that you’re willing to explore the various sides of it throughout your career.

Final Thoughts

According to the BLS, most technical writers make over six figures a year. When technical writers take home these figures, it makes it one of the best-paying jobs in the professional field of writing and media. Technical writers are desperately needed to make communications clear, and technical writers can involve themselves in many demands to create a technical document or technical documentation.

To ensure that you go above and beyond in your career, find out where your technical marketing communication strengths lie, what technical documentation skills companies value, and apply for jobs accordingly.

If you are new to technical writing, we recommend taking our Technical Writing Certification Course . You will learn the fundamentals of being a technical writer, how to dominate technical writer interviews, and how to stand out as a technical writing candidate.

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Technical Writing 101: What is it and How to Get Started

Technical writing is a specialized form of written communication that aims to make complex concepts understandable and accessible to a specific audience. As a freelancer, understanding and mastering this skill can significantly widen your career prospects. In this post, we’ll explore what technical writing is, why it’s important, and how you can get started. The world of technical writing can seem daunting at first, but with the right guidance and resources, anyone can learn how to effectively communicate complex information in a clear, concise manner.

Unpacking the Concept of Technical Writing

So, what exactly is technical writing? At its core, technical writing is a type of communication that uses language to convey technical or specialized topics in a way that is easy to understand. Think of it as the bridge between complex information and the people who need to understand that information. It’s all about breaking down complex concepts and presenting them in a way that is accessible to a specific audience.

One of the key characteristics of technical writing is its focus on clarity and accuracy. Technical writing is not about showcasing your vocabulary or using flowery language. Instead, it’s about getting straight to the point and providing accurate, useful information. This makes it different from other types of writing, such as creative writing or journalism, which may prioritize storytelling or persuasion.

Technical writing can take many forms, including user manuals, how-to guides, technical reports, white papers, and more. The goal is always the same: to make complex information understandable and usable.

Importance of Technical Writing in Today’s Digital Age

In our increasingly digital world, technical writing has become more important than ever. As technology continues to evolve and become more complex, the need for clear, understandable documentation and guides has increased. Whether it’s a user manual for a new piece of software, a technical report on a scientific study, or a guide to using a new piece of machinery, technical writing plays a crucial role in our society.

Technical writing is particularly important in sectors such as IT, healthcare, and manufacturing. In these industries, where complex machinery or software is common, the need for clear, concise instructions and documentation is paramount. A well-written user manual or guide can make the difference between a product being used correctly and efficiently, or not at all.

Moreover, in today’s digital age, businesses are increasingly relying on technical writers to help communicate their products and services to customers. Whether it’s through online help guides, product descriptions, or instructional videos, technical writers play a key role in helping businesses connect with their customers.

Skills Required for Effective Technical Writing

Technical writing is not just about understanding complex concepts and simplifying them for the audience. It also requires a unique set of skills that differentiate technical writers from other types of writers. In this section, we will discuss the essential skills that you need to develop to become an effective technical writer.

Written Communication Skills

At the core of technical writing is the ability to communicate effectively through written words. But what does this mean in practice? Let’s break it down.

Impeccable grammar: Technical writing is all about precision and clarity. Therefore, having a solid grasp of grammar is paramount. Errors in grammar can lead to confusion and misinterpretation, which is a big no-no in technical writing.

Good sentence structure: It’s not just what you say, but how you say it. A well-structured sentence can convey a complex idea simply and effectively. On the other hand, a poorly constructed sentence can make even a simple concept seem complicated.

Rich vocabulary: A good technical writer has a wide vocabulary at their disposal. This allows them to choose the most precise words to express their ideas, enhancing the clarity and effectiveness of their writing.

Are you confident in your grammar, sentence structure, and vocabulary? If not, don’t worry. These are skills that can be improved with consistent practice and learning.

Understanding of Technical Concepts

As a technical writer, you’ll often be tasked with explaining complex technical concepts to a non-technical audience. This requires a deep understanding of these concepts. But why is this so important?

Firstly, it allows you to break down complex information into simple, digestible chunks. Secondly, it gives you the ability to translate technical jargon into everyday language that your audience can understand. Lastly, it enables you to anticipate potential questions or confusion from your audience and address them proactively in your writing.

Understanding technical concepts doesn’t mean you need to be an expert in every field. Instead, it’s about having the curiosity and willingness to learn about new technologies and concepts, and the ability to understand them at a level that allows you to explain them simply and accurately.

Tools Used by Technical Writers

Technical writing is not just about the skills of the writer. It also involves the use of specific tools that help create, manage, and deliver technical information. Let’s take a look at some of the most commonly used tools in technical writing.

Microsoft Word: This is a staple in the toolkit of most writers, not just technical writers. It offers a wide range of features for creating and formatting documents, making it a versatile tool for many writing tasks.

Google Docs: This is a popular choice for collaborative writing projects. It allows multiple writers to work on a document simultaneously, making it easier to share ideas and make changes in real-time.

Diagramming tools: Diagrams are a common feature in technical documents, used to illustrate processes, systems, and relationships between concepts. Tools like Microsoft Visio, Lucidchart, and Draw.io can help you create clear and effective diagrams.

These are just a few examples of the tools used by technical writers. Depending on your specific needs and the nature of your work, you may also use other specialized software for tasks such as project management, version control, and document design.

Steps to Becoming a Technical Writer

Technical writing can seem intimidating at first, but it’s a skill that can be learned and honed over time. If you’re looking to transition into a career in technical writing, here’s a step-by-step guide to get you started:

1. Get a Degree: Although it’s not always required, having a degree in English, Journalism, Communications, or a related field can give you a leg up. Some technical writers also have degrees in fields like Engineering or Computer Science.

2. Gain Technical Knowledge: Depending on the industry you want to write for, you might need to learn specific technical skills or knowledge. For example, if you’re writing for a software company, you’ll need to understand how the software works.

3. Build Your Portfolio: Start creating samples of your technical writing. This could be anything from instruction manuals to how-to guides. A strong portfolio can show potential employers your writing ability and understanding of technical concepts.

4. Gain Experience: Look for internships or entry-level jobs that involve technical writing. This will help you gain practical experience and make valuable connections in the industry.

5. Keep Learning: The field of technical writing is always evolving. Stay updated with the latest trends and tools in the industry.

Tips for Improving Your Technical Writing Skills

Once you’ve made the decision to become a technical writer, you’ll want to continuously improve your skills. Here are some practical tips and strategies for enhancing your technical writing skills:

Practice Makes Perfect: The more you write, the better you’ll get. Practice writing about different topics and in different formats.
Get Feedback: Don’t be afraid to have others review your work. Constructive criticism can help you identify areas for improvement.
Stay Organized: Good technical writing is clear and easy to follow. Make sure your writing is well-structured and logical.
Keep It Simple: Remember, the goal of technical writing is to make complex information easy to understand. Avoid jargon and keep your language simple and direct.
Keep Learning: Stay updated with the latest trends in the industry. This can help you stay relevant and improve your writing.

The Role of a Technical Writer in Project Management

In the realm of project management, the role of a technical writer is often underestimated. They are the silent heroes, diligently working behind the scenes to ensure smooth and effective communication within the team and with clients. Their contributions range from documenting project requirements to creating user manuals.

Firstly, technical writers play a crucial role in documenting project requirements . They work closely with project managers and stakeholders to understand and articulate the project’s objectives, specifications, and deliverables. This documentation serves as the backbone of the project, providing a clear roadmap for the team and ensuring everyone is on the same page.

Secondly, technical writers are responsible for creating user manuals and guides . These documents are essential for guiding end-users in navigating and utilizing the product or service. A well-written user manual can significantly enhance the user experience and contribute to the product’s success.

A table showing the tasks of a technical writer in project management.

Future Trends in Technical Writing

As we look to the future, several trends are set to shape the field of technical writing. These trends are largely driven by advancements in technology, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

One key trend is the rise of AI and machine learning in technical writing. These technologies are being used to automate routine tasks and improve the efficiency of technical writers. For example, AI can assist in generating content, proofreading, and even translating documents into different languages.

Another trend is the growing demand for interactive and multimedia content . As users increasingly expect engaging and interactive experiences, technical writers will need to adapt by incorporating elements such as videos, graphics, and interactive diagrams into their work.

A list of future trends in technical writing.

AI and Machine Learning: Automating routine tasks and improving efficiency.
Interactive and Multimedia Content: Incorporating engaging elements such as videos and interactive diagrams.
Mobile-First Writing: Prioritizing mobile users by creating content that is easily readable on small screens.
Personalized User Assistance: Using data to deliver personalized content and help to users.
Localization: Adapting content to suit different cultures, languages, and regions.

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Home > Learn More About Technical Writing > 15 Ways to Improve Your Technical Writing in 2024 [Updated]

15 Ways to Improve Your Technical Writing in 2024 [Updated]

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Table of Contents

Do you wish to know the tips that will help your flair for Technical Writing skills? In today’s fast-moving and closely-knit digital environment, it becomes imperative to have solutions to problems and enquiries interpreted in the most basic and stress-free manner.

This is exactly the reason why a Technical Writer plays a crucial role. There is always a big challenge to transform intricate and complicated facts into a simple and accessible piece of information.

Technical Writing is the art and the process of simplifying complex material into a simple and easily understood data.

Technical writing is typically delivered in the field of creating:

Instruction/User manuals
Reference guide
Training course materials
Product manuals
Web-based training
Whitepapers
Annual reports
Product descriptions, etc.

ROLE OF A TECHNICAL WRITER:

In simple terms, it is the responsibility of a Tech Writer to prepare technical documents that are eventually used by the organisation, employees, stakeholders or the end users/ customers. These documents are prepared to bridge the gap of understanding that arises due to the lack of technical knowledge by the non-technical audience.

As stated earlier, the role of a tech writer is inevitably significant from the business point of view. The success of the organisation can be achieved when a technical writer:

Effectively communicates the ideas, observations, views, opinions, suggestions in the logical sequence and technical manner
Successfully conveys the technical information to a non-technical target audience
Uses required tools and technical methods to deliver an effective draft of tech content
Creates reports, presentations and related documents with definite structure and right set of vocabulary
Is a strong source of contact among stakeholders, different team members, department heads, etc.
Is confident of the subject matter that needs strong skills in inferring complicated data in graphs and charts into simple and easy language.
Evaluates the existing and the potential data, paying attention to reuse and sourcing unseen opportunities

Though there are umpteen resources that are easily accessible, it is the responsibility of a Technical Content Writer to deliver authentic and quality data that fulfils the requirements. The tech writers have to collaborate with product/service managers, quality engineers, developers and experts to create a product content that is easier to use.

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Let us discuss a few important tips and tricks that can help you enhance your technical writing skills and make your content an exceptional piece of information.

WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR TECHNICAL WRITING SKILLS

Like any other field, there are tips and tricks by which you can enhance and help you nail down your Technical Writing abilities.

1. Target Audience:

Every time you write a piece of content it is obviously for someone. Likewise, for a technical writer, the first and the foremost step is to identify the target audience. It is always advisable to be empathetic while framing any information that is technical nature to a non-technical audience.

In short, a Technical Writer can deliver the best content he/she keeps himself/herself in the shoes of the targeted audience.

2. Know Your Style:

The style of writing indicates the purpose and the intention of creating the content. The style must be unique in a way that it must capture the attention of the audience. A tech writer must follow certain style guides and standards while writing and designing technical content. APA style guide, Chicago manual of style, oxford manual of style and so on are few examples that could prove to be of great help when deciding upon the particular style to follow. This will not only enhance the effectiveness of the document but also will make things simple to interpret.

3. Establishing Business Contacts:

Though you may have all the required data to get on to building a great piece of content, it is equally important to establish contacts within and outside the structure to derive a crucial and neglected portion of information.

Post Graduate Program in Technical Writing

Strengthen your Writing prowess as you master the art of simplifying Complex Technical details into clear and well-structured documents

This can be very well achieved when you create a strong rapport with the concerned department heads, teams, stakeholders and clients of the business house. One-o-one discussions around the subject can help a tech writer draft even better Technical Content.

One of the important quality of good technical content is to bridge the gap by conveying the technical concepts and aspects to an audience who may or may not have the right knowledge. This is possible only if there is a rhythmic balance between the Technical Writer and the people engaged in the loop.

4. Thorough Knowledge About the Subject:

The next important aspect is to know the subject matter you will be writing about. There is no hard and fast rule that a tech writer must be omniscient. Indeed it is very important to understand the subject in a way that can be well-explained to the reader.

You may not be an expert in the given business, but the role of a technical Writer is to consult someone well-versed in the domain. Of course, it takes extra effort to gather the information, but it becomes mandatory from Technical Content point of view.

5.Create A Suitable Outline / Draft:

Much before you start writing a full-fledged article, it is invariably important to have the skeleton of the content in place that will serve as the strong base or a blueprint of information when it comes to creating the final version of the document. Every step that you take towards writing a piece of technical content you have to imagine your reader accurately to let the subject be easily accessible and just right for your audience.

6. Define Your Task:

After having the rough sketch of how your content must look like, the next step is to define the project itself. At every given stage, right from collection of data till the final output, it requires certain disciplinary measures. This can be achieved by defining every single step individually, clearly and concretely. Remember to define your task in a way

7. Use Simple and Clear Language:

The main aim of technical writing is to deliver the piece of information in the easiest, simple and uncomplicated fashion. Sorted and unambiguous language is the crux of this type of writing. The message must be delivered in the most direct way possible with zero surprises. There is no need of using a high-level polished vocabulary to please your audience. Short and concise sentences will be awarded brownie points. Remember “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

8. Avoid Language of Discrimination or Discomfort:

It is of utmost importance to pay attention to the language used in written communication. A dialect that derives negative meaning or that can prove to be of discriminatory must be avoided. At no given point a tech writer must evoke sentiments of rage, hatred or unfairness in the minds of the reader. As any written form of the document is considered as an authentic piece of evidence in the eyes of law.

9. Select Right Words :

Words play a predominant role in the art of technical writing. Choosing the right words in the right sequence not only does it grabs the attention of the reader but also increase their engagement level in the long run. Some words reflect strength and zeal. Some could be dull and weak and some could fall in different poles of extreme. A smart technical writer will know how to play around with words of different nature in the best possible way.

10. Short Sentences and Short Words:

Technical Writing isn’t about writing essays and saga. It is all about delivering the message most concisely and effectively. This can be achieved by using right words that are short, familiar and belong to the global language. There is no need for beating around the bush or using the camouflaged verb in writing style. Synonyms for a single word can vary when used in a different context.

A good technical writer will pay attention to the usage of words which carry more than one emotions or meaning. Usage of hard and complex words will not only confuse the reader but also will deviate them from reading any further.

11. Use Active Voice:

As a technical writer, you must keep in mind that using active voice in your writing can create a great impact and a positive impression in the minds of the audience. It makes the content more dynamic and pleasing. Also, this a simple trick that eliminates unnecessary words or actions.

12. Cite relevant Examples:

It is always a better idea to back your writing by quoting good and relevant examples, references, and necessary statistics along with your content. This technique will certainly help you in realistically describing the subject matter. It can also prove to be a great way to address the potential problems that may arise in the future.

