CHAPTER1

TECHNI
CALWRI
TING

1.
1Def
ini
ti
onofTechni
cal
Wri
ti
ng

Technical writ
ing is any wr it
ten f orm of wr i
ti
ng or dr aft
ing techni
cal
communi cati
onusedi nav ari
etyoftechnicalandoccupati
onalfiel
ds,suchascomput er
hardwareandsof tware,engi
neering,chemistry,aer
onaut
ics,robot
ics,fi
nance,medical
,
consumerel ectr
onics,andbiotechnology.Itencompassest helargestsub-f
iel
dwi t
hin
techni
calcommuni cation.

TheSoci etyf orTechni calCommuni cati

ondef i
nestechnicalcommuni cat
ionas
anyf orm ofcommuni cationthatexhibi
tsoneormor eofthef ol
l
owi ngcharacteri
sti
cs:
"(1) communi cating about t echnicalor special
ized topics,such as comput er
applicati
ons,medi calpr ocedures,orenv i
ronmentalregulat
ions;(2)communi cati
ng
throughpr inteddocument sort echnol
ogy,suchaswebpages,hel pfi
les,orsoci al
medi asites;or( 3)pr ovidinginstr
ucti
onsabouthowt odosomet hing,r
egardlessofthe
task'stechnicalnat ure".

Ov erv
iew
Techni calwr iti
ngisper formedbyat echni
calwr it
er( ortechnicalauthor)andi s
thepr ocessofwr it
ingandshar i
ngi nf
ormat i
oninapr ofessionalset ti
ng.At echni cal
wr i
ter
'sprimar yt aski stoconv eyinfor
mat iontoanot herper sonorpar tyinthemost
clearandef f
ect i
vemannerpossi ble.Thei nformati
ont hatt echnicalwr i
ter
sconv eyi s
oftencompl ex, andi tisoneoft heirmaint askst oanalyzet heinformat i
onandpr esenti t
i
naf ormatt hati seasyt oreadandunder stand.Agoodt echnicalwr i
terneedsstrong
wr i
ti
ngandcommuni cat
ionskill
s.Theydonotonl yconv eyinformat i
ont hr
ought ext
, and
mustbepr ofi
cientwi thcomput ersaswel l.Theyuseawi derangeofpr ogramstocr eate
and editi l
lustrations,diagrammi ng programst o createv i
sualai ds,and document
processorst odesi gn, cr
eate,andf ormatdocument s.

Whil
ecommonl yassociatedwithonli
nehel
pandusermanual s,
technicalwrit
ing
coversawi der angeofgenr esandt echnol
ogi
es.Pressr el
eases,memos,busi ness
proposal
s,datasheet
s,productdescri
pti
onsandspeci
ficat
ions,whit
epaper s,résumés,
andjobapplicati
onsarebutaf ewexamplesofdocumentsthatareconsider
edf ormsof
techni
calwri
ting.

History
Whi l
et echni
calwr i
ti
nghasonl ybeenr ecogni
zedasapr of
essionsi nceWor l
d
WarI I
,itsrootscanbet racedtoclassi
calant
iquit
y.Cri
ti
cscit
ethewor ksofwr i
ter
sli
ke
Arist
otleast heearl
iestformsoftechni
calwri
ting.Geoff
reyChaucer
'swor k,Treati
seon
theAst r
olabe,isanear l
yexampl eofatechni
caldocumentandi sconsideredt obethe
fi
rsttechnicaldocumentpublishedinEngl
ish.

Wi
tht
hei
nvent
ionoft
hemechani
calpr
int
ingpr
ess,
theonsetoft
heRenai
ssance
andtheri
seoft heAgeofReason,t heneedt odocumentf indi
ngsbecameanecessi ty
,
and i
nventor
s and scient
istslike Isaac Newt on and Leonardo da Vi
ncipr epared
documentsthatchroni
cledt hei
rinventionsandf i
ndings.Whilenevercal
ledtechnical
documentsduri
ngtheirperiodofpubl i
cation,t
hesedocument splayedacr uci
alrolein
devel
opi
ngmoder nformsoft echnicalcommuni cat
ionandwr it
ing.

Thef i
eldoft echnicalcommunicat
iongrewdur ingtheIndust
ri
alRevol
ut i
on.This
i
ncreasedt heneedt oinstr
uctpeopl
ehowt ouset hemor eandmor ecomplexmachi nes
thatwerebei nginv entedandused.Howev er
,unlikethepast,whereski
ll
swer ehanded
downt hroughor altradit
ions,noonebesi
dest heinventorsknewhowt ouset hesenew
devices.Wr i
ting thusbecamet hefast
estand mostef f
ecti
vewayt o disseminate
i
nformat i
on,andwr it
erswhocoulddocumentt hesedev i
cesweredesir
ed.

