TECHNICAL

WRITING
An Introduction

What is technical
writing?
These are written

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Gerald J. Alre
echnical
Handbook of T
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communications done
on the job, especially
in fields with
specialized
vocabularies, such as
science, engineering,
technology, and the
health sciences.

 a form of technical communication, is a

style of formal writing used in fields as
diverse as computer hardware and
software, chemistry, the aerospace
industry, robotics, finance, consumer
electronics, and biotechnology.
Technical writers explain technology
and related ideas to technical and
nontechnical audiences. This could
mean, for example, telling a
programmer how to use a software
library or telling a consumer how to
operate a television remote control.

Technical writing is a
method of researching
and creating
information about
technical processes or
Aurelio Locsin
products.
(eHow.com)

T
E
C
H
N
I
C
A
L

TECHNOLOGYDRIVEN
EFFECTUAL
CURIOUS
HONEST
NEUTRAL
INTELLIGENT
CAREFUL
ACCURATE
LOGICAL

W
R
I
T
E
R

WORKMANLY
RESOURCEFUL
INTERESTING
THOROUGH
ETHICAL
RESPONSIBLE

A COMPARISON
POINT OF
CONTRAST
1. Subject

TECHNICAL
WRITING

LITERARY
WRITING

Scientific/
technical

Non-scientific/
non-technical

2.Readership Specific/ discourse

communities
3. Purpose

General

Informative/
persuasive

Entertaining

4. Language

Literary/
denotative

Figurative/
connotative

5. Style

Impersonal

Personal

A COMPARISON
POINT OF
CONTRAST

TECHNICAL
WRITING

LITERARY
WRITING

6. Tone

Heavy/serious

Light/Amusing

7. Point of
View

Third person
point of view

First person
point of view

8.Emotionality

Unemotional

Emotional

9. Objectivity Objective/Neutral
10.Form/
Format

Formal

Subjective/Biased
Informal

GOALS OF
TECHNICAL WRITING

To enable readers to use a

technology or understand a
process or concept
Promote the proliferation of
business communication
and enterprise

PROPERTIES OF
TECHNICAL
WRITING

ACCURACY

devoid of errors
precise

CONCISE

Short or brief
Pruned of deadwood,
redundancy, and
unnecessary material

COHERENCE
Ideas stick together
consistency

FACTUALITY
Ideas are based
on facts
Provable, testable
& credible

LOGICAL
Conforms to the
principles of logic,
reason and correct
thinking

DIRECTNESS
Direct to the point,
dignified, and formal

OBJECTIVITY
It is not neutral
Does not favor any
one side

READERFRIENDLY

Although technical,
words must be
understandable even
when audience is a
regular person

SUBSTANCE
Valuable
Satisfies the
readers need for
information