13. Embrace the power of visuals:

Graphs and visuals are a brilliant way to establish a strong connection between the reader and the content. There are many such topics in Technical writing which can be enhanced by incorporating figures, visuals, graphs, etc. However, you cannot compromise on the content in exchange for visuals. Ensure to stick to strong content and not underline the focus on visuals.

14. Revise and Edit:

This is the basic thumb rule that is applied to all forms of writing and literary work and not just restricted to Technical Writing alone. No content comes perfectly at the very first go. It does require certain corrections, editions, deletions, inclusions to make the piece of creating flawless and appealing.

Revision and proofreading for spell check, punctuations, syntax, language, diction, alignment, paragraph design, etc. are a few of the fundamentals that you as a technical writer have to take care of. This is necessary to ensure your content is consistent and serves the main motive. If need be you could leverage help from people who have expertise in this domain to support you in fixing this part.

15. Be a Student of This Craft:

You may be a grandmaster or an expert in the technical writing field, but there is always a scope for improvement. You are never too good or too old enough to grasp new concepts and gauge different techniques. This ultimately benefits you as a technical writer and build a niche for yourself. Studying, reading and writing more will only help you to become sharper and better.

Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on- Louis L’Amour

HOW TO BECOME A TECHNICAL WRITER?

Technical Writing is a professional Certification course and depends solely upon the interest and abilities inclined towards strong writing skills. You need sheer practice, patience and consistency to excel in this Technical Writing field.

However, you need the right guidance and accurate training to not only polish your skills but also to upskill yourself with the latest tools and techniques used in the current industry. There are several institutes and online courses that will help you gain the right learnings and expertise.

HENRY HARVIN EDUCATION

Henry Harvin Education is one of the pioneers and chief training institute that offers several courses through online and traditional classroom methods. The Technical Writing course offered by Henry Harvin Academy is one of the best accredited in the current training sector. The course not only encourages you to develop niche writing skills but also helps you understand and analyse the wide range of practices involved in the field of Technical Content Writing .

Course Structure:

The course offers intensive 24 hours of online training and 24 hours of live online brush-up sessions along with solid 50 hours of e-learning modules
You will learn to enhance your writing skills on the technical front and develop skills to decode technical aspects easily
Improvise on your analytical and problem-solving skills
Get familiar with various tools used in the technical writing field
Hands-on experience on analysing and studying various research papers, journals and actual case studies
The course is driven by well-informed and highly skilled trainers having years of experience and tremendous knowledge about this field
You will get to experience the real-time industrial tasks and case studies during the training period
Apart from the online classes you also get 1-year membership offering substantial benefits to stay connected with the academy and other members
After completing the course, you will earn a globally recognised Hallmark CTRW Certificate of your name.

Other Courses Provided by Henry Harvin :

Content Writing Training Course
Copywriting Course
Medical Coding Course

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Cities in India where Henry Harvin Technical Writing Courses are provided:

Delhi , Noida , Bangalore , Lucknow , Mumbai , Pune , Nagpur , Jaipur

Technical Writing is one of the neglected streams but carries great potential in the current and the coming years. The scope and the prospects of technical writing are tremendous in various fields such as economics, business, sciences, engineering, IT and so on. All you need to focus on is the right skill set and acquiring a high-quality and recognized certification that will enable you to open the gates of several opportunities in this arena. Needless to say, you need to continue reading and writing forever.

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Top 5 Tips to Enhance Your Technical Writing Skills

Technical writing requires high levels of skill in research, visualization, and the ability to connect with a wide variety of audiences.

Technical writing, as the name suggests, is a job that requires high levels of skill in research, visualization, and the ability to connect with a wide variety of audiences via their words. It requires that a writer use clear, concise words to make their point so that even the laypeople can easily understand the point being made.

And if the quality of the written content is not up to the mark, readers will fail to understand the complex topics the writer is trying to explain. That would result in the audience failing to find value in your content, which could harm your company’s domain authority.

So how can you, as a technical writer, ensure that you produce highly researched, well-written pieces of content every time? Content that fits the brief, and can connect with the target audience to solve their need?

Let’s find out.

What does a technical writer do?

Technical writing is a difficult task. The writers are tasked with making a complex topic simpler so that the masses can understand it easily. That requires a lot of research, as the writer needs to understand the topic themselves before simplifying it for the audience.

Now, the reason technical writing is necessary is that most of the time, products created by those with technical expertise often have end-users who do not have that same level of expertise. This is where someone needs to act as a bridge between the two sides of the coin. By simplifying the topic, you end up establishing a technical authority in that domain, which in turn boosts trust among your audience.

Let’s suppose you buy a car, which is created by top automotive engineers at the company. Yet, the vast majority of users are those who have no idea about the inner workings of that car but have to drive it every day. But to get the most out of that car, they need to understand a few of its basic functionalities. And that is where the car’s user manual comes in.

That user manual is a piece of technical writing that explains the car’s functions in a user-centric manner, making it easy to operate those features without getting into the technicalities. That is what a professional technical writer has to do – make complex topics simpler for their audience.

5 tips to improve your technical writing skills

Now, if you want to improve the impact of your technical writing skills, there are ways to ensure that your content connects with your audience better. Listed below are five of the best tips for improving your technical writing expertise.

Tip #1: Know Your Target Audience

No matter the type of writing you do, knowing your audience is always the first step. That is because every writer writes for a purpose. They want to reach and connect with their audience. But how would you connect with them, if you do not know who they are, or what they like?

By identifying your target audience, you ensure that your content is optimized for those readers. That means using the tone and style that suits them better, as well as structuring your content in a way that connects with them better, by relating to the problems they face in their daily lives.

Tip #2: Establish a Writing Style and Stick to It

Next, establishing a writing style is all about finding the style of structuring and creating content that suits your audience’s needs. It should grab the attention, without taking away from the content itself. For example, the style of writing for a tech writer will not be the same as say, that of a marketing writer. Moreover, different structuring style guides, like APA, Chicago, Oxford, and more will also affect your style of writing.

Once you find the style of writing that suits your niche, stick to it. It will surely enhance the impact of your technical content.

Tip #3: Use Simple Language. Avoid Jargon Unless Necessary

As the purpose of technical content writing is to ensure that your audience understands a complex topic more simply, it is understandable that using simple language would be intrinsic to its success. Ambiguous language, rare words, unknown turns of phrases, or even the use of technical jargon, can affect how your content is perceived. Moreover, it will also affect how the number of users who will be able to understand your topic.

Therefore, keep it short and simple, as much as you can.

Tip #4: Avoid Long Winded Sentences and Paragraphs. Keep It Short

Simplicity is the key. Long sentences and paragraphs tend to lose the audience’s interest, which can reduce the effectiveness of your technical content. One of the best ways to ensure that doesn’t happen is to reduce the fluff in writing .

Keep your content to the point. Your sentences should be short, and your paragraphs should be no longer than 2-3 sentences. That is how you can ensure that your point gets across successfully.

Tip #5: Cite Your References, and Use Credible Ones to Make Your Point

The strength of good technical content lies in its credibility and authenticity. And the best way to prove that your content has that is to use high-quality relevant sources to corroborate your content. Now, these references can be in the form of additional resources that go into detail about certain parts of your topics. They could also be visual aids like infographics, or even statistics that prove or clarify a point you made in your content.

Overall, it is always a good idea to add relevant citations and references to your content.

Technical content writing is a specialized skill and one that requires a lot of attention to detail. But if you fail to address your audience’s needs, despite high-quality content, and are unable to help solve their problem, your content will fail to have the desired impact. And the tips above can help you with that.

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Reviewed by Amine Oudghiri-Otmani, Instructor, Marshall University on 10/15/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This text offers a good amount of instruction (though at times limited) underlying effective workplace and technical writing/communication. Having personally examined a number of technical writing materials, this is by far one of the very few texts that incorporate a section about texting. Freshman students will benefit from this introductory-level text and will appreciate the authors' emphasis on conventional technical documents including emails, letters, memos, reports, and proposals. The textbook, however, may not satisfy the needs of students in advanced technical writing courses looking for guidance on complex documents beyond the conventional ones identified here. Visual representation of information could be improved, and the organization of chapters could be more strategic. A separate section about reports with important introductory information, for instance, could precede the progress reports and technical reports sections.

Content Accuracy rating: 2

A full citation guide is not provided, which may not reflect well on the credibility of the authors and/or the accuracy of the information provided. The attribution information at the end of each chapter is the only reference provided, contradicting the authors' recommendation to support one's writing with material from outside research.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Although the materials are relevant to orthodox technical writing contexts, the text could benefit from a separate section that introduces writing in the digital world to reflect the evolving nature and changing landscape of technical communication. As part of the additional section, for instance, the authors could discuss potential similarities/differences between documents produced traditionally (e.g., pencil and paper, in addition to those developed by means of regular Word processor) and those produced digitally using various contemporary media. Similarities and/or differences could be discussed in light of prose and rhetorical strategies, among others.

Clarity rating: 5

The authors use simple, clear, and easy-to-understand prose. After all, sentence structure in technical writing is expected to be short, concise, and to the point. This text fits under this category of direct and unambiguous language. In addition to the authors identifying and covering essential technical terminology, the reader will appreciate the combination of descriptive (i.e., regular declarative) and direct (i.e., imperative, instructional) language. The memo, for instance, "has a header that clearly indicates who sent it and who the intended recipients are," and the reader is asked to "always consider the audience and their needs when preparing a memo."

Consistency rating: 4

Consistency is off a few times throughout the text. At the beginning of the first chapter, "Professional Communications," for instance, the authors write, "From text messages to reports, how you represent yourself with the written word counts." In this first chapter, however, only texting, emails, memos, and letters are discussed. Reports are mentioned only briefly under the cover letter to a technical report section, but no prior background about reports is provided.

Modularity rating: 5

Consistent use of headers and special highlights (e.g., boldface, etc.) helps chapter sub-sections and other important information stand out. The headings and sub-headings minimize potential distractions or other inconsistencies in modular presentation of chapter content.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

Chapter organization throughout the text consists of introduction and discussion. A conclusion in which a general, targeted final reflection is provided, however, is missing. Although the same chapter structure is used throughout the text, which will help keep the reader focused as they navigate subsequent chapter content, the authors could discuss chapter presentation, structure, and framework prior to the first chapter. The introduction section could benefit from a few sentences previewing this across-the-board structure.

Chapter lineup could also be more strategic. The chapter "Ethics in Technical Writing," for instance, could go first before "Information Literacy" and "Citations and Plagiarism."

Interface rating: 4

Readers may be distracted by the number of blank pages at the end of chapters. Readers looking to print individual chapters with ample text on each page (or those simply interested in saving trees by minimizing the number of pages printed in multiple jobs) may be disappointed. Text navigation and individual chapter selection, however, are made easy thanks to the hyperlink attached to each line/item under "Contents." Readers looking to go to a specific chapter do not need to engage in much scrolling and are given the opportunity to jump straight to the specific chapter or chapter sub-section by clicking the link.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

No grammar errors have been detected. The authors' occasional use of the "conversational" tone may not be an issue, especially in terms of deciding whether the language matches the universal, agreed-upon conventions of technical writing. The textbook being an introduction to technical writing is meant to provide a general overview of the field, and technicality at the clause level is not required. The latter is expected to be a feature of advanced-level texts. The authors, however, could consider adding a separate section that discusses style and tone (in addition to orthodox grammar/sentence structure error patterns like splices, fragments, etc.). That the language used in the text may not match the conventions of technical writing - in terms of style and tone - could also be emphasized.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Chapter 13, "Communicating Across Cultures," introduces the reader to the importance of considering the variety of cultures and culture uniqueness (and peculiarity) in technical communication, which I believe does the job. Advanced-level texts may delve deeper into the requisite component of culture and culture sensitivity in both drafting certain technical documents and deciding on the style/tone to be used, context dependent. This textbook subscribes to the general/introductory category in this (i.e., discussion of culture) respect.

Reviewed by Sylvia Hayes, English Instructor, Midlands Technical College on 7/26/21

This book is concise and covers an array of Technical Communication topics and genres. This text provides flexibility in the fact that it focuses on Technical Communication for a more generalized audience and therefore this would work well as a Technical Communications text for a First-Year Writing course at a 2 or 4-year college. The organization of the section is not very logical, luckily most instructors do not use textbook chapters in order. The text could use more examples for students in the medical and legal fields. It could use more visual support within the chapters.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The information presented in this text is accurate, error-free, and unbiased; however, there are no references to original sources for most of the content.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content of this text is written so students can use the information in many different technical communication settings.

Clarity rating: 4

The text is clear, the prose is accessible and it defines and provides adequate context for concepts college-level students may find unfamiliar. There are multiple instances of the text directing you to a hyperlink to another resource that explains the concept in more depth. However, the text does not model the level of clarity necessary for technical communication. There are various sections that are underdeveloped and need more graphics and examples.

Consistency rating: 3

Due to the sheer number of contributing authors, it is hard to create a consistent framework for the chapters. They each seem to be designed by the separate contributors in ways that make sense to them and are not uniform to the book. In terms of terminology, the text is consistent.

Modularity rating: 3

This text is broken up into sections and subsections, that can be assigned at different points within a course. As the organization of the chapters is chaotic, I believe most instructors would have to move sections around as assign them individually instead of starting at chapter 1 and working through the textbook.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 1

The organization of chapters is confusing. Why are citations in between Proposals and Progress Reports? Chapters refer to students learning of concepts found later in the textbook.

Interface rating: 2

Not all sections are set up the same, which makes it harder to navigate and find information. In some versions of the text, you can't see the graphics. You cannot search the text using normal search indicators "AND," "NOT," etc. this makes searching this text much more difficult than some others. Why are there so many blank pages in the PDF, if someone was to print the text they would waste about 1/4 of the pages.

Grammatical Errors rating: 3

There weren't any noticeable grammatical errors. The sentence structure is varied, however, there were some long, wordy, confusing sentences. The tone is very casual and not professional.

Cultural Relevance rating: 3

There is no culturally insensitive or offensive language in the text, however, the text is not inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds in its examples or images.

Reviewed by Mary Larsen, Instructor, Pittsburg State University on 5/14/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This textbook highlights important components of technical writing, including various forms of technical writing in the workplace and also approaches to audience analysis, graphics, and ethics within the writing of these documents. This text also includes information about resumes and employment, which is very applicable to technical writing and provides readers with a dual layer of content.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Content within this text is accurate and mostly error-free. The content is based off of multiple authors rather than one single-viewpoint, which provides additional insights into topics versus only one limited view. Content is cited and derived from David McMurrey, who has experience and a plethora of knowledge in all aspects of technical writing.

The text is relevant to writing in the workplace as it covers aspects of "netiquette," which is something technical writers will encounter more and more as workplace functions are moved more to online formats. The formats covered are also frequently used forms of communication in the workplace, such as email, letters, memos, proposals etc. This provides a large scope of relevant documents that readers could encounter when writing in the workplace.

This text is written in plain language and easy to read. Content is sectioned off pretty well for easier readability and there were few, if any, areas of jargon or overly technical language. Tips are provided in various sections that assist readers in actually applying the content.

Consistency rating: 5

How text and visuals are presented and the sense of organization of various chapters and sections are all consistently presented within.

