Technical writing

Technical writing is a specialized form of communication used by industrial and scientific organizations to clearly and accurately convey complex information to customers, employees, assembly workers, engineers, scientists and other users who may reference this form of content to complete a task or research a subject. Most technical writing relies on Plain Language (PL), supported by easy-to-understand visual communication to clearly and accurately explain complex information.

Technical writing is a labor-intensive form of writing that demands accurate research of a subject and the conversion of collected information into a written format, style, and reading level the end-user will easily understand or connect with. There are two main forms of technical writing.

By far, the most common form of technical writing is procedural technical writing. Procedures are simply instructions broken down into easily understood, individual steps. To be effective, the expert and "layman" reader must be equally capable of understanding the same procedures. This is why accuracy, standardization, and simplicity are so critical in producing this form of writing.

The software industry is now one of the largest users of procedural technical writing and relies on procedural documents to describe a program's user operation and installation instructions.

The second most common form of technical writing is often referred to as scientific technical writing. This form of technical writing follows "white paper" writing standards and is used to market a specialized product/service or opinion/discovery to select readers. Organizations normally use scientific technical writing to publish white papers as industry journal articles or academic papers. Scientific technical writing is written to appeal to readers familiar with a technical topic. Unlike procedural technical writing, these documents often include unique industry terms, data, and a clear bias supporting the author or the authoring organization's findings/position. This secondary form of technical writing must show a deep knowledge of a subject and the field of work with the sole purpose of persuading readers to agree with a paper's conclusion. Technical writers generally author, or ghost write white papers for an organization or industry expert, but are rarely credited in the published version.

In most cases, however, technical writing is used to help convey complex scientific or niche subjects to end users with a wide range of comprehension. To ensure the content is understood by all, Plain Language (PL) is used, and only factual content is provided. Modern procedural technical writing relies on simple terms and short sentences rather than detailed explanations with unnecessary information like personal pronouns, abstract words, and unfamiliar acronyms. To achieve the right grammar; procedural documents are written from a third-person, objective perspective with an active voice and formal tone. Technical writing grammar is very similar to print journalism and follows a very similar style of grammar.

Although technical writing plays an integral role in the work of engineering, health care, and science; it does not require a degree in any of these fields. Instead, the document's author must be an expert in technical writing. An organization's subject-matter experts, internal specifications, and a formal engineering review process are relied upon to ensure accuracy. The division of labor helps bring greater focus to the two sides of an organization's documentation. Most technical writers hold a liberal arts degree in a writing discipline, such as technical communication, journalism, English, technical journalism, communication, etc. Technical writing is the largest segment of the technical communication field.

Examples of fields requiring technical writing include computer hardware and software, architecture, engineering, chemistry, aeronautics, robotics, manufacturing, finance, medical, patent law, consumer electronics, biotechnology, and forestry.