What is

Technical
Writing?
Dr. Will Kurlinkus
Director of Technical Writing
What is technical writing?

Technical
writing is about the
communication of technical information
to lay audiences and alternatively
technical audiences.
What are the Work Patterns
of Technical
Communicators?
1. Information Designers
Interface Design
Which gas station would
you trust with your credit
card information?
Things that are pretty work better.
2. User Advocates
Who are the users of
your texts? What
does it mean to use
a text?
What does it mean
to advocate for a
user?
How are texts
adapted for
audiences?
Whats the
difference between
an audience and a
user?
User-centered vs.
Designer centered
design
User-Centered
Communication

Most accidents are attributed to

human error, but in almost all cases the
human error was the direct result of poor
design.
Donald Norman
3. Stewards of Writing Activity
in Organizations
What types of documents might you create
to teach someone else a skill?
Who taught you to write the genres of your
other classes?
Team written documents? How?

Note: Even if you never write something on

the job and you have an actual technical
writer you work with there are ways to make
that technical writers job infinitely easier.
 Why Scannability?
Dual path reading
Most important info first
One idea per paragraph
Headings
Bullets
Image captions
Useful links
Numerals stick out