Modularity rating: 4

Subheadings are used within for easier readability; however, content is text-heavy at times. Content jumps around some, but is otherwise organized into a logical progression of points (such as discussing audience and types of documents in the beginning and saving design and employment content for later in the text).

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization follows a logical progression of ideas and concepts that would be presented within a technical writing course. The Table of Contents includes easily recognized sections and page numbers and each new section is noted at the top of the page. At times the images presented conflict with the text and spacing on pages, but is otherwise easy to attribute to the content pertaining to the image.

Interface rating: 5

Some of the images / videos are pixelated. The textbook includes links to videos and images that further touch upon the concepts of a chapter, which is very helpful and engaging. Images link to direct PDF files for easier access of a document. Seems to be some unnecessary space left on pages or between section changes.

Text is mostly free of grammatical errors, although a few minor grammar mistakes were present. For example, "insure" is used instead of "ensure" in Section 3.7.

Chapter 13 of the text is "Communication Across Cultures," which lends to its response to cultural sensitivity. The text seems to keep in mind readers of various races and backgrounds and uses relevant pop culture references that are inclusive. If anything, the textbook could incorporate aspects of gender in relation to technical writing in the workplace.

This textbook covers most all of the content I currently use in my own technical / professional writing courses and I am considering adopting this textbook in future courses that I teach.

Reviewed by Bjorn Smars, Career Instructor, University of Oregon on 7/2/20

As far as I can tell, this textbook does not include an index or glossary. However, each chapter is broken into separate sections with descriptive titles and headings, so navigating to specific concepts and ideas is not difficult without the use of an index. My only complaint about this text, at least in regards to its comprehensiveness, is that many of the sections or pages are underdeveloped or do not contain sufficient explanation and/or examples to illustrate important concepts. For example, the chapter on communicating across cultures provides useful tips that students can use to think critically about cross-cultural communication, but these suggestions are limited in that they are designed to apply broadly to most situations in which cross-cultural communication occurs and therefore do not offer clear guidelines or practical strategies for students to learn about and identify a particular culture's communication norms.

As far as I can tell, the information presented in this text is accurate, error-free, and unbiased. The purpose of this textbook is to serve as an introduction to technical writing, and as such is designed to provide students with practical strategies for engaging in effective technical communication.

As I mentioned in an earlier comment, most of the content in this textbook is written in such a way that it can be applied practically and broadly to a variety of situations in which students may find the need to engage in technical writing and/or communication. The focus is more on providing practical strategies and helping students develop critical thinking skills than it is about using a particular software.

The prose is clear and accessible to college-level readers, and unfamiliar concepts are either defined in-text by the textbook's authors or via hyperlink to another source. For example, in chapter "13.2 Understanding Cultural Context," the authors provide a link to a YouTube video that explains the differences between high-context and low-context cultures in more depth.

The textbook uses consistent terminology and frameworks throughout.

As I mentioned in an earlier comment, the organization of the textbook is easy to navigate and understand. Each chapter is broken into separate sections with descriptive titles and headings. My only complaint is that there is some inconsistency between the lengths of each chapter's subsections. Some sections are very short (150-300 words max) while others are much longer, ranging in the 2,000-3,000 word range. That said, each section is clearly labeled, and the headings are highly descriptive.

See previous comment.

Each chapter's subsection has navigational arrows that allow the reader to move on to the next section easily, and the table of contents is easily accessible on every page. However, locating the table of contents may not be intuitive for some students, and some students may not know how to navigate through each chapter's subsections.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not notice any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

As I mentioned in an earlier comment, this text could provide more examples to help students better understand cultural differences in terms of communication. More examples that are relevant to students attending one of Oregon's many colleges or universities would help to illustrate these cultural differences and provide students with a practical, real-world strategies for engaging with their peers, professors, and other folks from other cultures and/or regions.

Overall, I found this textbook very useful, though I had to supplement much of the information either with links to other sources or with material I developed personally. It's a useful and accessible introduction to technical writing for most undergraduate students, but it is not a comprehensive document and therefore may require the instructor to provide additional information or resources.

Reviewed by Elizabeth Aydelott, Part-Time Instructor, Lane Community College on 6/26/20

This text covers almost every topic that I would cover in a Technical Writing Class for generalized studies. A class geared toward a specific aspect of the field - engineering or a medical field, for example - would need to add material. This text... read more

The information is accurate, the citation guide up-to-date, and most material is relevant to any aspect of the field.

The content is almost all up-to-date. I would suggest adding a section on conference calls in the chapter on Professional Communications. That format has its own specific netiquette rules, ethics, and audience considerations. And conference calls, in a variety of formats, are increasingly essential to the working life.

Clear, common sense prose. The beginning of each chapter should probably be titled "Overview" or something similar, perhaps with a brief outline, for more clarity.

The book's structure changes with each format. I suggest that the instructor designate a preferred version for the class. Within the text, however, it becomes fairly easy to navigate through the material.

This text would be easy to assign in appropriate chunks for the students.

The text has a logical order, but I would assign the last chapters first since I usually begin with employment application materials and then cultural awareness almost immediately afterwards.

Interface is fairly straightforward and clear. Some of the videos, particularly in the beginning, are a bit referential to a specific course rather than to the topic in general.

Grammar has no problem. I wish, though, that a general chapter on grammar was included for the students.

I really appreciated the chapter on Communicating Across Cultures, but I wish it had been included earlier in the book. Perhaps a reference to Cultural Literacy within the chapter on Audience.

I'm confused about why the Open Textbook Library lists the book with only one author instead of the seven listed in the book itself.

Reviewed by Christopher Schott, Assistant Teaching Professor, University of Missouri - St. Louis on 4/23/20

This book really does cover a great deal of ground. However, I found the pacing and the organization of the section to be a little sporadic, especially if the book were to be read linearly by students. This may not be a serious concern as, especially in a digital format, the book can be navigated easily from topic to topic. Many chapters are short (some are quite detailed, though), which can be a real asset, but the lack of technical writing theory might be a concern for instructors looking to balance practice with understanding approach. While the book does cover a great of texts that are useful for students studying engineering and computer science, it may provide fewer examples and cover less in terms of students looking for technical communication instruction in medical fields, journals, legal fields. Another issue, when it comes to comprehensiveness, is the lacking of exercises and assignments. For my own teaching, this is not an issue (I try to craft assignments that fit the culture of my students' academic programs), but I could see it limiting the use of this book for other professors who would like corresponding assignments and readings.

As a reader, this book seems unbiased to me. That said, there are some prescriptive outlooks on crafting documents that may lead a reader to believe there is a one-size-fits-all way to compose a text. For example, there is a recommendation that emails are limited to three paragraphs, which is a very narrow view of that genre (shouldn't it depend on the rhetorical context, audience, etc.?). Overall, the content in the book appears accurate, even if a little prescriptive at times. However, this can be remedied through instruction from the professor.

The information that is presented in this book is very similar (and in some cases, exactly the same) as the information I've been teaching for the ten years I've been teaching technical communication. Some concepts in this course, such as audience, purpose, tone, precision--these will forever be touchstones of any professional writing course, technical writing is no exception. I very much am happy to see a chapter on information literacy, which is honestly and unfortunately absent from a surprising amount of existing (and expensive) technical writing textbooks. Some of the information does seem to not work (some links, for example), which may hurt longevity, but the authors do note this might be a possibility when using the book.

This book is clear. As a technical communication text, I would hope it would be and I was happy to see the authors not utilize jargon, instead stick to very explicitly presented ideas, sentence structure, and offering simple language that will appeal to readers, make them feel smart, all while retaining the level of academic rigor a text like this needs.

The chapters in this book are all formatted relatively the same. This offers readers a consistent and predictive reading experience (which, in itself, is a valuable technical communication skill). Each chapter starts with a very useful introduction, leading nicely into the rest of the chapter. There are, at times, inconsistencies in how thoroughly topics are treated and covered, but that is to be expected with many textbooks.

This text seems to be designed for purposeful fragmentation in a course. By this, I mean that the text does not have to be read linearly to be useful for students. In fact, and this is something the authors may have had in mind when writing, but most textbooks are not read and interacted with linearly anyway. Chapters are skipped, brought back, and revisited. I think this is just fine and, in many ways, provides a more fruitful reading experience.

Along with the previous idea of Modularity, I do not think the text is perfectly organized. One could argue that a textbook should move from more simple to more complex concepts. However, I disagree and do not think this needs to be the case. Instead, while the chapters here might seem a bit out of order in terms of their "difficulty," to do seem to be ordered nicely in terms of some theoretical understanding (though, very little) into more genre-based writing. Because the text can function in ways that benefit the class, this is not an issue.

The book is incredibly easy to navigate and use. Some links are broken, which can be frustrating, but it doesn't distract from the usefulness of the book overall.

I did not notice any grammar and mechanical errors in the text.

Despite an opening comment in the Introduction that claims students will learn to write "in such a way that even Grandad can understand," a which is a bit insulting to grandpas everywhere (it's ageist), the book seems to be culturally respectful and appropriate. I am a big fan of the cultural sensitivity section in the book, which I think is very carefully and thoughtfully presented to readers. There are topics that can be included that were not. In technical communication, it's important to remember that standards are always changing in business and this will undoubtedly shift the way professionals communicate, interact, and write. For example, a section on language inclusivity would be useful.

I'm grateful for this book. The authors have really put together a text that is useful in terms of what it can do in different kinds of technical communication classroom. I've seen many different kinds of technical writing courses and they are all taught differently. It seems this book has the unique ability to fit many different kinds of teaching styles, learning environments, and student abilities--and the book's design and functionality allows for professors to be very malleable in their pedagogy.

Reviewed by Brian Ballentine, Professor, West Virginia University on 4/20/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 2 see less

The book is being reviewed the book in the web PDF format. At least one other reviewer has noted that there are inconsistency issues across various formats in which the book is offered. The web PDF format functions as expected in Acrobat reader with the sidebar thumbnails and toc providing hyperlinks to specific pages and sections. This format does not have a much-needed index or glossary. The book does not have the same comprehensive content that a student would find in one of the large, mainstream, and admittedly costly technical communication texts by authors like Markel and Selber, Lannon and Gurak, or Anderson. There isn't enough or any coverage on important topics like instruction sets, technical procedures or definitions, user experience testing (including testing instruction sets and other technical documentation), and oral presentations. Documents like instruction sets are mentioned but only in passing. E.g., "Examples are one of the most powerful ways to connect with audiences, particularly in instructions" (2.3). There is content on preparing PPT slides but no content on giving a presentation.

The content does not cite original sources. Each chapter and even sub-section has author attributions for the book itself but rarely does it reference external sources. This becomes particularly obvious for writing instructors in parts of the book like chapter 14 that contend with genre, genre analysis, and genre systems but with no references to the writing scholars we attribute to genre studies (Miller, Bawarshi, Russell). This is not to say that the content is automatically inaccurate but one of the points the authors themselves make about the need to cite sources is the importance of using those sources to build confidence in the audience.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 1

The book opens with content on texting and email but then largely abandons digital communication platforms. Again, in larger technical communication textbooks instructors would expect to find chapters dedicated to "blogs, wikis, and web pages" and "social media" platforms as in offerings by Lannon and Gurak. A more contemporary text would no doubt include online collaborative tools and meeting platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams. The recommendation here would be to create a separate chapter or chapters dedicated to technology platforms with the idea that it would be easier to update in the future.

Clarity rating: 2

The writing is more conversational than professional. The book does not model the level of clarity needed for technical writers. E.g., section 9.2 on "Presentation of Information" begins with a longer paragraph that attempts to summarize the space shuttle Challenger disaster as an example of why clear communication is important. The textbook authors write: "Possibly the engineers were just poor writers; possibly they did not consider their audience; or possibly they did not want to look bad and therefore emphasized all the things that were right with the Challenger. (Incidentally, the O rings had worked fine for several launches.)" Edward Tufte's now famous case study of the Challenger contradicts this summary. The rocket company and its engineers did indeed make a no launch recommendation (their first in 12 years) precisely because they had data showing the O-rings failed in cold temperatures. It is moments like these in the textbook that give me pause.

Consistency rating: 2

The multiple authors on this textbook likely pose challenges for creating consistency across the project. For example, in the chapter dedicated to Proposals, the first section is titled "Some preliminaries" and it offers a narrative overview of proposals and the roles they may play. In the chapter dedicated to "Progress Reports," the first section offers "functions and contents of progress reports" that has just two bullet lists. Students like to become acquainted with a consistent format across a book's chapters so they know where to find answers/resources that they need, regardless of the topic.

The textbook does contain self-referential content but overall the chapters could be used in a modular fashion to supplement other learning materials/readings in a technical writing course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 2

Even if the textbook was designed to be modular, it is still prepared and presented in a specific order (with linked toc in the PDF version). Concepts of genre and genre analysis are presented as fundamental to understanding the writing process yet they come at the end of the text. Audience analysis comes much earlier (chapter 2) but not before texts, emails, and netiquette. Proposals are in chapter 3 but information literacy, including instruction on how to begin research for a proposal isn't until chapter 4. Organizing a textbook toc must be incredibly challenging but there are many models out there that overcome some of these organizational challenges.

Interface rating: 3

The PDF version of the textbook works as expected in terms of the links in the toc and the thumbnails visible in Acrobat. It can be challenging to orient yourself in the text especially because there are many pages with minimal content. The PDF version has 242 pages but I would recommend to students that they only print selectively as many pages are blank.

Despite having many authors (and some open source content), the book does not have an abundance of grammatical errors. As mentioned before, the more casual tone of the textbook does not help with modeling technical and professional communication. There are grammatical issues (or perhaps more stylistic issues) that could be edited. E.g., the book uses the opening phrase, "In other words..." ten times throughout the book. Overall, though, the book scores high in the grammatical category.

Chapter 13 is dedicated to "Communicating Across Cultures" and offers students an overview of "culture" as a term as well as some important guidance on global communication. The book does break some of its own advice in these sections with references to authors with no attribution. E.g., "Geert Hofstede views culture as consisting of mental programs, calling it softwares of the mind, meaning each person 'carries within him or herself patterns of thinking, feeling, and potential acting which were learned throughout their lifetime.'” This chapter could make more specific references to technical communication and globalization. A longer paragraph in 13.4 on intercultural communication uses sheep as an example when there are so many ways to talk about the importance of good technical writing in support of technical products and services when they go global.

I would like to thank all of the authors as well as David McMurrey for their efforts in writing and editing this open source textbook. I will likely use chapters or sections to supplement other course materials in an effort to save students money on textbook costs. It may be possible to pair chapters from this textbook with one of the smaller "handbooks" on technical communication out there. While the ratings here aren't overly high, the standard of comparison was challenging. I am looking for options to supplant one of the large, mainstream technical communication textbooks and that is a high bar.

Reviewed by Lars Soderlund, Associate Professor of English, Western Oregon University on 3/7/19

The book has a strong balance of topics. In addition to the mix of genres that it discusses, the book is also effective in its coverage of different aspects of writing such as audience, context, ethics, etc. read more

The book contains no inaccuracies as far as I could tell, nor any political or social bias.

