Did you know that you probably read or create technical communication every day without even realizing it? If you noticed signs on your way to work, checked the calories on the cereal box, emailed your professor to request a recommendation, or followed instructions to make a withdrawal from an ATM, you’ve been involved with technical communication.

The  Nature of Technical Writing

Technical writing is an audience-centered means of communication that provides a reader with clear and easy access to information. Technical writers recognize the importance of effective and efficient communication by providing documents written in specific formats, using unambiguous language to provide information.  Specifically, technical writing involves communicating complex information to a specific audience who will use it to accomplish some goal or task in a manner that is accurate, useful, and clear. When you write an email to your supervisor, develop a presentation or report, design a sales flyer, or create a webpage, you are a technical communicator.

The Society for Technical Communication (STC) offers the following definition of technical communication:

Technical communicators research and create information about technical processes or products directed to a targeted audience through various forms of media. For example, STC members communicate about technical or specialized topics, such as computer applications, medical procedures, or environmental regulations. They communicate by using technology, such as Web pages, help files, or social media sites. And they provide instructions for products and services….The value that technical communicators deliver is twofold: They make information more useable and accessible to those who need that information, and in doing so, they advance the goals of the companies or organizations that employ them. (https://www.stc.org/)

As you can see from the example above:

• Technical communication serves a practical purpose. In the case of the example, the purposes are to inform, instruct and, perhaps as a secondary purpose, to persuade.
• Technical communication may address multiple audiences. Technical communicators must be conscious of intended and unintended audiences, foreign and domestic readers, and individuals with vastly differing responsibilities, experiences, and expectations of a given document. The context in which a document is read will differ with each reader and it is important to keep documents concise and free of bias and excessive or unclear language to ensure that they are understood.
• Technical communication is collaborative. The sample document, at the very least, required collaboration between scientists and writers.
• Technical communication is shaped by conventions and culture as well as audience needs. Organizations may be formal and conservative or informal and innovative, and technical writers reflect this orientation in their communication style.

In the video below, employees in various fields offer reflections on the importance of technical communication.

Ideas for Writing

By definition, technical writing courses are opportunities to focus on practical uses of your writing skills. Ideally, you’ll have appropriate work or community-related writing projects to write about, for example, instructions for installing new software, recommendations on alarm systems, procedures for hiring new personnel, or procedures and laws for public gatherings. However, technical writing courses are also great opportunities for exploring science, technology, and any other topic appropriate to technical writing tasks, for example, the latest methods for hydroponic gardening, the evolving and available research on pandemics, or a comparison of software applications based on usability.

The following are suggestions only, to spark your own thinking about possible topics for technical writing.  Again, the best topics and situations for technical writing are things that you really need to accomplish at work or in your community.