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Technical writing is not simply a component of many different jobs. It is also a standalone occupation, and is a world in itself. Technical writing is not an easy thing that everyone can understand, and work with. From all forms of writing, this is the hardest one. It deals with creating functional documents. It also combines high-level technical knowledge with a simple, concise, and easy expression. Thus, a technical writer must be good at his job. His task is to communicate highly complicated technical knowledge in a way that’s easy to understand.

Now you would be thinking, how can you do technical writing? What are the that are things required to become a technical writer? What are the dos and don’t in this particular type of writing? Today’s article will answer all the questions stated above. So don’t go anywhere, and give this article a fine read. Before moving on to these questions, let’s define it.

What is Technical Writing? 

Everyone defines this writing type based on his/her own understanding, and the field of study. The definitions of researchers and engineers differs a lot. Let’s go with the standard one. The Society of Technical Communication (STC) defines this writing as;

“Any form of writing that shows one, or more of the following qualities is technical writing.” Those qualities are as follows;

• Communication about technical, or specialised topics. Such as computer applications, medical procedures, or environmental regulations.
• Communication by means of technology, i.e., web pages, social media sites, etc.
• Communicating the use of technology in the production of a particular thing.

Every kind of writing that has the qualities mentioned above is technical. In simple words, technical writing is communicating complex ideas through clear, and concise means.

Importance of Technical Writing 

It is very important in every aspect of life. The industries also employ the skills of technical writing for their products. For example, you buy a refrigerator. You don’t know how to operate it, and set it at different temperatures. The technical guide inside the refrigerator will guide you in this matter. Refrigerator is a technology, and now the guide will also be technical. To make it easy to understand, industries take help from pictures. The pictures, along with technical text, help users a lot in smooth running of the refrigerator. This shows how important it is in our daily lives. But this was simply one example. You should think about the tech things you buy daily for getting an even better idea within this context.

You must now be aware of what technical writing is. So in this next section, experts of an assignment writing service have discussed the dos, and don’t of technical writing.

Dos in Technical Writing

Below is the description of a few dos in this writing;

• Understand your Audience 

Writing for beginners is completely different from writing for an intermediate audience. So the first thing that a technical writer needs to do is consider his audience. If he’s writing something for school children, the choice of words should be simple. It is important to remember that a writer must tailor his writing according to his audience. Hence it is better to ask yourself the following questions before you start writing;

• Who are you writing for?
• What are the skills of your audience?

• Choose Your Own Style 

Many common mistakes that writers make are choosing the writing style of a renowned writer. Every good writer is known for their unique writing style, and presentation of information. Technical writers always choose their own style of writing. Having ideals is not a bad thing. You can take an initial idea from the writing of popular ideas, but don’t copy their styles entirely. Be unique, stand out, and write like you want to. Don’t try to be someone else in your writing. Always be yourself.

• Have An Outline 

Most writers don’t start writing blindly. They ensure the phase of planning before they actually start writing their technical papers. To do this, first think of something that you want to write on, and pen down the idea. Now that you have an idea, what’s next? The next step is to perform extensive research on that topic. Talk to experts in the field, google the idea, and find related material for it. Once you’re done with research, start writing your first draft. Leave the draft, and then come after some days. Then re-read it again. You’ll find several mistakes this way that need to be rectified. This is how you outline your technical writing.

Don’t in Technical Writing:

Now, let’s discuss some of the don’t within this context.

Plagiarism 

Plagiarism is an academic theft. So don’t plagiarise the content of your technical writing by blatantly using someone else’s content. This is because plagiarism can lead you to jail as well. It’s unethical, and immoral to steal someone else’s data, and present it like your own. If you use another person’s data, you should properly reference it within the bibliography section. It is always better to upload your file in a plagiarism checker as well. Through this, the online checkers will tell you about the percentage of plagiarised content within your draft that you can revise immediately.

Assume 

Assumptions are not allowed in the domain of technical writing. In this aspect, the writer should ensure that he has a thorough understanding of the topic at hand. If it’s a documented process, you must witness the process before writing. Let’s take the example of the refrigerator again. The writer of the refrigerator manual must use the fridge’s functions before writing. He cannot assume anything in the guide manual. Another important thing is to present information with solid facts, and statistics. You cannot make up the facts in it.

Don’t be in haste 

Making haste, and completing things quickly doesn’t ensure quality technical writing. Instead, this type of writing comes with the ensuring of both patience, and effort. So it would help if you were consistent with your writing. You might’ve heard the saying, “Slow and steady wins the race.” So with respect to this statement, writing daily, and writing quality content is far better than completing your writing in a week or two.

Conclusion 

Technical writing is all about making difficult things easy to understand for your audience. And the audience is everything in this domain. So the writer must write while keeping target/potential readers in his mind. It is not rocket science. Everyone can learn this type of writing simply through the investment of time, and effort. I hope this article made technical writing easy for you. If you need any more information on this aspect, you can search for it on the internet as well.