Technical writingOne specific area of communication that involves transmitting and understanding the knowledge of a technical subject to others that need to know the basics and details of the subject in question. In written form, this type of communication is called technical writing.
Goal of a technical writerRemember that your aim as a technical writer is not to impress, but
to inform.
 
In
Technical Writing Style
DO’s
- • Important information first
- • Normal word order
- • Sentence length
- • Active voice
- • Parallel structure
- • Preview List
- • Keep it real
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FIRSTBy putting important information at the beginning of a sentence, we make that sentence easier to understand(or in paragraph). It also serves to clarify what is the most important part of the sentence.
Important information first
•
Unclear: Its unwise to walk area near the
cliff edge,
walking there may result in a dangerous fall and therefore it is recommended that one remains a safe distance to maintain personal
safety.
•
Clear:Danger -- Stay away from the cliff its very steep.
NORMAL WORD ORDER:Subject verb order(SVO). By using this order the sentences become more clarified.
SUBJECT VERB OBJECTUmer eats apple.
Many people hate America.
SENTENCE LENGTH
The length of a sentence is vitally important in conveying information, which is of course the primary task of the technical writer. The ideal sentence length for technical writing is somewhere between
15 and 25 words, and varying the length of your sentences makes for lively reading.
ACTIVE VOICEIn the active voice, the
object receives the action of the verb. Active voice is shorter and more interesting to read.
For passive voice object becomes the subject and vice versa.PARALLEL STRUCTURE Parallel construction signals to the reader that two ideas are of equal importance. If two or more ideas or items are connected by a
coordinating conjunction such as
“and”, “but” or “or”, then those ideas should be expressed in parallel or equivalent grammatical constructs. Items and ideas of
equal importance should be presented using equivalent grammatical structures.
•
Not Parallel: Mary likes hiking, swimming, and
to ride a bicycle.
•
Parallel: Mary likes hiking, swimming, and riding a bicycle.
PREVIEW LISTLists are a useful tool in technical writing. Preview list contains the keywords to be used in the document. They can be presented in both ways : vertical and horizontal.
Preview list example
Communication is divided into two types
• Verbal communication
•
Non-verbal communicationKEEP IT REAL(You):Maintain focus and only give information about the task at hand .Write what you have experienced. Use “you” to point to the reader.
• e.g.
I took the training course so that
you could experience the problems firsthand.
• I took the training course so that I could experience the problems firsthand.