Dur i
ngt he20t hcent ury,theneedf ort echni
calwr i
ti
ngsky rocketed,andthe
professionfinall
ybecameof fici
all
yrecognized.Theev entsofWor ldWarIandWor l
d
WarI Iled to adv ances in medi ci
ne,mi l
i
t ar
yhar dware,comput ert echnology
,and
aerospacet echnologies.Thisr api
dgrowth,coupl edwit
ht heurgencyofwar ,
creat
edan
i
mmedi ateneedf orwel l
-designedandwr i
ttendocument sthatchr oni
cledt heuseof
theset echnologi
es.Techni calwr i
ti
ngwasi nhighdemanddur i
ngt hi
stime, andbecame
anof fi
cialj
obt i
tl
edur ingWor ldWarI I
.

Followi
ngWor l
dWarI I,technologi
caladvancesl edtoani ncreaseinconsumer
goodsandst andar dsofl iv
ing.Dur ingthepost-warboom,publ i
cser vicesl
ikeli
braries
anduni versi
ti
es,aswel last r
anspor tsyst
emsl ikebusesandhi ghway ssaw massi ve
amount sofgr owt h,andt heneedf orwrit
erstochr onicletheseprocessesincreased.It
wasal sodur i
ngt hisperiodt hatcomput ersstart
edbei ngusedinlargebusinessesand
univer
sit
ies.Not abl y
,in1949,JosephD.Chapl ineaut horedthef irstcomput at
ional
techni
cal document ,aninstructionmanual fortheBI NACcomput er.

Thediscoveryoft het
ransi
storin1947al lowedcomputer
st obepr oducedmor e
cheaplythanev erbefore.Thesecheaperpr icesmeantthatcomput er
scoul dnow be
purchasedbyi ndivi
dualsandsmal lbusinesses.Andasar esultofthecomput er'
s
growing prominence,theneed forwr iterswho could expl
ainand documentt hese
devicesgrew.Thepr ofessi
onoft echnicalwr i
ti
ngsaw furt
herexpansiondur i
ngt he
1970sand1980sasconsumerel ectr
onicsfoundt hei
rwayintothehomesofmor eand
mor epeople.

I
nr ecentyears,t he prominence ofcomput ersi n societyhas l
ed to many
adv ancesinthefiel
dofdi gi
talcommuni cations,l
eadi ngt omanychangesi nthetool
s
technicalwrit
ersuse.Hy pert
ext,wordpr ocessors,graphicsedi t
ingprograms,andpage
l
ay outsoftwarehavemadet hecr eationoftechnicaldocument sf ast
erandeasiert
han
everbef or
e,andtechnical wr
iter
soft odaymustbepr of i
cienti
nt heseprogr
ams.

1.
2Char
act
eri
sti
csandPur
posesofTechni
cal
Wri
ti
ng

Knowi
ngt
hechar
act
eri
sti
csoft
echni
calwr
it
ingi
sver
yimpor
tanti
fyouar
ea
persont hatisi nterestedi nwr iti
ngpr ofessionall
y.Ther ear emanydi f
ferentty pesof
wr i
tingandeacht ypehasapur pose.Techni calwrit
ingi sdi fferentf
rom otherty pesof
wr i
tingint hatitismor einf ormative.Thepur poseoft hist ypeofwr i
tingistoexpl aina
varietyoft opicstoot herpeopl e.Techni calwriti
ngiscommonl yseeninhowt omanual s
andot herpiecest hatpr ovidedirection.Learningthechar acteristi
csoftechnicalwr it
ing
i
sessent iali
fy ouwantt obui l
dasuccessf ulwr i
ti
ngcar eer .
Char acterist
icsofTechni cal Wri
ting
Techni calwr i
ti
ng,j ustasanyot herform ofwr i
ting,hascer t
ainchar acterist
ics
whichdi sti
nguishi tfrom ot hertypesofwr i
ti
ng.I ti
sv erydi fferentfr
om wr it
ingopi nion
pieces, essays, pr
ose, non- f
icti
onorf ict
ion.

