By Staff Writer | Last Updated August 4, 2015
Technical writing provides industry-related information in a way that it can be understood by people with varying levels of knowledge; technical writers use good grammar, active voice, proper punctuation and more to craft an article or paper. Technical writing most often serves the needs of a particular audience.
There are a number of components involved in technical writing:
- Good grammar
- Concise writing style
- Focus on a particular audience or type of work
- Easily-identified thesis statement
- Contains accurate information
Where academic writing requires prose, historical references and paragraphs, technical articles and papers require less verbose structures. Short sentences and lists are preferred over long paragraphs. Further, the majority of references in technical writing are as current as possible, rather than pointing to the historical record on the topic.
Because technical writing is usually brief, concise writing helps the reader access the information quickly. The focus of the writing is on a single topic and bullet points help narrow the scope of content. Technical writers avoid verbose styles and long sentences.
Since technical writing is often employed to provide current content, it is done with active voice and in present tense. Active voice is most often employed in regular speech and is a style that is easier for readers and listeners to retain.
Additionally, technical writing focuses on industry-related information so individuals in that industry should be able to easily recognize grammar and associated abbreviations and acronyms.
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