The book is relevant in a way that seems sustainable. It is not at the cutting edge of technical writing technologies or software, but it is the sort of book that would have (and probably has) helped students a decade ago and will still be useful in another decade owing to its coverage of general topics and its emphasis on writing fundamentals.

The book is extremely easy to read, and should not hold any students back.

The book's format changes occasionally, probably owing to the various authors involved, but it is not especially noticable and does not affect the book in a negative way.

The book seems to have been designed for modular use, and indeed that is how I plan to use it in my future classes. The way that the book starts with a quick reference guide to genres and then moves into the big-picture writing theory is evidence that the writers want the book to be immediately useful.

The book's organization seems maximally effective for teachers and students. As I mentioned above, the book starts by covering genres with relative swiftness, then it digs into essential writing topics, and then it covers larger genres in more detail. It ends with a section on "Thinking About Writing" that is pretty clearly designed for more advanced readers, and I think that's an effective choice.

The book was extremely easy to navigate and to use.

The book is very well-written and contains no grammatical errors.

The book is fairly dry, and so I did not notice cultural issues that might be of note.

The book is very good, and I look forward to using it.

But I do want to say that although above the book got 5-stars across the board, I'm not sure if I would give it a perfect review if I were to rate it. Basically, I find that students seem to flourish when a class (and a textbook) regularly comes back to explicitly stated themes, and the book didn't necessarily have those. They were there (audience, genre, etc.), but they weren't really up-played in a way that students will definitely get.

Still, again, this is a very strong book and I plan to redesign my future Technical Writing class with it.

Reviewed by Kathryn Northcut, Professor, Missouri University of Science and Technology on 1/13/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 1 see less

The book is offered in various formats, and they aren't parallel. The organization of chapters in the web-native version defies logic. The expandable table is tricky to get used to because the hyperlink from the Chapter title goes to the chapter but the arrow on the right shows the subsections. It's hard to remember where you are as you navigate. I did not locate a glossary or index, and the book is not fully searchable in the web-native version because all sections can't be expanded onto one screen.

Content Accuracy rating: 1

Almost none of the content has references to original sources, and far too little theory is made explicit. Too much of the writing is chatty and conversational to provide a model of technical writing for university students.

The first section includes both platforms and genres. However, currently relevant platforms like Twitter are excluded from this section. Mixing platforms and genres seems odd logically. Later chapters jump between concepts and genres with no obvious logic to the order.

The style is accessible but not professional. The writing attempts to be engaging but is not rich enough in evidence, references, or good, contemporary examples for university students.

Consistency rating: 1

Unfortunately, the book consistently raises questions about whether these authors/editors have worked in technical contexts recently. Their advice seems to be off-base, including comparing omitting a conclusion to slamming down a phone on a caller. In fact, much professional writing starts with an abstract, executive summary, or cover sheet that obviates the need for a conclusion. The worst thing we can do in much scientific and technical discourse is build suspense and save the point, answer, or recommendations to the end. The way this book is designed and written does not seem to engage the exigencies of technical writing as I'm familiar with them. Other textbooks, whether consistent or not, provide better examples of practices from many industries to help prepare students from writing after college. This textbook focuses not just on the college experience, but on the Central Oregon Community College experience to the exclusion of other contexts.

Modularity rating: 2

The text does not contain modules that stand independently, despite appearing at the outset to be designed that way. Many phrases such as "as seen in the last section," make it difficult for students to follow what's happening. The videos address students in a single section writing a specific assignment and the content of the videos is not transferable to other contexts. The videos I viewed would not work in my courses, ever. Further, the textbook refers constantly to watered-down assignments that I would not assign. In my courses, students DO write a full proposal, not just an academic topic proposal. No one in industry writes topic proposals, so I would not teach that genre in my technical writing course. In fact, this textbook constantly focuses on the specific introductory assignments and methods at Central Oregon Community College, so a more ambitious, advanced curriculum would directly contradict the information in the textbook. If you wanted to teach your students to write proposals, you would be better off with online examples of successful proposals and top-of-the-head commentary than this textbook.

The organization of the textbook appears to be clear and clean, but gets difficult to manage once specific questions are asked, such as, "how should I assign readings to prepare my students for specific assignments?" One of my specializations is teaching proposals. This book doesn't handle proposal writing in a way that fits what I know of proposal writing outside of essay topic proposals used in composition courses. Why is information on Citations and Plagiarism after the chapter on proposals? Professional and academic proposals are robust documents which cite sources, so that background information would be useful earlier. Despite the textbook attempting to be modular, numbering chapters does suggest that there is a logic to the order. Non-numbered TOC might be a solution to this problem. In this book, short chapters are split up into tiny subparts, and navigation between them is tricky in the web-native version. Other Technical Writing/Communication textbooks, from Burnett's 2005 Technical Communication 5th Ed., to the current editions of Markel (and Selber) and Lannon (and Gurak) are superior in terms of internal logic, as is the Engineering Communication Manual (House et al) if the authors/editors need better examples of structure.

Interface rating: 1

I found the design appealing initially. Using it was confusing and there are many incompatibilities between the various versions available. The students would have difficulty locating the correct version of the textbook unless a PDF were provided to them by the instructor, and the PDF is problematic in terms of design and omission of content. In the web-native version, the sections are all very short and navigating to the next section requires clicking back and re-finding your place every time. Not having a "next section" button or arrow almost ensures that students will not complete the readings because they will think, incorrectly, that they are done with the (very short) chapter. The PDF version has many blank pages, making navigation cumbersome. The PDF document is much thinner than the large number of pages suggests. If a student were to print the PDF, much paper would be completely wasted and blank.

The conversational tone isn't ideal for educating students who will need to do technical writing in industry, but there are few overt typographic and spelling errors. The ones that exist are obvious and instructors can correct them if they use those chapters. Sometimes the authors refer to specific genres (like reports, in section 5.1) in a way that would confuse students (because writers cite sources in proposals, memos, and presentations, not just reports), and those errors should be addressed lest the students be misled about the conventions of the genres. Further, references to "your paper" and "paper" demonstrate lack of focus on rhetorical concepts of audience and purpose that should drive every technical communicator in every task. Most of our work is electronic/digital/online, so references to paper may not be incorrect, but they are largely archaic. When the authors refer to student assignments, they might call them "assignments," not "papers." The writing in section 5.2 needs editing. Overuse of "it" and "there" and back-referencing through pronouns ensures that students will have difficulty parsing the information. Further, students are seeing a poor example of a strong technical writing style because the sentences are written in a vague style that would lead to comprehension and translation errors. Further, the authors state that plagiarism is institution-specific, but that's only true in our academic bubble. In fact, plagiarism is an important IP (intellectual property) concern globally, so reference to international publication and copyright standards would be far more useful to students, who are students for 4 years or so, but professionals for up to 40 years.

Cultural Relevance rating: 2

Ideally, the authors would employ a plain style to avoid usability problems for non-American-dialect users. In the section (2.1 types of audiences) about audience, an opportunity is missed by not getting into user profiles and usability theory. Contrary to what is stated, technicians do not always lack sophisticated theoretical knowledge. It is not true that executives are always the audience for whom our students will or should write. The lack of robust user-based terminology is a problem with this book. I wonder if any of the authors are currently active in the technical communication community or have worked in nonacademic technical environments on communication design tasks. If they have, I would implore them to use better industry examples and the jargon of writers in technical professions. The authors should also focus on plain language in this book, and exemplify it in their prose. Karen Schriver's work is a good starting point.

I recommend this book (only) to instructors at Central Oregon Community College, where it perhaps serves a useful, important purpose. Its structure and content is unsuitable for majors in professional fields including engineering and science, and therefore is not a good choice for instructors teaching at most institutions where the course is offered. The emphasis on MLA style demonstrates the limited appeal of the textbook (to English majors). To be clear, MLA is not used in a single industrial or professional context I am aware of, outside English departments and literature-oriented professions. No mention is made of IEEE, which is the largest professional society in the world and which publishes professional ethics and authorial style guides that many professionals will encounter. It's great to include APA, but that social-science emphasis should be balanced with another professional style such as ASME or IEEE. The authors may have heard this, because they mention ASME in section 5.1, but they give no examples of what ASME looks like in practice. I worry that this textbook potentially does a disservice to the technical communication field as well as to open-access materials, which should be of high quality and represent best practices based on an awareness of the range of communication tasks working professional undertake. David McMurrey's work was far more technical and usable in its time; I'm sad to conclude that this textbook does not build productively on his legacy.

Reviewed by Jennifer Wilde, Adjunct instructor, Columbia Gorge Community College on 12/18/18

The text does many things very well, but it is too uneven to be truly comprehensive. It will work best as an introduction to technical communication and business writing. It is less helpful, I think, to students going into health care fields and the social sciences. Chapters are brief and pragmatic, with no discussion of theory, no instruction on clarity or sentence structure, and little discussion of diction and style. The index is helpful; there is no glossary, but this does not seem to be an omission as there is little jargon used throughout the book. Some of the chapters are extremely brief and rudimentary, while others are detailed and nuanced. An example of the former is the section headed "Types of audiences", and an example of the latter is the section on ethics of technical writing. One of the earliest chapters is about texting. There are useful chapters dedicated to resumes, incident reports, proposals, and several other genres - and there is an interesting, though perhaps not as practical, discussion of genres in writing. Like most other technical writing resources, this book has nothing to say about case reports, medical or nursing notes, letters to the editor or position papers for professional and trade journals, all of which are pertinent to the daily work of many professionals in human services or advocacy. Another issue with the book is the lack of writing exercises and assignments. There are some areas with a "Try This" section, but not very many of them, and the assignments lack an assessment component.

The book seems unbiased, although some advice feels a little arbitrary, such as the recommendation to limit emails to three paragraphs. I do not find any errors of content. There is a technical error in the middle of the book, where the author refers to a graph about voting in Australia; that graph does not exist on the page but there is this editorial comment that was no doubt not intended for publication: [“How to vote…” – this image is on a blog that is CC-licensed but I don’t think the author used the image with permission. Is it possible to find a sub?] Who is who? Which Australian are we voting for?

Much of the advice will be appropriate forever: know your audience, know your purpose in writing, be respectful, be specific and clear rather than general and vague. The sections about how to present information visually are helpful: contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity are given the unfortunate acronym CRAP (so no doubt the reader will never forget it!) I also appreciate the chapter on information literacy, which includes information on scholarly, professional and general publications. This includes trade journals, something that WR 121 classes tend not to mention but are important for technical writing students. Of course, there is some information about PowerPoint that is likely already past its best-buy date, but the authors discuss that and point the reader towards existing and upcoming technologies other than PowerPoint. I was able to see the video on the writing situation but not all of the other links worked. The authors include a caveat that not all links will work, so that seems fair, but a comprehensive resource would not rely on links to external sources with all their potential foibles.

The authors resist the temptation to use jargon, and they stick to simple sentence structures for the most part. In that sense, they exemplify the sort of simple, crisp (if unexciting) prose that technical communication strives for. There is abundant use of the colon to introduce lists, and the authors use bullet points frequently.

The book is highly consistent. Each chapter starts with a brief introduction to what comes in the sections included in the chapter. That means that the first segment of each chapter is extremely short, followed by more detailed segments. What is not consistent is the amount of time spent on various elements of technical writing, which, as mentioned in the section on comprehensiveness, varies quite a bit.

Chapters could be read out of order, and instructors can certain assign some sections and not others. I would be most inclined to use the chapters on ethical issues, research, and proposals. I think that's OK, but the book is almost too modular. Chapters do not relate to one another and the order in which they appear feels arbitrary. There is some redundancy - for example, the issue of audience is addressed repeatedly without adding anything new on the subject. I generally prefer a text in which each chapter leads logically to the material in the next chapter and adds to the student's understanding of technical writing, but there are advantages to a source like this, too.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The book is highly modular and the chapters do not flow into one another. I'm not sure why the chapters are ordered this way. I would tend to put some basic information about what constitutes technical writing at the beginning, followed by some guidance around doing research and writing ethically, followed by chapters on different types of technical writing: texts, emails, case reports, letters, resumes, proposals, recipes, instruction manuals, position papers, abstracts, encounter notes from a visit or interview, letters to the editor, mini-biographies and autobiographies ("about the author"), annotations. I would include an appendix about conventions: when to use a colon, how to convey numbers, the rules of capitalization, and the like.

The navigation was extremely simple and easy to use. The charts and images that are used are minimal but every one is highly useful and easy to see. Some links are broken.

I am prone to noticing grammatical and punctuation errors, but nothing jumped out at me in this textbook.

There is an ageist comment about "so easy that Grandpa could understand it" in the early pages defining technical vs academic writing. There is a very thoughtful section on cultural sensitivity. The authors use an interesting example of cultural differences, using a world map to illustrate the different meanings of the color red in different countries. However, it seems like a serious omission to leave out a discussion of inclusive language. Things in that field are always changing, but the authors could provide information about where to find the most up-to-date recommendations on inclusive language, such as the acceptability of "they" as a singular personal pronoun for gender nonbinary people, and what language is appropriate to describe ethnic groups etc.

The book is quite well written and useful, but not comprehensive. I would love to see this text updated with more sections. Chapters on lab/case reports, medical/interview notes, abstracts, introductions, mini-biographies, position papers and letters to the editor would enhance this text and broaden its appeal to new audiences, especially social science/health care students. I would love to see sections on effective sentences, collaborative writing, inclusive language, and grammatical conventions. Finally, an effective text on this topic should include assignments along with discussion of how to assess the assignments.

Reviewed by Cynthia Kimball Davis, Chair of the Integrative & Interdisciplinary Studies (IES) Department, Southern Utah University on 8/2/18

Comprehensiveness - Appears to offer all of the standard technical writing topics with an excellent easy bulleted table of contents. It also contains an excellent index and glossary. read more

Comprehensiveness - Appears to offer all of the standard technical writing topics with an excellent easy bulleted table of contents. It also contains an excellent index and glossary.

Content Accuracy - Appears to provide accurate content.

Relevance Longevity - Information appears to fit the relevant longevity category with the exception of the Professional Communication chapter; however, that would be an easy update.

Clarity - Information is presented in a simple and clear format.

Consistency - Information was not found to be incongruent in any way.

Modularity - The text is laid out in chapters with clear and simple sub-headings underneath each one.

Organization Structure Flow - The flow of the text is easy to follow.

Interface - The images could be more ascetically pleasing to the eye. In come cases, it appears that a high school student made them. Investing in a graphic designer might make the graphics more ascetically appealing. Furthermore, breaking the text apart with colorful questions and answers, activities, quotes, etc., is suggested.

Grammatical Errors - There were no grammatical errors found.

Cultural Relevance - The text appears to be culturally sensitive of all races, nationalities and ethnicities.

A text I definitely want to consider for my Technical Writing course. :)

Reviewed by Adam Karnes, Adjunct Instructor, Linn-Benton Community College on 6/19/18

The book covers the typical range of topics for a technical writing guide. At times, the balance feels off. A significant amount of the length is dedicated to topics usually covered in other classes (including research, citations, outlining). I would have preferred to have more info about the modes typical to technical writing, but what the book has is useful. Also, while the book has examples, I would appreciate even more examples. The book has a dropdown menu with a table of contents and a search feature in the reader.