 Itis clearand st raightf orwar d.I fyou ar ei nterested int echnicalwriting f

or
professionalpur poses,itisv eryimpor tantt oknowt hatthistypeofwr i
ti
ngr equi
res
thatt hewr i
terst i
ckt ot hesubj ectmat t
erandr elayinformationi nacl earand
concisemanner .
 Thel anguagei sv erydirectandst r
aighttot hepoi nt .Thewr i
ti
ngwi ll
av oi
dwor ds
thatpeopl edonotunder st
andandwi ll
av oi
danel oquentwr it
ingstyl
e.
 Itisv erydet ail
edandi nf
or mative.Theper f
ectexampl eoft echnicalwr i
ti
ngi sa
text
book.Thewr i
tt
encont entofmostt extbooksi sgear edtopr ovi
dinginformation
bydescr ibi
ngt hesubj ectmat terasf ull
yaspossi ble.
 Iti
sv erystructured.Thist ypeofwr i
tinghasav eryobv i
ouscomposi ti
ont hatmakes
i
teasyf orthereadert of ol
lowal ong.Sol idstructur eisneededwi t
htechnicalwr i
ti
ng
asital l
owst heaudi encet oeasilyaccesst hei nformat i
onasneeded.

Pur
posesofTechni
cal
Wr i
ti
ng
Everyt
ypeofwr
iti
nghasagoal
.Therear
esomeformsofwr
it
ingthatar
egeared
totel
li
ngast or
yandtherear
eotherfor
msofwr i
ti
ngthatar
egearedtoexpressi
ng
opi
nions.

The mai n purpose oftechnicalwr i

ting i
st o prov
ide someti
mes complex
i
nformati
on.Thisisthetypeofwrit
ingthatwil
l:
 Assista per son wit
h underst
andi ng more abouta parti
cul
aritem,such as a
computeroranewdr ugoranewpi eceoftechnol
ogy.
 Explai
nhowanobj ectworksorhowt ocompleteaproj
ect.

Technicalwrit
ingistargetedtoreaderswhoar elooki
ngforinf
ormat
ionona
part
iculartopic.Thegoalintargeti
ngthi
sgr oupi
st omakesur ethatt
heinf
ormat
ion
provi
dedi sclear,
conciseandeasyforanyonetounderst
and.

Thistypeofwri
ti
ngissomewhatdi f
fi
cultf
orsomepeopl easitrequiresthatyou
areabletot r
ansl
atei
nformati
onthatissometimeshardtocomprehendi ntotermsthat
anyonewi llbeabletoreadandf oll
ow al
ongwi t
h,withoutanissue.Whi l
et hereare
di
ffer
entt ypesofwrit
ingthatar
ei nfor
mativ
e,techni
calwrit
ingisthety pethatmost
cl
earlyfocusesonpresenti
nginf
ormat i
oninaspecifi
cwaysot hatpeoplecanuset he
i
nformationforavari
etyofpur
poses.
1.
3Di
ff
erencebet
weenTechni
cal
andLi
ter
aryWr
it
ings

MainDi fference– Techni calWr i

ti
ngv sLi teraryWr i
ti
ng
Techni calwr i
tingandLi terar
ywr i
tingar et woi mpor tantwr itingst y l
esusedby
wri
tersdependi ngont hesubj ectmat t
er,pur poseandi nt endedaudi ence.Themai n
di
fferencebet weent echnicalwr it
ingandl iterarywr i
ti
ngi st hat,lit
er arylanguagei st he
wri
tingst yleusedi nl i
terarywor kwhi letechni calwr it
ingisast yl
eusedi nwr it
ingfora
par
t i
cularf i
eld.Letus f i
rstbr iefl
y anal y ze theses t wo st yl
es separ at
ely before
di
scussi ngt hedi ff
erencebet weent echnical wri
tingandl i
terar ywr i
ting.
Whati sLi t
erar yWr i
ti
ng
Literarywr i
ti
ngi sast yleofwr i
ti
ngt hati susedi ncr eat i
veandl iterarywork;this
i
sthest y l
eofwr iti
ngt hatisusedi nf i
ction.Exampl esforli
ter arywr i
tingi ncludespoems,
novels,shor tst ori
es,dr amaset c.Themostsi gnif
icantdi ff
erencebet weenl it
erary
wri
tingandot herstylesofwr i
ti
ngi sthatt hel anguageusedi nl i
terarywr iti
ngusesmany
l
it
eraryf i
gur es.Obser v ethebelow- givenst anzat oobser vet hi sfeature.

