Technical Writing

                                          Technical Writing

Definition - 

Technical writing is writing which aims at presenting information on topics relating to science and technology - presenting and explaining concepts so as to enable the readers to understand them, providing supporting evidence and data to convince the readers of the correctness of the conclusions drawn and the theses and theories framed. 

Purpose - 

Technical writing can have different objectives some of which are listed below:

1. Most of the time, the purpose of technical writing is to document the results of new research and to share them with others. The writer wants to inform the world at large and the technical fraternity in particular of the new ideas he has discovered so that they may be able to benefit from them. He summarizes his findings, states his theses or theories, presents the supporting data, confirms speculations, rejects previous approaches and warns of the risks and inaccuracies of other approaches.

2. The purpose of the writer, especially a young one, may also be to benefit from the review process. When his paper is published, it is critically reviewed by the readers, its shortcomings are pointed out, and improvements are suggested. All this enables the writer to have new insight into the issue. He ponders over the views expressed by the others, accepts or rejects them. The whole exercise gives him an opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of the topic and thus to improve his perception.

3. On certain occasions, the purpose of the writer is not to offer any new information but to share the existing information with those who may be ignorant of it. He writes not for the technical circle but for the common people who can benefit from the ideas so presented.

In all these cases, the purpose of technical writing is not only to present scientific concepts and information, along with supporting evidence and data but also to present it in such a way that the reader is able to get a clear idea of the issues and feels convinced that the conclusions drawn and the theories and theses propounded are correct and acceptable. 

In order to achieve these ends, the writer himself must have a clear understanding of the concepts and information he is presenting. If he is himself confused, he cannot make them clear to the readers. But in addition to that, he has to follow certain principles of writing to make his writing as clear as possible so that the reader may easily be able to follow his line of argument instead of getting lost in the rigmarole os scientific and technical jargon.

(Principles of Scientific and Technical Writing)

Scientific and technical writing is different from general or literary writing. Its purpose is to share the results of scientific and technical research or to explain scientific or technical concepts and procedures. The requirement here is not to please by the beauty of the language by making copious use of figures of speech like alliteration, similes, metaphors, symbolism, imagery, hyperbole, hypobole etc. The aim here is not to delight and entertain by making use of a variety of linguistic devices for the ornamentation of language and by the flights of fancy. It is rather to inform and clarify, to make things clear by using simple, clear, unambiguous and easy to understand language..  Science and technology are looked upon as difficult subjects. But a skilled writer can make them easy to understand even for the layman by following some principles concerning the organisation of the contents and the choice of language and style.

Scientific and technical writing should keep the following things in mind:

1.    Recognising and keeping apart the different elements:

Any scientific writing should be divided into the following parts:

i.                    Title and author – It should be given a brief but informative title which tells the reader what he should expect from it. The title should be followed by the name(s) of the author(s) along with their affiliation. The whole information should be centred.

ii.                  Abstract – The abstract contains a brief summary of the findings of the research. It also tells why the writer undertook the research.

iii.                Introduction – The introduction gives information regarding the background of the issue by referring to the previous studies and their results as well as the purpose, scope and limitations of the present study.

iv.                 Materials and Methods – In this section, the author gives information about the materials he has used in his research and the methods and techniques he has employed.

v.                   Results – This section includes the information or the data obtained from the experiments. The data should be classified, organised and presented in a way that is easily understandable. It is better to use tables, figures, charts and graphs for presenting the data and give them clear headings.

vi.                 Discussion – This section interprets the results, analyses them and tries to arrive at some conclusions after the discussion.

vii.               Acknowledgements – In this part, the author thanks all the people and agencies that have been helpful to him in any way in conducting the study and presenting its results.

viii.             Literature cited – Here, the author gives information about the literature on the issue which he has referred to in his paper. Citations in the text give the name of the author and the year of publication of the book or the paper. In the references section at the end, the name of the author(s), year of publication, title, name of the journal, and page number(s) are given in that order.

ix.                 Appendix/Appendices – Full text of the documents referred to in the paper which some readers might like to read is given in this section.

x.                   Glossary – Here, the writer explains the technical terminology used by him with which the readers might need help.

xi.                 Figures and Tables – If there is a large number of figures and tables etc., they should be given at the end. They should have clear headings and other information to enable the readers to understand and interpret them.

2.     Procedure to be adopted:

i.                    Writing a scientific or technical paper involves several tasks like brainstorming for ideas, classification of the data, organisation of the data, explanation, drawing conclusions etc.. You should do one thing at a time.

ii.                  Write the body of the paper first. Then write the conclusions, the introduction and the abstract in that order.

iii.                Prepare a rough draft first and revise and refine it after you have completed the paper.

3.    Language and style:

i.                    Do not try to use an ornate style. Your prime consideration should be to present the information in clear and easily understandable manner.

ii.                  Do not use an overdose of jargon. Avoid fancy words, slang and offensive expressions. Keep a balance between formality and informality.

iii.                Try to use the active voice and use the passive only when necessary.

iv.                 Define all symbols, specialised terms and abbreviations.

v.                   Do not pad your paper by including matter which is not necessary. Give only the information which is necessary to prove your points.

vi.                 Discuss and explain the tables, figures charts etc. that you present. Without a suitable explanation, they carry little meaning.

vii.               Always keep your focus on the main theme of your paper. It is necessary to justify and support every point you make in your paper.

viii.             Be specific instead of generalising things.

ix.                 Be careful about grammatical correctness, spelling and punctuation. Mistakes of grammar, spelling and punctuation can make your paper difficult to understand and even misguide or confuse the reader.