Technical writing

Technical, Scientific, and
Business English
Lesson Title
Lesson Target

Lesson No.
Date

01
21 Oct
2013

Definition and Nature of Technical Writing
Discuss the nature of technical writing.

References
Title
Author

Handbook for Technical Writing, Technical Writing Style
Shelton, James. Handbook for Technical Writing.
Illinios: NTC Business Books, 1994. Print
Confai. Technical Writing Style. Accessed October 21,
2013. http://www.confai.com/technical-writing-style

Page
Number(s)

5

What is Technical Writing?
 Technical writing communicates specific and factual information to a defined audience for a defined purpose.
 The information is technical in nature, and this is what makes technical writing different from other types of writing.
 Broadly, that audience includes technical readers, managerial readers, or even, at times, general readers.
 The purpose is to inform, instruct, describe, explain, or otherwise document scientific or industrial processes and mechanisms.
Purposes of Technical Writing
1. To inform
It is written to make another person understand or to do something. It is designed to fulfill a need to tell and a need to know.
2. To analyze events and their implications
It will explain how certain systems failed. This system may include education, socioeconomic, political and the needed change.
3. To persuade and influence decisions
It will show how a business or an industry succeeds.
Technical writing is ideally characterized by the maintenance of impartiality and objectivity, by extreme care to convey information accurately and concisely and by the absence of any attempt to arouse emotions.
Basic Principles of Technical Writing
1. Understanding the Reader
The technical writer should know how to adapt his writings and terminologies of the type of the intended audience or readers.
Difficult technical terms used must be carefully defined so that the reader will easily understand the information

References: Illinios: NTC Business Books, 1994. Print Confai