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Technical Writing Styles and Formats

Technical writing styles and formats aim to be concise, clear, and audience-focused. Writers must understand their audience's knowledge level to determine the appropriate content and tone. Technical documents should clearly explain their subject matter and intended use. Accuracy is essential, as incorrect technical instructions could have dangerous physical consequences. Effective document design, including formatting, images, and diagrams, helps convey complex information more easily.

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Kim Loyola
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200 views

Technical Writing Styles and Formats

Technical writing styles and formats aim to be concise, clear, and audience-focused. Writers must understand their audience's knowledge level to determine the appropriate content and tone. Technical documents should clearly explain their subject matter and intended use. Accuracy is essential, as incorrect technical instructions could have dangerous physical consequences. Effective document design, including formatting, images, and diagrams, helps convey complex information more easily.

Uploaded by

Kim Loyola
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What are the technical writing styles and formats?

Good technical writing is concise, focused, easy to understand, free of errors, and is audience-
based. Technical writers focus on making their documents as clear as possible, avoiding overly
technical phrases and stylistic choices like passive voice and nominalizations. Because technical
documents are used in real-world situations, it should always be explicitly clear what the
subject matter of a technical document is and what should be done with the presented
information. It would be disastrous if, for example, a technical writer's instructions on how to
use a high-powered X-ray machine were difficult to decipher.
Technical writing requires a writer to extensively examine his or her audience. A technical
writer needs to be aware of his or her audience's existing knowledge about the material he or
she is discussing as the knowledge base of the writer's audience will determine the content and
focus of a document. For example, an evaluation report discussing a scientific study's findings
that is written to a group of highly skilled scientists will be very differently constructed than one
intended for the general public. Technical writers do not have to be subject-matter
experts (SMEs) themselves and generally collaborate with SMEs to complete tasks that require
more knowledge about a subject than they possess.
Technical writing must be accurate. A technical writer, after analyzing his or her audience,
knows what they are trying to communicate. The goal from there is to convey the message in
an accurate and ethical manner. Physical, environmental, or financial repercussions could result
if a writer does this incorrectly. Knowing the audience is important to accuracy because the
language will be tailored according to what they understand about the subject at hand. For
example, instructions on how to correctly and safely build a bookshelf are included when
purchased. Those instructions are constructed so that anyone could follow along, including
accurate details as to where each fastener goes. If those instructions were inaccurate, the
bookshelf could be unstable and fail.
Document design and layout are also very important components of technical writing. Technical
writers spend large amounts of time ensuring their documents are readable, because a poorly
designed document hampers a reader's comprehension. Technical document design stresses
proper usage of document design choices like bullet points, font-size, and bold text.  Images,
diagrams, and videos are also commonly employed by technical writers because these media
can often convey complex information, like a company's annual earnings or a product's design
features, far more efficiently than text.

When writing technical documents and instructions there are several style tips you should keep
in mind:
 Use a lot of imperative, command or direct address, kinds of writing. It is OK to use
"you" when writing instructions, because you are addressing the reader directly.

 Use active instead of passive voice.

 Do not leave out articles such as a, an and the.

 Use action verbs.

 Ensure graphics match descriptive text to avoid confusion.

 Label graphics by steps, for example Step 17 "...Put...", the graphic should be labeled
clearly with a number "17" or if multiple graphics exists for a line of text writing in
chronological order "17a, 17b, etc." or if different views "17 front, 17 back, etc."

 Keep text short but descriptive.

 Avoid complicated jargon, use simple verbiage to ensure understanding by a broad


spectrum of users.

 Use concise headings and subheadings to describe and highlight each section.

 Leave plenty of white space around headings.

 Highlight safety information and warnings.

 Keep illustrations as simple as possible.

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