Technical writing is not poetry, but a method putting the proper tools into the hands of the consumer. My experience at York with technical writing taught me how technical writing differs from normal prose. It is a very utilitarian form of dialogue that serves a practical function of conveying instructions to the consumer. The most enduring lesson from technical writing is that it is writing the reader does not want to read. They do not want to be consulting instructions, they want to be moving on. Other helpful tips on technical writing can be found here, but in my own notes I recorded that technical writing must be..
- Correct
- Precise
- Relevant
- Brief
- Unemotional
- Non-Anthropomorphic
By following the above commandments of technical writing a technical writer can be effective. But technical writing as a practical profession requires the writer not only to be good at the instructional writing itself but also proficient in the subject that is being written on. A technical writer must have an understanding of the process or product that is being clarified to the reader. A technical writer needs to have an intimate understanding of their subject. In this way, a technical writer must be versatile or have a deep knowledge basis in a specialty with a high demand for technical writing. Writing instructions in the proper brief, informative way is one part of technical writing.
Sean Sakamoto Writing 