The book is accurate. I did not observe inaccuracies.

On the whole, the book is relevant and should remain so for several years without the need for updates.

One important consideration regarding relevancy is the thematic dominance of references to Oregon. While the frequent mention of things related to the Pacific Northwest does not limit the readability of the text, this reoccurring theme makes the book more relevant for readers from this area than from others.

The book is clear and written with appropriate vocabulary for the typical student of technical writing. The body of the text goes into an adequate depth in the explanation of key concepts. Crucial terms are adequately explained. Examples are frequently included, although even more examples would be a welcome addition. The book lacks a glossary, which would also be a helpful addition.

The text is adequately consistent from beginning to end, but at times the sections feel disconnected. In this respect, the text works well as a modular book with distinct sections. The various parts do seem separate, however. The crossover between chapters could be stronger. This is probably the case due to chapters being derived from other sources. The differences do not render the text unreadable, just lack cohesive than the average textbook.

This text excels as a modular work. The sections are distinct and could be read independently. Teachers can easily pick and choose between sections without assigning the entire text.

The order in which the book’s contents are presented is somewhat arbitrary. (The section on resumes, for example, comes at the end—in many technical writing texts, this would come at toward the beginning.) Still, the ordering of the text is not confusing.

Navigating the text can be slow, with lots of scrolling and clicking through. Some of the sections are particularly long, and can be tiresome to scroll through. However, the table of contents is accurate and helpful. The book also has a search feature.

The text has no grammatical errors. The overall quality of editing is high.

The text is geared towards an American culture. However, the text discusses at length the importance of audience awareness and cultural differences in writing, particularly applications that span multiple cultures.

The greatest value this book offers is the ease with which teachers can select limited portions to assign to students based on the class objectives. This could easily replace a standard technical writing textbook in many courses, particularly if other texts further supplemented the class.

Reviewed by Susan Engel, Instructor, St. Cloud Technical and Community College on 6/19/18

Although an index/glossary is not provided, the Table of Contents organizes the material and allows for readers to see the breadth of areas and subjects within the Technical Writing textbook. Topics common to technical writing courses are explored in this text and include an important section (4.6) on evaluating sources as well as sections on plagiarism and the importance of citing sources. Topics that could perhaps be added to the text include social media (LinkedIn in Chapter 12: Employment Materials, for example) and technical writing for web pages or using online technologies.

Overall, the content appears accurate, error-free, and generally unbiased. Figure 13 in Chapter 11.4, however, doesn’t offer a resume sample for the exercise and simply states “Text of fake resume here”.

Content appears to be mostly relevant and offers up-to-date information on information literacy and other important technical writing concepts. Some of the content could be further updated, however. For example, chapter 12 discusses the idea of the cover letter being potentially outdated but then proceeds to offer guidance on writing one. This and other sections could offer updates, particularly regarding electronic and online documents.

The text is accessible and concise in delivery. Further clarification is offered through examples/samples in the sections on emails, memos, outlines, cover letters, technical reports, and others. Examples could be given in sections on proposals, progress reports, and other sections to offer further clarity.

The text offers consistency through the organization of the chapters and sections. Some chapters have features that others do not have, however. For example, Chapters 11 and 13 are structured with interactive activities not found in other chapters. The “activity” and “try this” in these chapters would be helpful in other chapters, too.

Chapters and sub-units within this text are clearly labeled. Although some overlap is offered, overall chapters and sections can be used individually in a course.

The organization is clear, user-friendly, and easily navigable using all-cap chapter headings and numbers and lower case section headings and numbers.

This text is offered in various formats which likely will help eliminate interface issues with certain sections. The section on resumes and cover letters, for example, might offer display differences depending on the format.

Grammatical errors were not detected.

Much of the text appeared to be neutral, and sections were dedicated to discussing cultural sensitivity within workplace writing. With that said, additional work on representation could be added within the examples. Also, ideas for inclusivity through accessibility in design of workplace documents might be added, too, as well as an updated discussion on gender in written communications beyond using Mr. or Ms. in the sections on email, cover letters, and audience.

This text is well organized with topics appropriate to technical writing, and I will consider using it in technical writing and workplace writing courses for first- and second-year students.

Reviewed by Erica Stone, English Instructor, Technical Writing, University of Missouri Kansas City on 6/19/18

The textbook is comprehensive; however, it seems to cover both technical writing and professional or workplace writing. It is absolutely appropriate for a comprehensive service course, but the authors should consider another title. Perhaps... read more

There are a few minor typos and notes from a previous editor in the document and a few leftover editing notes. Regarding bias, the entire text does seem to be written for a particular course. While it is generalized, it does refer to particular assignments and contexts, sometimes without an example given.

The content is up to date; however, it may require revision as technologies evolve and change. For example, the texting section may need to be updated within the next year to account for newer texting apps and conventions.

The entire textbook is clear and accessible. In some places, it is conversational; however, I find that quality increases its accessibility and approachability, which is necessary for a technical writing service course.

The framework and organization of the textbook is consistent and easy to follow.

The modularity is helpful, and the text is well-organized.

All of the topics are presented in a logical and clear fashion.

All of the available interfaces work well.

I did not see any grammatical errors during my review. I did, however, see a few leftover notes from the editor.

The text is culturally appropriate and all example are relevant and inclusive.

In some places, the example links do not work. When there is time, the editors and/or authors should review the book to check for errors and broken links.

As mentioned in my first comment, the textbook could benefit from separating technical writing and professional writing as they are separate disciplines.

Reviewed by Michael Nern, Associate Professor, Emeritus, Ohio University Zanesville on 2/1/18

The book does not contain an index or a glossary. The book's primarily focuses on the proposal but also covers other traditional technical writing assignments such as the cover letter and resume. read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The book does not contain an index or a glossary.

The book's primarily focuses on the proposal but also covers other traditional technical writing assignments such as the cover letter and resume.

The content is accurate. I would not call the book error free.

The book contains relevant content that could be updated with relative ease.

The book's prose is not tightly edited, but the prose is accessible.

The book's content is consistent.

The text is well-organized for assigning smaller sections of reading at different points within a course.

The book's organization is solid and clear.

The text does not have interfacing issues.

The book needs a careful and close editing by one person.

I found the short chapter on ethics to be presented almost as an afterthought and believe it would be of little help to students.

I would use the book as a resource but not as a textbook for students. I might assign certain sections for reading but would more than likely use information from the book to add to already existing lectures and discussions, of course, giving credit to the authors.

In general, I believe both the Web and open source materials provide enough material to work with that textbooks in writing courses are unnecessary.

Reviewed by Jennifer Dareneau, Assistant Teaching Professor, The Pennsylvania State University- Berks on 2/1/18

Based on the Table of Contents, all subject areas mentioned there were covered adequately. However, there are several mentions of the technical report being the main document produced at the end of the term (which is true) and mentions of several prefatory documents needed for benchmarking along the way. Only a couple of those mentioned documents are detailed or explained in the book.

There are a few minor typos and notes from a previous editor in the document, including a question about permission to use a chart. Content itself seemed accurate.

Content is up to date. With the inclusion of sections on MLA and APA citation style as well as the job application chapters, it would need to be updated in about 5 years to reflect changes to those areas.

Clarity of language and expression of concepts is well done. Language is easy to understand but remains at a college student's level. Special terms are explained and defined.

For the most part, the book is internally consistent. There are some inconsistent elements- some chapters include links to samples, but not all; there is a link to one video only; some chapters include an activity prompt, but others do not.

Modularity is well done. Each larger unit is broken into smaller, easily understood and relevant sub units.

Organization is simple and logical.

I did not experience any navigation problems. Some images had an editor's note next to them, or were quickly covered by a small icon in the top right. The chapters on graphics had some photos that did not connect well to technical writing, and I suspect students in a class would struggle to understand the rhetorical significance of them (particularly the sections with Obama and the girls gymnastics team).

I noticed only one or two minor typos. There were some fragments and sentences beginning with And or But, which I hope were stylistic choices.

There were no culturally insensitive examples or remarks.

Reviewed by Ethan Jordan, Lecturer, Bowling Green State University on 2/1/18

The book covers a broad range of technical communication genres, and it covers everything I would hope to cover in my upcoming course. read more

The book covers a broad range of technical communication genres, and it covers everything I would hope to cover in my upcoming course.

Due to the objective nature of most technical writing, this book certainly follows suit and contains little in terms of bias or subjectivity. The document genres covered fit with standards in the field, and I have found very few errors.

I agree that this book will remain relevant over time. Certainly, notions of "netiquette" and online forms might change, but the essential tech comm genres covered will remain an essential component of workplace literacies, and as such, this book should remain relevant and be easy to update as needed.

The textbook is written in a voice that is straightforward and no-nonsense for students. It isn't the most scintillating reading, but a book on technical writing clearly doesn't need to be! The voice of the text is one that I feel students would appreciate - let's get to the point!

I don't see any major inconsistencies. The text works to reinforce technical communication concepts both in its subject matter and in the style of the text itself. Clarity and intelligibility are essentials, and the text appears to work within those frameworks.

I appreciate the way the sections aren't overly extended or complicated - the individual components make up the larger whole and could easily be reconfigured to suit the needs of instructors. I feel like this is less of a textbook to read in order, but a set of modules for instructors to customize.

The overall structure of the piece makes sense, and I found myself following the process outlined within the overall book structure. It also is able to be modified quite easily if needed, so that's a plus.

Some of the graphics are a bit low-res, but nothing that would inhibit meaning... it's well presented overall.

Very few that I can see!

I see no issues here - it's quite objective overall.

I'm really happy I found this one! It will be a huge help in my upcoming course, and I'm excited to use this as a supplement to my in-class discussions!

Reviewed by Elizabeth McClure, Lecturer, University of Maryland, College Park on 2/1/18

This text includes several sections that I would expect to see in a technical writing textbook: job search materials, reports, proposals, using graphics, professional communications, and audience analysis. It also includes a couple of sections I wouldn't necessarily expect, but that would be very useful in any professional writing class: discussions of the ethics involved in report writing, information literacy, and document design. However, there was no section related to manuals or instructions, which is a large gap.

In terms of usability in relation to comprehensiveness, the table of contents is nicely detailed, but no index appears so locating overlaps of information among and between chapters would not be as simple or straightforward as it could be.

In general, the information in the text is accurate, although some areas and issues would benefit from more nuanced or complex discussion. For example, in the section on job materials, professional advice varies widely related to the design of resumes, but this text does not discuss any of the variety of advice.

One minor note: There are several sentence-level errors (i.e., subject-verb agreement) that don't compromise communication but are occasionally jarring.

The content generally seems up-to-date, and the chapter organization and breakdown appear to lend themselves to easy updating.

Clarity rating: 3

The text’s language is clear and accessible. Sufficient background information is presented to give context for new concepts.

Other structures that would enhance clarity are not consistently present, however. For example, not all chapters provide examples to illustrate concepts or discussion/reflection questions to encourage students to apply concepts to other situations. Additionally, most chapters have no graphic material – pull-out text boxes, illustrations, summary lists, etc. – that would offer a different presentation method for readers.

This text is consistent in its approach, terminology, and framework.

This text is divided into sections in such a way that individual sections could easily be assigned out of order and at different points in a course. There are few, if any, instances in the text that refer to earlier material in a way that would make non-consecutive reading unworkable or unwieldy. In general, sections are relatively short and are organized under useful headings. Few subheadings are used within the text itself, although chapters are broken down into sections, each of which is labeled on the page and in the table of contents with a heading. These headings should make finding relevant sections in the text fairly easy.

The topics in this text progress clearly enough to avoid confusion, but less clearly than they could. For example, starting with Audience Analysis rather than with a variety of workplace communication genres (text, email, memos, etc.) would be more rhetorically sensible. The progression from Proposals to Information Literacy (research) to Citations to Progress Reports makes sense in that it follows the progression one might follow in a particular workplace project. However, while the order of chapters follows the process of writing a workplace document (proposal, research, progress report, technical report), it doesn’t necessarily follow the order of writing skills. For example, research is usually an integral part of developing a writing topic rather than something that happens at a single defined point mid-way through a project; likewise, a discussion of ethics should happen before a technical report is underway, perhaps in relation to an analysis of audience or to a discussion of the rhetorical situations present in professional writing generally. Because these chapters can be read out of order, the problem isn’t serious, but the chapter order doesn’t make as much use of logical development as it could.

In general, the text’s interface is user-friendly. There are a couple of places, however, notably in the chapter on design, where graphics don’t appear above the caption.

The text is overall clean but there are a handful of grammatical errors.

The text is inoffensive. Its examples aren’t culturally specific – examples don’t refer to particular groups at all, so diversity does not seem to be at issue.

Reviewed by Pam Orel, Senior Lecturer , University of Maryland College Park on 2/1/18

This is a very compact book, with easily managed lessons in basic concepts that are a quick and easy read for most students in the sciences and technology fields (STEM). Where it summarizes the key details, it does so with general clarity and the links to other, more detailed resources appear to be effective, although one or two are dated. It is not designed as a comprehensive or exhaustive resource on technical writing and avoids a heavily academic tone.

The book’s advice, while brief, is extremely solid, backed up by authoritative evidence, and easy to follow. Students would appreciate the very good detail in the table of contents as well as the ease of navigating from section to section as needed. Charts, where used, easily help students find the key differences in concepts, which is something that more detailed, less approachable textbooks tend to overlook.

In general I don’t teach with a textbook, so my comments should be taken in the context of someone who uses texts more as a resource than a work that guides the entirety of our semester’s journey as writers. This is a very relevant work for busy writers who need to grasp the essentials quickly, and get leads on how to find more detail as needed. It is particularly good at using graphics to shape ideas which is a factor in more and more writing courses. If I had to point to one area where it might need updating, it might be in allowing more space for instructions, presentations and video content, as these are emerging as valuable tools and I am not seeing a lot in the text. It appears to focus a lot on the preparation of reports and print materials, but is a good basic resource in those areas.

Very clear, with short, effective paragraphs and guides to other resources clearly labeled as such. As noted earlier, graphics are well supported in the version that I reviewed. It should be noted that different formats might have issues relating to page presentation, as I have noticed that in other primarily online references I have seen.

It can be inconsistent in terms of the amount of space given to, say, some issues over others. However, in general the issues which are not treated in great detail are those for which often there are other, key resources focusing on general principles involved that are attached. Also, in some instance (plagiarism is one example) there are a wealth of other resources available in most higher education communities.

The sections in the book are effectively broken into segments which are short but emphasize key points in about a page or so. This is one of the areas where it might be most attractive to students who rely on it as a reference rather than a week-to-week resource. Teachers who wish to use, say, one or two segments while not using others would find this a very helpful resource.

This is an area of strength for this publication, as it shapes very well around ideas for most proposal writers as well as the ethics of the field as we know it today. Ethical concepts are generally brief, but clear as to impact on the STEM fields. It would be stronger with a little more emphasis on presentations and video, as noted, which are important as digital communications tools for STEM majors.

The online interface I used was generally very easy; with both arrows and a table of contents, writers can easily move to where they need to get their information. It is noteworthy that it does not have questions in the back of each section, so it’s not designed for, say, test development or study for exams. But most technical writing courses don’t focus on exams (there may be quizzes on concepts) so that is not a significant barrier.

