Accurate, well-written documentation is part of your customer support strategy and reduces support costs. Technical writing is much more than technical jargon and pithy instructions. Our audience is made up of humans, and not just technical staff. Technical writing requires the writer to present a main point or thesis, maintain focus, organize and develop ideas, and use the appropriate style for the audience. The following are the basic principles of technical writing.
• Fascinated
Five basic questions (who, why, what, how and when) apply in various situations to develop the content of any type of document. For example, imagine a situation where you have to create a report based on your balance sheet. Before creating a report, you can plan the content of your report by applying the following key questions to the situation:
o Who would like to read the report?
o Why do you want/need to file a report?
o What will this report present to the audience?
o How will the report be presented?
o When will the report be submitted?
• The Writing Situation: Audience and Purpose
Before beginning any writing task, the writer analyzes the audience and identifies the purpose of the document. The writer asks the following questions about the audience:
o Who will read the document?
o What are their biases?
o What are the ethical responsibilities of the technical writer in communicating this to the audience?
Regarding purpose, technical writers ask: what is this document supposed to accomplish? What should I do? Should:
or inform
orRequest
or Instructions
or suggest
or Order
or Postponement
or Reply
o Analysis/Criticism
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• Organization
Writers use an organization pattern to give consistency to the writing. The organizational pattern provides continuity to the document so that the audience can understand the ideas. For example, writers can organize their ideas chronologically, spatially, and categorically.
• Style
Writers change their style depending on the audience. A person would not write an email to a close friend in the same style as a formal memo to a manager. Writers adopt formal or informal styles, depending on the writing situation.
• Accessibility and Specificity
Accessibility refers to the ease with which the audience can get the information they need from a document. The table of contents, headers, footers, page numbers, headings, and subheadings help make the document more accessible to its intended audiences.
• Grammar and Conventional Mechanics
Writers adhere to the rules of conventional grammar and mechanics. Technical writers essentially proofread and edit the document to catch and correct errors in graphics, typography, and layout.