“
Iwander
edl
onel
yasacl
oud

Thatf
loat
sonhi
gho’
erv
alesandhi
l
ls,

Whenal
latonceIsawacr
owd,

Ahost
,ofgol
dendaf
fodi
l
s;

Besi
det
hel
ake,
beneat
hthet
rees,

Fl
utt
eri
nganddanci
ngi
nthebr
eeze.
”

(
Fir
stst
anzaf
rom Wi
l
li
am Wor
dswor
th’
s“Iwander
edLonel
yAsaCl
oud”
)

WhatisTechni calWr iti

ng
Technicalwr it
ingisast yleofwr it
ingusedi ndeliv
eri
ngt echnicalinf
ormat i
on
regar
ding a particularsubject.Her e,thei nt
ended audienceshoul d havea cer tai
n
knowledgeaboutt hesubj ectin ordert o understand t
het echnicaljargon and the
meaningoft het ext.Technicalwr i
ti
ngist hestyleofwr i
ti
ngt hatismost lyobservedin
Non-fi
cti
on.Exampl esf ortechnicalwri
tingincludeessay s,manuals,reportsetc.This
styl
eofwr i
ti
ngi sdi rectandsi mple.Ifwewer et oexpresst heideaconv eyedint he
abovepoem i ntechni calwrit
ing,we’dsi mplysay .“Thenar rat
orwaswal ki
ngal one,
whenhesawapat chofdaffodilsnearthelake.”

Di
ff
erenceBet
weenTechni
cal
Wri
ti
ngandLi
ter
aryWr
it
ingi
n:

Defi
nit
ion:
Techni
calwrit
ing:Techni
calwr
it
ingisapr
ocessofmanagi
ngt
echni
cali
nfor
mat
ioni
na
waythatall
owpeopl etot
akeacti
ons.
Li
terarywrit
ing:Li
ter
arywri
ti
ngisacr
eati
ngi
nnovat
ive,
creat
ivewor
k,suchaspoemsor
novels,andcompilat
ionsorvol
umesofcr
eat
ivewor
k.

Purpose:
Technical
Wr it
ing:
Writ
tent
oinform,i
nst
ructreadersaboutacer
tai
nthi
ng.
Li
terar
yWr it
ing:Wri
tt
entoent
ertai
n,amusereaders.

Language
TechnicalWriti
ng:Thelanguageusedintechnicalwri
ti
ngisdirect,
factual
,and
str
aightf
orwar d.
Li
teraryWrit
ing:Thelanguageusedinli
ter
arywr i
ti
ngiscreat
ive,imaginati
veanduses
l
it
erarytechniquesl
ikehyperbol
e,per
sonif
icat
ion,simi
les,metaphors,etc.

Appeal
Techni
cal
Wr it
ing:
Techni
calWri
ti
ngappeal
stot
hemi nd.
Li
terar
yWrit
ing:Li
ter
aryWri
ti
ngappeal
stoemot
ions.

Str
ucture
TechnicalWrit
ing:Technicalwrit
inghastechni
cal
vocabular
y,si
mplesent
ences,
i
mper sonal
,objecti
v etone.
Li
teraryWrit
ing:Lit
erarywrit
ingmi ghthavecompl
exsentencestr
uct
ureandli
ngui
sti
c
aspectsli
kedialects,ambiguit
y,etc.

Audience
TechnicalWr it
ing:
Techni calwri
ti
ngi
swr i
tt
enforthosewhoareknowl
edgeabl
eabout
thatpart
icularsubjectarea.
Lit
eraryWr i
ting:Li
terar
ywr it
ingi
swri
ttenforgener
alreader
s.

1.
4TheBasi
cPr
inci
plesofTechni
cal
Wri
ti
ng

The f ive basi

c pri
nciples ofgood t echnicalwr i
ti
ng could be taken as the
foundationonwhi chfurt
herdev el
opmentoft heski l
l
si nwrit
ingshouldbedev el
oped.
Comment sbydiffer
entauthorsoftechni
cal wri
tingbooksr ef
ertotheseprincipl
esasso
i
mpor tantt hatinfacti
tshouldcompr i
set hebasi csoftechni
calwrit
ing.Howev er,
these
pri
nciplesar esobasi candi mportantthatitencompassest hewhol edev el
opmentof
thesubj ect,t
echnicalwri
ti
ng.