I was not able to find any significant errors in grammar.

This could be stronger in its approach to culture across the STEM communities, which is not a small issue in a global economy. However, one challenge with that is attempting to keep it current -- culture, like everything else in science and technology, changes very rapidly.

I have taught from a range of different resources, which change from year to year as it’s important to keep a course relevant in the rapidly evolving STEM fields. I have had trouble finding resources, particularly open source ones, that are approachable but convey the key concepts in an easy to access format. Students in my classes use a text as needed, rather than as the foundation of an entire course. This has worked very well in that role in this semester, and I am hoping to keep it on my list of resources moving forward.

Reviewed by Amanda Izenstark, Professor, Reference & Instructional Design Librarian, University of Rhode Island on 2/1/18

This text covers numerous facets related to technical writing, including basic business correspondence and determining how best to reach the audience for the particular type of technical writing being done. The authors cover related and integral elements that help writers produce better documents, including using outlines and graphics as well as information literacy skills that writers should have. While there is no index or glossary, the table of contents clearly displays the content of the text. It’s worth noting that the table of contents on the Open Textbook Library website does not include the two final sections of the book, which cover “Design and Readability of Publications” and “Employment Materials.”

The book is accurate, and even in sections where elements might change - such as screenshots in the Information Literacy chapter - they are general enough that even if the interface changes, the instructions will be relatively similar.

The topics in the book are not likely to become dated immediately. Some of the basic material related to communication and being concise will be consistently useful. While some of the linked material may change over time, that isn’t the fault of the authors. When I reviewed this text, the links tested were still working and relevant.

The text is written at a level accessible for college-level students, and perhaps some high school students. The materials are logically arranged and easy to understand.

As some of the material includes elements remixed from other open texts, there are some differences in the language and layout of chapters. For example, some of the elements of chapter 12 related to cover letters and resumes use color, and have more modern examples than those in chapter 1, which focuses on online etiquette.

Many of the chapters will do well on their own. I plan to adopt this for my information literacy and writing course, and anticipate re-arranging sections to fit the course structure.

This may be a result of my background as a teacher of information literacy first, but it might make more sense to start with the sections on information literacy and citations, then progress to audience analysis and outlines. It seems the chapter on “Professional Communication” might fit better toward the end. Otherwise the flow and structure are generally logical.

The online version of the book is hosted on the Pressbooks platform, which is intuitive to use, but long sections require significant scrolling. The PDF version of the book works as expected, with functioning links in both the table of contents and the text.

There are no grammatical errors in the text, which is what one would expect from a writing textbook.

As appropriate, the book highlights cultural issues to consider when writing for an audience. Examples don’t highlight a variety of backgrounds, but neither are they so pervasive that it’s a problem.

Given the appropriately broad coverage of this text, I can envision it being useful to students after they leave my course and have jobs in their chosen fields.

Reviewed by Jim Crawford, Adjunct English Instructor, Germanna Community College on 2/1/18

I examined this textbook as a resource for a 100-level Technical Writing class. In this context, questions of comprehensiveness arose almost immediately. The authors offer no discussion of theory, despite a claim on page 1 that theory underlies technical writing. There was no mention of the writing process, a confusing oversight on two fronts. First, the omission raised questions about course level. Did the textbook assume students already understood writing as a process? That would put this text higher than entry-level; writing as a process is usually taught in 100-level English. Or, by omitting the writing process, does the textbook defy modern writing pedagogy and emphasize the products of technical writing over the process?

There was also no mention of the rhetorical situation: the amalgamation of purpose, stance and tone, genre, media, and, of course, audience. The text offers a separate chapter on analyzing the audience, but no holistic examination of the roles that purpose, stance and tone, genre, and media play in reaching the audience.

Omitting a discussion of the rhetorical situation elicits more questions about course level and students’ prerequisite knowledge. Does the text assume students understood the interaction of purpose, stance, and genre in a writing project? The textbook mentions purpose, almost in passing - the purpose of a memo, for instance, or a report. Stance - how the writer feels about the topic versus how she expresses it through her tone - was not addressed at all. Given that technical communicators may be asked to write about things they don’t care about or may disagree with (e.g., an environmentalist writing a press release on new oil exploration), a discussion of stance and tone is important.

Lacking an essential discussion of theory and concept, the textbook covers a limited range of genres, another writerly term that is not mentioned. The first chapter reviews types of correspondence, starting with, oddly enough, texting. Next, comes e-mail, then an interjection about netiquette, followed by brief discussions of memoranda and letters. Later chapters describe proposals and progress reports. A recent revision added a chapter on employment-related documents, such as résumés.

While this is an adequate list of technical genres, the choices seemed limited and specific. Why the focus on progress reports? A broader chapter covering incident or recommendation reports seems more thorough. Other key genres are missing entirely. Instructions get no mention, although giving directions and documenting procedures are common workplace tasks. Presentations are another key genre for technical communication that is overlooked in the textbook.

Among the genres that are discussed, accuracy falters due to a handful of random, undocumented prescriptions. On page 12, for example, the authors declare,” a good e-mail should get to the point and conclude in three small paragraphs or less.” Really? According to who? In my 30 years of experience in the technical workforce, I have read, and written, countless e-mails longer than three short paragraphs. While I agree that students should keep e-mails short and direct, especially when corresponding with the instructor, there is nothing inherently wrong about a longer e-mail message. Some arguments cannot be made in three short paragraphs. Are the authors saying that longer arguments are better suited for a memorandum or a letter? If so, that indicates a need to discuss the conventions of genre. If the authors are recommending the abbreviated length as a best practice for emerging technical communicators, they should say so. If the authors proclaim the three-paragraph limit as their personal preference, they should say that, too. However, they must also inform students that they may occasionally need to write, and read, longer e-mails in the workaday world.

A similar prescription occurs on page 36, with the decree that “an average between 15 and 25 words per sentence is about right. Sentences over 30 words are to be mistrusted.” Again, I wondered, “Says who?” Had the authors cited evidence — a study finding that sentences over 25 words are ignored by readers, for instance — the claim might be more compelling. Lacking documentation, it’s puzzling at how five additional words can separate an effective sentence from an untrustworthy one.

Furthermore, while conciseness is an essential feature of technical and professional writing, establishing an arbitrary sentence length may encourage students to emphasize conciseness at the expense of clarity and accuracy. It would be more effective to educate students on the relationship between clarity, conciseness, and accuracy, and teach them to use the shortest, clearest, most direct language needed to effectively address the audience and accomplish the purpose of the text. But this relationship is impossible to discuss with this text, since overarching concepts and conventions are never introduced.

The digital nature of the textbook assures easy editing and the potential for long-term relevance. In fact, between July 2017, when I downloaded a PDF copy for review, and October 2017, when I began writing the review, the authors added chapter 11 on design and readability, and chapter 12 on writing employment materials. They also expanded chapter 10, adding information about successful report design.

As with comprehensiveness and accuracy, clarity is marred by odd omissions. Page 12 advises that “professional communications require attention to the specific writing context” but there is no explanation of what context is. Again, a question about prerequisite knowledge arises. Can the authors assume that students understand what context is, and how it impacts a writing product?

Another missed opportunity occurs on page 16, where the authors admonish “culture and even gender can play a part in how people communicate.” While this is undoubtedly true, two questions arise. First, can instructors assume that students will recognize this intricate interaction? Second, can instructors assume that students will tailor their writing to navigate the interaction and improve communication? Lacking examples, explanations, or a declaration of prerequisite knowledge, the answer to both questions is “no.”

Clarity is further diminished by Inconsistencies within the text. Chapter 8, “Creating and Integrating Graphics,” recommends “including identifying detail in the graphics” (128), yet does ignores its own advice. The sample bar chart on page 123, depicting types of produce grown in Sisters, Oregon, has axis titles, but the y-axis, entitled “Percentage produced in 2015,” has no scale. The chart shows that potatoes are the most plentiful crop. Its bar towers over that of carrots, the closest competitor, by about two-thirds. But, without a scale, the value for potatoes could be 30 percent, or 3 percent, compared to carrots at 10 percent or 1 percent.

A pie chart on page 122 shows a similar dearth of detail. The chart is entitled, simply, “Success with Vegetables Grown.” Potatoes account for 60 percent of vegetables grown; carrots for 23 percent. But percent of what? The pie chart doesn’t say. Is it percent of all total crops grown? Is it percent of crop yield, compared to crops planted? Students are left guessing, and, from this, may learn to create charts that inspire their own guesswork. More subtle inconsistency arises in the textbook’s formatting. Chapter 1, on correspondence, uses at least three different formats for bullet points. Pages 12-13 list characteristics of e-mail with bullets featuring a bolded opening phrase. Pages 15-16, on netiquette, uses headings, along with simply, un-bolded bullet points. Meanwhile, page 24 presents a list of correspondence types with no bullets at all; the different types are simply bolded. These inconsistencies model poor document design for students. This is especially problematic given the text’s emphasis on longer documents, such as the progress reports, which require consistent formatting throughout.

Formatting inconsistencies notwithstanding, the text is well-marked for modularity. Clear, consistent headings and sub-headings are used throughout. Students should have no trouble identifying a reading assignment such as “chapter 9, sections 9.1 through 9.3.”

Alas, the headings and sub-headings demarcate a haphazard arrangement of content. Topics are not grouped according to theory (should there be any) and practice, strategies and genres, or from easiest material to more challenging. The chapters appear randomly, with an early chapter often referring to material that has not been introduced yet. Chapter 1, on correspondence, advises, “careful consideration should be given to the audience...” (9), but the chapter on audience analysis follows 14 pages later.

Considering the recent addition of chapters on design and employment documents, it appears that chapters are organized in the order that they’re added. New chapters are simply tacked on at the end. While such labor-saving is understandable, it may be worth the effort to reorganize the textbook by introducing overarching concepts, such as audience, research methods, and ethics at the beginning, with specific writing strategies (e.g. outlining) and genres to follow.

This review was prepared from a print-out of a PDF file generated on the textbook’s Web site. Although the charts and graphics conveyed when printed, the videos, understandably, did not. It would have been helpful to include URLs for the videos, so that students preferring a paper-based text could find and watch the videos while reading.

The interface for the Web version of the book is clear, simple, and unobtrusive. [Home] and [Table of Contents] buttons are fixed on the right-hand side, allowing students to easily jump among sections. Gray “forward” and “backward” arrows, on the right and left, respectively, make it easy to flip pages. A “search” box, almost invisible in the upper, right-hand corner, offers quick full-text searching. A search for “audience” returned a list, itemized by clickable links to specific sections containing the term. Traditional search conventions, such as double-quotes to find phrases, work as expected. However, more sophisticated search operators, such as “AND,” “OR,” “NOT,” and “NEAR” do not work, though this is not a major shortcoming.

There were no noticeable grammatical errors, though there were occasional long, wordy, confusing sentences. The sentence describing crop yields in Sisters, Oregon was a staggering four lines long, strung together with “and” between three independent clauses (121).

Generally, the text is inoffensive. There was, however, one off-putting cliché: the notion that older people are slow to grasp technical concepts. The book’s Introduction advises, “…plan to write in such a way that even Grandad can understand!” (3). While this was surely a throwaway attempt at levity, the cliché may be discouraging to older students, while cultivating the bias of younger ones.

Reviewed by Linda Stewart, Instructor, Portland Community College on 6/20/17

The text covers proposals and progress reports in depth with links to examples of other types of technical writing including resumes and instructions (but no discussion of these forms in depth). The text does not cover multi-cultural audience in any depth and does not consider disabled audiences (including visually impaired audiences). The text does not include an index or glossary.

The book is accurate, error-free, and unbiased.

The text begins with the most common kinds of professional communication, including texts and e-mails, which demonstrates an understanding of current workplace needs. This section may need updating since technology brings changes to workplace communications. The section on research rightly emphasizes electronic sources, and this too, may need updating as library databases and other electronic sources may change. Other sections, like the ones on audience and ethics, will not need updating.

Students would enjoy the bulleted lists and simple, readable prose. The authors provide some excellent, labeled figures and graphics so that students can comprehend the main ideas quickly. The authors do a good job of defining terms, but students will need to read the text to discover the important terms; no sidebars or lists are used to call attention to specialized vocabulary.

The formatting and tone are consistent with good use of numbered sub-topics and bulleted lists in each chapter. The sources provided as links are not consistent with the formatting of the main text. For instance, the link to examples (titled "Online Technical Writing: Contents") uses yellow background and blue lettering, and does not include any explanatory text. This linked resource is not formatted as professionally as the main text. The terminology is internally consistent.

The text is well organized and clearly divided into smaller reading sections that can be assigned at different points within the course.

Problems with organization: Since the topic of "ethics" is one that applies to all forms of technical writing, it seems out of place as "Chapter 9." It also seems that "Outlines" might be addressed sooner since those could apply to writing proposals as well as progress reports. Finally, it seems odd to separate the chapters on graphics and document design (they are chapters 8 and 10 with the ethics chapter in between them.

The overall organization progresses logically from shorter forms of technical writing to longer, more complex ones.

The text is free of significant interface issues, including navigation problems or problems with display.

The authors observe standard conventions of grammar.

The text is not culturally insensitive or offensive. The authors could do more to include a variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds as part of their discussion of "audience"

The text does an especially good job of explaining how to write proposals and reports in a clear, step-by-step manner.

Reviewed by Carol Jacobson, Instructor, Century College on 6/20/17

The text covers all areas that are part of the technical writing curriculum. There is a detailed Table of Contents that lays out the subjects that are covered. There is no index or glossary. read more

The text covers all areas that are part of the technical writing curriculum. There is a detailed Table of Contents that lays out the subjects that are covered. There is no index or glossary.

Content is accurate and error-free.

Content is current for the technical market. It covers current topics and concerns, but also includes all the traditional topics expected for Technical Writing courses.

The text gives full explanation of the content.

The text was consistent with its terms.

The text is divided into multiple sections that are each on a different topic or focus so these sections could be easily assigned at different point for a course.

The topics of the text are ordered in a logical way, beginning with topics that should be covered first in a Technical Writing course.

Some of the images are blurry and hard to see. The 2 videos are designed by an instructor for a specific course and reference specific assignments for that course so these are not good choices for this textbook that is meant to be a general source for any Technical Writing course.

The text contains no grammatical errors.

The text is presented in a neutral way with no offensive or insensitive words or examples.

The format of the content is very text heavy in paragraph structure, which is odd for a Technical Writing book because a general rule in Technical Writing is to use shorter, concise paragraphs with more lists, bullets, and tables for easy reading and referencing of the information. In addition, the text needs more real-life example that demonstrate the points being made in each section.

Reviewed by Shannon Kelley, English Faculty, Chemeketa Community College on 6/20/17

The text covers a good amount of information related to technical writing; some of the sections are more in depth than others. Many sections would benefit from further inquiry to assist students with more complex issues in the field of technical writing and communications. While all of the topics are relevant, it sticks to the basics of each topic without exploring innovations and trends in the field. The topics covered are appropriate for a low-level, introductory course in technical writing.

