Technical versus Content Writing
Technical versus content writing — are they the same or different?
The answer is YES and NO.
It is similar to content or article writing in the sense that you need to create prose that is easily understood, logically consistent, and conveys useful information.
Where it separates from regular non-fiction writing is in its procedural nature.
It takes a while to learn how to break complex information down into its individual components and then put them all together again in a series of logical steps.
The proof of good tech writing is in whether the reader can follow your instructions and achieve the intended result. That’s when you know whether your writing was good or not.
Take this test: try to write a “technical user guide” describing how to make an omelet from scratch. After finishing it, try to make an omelet only by following your own instructions and nothing else. You might be pleasantly surprised at the steps you have omitted because they felt “obvious” to you. For example, you might notice that you have forgotten to tell the reader to turn on the burner, or to dispose of the broken eggshells to the trash bin, etc.
If you can achieve that kind of attention to “obvious” details and express them in clear and simple English, then you might probably make the transition from general content writing to technical writing rather easily.
You’re right, Ugur. The objective of many articles and white papers is to inform or persuade. The objective of of what we tradtionally call “technical writing” — user guides and help systems — is to guide the reader in completing a task.
However, I would suggest that all of those things fall into the category of “technical writing.” So, in addition to “who is my audience?” the technical writer must always ask him or herself, “What is my objective?”
Larry, thanks for your comment. Can’t add anything to that 🙂