1.Alwayshav einmi ndaspeci fi

creader ,realori maginary,whenyouar ewr it
inga
repor
t;andalway sassumet hatt hi
sr eaderi sint
ell
igent
,butuninf
ormed.
2.Befor
ey oustarttowr it
e,alway sdecidewhatt heexactpurposeofyourreporti
s; and
makesur ethatev eryparagraph, everysent ence,everyword,makesaclear
contr
ibuti
ontot hatpurpose, andmakesi tatther i
ghtti
me.
3.Uselanguaget hatissimple, concrete,andf amil
iar
.
4.Atthebeginningandendofev erysectionofy ourreportcheckyourwri
ti
ng
accordi
ngtot hisprinci
ple:Firstyout el
l yourreaderswhaty ouaregoi
ngt otell
them,
 t
henyoutel
lthem,andthenyoutel
lthem whaty
ouhav
etol
dthem.
"
5.Makeyourr
eportatt
ract
ivet
olookat.

1.
5TheBasi
cTechni
quesi
nTechni
cal
Wri
ti
ng

Mechanism Descri
pti
onexplainsthearr
angementandshapeofanobj ecti
nspace.
Suchadescr i
pti
onmayi nvol
vemov ement,compl
exmot i
onsarebetterhandl
edwitht
he
processdescri
pti
on.Typical
l
y,thepart
sofmechanism descr
ipt
ionanswerthefol
lowi
ng
questi
onsinorder:

 Whatisit
?
 Whatisit
sf unction?
 Whatdoesi tl
ookl ike?
 Howdoesi twor k?
 Whatareitsprincipalparts?
Giveadetai
leddescr i
pti
onofeachpar
t.
Eachofthesepar t
smayr equir
eamechani
sm descr
ipt
ionofi
tsown.

ProcessDescr
ipti
onexplainst
hearr
angementofasequenceinchronol
ogi
calor
der
.In
organi
zat
ion,i
tissi
mi l
artomechani
sm descr
ipt
ion,
exceptt
hatthe"par
t-
by-
part
"
becomesstepbyst ep:

 Whatisi
t?
 Whatisi
tsfunction?
 Whereandwhendoesi ttakepl
ace?
 Whoorwhatper formsit?
 Howdoesitwor k?
 Whatarei
tsprincipalst
eps?

Processdescri
pti
onincl
udessequence,i
nst
ructi
onsandpr ocedure;however
,only
i
nstructifyouexpectyourr
eadertoperf
ormtheprocessy oudescri
be.Trytokeep
separatethesetwoconcepts:
"Howt odosomething"and"Howsomet hi
ngoccurs"The
fi
rstcall
sforinst
ruct
ionsorprocedur
e;t
hesecond,forsequence.

Classif
icat
ioni
nvol
vesgroupi
ngt hi
ngstogether(
onthebasisofsimil
ari
ti
es)and
di
v i
dingthem (
accordi
ngtodif
ferences)
.Classi
fi
cati
onassist
sinthecomplete
considerat
ionofatopi
c.NotethedangerofFaultyCoor
dinati
on.

Part
it
ion i
st he actofdiv i
ding t
hings i
ntothei
rcomponentpar ts;v er
ysimi l
art o
cl
assif
icat
ion,andaninevi
tabl
epartofmechanism descr
ipt
ionandpr ocessdescri
pti
on
.Part
it
ioncouldbespati
al(howeachpar tl
ooks)orf
uncti
onal(howeachpar tworks).

Defi
nit
ionuseswordstof i
xthemeaningofat hi
ng--t
omakei t"defi
nit
e".Theshort
defi
nit
ion(aparagr
aphorasi ngl
esentence)i
sessenti
alt
otechnicalwri
ting.For
i
nstance,t
heMechanism Descr i
pti
onandtheProcessDescr
ipti
oneachbegi nwithacal
l
foradefi
nit
ion.Adefi
nit
ionanswersthequesti
on"whatisi
t?"Gooddef i
niti
onsemploy
t
hef
oll
owi
ngf
ormul
a:

speci
es=genus+di ffer
enti
athi
ngtobedef i
ned=grouptowhi
chthethingbelongs+
speci
fi
cdetai
l
st hatseparat
eitfr
om otherthingsi
nit
sgroupAbatt
enisat aperedpi
ece
ofwoodthatfi
tsintoapocketinthetr
ail
ingedgeofasail,
hel
pingi
tholdtheshapethat
al
lowsitt
opropel aboat.

Someti
mesdefi
nit
ionsmightbemuchl ongert
hanonesentence,
inwhichcase
youarest
il
ltr
yingt
oanswer"whatisi
t?"butwil
lbeusi
ngmostotherpatt
ernstohel
p
answeri
t:y
oucandefi
nebydescribi
ng.