The book is accurate and unbiased. It is a straight-forward text that introduces the basics of technical writing in a clear, error-free format. Each chapter provides references and is accurately cited. The examples are neutral and helpful.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

The content is relevant, but not exhaustive. The text does not cover new trends in the field. Many technical writing students, particularly in community college courses, are entering a variety of fields. While this text provides the basics of technical writing, it does not help with a variety of concerns students may face in their chosen fields.

The text is arranged in way that will allow for necessary updates moving forward. The text seamlessly incorporates modalities, like video links, that prove helpful as examples. More of these new modalities are desirable as writing and reading moves to the Internet. There are places in the text that could benefit from utilizing new, innovative examples.

The text is written clearly and concisely. Each chapter is divided into sections. The section and chapter headings create parallelism that helps its overall clarity. The table of contents is clear and easy to use. There is not a lot of technical jargon present; the lack of technical writing terminology is one reason the book reads like introductory material.

The text is consistent in its layout. It is easy to use and access. The structural framework of the text is effective for online reading.

The text is not self-referential, but it does reference information only relevant to COCC. The text is divided in a way that feels manageable for students. The downside is the text borders on being too modular. The sections felt purposefully shortened and many chapters left me wanting more information. For instance, visual rhetoric and page layout were lumped together with audience. And in terms of this topic, topics like those deserve their own exploration.

The text works itself through the basics, from small workplace writing tasks like emails and memos, up through more complex writing like proposals and reports. Thought was given to the order of the text and it is logical and predictable.

There were no interface issues as I reviewed the text. i downloaded it as a PDF and also read some parts online.

The text contains no grammatical errors. It was edited well. The grammar is basic and reads at an introductory level reading.

The text remains neutral and uses voice or cartoon like figures in some of the videos. I would have liked to see more examples throughout the text. Visuals and page layout are important features of a lot of technical writing and this text doesn't take advantage of opportunities to incorporate a variety of examples. There are opportunities throughout the book that allow for incorporation of examples from fields of nursing, human services, engineering, computer science, and education.

It should be noted that I am reviewing this text for a 200 level course. At Chemeketa Community College students enter technical writing after completing two-three levels of prerequisite writing courses. Technical writing is the highest level of writing students receive before they enter their professional fields or transfer to four-year universities. The book is well written, clear, useful, and comprehensive for an introductory course, but not for a higher level technical writing course. Much of the focus felt repetitive and covered skills students in technical writing should already possess. There were missed opportunities to expand some of the more relevant topics, like the importance of visual rhetoric in page layout; solicited and unsolicited proposals; and, analytical report writing like feasibility studies.

Reviewed by Daniel Hocutt, Web Manager & Adjunct Professor, University of Richmond School of Professional & Continuing Studies on 4/11/17

The text does not include an index or glossary, but does provide a comprehensive table of contents. The text introduces itself as an introductory text to technical writing (or communication), and provides a definition of technical communication that is limited to the types, content, and coverage of texts created. A more comprehensive text would address some of the responsibilities of technical writing as it relates to the technical writer herself: team building and collaboration, intermediary across multiple departments and divisions; and negotiator of meaning in workplace cultures. Also missing from the text are generous examples of document types generated by technical writers, like websites, brochures and flyers, and other types of written communication. The text's focus on report writing seems limiting, and its approach to technical writer as largely autonomous does not accurately reflect the complexity of technical writing workplaces.

The content is up-to-date and appears to be thoroughly accurate. Its authors clearly understand and practice technical communication, and its integration of external tools and links are current, complete, and appropriate to the content of the text itself. Chapters in the text address real-world examples and seek to connect communication techniques to workplace and technical contexts. Of particular importance is the text's approach to communication as audience focused and customized; this reflects theoretical accuracy and currency in technical and professional writing and, more broadly, in rhetoric and communications.

The applicability of this question to a text on technical communication is somewhat misplaced; technical writing handbooks must follow technical advances that will necessarily render older technologies less relevant. For example, the section on texting would not have appeared in earlier editions of this text, while the section on memoranda feels somewhat dated in paper-less or paper-reduced workplaces. As a result, the content will regularly have to be updated as modes and media of communication and writing evolve. This is a problem of all technical writing texts, but it's particularly acute as it relates to an online text, which will likely be expected to be current, relevant, and inclusive of the latest trends in technology and writing.

The text is remarkably approachable to its intended audience, those entering into the field of technical writing or those who will, by virtue of their technical positions, be required to compose technical artifacts. Its prose is clear and specific, and it follows the guidelines for writing technical prose that it presents to reader: clear, concise, and effective.

The field of technical and professional communication tends to use terms somewhat synonymously, so the conflation of certain terms in the text is not unusual in the field. For example, “writing” and “communication” are often used largely synonymously in the field, and that practice is also followed throughout this text. The same is true of “business” and “professional” as it relates to writing and communication. An introductory text should seek to better follow consistency while explaining the issues that exist in the field.

The text is quite modular, to the point that certain parts of it might be combined to keep from creating extremely short chapters or sections. This is especially true of several introductory sections. In general, segments are only a few paragraphs in length, with modules easily excerpted for re-use or revised usage. I could definitely see the potential of a teacher taking certain sections and incorporating them into class notes or as a customized resource. But I also see the value of using the entirety of the text as a stand-alone text; I believe the text’s structure enables both uses with little revision or customization necessary.

The text’s organization is not as clear or logical as I would expect. Given that modules or sections can be reordered on demand, this is not a significant drawback. However, I found the default order of modules confusing, shifting between more general, theoretical approaches (like audience analysis and information literacy) and more specific practical approaches (like proposals and progress reports) without a clear rationale for shifting from one to the other. A more logical structure might be to address the general theory in an opening section that includes examples for illustration, then to include a second section to address specific genres and types of technical writing. The structure is not off-putting, but as someone who might consider teaching from this text, I question the rationale behind the logic but am given little explanation.

The text’s interface is clean and clear. Serif fonts are a little unusual in web documents, but the type style used is quite readable online. Table formats don’t always fit on the page, and this requires left/right scrolling to access some of the columns. The text includes few images; most are linked to accessible PDF versions, which are full-screen and easy to read. Embedded videos appear to function as expected; the interface could benefit from a column-width inline viewer that would keep the video window from being narrower than the text columns. This is likely a result of making the interface mobile responsive, and represents what is often a necessary compromise.

Like its prose, the grammar appears to be clean and normalized to American standard English. The tone can be academic, but that is to be expected from a text used in an introductory classroom. I found no grammatical errors.

I did not encounter ethnicity- or gender-specific language in the text. The examples provided represent a number of different document types and genres, generally focused on the professional workplace or the academic environment. However, no text will free itself completely from ideology; I might like to have seen the text more directly address this issue as it relates to business writing. The text could do more to explore cultural contexts in which technical documents are planned, prepared, and consumed, especially given increasing internationalization of workforces. This may reflect an issue with the field — we tend to classify international communication differently from general technical communication — but a section on writing in the global community and for cross-cultural audiences might be useful.

I did not expect to find an open textbook as useful or well-constructed as this is. While its cover and design are unassuming — which, for a text on technical writing, might be a drawback — its content is erudite and targeted to its primary audience and purpose. I would consider using this text in an introductory technical writing class, with the addition of several notable sections identified elsewhere in this review.

Reviewed by Ruth Perkins, Adjunct instructor, Chemeketa Community College on 4/11/17

The text clearly focuses on research and report writing in a business context. These are appropriately and adequately covered. The table of contents is detailed and accessible on each page with a link to each section. The chapters lead students through the steps of producing a formal report including research, proposals, citation, and progress reports. There is a useful section on information literacy and conducting research beyond the first items in a Google search.

The importance of keeping readers in mind is stressed throughout. In addition to a link to an audience worksheet, there is a clear explanation of how reports might be used by different readers.

Chapter 10 includes a link to a wide variety of examples of technical writing.

Missing are sections on topics often included in technical writing: instructions, procedures, descriptions and definitions. These could be easily fit into the overall structure of the text although obviously other sources of information would need to be found.

The principles of professional communication are accurately presented. The authors make the useful point in several places that a business, agency, journal etc. will likely have its own preferences for professional communications but that some aspects, such as avoiding plagiarism, doing proper research, are consistent.

The content is up-to-date since there are not apt to be quick changes to the principles of technical writing nor to the precepts of e-mail, texting etc. and their place in business. Any changes could be quickly made.

There are links that are specific to or have comments that are specific to COCC that instructors will probably want to point out and substitute their institution’s or their class policy. Examples are the links in 1.3 and 6.2.

The book is clearly written in an informal, conversational tone that should appeal to students. The terminology is basic without down-writing. Any specialized terms are defined.

The link in 8.4 to visuals that need revision is probably not useful for most classes. Figures 1 and 2 are very specialized.

The text is consistently organized. There are clear signals that link each section to the main section. The emphasis is on professional communication throughout so chapters are linked through that context.

In section 4.1 there is inconsistency in terminology where “academic” and “scholarly” are used interchangeably.

The book is clearly arranged into chapters with clear titles and headings. The table of contents is linked to each section for quick finding. The pages have ample white space and large readable type.

The book is clearly organized around the perspective of researching and writing a final report. The chapters can easily be rearranged according to an instructor’s preference since the table of contents is linked to each section.

However, the book is arranged in a logical progression through the different aspects of research and writing the formal report.

The book is posted in 4 different formats which makes it readily accessible to students. There is an important missing link in 9.2. This link in 4.3 is no longer valid: The Research Cycle derived from A Cycle of Revolving Research by UC Libraries, CC: BY-NC-SA 3.0 Otherwise there are no issues.

There are grammatical errors in section 9 as well as confusing switches in point of view.

Grammar errors: 9 “Writers . . . she” 9.3 “. . .your employer to pursue and action” and “the groups’ goal”

Point of view First, chapters 1-8 and 10 are written in second person. Chapter 9 is written partly in second person, partly in third person. While some references to “the writer” are logical, it inconsistently directly addresses readers or talks about writers in general.

Second, there is inconsistency in an attempt to be gender neutral in the third person. In 9 “she” and “he” are used interchangeably. 9.3 uses “her/himself,” “s/he,” and “his/her.”

The examples in the text and references to writers are neutral. There is nothing to identify a particular culture, race or ethnicity.

The book doesn't completely fit the course in technical writing that I teach but I would consider using if it did. However, I do have some problems with Chapter 9, ethics in technical writing, that I would like to see addressed. These are in addition to the grammatical issues.

In 9.1 General Principles, the authors give examples of ethical dilemmas that range from trivial to life and death. These do more to complicate the subject than clarify it. Part of this is due to the phrasing about the friend’s haircut, “This lie, though minor, preserves . . .” What is “though” doing in this sentence? It signals a contrast which isn’t there.

More of a concern though is the phrasing of the third choice of saving lives. The person might “risk [her life] to save her children” but to save the stranger, she would have to “choose to die.” Risk and certainty are not equal choices.

The second paragraph concludes that “If you would . . . lose your job. . . the action is probably unethical” oversimplifies -- one can lose a job for being ethical as well.

Section 9.2 includes the Challenger disaster as an example of unethical writing. The missing link is vital here since there are definitely different accounts of the underlying causes beyond the O rings. The authors speculate about possible motives of the engineers with no source information to support their conjectures. They make statements about the priority of information in the engineers' report which imply that they are in a position to make that judgment.

I suggest deleting or re-writing this section of the book.

Reviewed by Corrine Holke-Farnam, Instructor, University of Northern Iowa on 2/8/17

The text provides an adequate overview of the field for beginners in technical writing. read more

The text provides an adequate overview of the field for beginners in technical writing.

The content is accurate and straight forward.

The text is up-to-date and covers the range of topics addressed in introductory technical and professional writing courses.

The information is presented effectively in clear, concise language. Provides accurate definitions and many links to examples for easy understanding.

I found no internal inconsistencies.

Text is user-friendly. Effective use of white space. Employ small chunks of text, bullet point lists, and hyperlinks.

Many technical writing textbooks begin with audience analysis. Hamlin, Rubio, and DeSiva begin with common types of professional communication like email and memo format; doing so provides an effective context for beginning writers. The chapters of the book could be easily reorganized to fit user needs and/or preferences.

The text is free of interface issues. Navigation between and within chapters is smooth. Website links opened easily.

Technical Writing contains no grammatical errors.

The text revolves around professional communication. Does not contain offensive or insensitive material or links.

This text seems like a good fit for students in my Technical Writing for Electrical Engineering Technologists course. Practical information, concise presentation.

Reviewed by Jennifer Barton, Advanced Instructor, Virginia Tech on 2/8/17

The book appears to be written for a course designed around a specific major project that asks students to write a proposal for a technical report and then to research and write the report itself. Those sections are adequate, but I would like to... read more

In particular, I would like information on writing instructions and technical descriptions, as well as the finer points of correspondence writing, like strategies for persuasion, or handling negative news, or emphasizing reader benefits. I would also like to see information on team writing—a must for the modern workplace. The book would also benefit from a section on presentations and a broader section on document design. The current section on design is specific only to reports and is really about organization, not design.

The content is accurate. The book sticks to the basic writing principles which don’t change much over time. I especially appreciate the repeated emphasis on audience and that while particular elements are expected for particular genres, organization and approach can and should be modified to suit the writer’s purpose and the needs of the audience.

The core principles aren’t likely to go out of date any time soon. The limited scope and lack of discussion about the design expectations of the modern audience does make the book feel dated.

Although the concept of linking to examples and additional information is an excellent use of this medium, the choice of links could be improved. For example, many of the linked reports are nearly twenty years old, and while they may demonstrate many of the writing principles that stay constant over time, they do not demonstrate contemporary expectations for design, and the topics are so dated as to make them seem irrelevant to most students.

The authors do an excellent job of adhering to plain language principles. The style is clear, simple, and direct. It reads like the authors are speaking directly to the audience.

As mentioned previously, the book reads as though it were designed for a very specific class. It shifts quite a bit between universal advice about writing for a professional audience and specific advice about writing for an instructor. That’s confusing and limits the book’s applicability.

The book is divided into logical sections that would make it easy to customize for a course if not for the problem previously cited of its being designed around a specific course’s project.

Follows a familiar and standard organization for workplace writing textbooks, beginning with basic correspondence and working towards longer and more complex reports.

Some easily correctable issues here: Many widowed headings (which the text advises to avoid). Figures and tables are not always labeled correctly.

The visual weight of “Chapter Attribution Information,” which is currently the same as chapter titles, should be reduced. In some chapters, that information is repeated before every section, which adds visual clutter.

There are additional problems in the pdf version that make it the pdf only partially usable: Text boxes tend to exceed the width of the page and cannot therefore be read. Everything is rendered as plain text, which means that table formatting is screwy and all images (including images of example documents) are missing. Citations get embedded directly into the text.

Grammar looks fine.

Deals very little with cultural issues, which is surprising given the global ventures of many companies and the increasingly diverse workforce in the US.

The book has the potential to be quite good, but I don't think it’s yet ready to compete with the for-profit options. I look forward to seeing subsequent editions.

1. Professional Communications
2. Audience Analysis
3. Proposals
4. Information Literacy
5. Citations and Plagiarism
6. Progress Reports
7. Outlines
8. Creating and Integrating Graphics
9. Ethics in Technical Writing
10. Technical Reports: Components and Design
11. Basic Design and Readability in Publications
12. Employment Materials
13. Communicating across Cultures
14. Thinking about Writing

Ancillary Material

About the book.

This open textbook offers students of technical writing an introduction to the processes and products involved in professional, workplace, and technical writing. The text is broken up into sections reflecting key components of researching, developing, and producing a technical report. Readers will also learn about other professional communication, designing documents, and creating and integrating graphics. Written especially for an academic setting, this book provides readers with guidance on information literacy and documenting sources. This book was collected, adapted, and edited from multiple openly licensed sources.

About the Contributors

Annemarie Hamlin is an Associate Professor of English at Central Oregon Community College.

Chris Rubio is an Assistant Professor at Central Oregon Community College in Bend, OR.

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Basics of Technical Writing: Evolution, Scope, Qualities, Process

Post author: Anuj Kumar
Post published: 19 August 2021
Post category: Journalism
Post comments: 2 Comments

Table of Contents

1 What is Technical Writing?
2 Evolution of Technical Writing
3 Scope of Technical Writing
4.1 Language Skills
4.2 Quick Adaptation to Different Roles
4.3 Technical Skills
4.4 Updading of Knowldge
4.5 Teaching Skills
4.6 Interpersonal Skills
4.7 Open to Criticism
4.8 Professionalism
5.1 Pre Writing
5.2 Drafting or Writing Stage
5.3 Post Writing or Editing Stage
6.2 Precautions
6.4 Introduction
6.5 Abbreviations
6.6 Technical Specifications
6.7 Warranty
6.8 Accessories
7.1 Definition of Audience
7.2 Headline
7.3 Introduction of Situations
7.4 Prioritize Different Stages in a Task
7.5 List of Tools
7.6 Narration of the Process
7.7 Warnings
7.8 Conclusion
8.1 What are the qualities of a technical writer?
8.2 What are the three stages of technical writing?
8.3 What is user guide template?

What is Technical Writing?

Technical writing is the process of interpreting and translating dense and difficult information for easy comprehension of the potential users of such information.

Thus technical writing may be defined as writing technical information for the benefit of someone who does not have technical background know-how in that area.

A technical writer communicates information clearly and directly to the target audience. Technical writing never aims at impressing the audience rather it informs them by minimizing the “noise” factors. Technical writing minimizes the gap between technical experts and end-users.

Evolution of Technical Writing

There are different arguments about the genesis of technical writing. Some opines that Cro-Magnon people who drew cave pictures are the first technical writers! Some others think that the works of Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, are the earliest forms of technical writing .

However, Geoffrey Chaucer, who is known as the father of English poetry, is considered to be the first technical communicator in English. His work “Treatise on the Astrolabe” detailed the purpose and operation of a navigation device.

Innovators like Copernicus, Hippocrates, Isaac Newton, and Leonardo da Vinci in Europe and Aryabhata, Charaka, and Sushruta in India wrote explanatory notes for their inventions.

The industrial revolution was another reason for the growth of technical writing. A lot of inventions paved way for the production of complex machines. People started to live in a machine age, where technical literacy was inevitable.

It created awareness and knowledge about machines and also developed the skills to operate them. Thus indirectly technical literacy multiplied the needs of human beings to enter into a machine age. Technical writing reached the boom stage in the war years. It became an authorized and recognized job during World War II.

The need for self-learning instructional materials increased in the fields of medicine, military hardware, and computer technology. Post World War II witnessed technological advances in all walks of life.

Another turning point was the invention of the transistor which heralded the age of electronics. The electronic age produced several machines which are cost-effective and useful. This further increased the need for technical communication.

The introduction of transistors reduced the size and cost of computers. Thus in 1949, Joseph D. Chaplin produced the first computational document in America. He wrote an instructional manual for the BINAC computers. It was the humble beginning of modern technical writing.

The major milestones in the evolution of technical writing can be as follows:

1949 – Joseph D. Chaplin wrote a user manual for BINAC computer.
1951 – The first advertisement for a technical writer :”The Help Wanted” advertisements are published.
1952 – Joseph D. Chaplin developed a technical documentation for UNIVAC Computers.
1960 – Sustained growth of electronics and aeronautics resulted in large scale demand for technical writers.
1971 – The first issue of the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication published.
1980 – U S Department of Justice established technical communication as a recognized profession.
1987 – Desk Top Publishing (DTP) became popular. Several software like Corel Venture, Publisher, Interleaf, Adobe Frame Maker, PageMaker etc. were developed.
1999 – Introduction of XML made an impact on software development. The need for construction of help menu and menu driven software increased the requirement of help menus and technical documentation.
2002 – Introduction of Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) insisted companies to generate financial reports. Such reports include infographics, flowcharts, policy manuals, accounting manuals, procedural write ups etc. This created a boom in the technical communication scenario.

Scope of Technical Writing

Technical writing has been evolved with the innovations in technology. Though the need for technical documentation emerged with industrial revolution, it gathered momentum since the invention of transistors. Afterwards integrated chips (ICs) made the concept of personal computers (PCs) a reality.

The conventional user manual in printed form became digitized. The network technologies further improved the transfer and storage of contents. The chances of interactions made technical documents more vibrant than they used to be.

International trade and multinational operations on production and distribution of goods and services facilitated single source publishing. It is a content management method which enables an enterprise to use and reuse the same source content for different media.

Translation and localization are the latest trends of technical writing in the globalized context. Social collaboration is yet another factor that makes technical communication more dynamic.

Internet-savvy end users frequently involve in the creation and maintenance of information through queries, suggestions and online reviews. This real time communication results in social collaboration which enables the users to give instant feedbacks.

These feedbacks are beneficial for assessing the effectiveness of the content.Today, technical writing is a highly paid and promising career option to those who have a taste for science, technology and writing.

The person should be equipped with flawless language, an inquisitive mind in learning technology and expertise in software publishing tools.

Qualities of a Technical Writer

When technical writers write a memo or a letter, they work as business correspondents. While they design an instructional manual for a new product , they enjoy themselves as creative writers. As they explain people about the working of a machine, they play the role of a teacher.

When they release a brochure during the launch of a product, they become PR men. Thus it is obvious that technical writers have different roles in the same costume.

The intensity of the hard work depends on the educational background, experience and work culture of a technical writer. The qualities of a technical writer are:

Language Skills

Quick adaptation to different roles, technical skills, updading of knowldge, teaching skills, interpersonal skills, open to criticism, professionalism.

A technical writer should convey ideas in short sentences. Language skill means the ability to convey ideas easily and concisely. If any error occurs in the text matter, it may have a negative impact on the goodwill of the company as well as the product.

Technical writers may have to take different roles in a corporate environment. They sometimes become narrators, creative writers, corporate communicators, teachers and so on. Technical writers should adapt themselves to the changing environments naturally.

The technical writer must know the jargons of the industry and how to render it to a technologically illiterate end user.

The world of technology grows rapidly. New tools and vocabulary evolves every minute. Technical writers should update their knowledge of the ever growing industry. They must learn new things that confront them in their professional environments.

While writing something, the writer should have a clear idea about the subject matter. One must master the subject with the aim of teaching someone else. The ‘learn to teach’ approach is helpful for technical writers.

Technical writers will have to interact with professionals having diverse tastes and interests. To get information from such people, technical writers need to possess good interpersonal communication skills.

Technical writers may also face harsh criticism from the technocrats. They must listen to the critics and make necessary changes. They should take lessons from others and correct mistakes to make things positive and constructive.

Good technical writers understand the industrial needs and show patience in solving problems and interact with the maintenance engineers and colleagues smoothly. They develop the ability to write clearly. They enjoy the techniques of showing the ideas in graphics.

Process of Technical Writing

The process of technical writing is both technical and creative. It is divided into three stages:

Pre Writing

Drafting or writing stage, post writing or editing stage.

Before beginning to write you should invest some time planning what to write and how to transmit the information. In order to do this you should consider:

Audience and purpose (who you are writing to and why).
Tone and style (how you transmit the information).
Gathering of information (brainstorming, analysing sources of information, etc.).
Outlining (organization of information).

Once you have gathered and organized the information, you can begin writing a first draft. At this stage, it is important to consider the main parts of the text, paragraph development and coherence as well as genre conventions.

As you revise and consider all these aspects, it may be helpful to use representative models as a reference. Drafting is the actual writing process. In this stage technical writers generate language and discover content and format of the technical document. The major aspects of writing are:

Language Appropriateness.
Conciseness and Flow.
Maintenance of Impersonal and Formal Language.
Bias Free Language.
Maintenance of Style.
Adaptability.
Word economy.
Sentence Variety

There is a mythical belief that echoes in the mind of some writer : “I am the author and creator who never fails! And I need no editing”. This is a mere belief and not accepted and practised in the writing profession. Revising is considered as the third stage in the writing process.

It is an imperative stage since a good writer spends 50 percentage of his entire writing schedule for revising! The final stage of the writing process involves:

Revising Content and Organization.
Checking for Grammatical Accuracy.
Editing for Style.
Proofreading and Peer Review.

These steps will help you spot any inconsistencies in your document so as to produce a flawless final version. Some of the benefits that can be obtained from adopting this process approach are outlined below:

It helps the writer overcome the blank page syndrome and therefore get started.
It serves the writer as a guide to writing since it suggests possible steps to follow in the writing process.
It makes the writer aware of contextual considerations such as audience and purpose.
It promotes awareness of the writing process.
It accounts for individual variation, that is, it encompasses different learning styles and preferences.

Structure of User Guide

A user manual is an elaborate account of a product. It describes the installation, operation and maintenance of a product. The size of a user manual depends upon the use and complexity of the product.

A user guide has:

Precautions

Introduction, abbreviations, technical specifications, accessories.

The cover of a user manual is the identity of the product as well as the company. The cover may contain the name, serial/model number, the logo and slogan of the product.

Cautions are meant to warn the user about the hazards that may occur while operating the machine or product. Precautions generally detail the ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’.

The table of contents directs the user to locate his required information in the manual.

The company addresses the customer by thanking or congratulating the customer in choosing the product. The Positive expressions like ‘welcome’, ‘valuable customer’ etc. leaves lasting impressions and the readiness for the messages is created in the minds of the readers.

Abbreviations are created for lengthy technical jargons or phrases. These technical terms are to be explained well enough in the document. A glossary of abbreviations is usually given at the end of a technical document.

Technical specifications introduce the product and its important parts to the user. Here a diagram is shown in which the important parts are marked visibly. Each part is numbered and defined in the same page.

Warranty is a statement that contains the agreement showing the responsibility of the company on a product. It states that in case of malfunction or serious damage occurring within a designated period the product will be replaced or repaired at the cost of the company.

The list of accessories given in a user manual is the business diversion of the manufacturer. At the same time it is useful for the consumer since he or she gets value added services from the product.

Design of an Instruction User Manual

Instruction manuals have pre-determined structure in order to present the information systematically and effectively. They usually begin with the definitions of their audience or technology of the product. A headline which follows gives directions to the readers.

Topics are stated through different modes of headlines. The manual moves further with situations, stages of priority, list of tools, narration of processes, warnings and conclusion.

Definition of Audience

Introduction of situations, prioritize different stages in a task, list of tools, narration of the process.

By defining the audience, the company gets the picture of the real targets and the writers may focus on their communication aiming at the real targets.

Headlines give directions to the readers. They help the audience for the easy location of the immediate needs of audience regarding the user manual. They add colour, typographical design, white space and provisions for smooth navigation throughout the document.

Introduction of situations give an opening to a specific task. It sets a platform for explaining the status of such operations. Sometimes the introduction may briefly explain the status of the company in the use of a particular technology or product.

For example some refrigerator companies claim that they are the first to introduce CFC free gas emission. They may add this sentence when they give instructions as how to refill the gas.

Setting priorities in the execution of a task is very important. Each process is to be followed systematically to complete a task. A wrong order of operational step can lead to serious damage. Give the order of priority with due care and consultation with experts so that the task is achieved by the end user without complications.

A list of tools helps the user to equip for the execution of a task. It may be impossible sometimes to go in search of a tool in the middle of an operation.

Narration describes the action. A well written document describes each stage of the task in detail. The step by step narration should lead the end user to the successful completion of an operation.

Warnings are given at the beginning or end of the manual depending on the nature of the product.

Like any other document instruction manuals also end with a conclusion. They make a note of positive attitudes about the product, company and the users. The conclusion may contain a reassurance about the company’s assistance in the future.

This portion gives the contact details of the company for communication, name of dealers, service networks, online help sites, official websites and so on.

FAQ Related to Basics of Technical Writing

What are the qualities of a technical writer.

Following are the qualities of a technical writer: 1. Language Skills 2. Quick Adaptation to Different Roles 3. Technical Skills 4. Updading of Knowldge 5. Teaching Skills 6. Interpersonal Skills 7. Open to Criticism 8. Professionalism.

What are the three stages of technical writing?

Process of technical writing is divided into three stages: 1. Pre Writing 2. Drafting or Writing Stage 3. Post Writing or Editing Stage.

What is user guide template?

Following are the steps of user guide template: 1. Cover 2. Precautions 3. TOC 4. Introduction 5. Abbreviations 6. Technical Specifications 7. Warranty 8. Accessories.

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5: Processes and Guidelines in Technical Writing

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Tiffani Reardon, Tammy Powell, Jonathan Arnett, Monique Logan, & Cassie Race

Tiffani Reardon, Tammy Powell, Jonathan Arnett, Monique Logan, & Cassie Race
Kennesaw State University
5.1: Writing Process- From Audience to Rough Draft
5.2: Audience Analysis
5.3: Task Analysis
5.4: Articulating Technical Information
5.5: Power-Revision Techniques
5.6: Libraries, Documentation, and Cross-Referencing
5.7: Basic Patterns and Elements of the Sentence
5.8: Common Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation Problems
5.9: Common Spelling Problems
5.10: Strategies for Peer-Reviewing and Team Writing
5.11: Information Structures
5.12: Organizing Information
5.13: Logic- Common Fallacies
5.14: Logic- How to Do it Wrong
5.15: Logic- Recognizing Fallacies

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5: Processes and Guidelines in Technical Writing
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These five techniques will transform your technical writing

1. Be clear and logical

2. Focus on the audience

3. Consider every word

4. Keep it brief

5. Be active and engaging

Your go-to guide to better writing

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Technical Writing for Beginners – An A-Z Guide to Tech Blogging Basics

Table of Contents

Benefits of Technical Writing

The Technical Writing Process

Technical Writing Courses

What is Technical Writing?

Necessary Skills to Have as a Technical Writer

Know how to explain things clearly and simply

Possess some writing skills‌‌

Analyze and Understand who your Readers are

Think About User Experience

Plan Your Document

Conduct thorough research about the topic

Make an outline

Get relevant graphics/images

Write in the Correct Style

Use Active Voice

Choose Your Words Carefully

Avoid Excessive Jargon

Use Plain Language

Visual Formatting

Do a Careful Review

Where to Publish Your Articles

Technical Writing Forums and Communities

Some Amazing Technical Writers to follow

Final words

Enhance user experience effortlessly!

Clarity and Simplicity

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Top 10 Tips for Great Technical Writing

1. Understand what your audience is already likely to know

2. Think about how you present your information