1
The Field of
Technical Writing
Different forms of writing have been used to relay information
since ancient times. People have communicated facts, lore, data,
news, science, wisdom, and entertainment in writing using meth-
ods ranging from ancient cave drawings and hieroglyphics to the
latest bestseller, computer manual, or blog.
Writing can be broadly classified into two categories: fiction and
nonfiction. The novelists, short-story writers, poets, screenwriters,
and playwrights who produce fiction manipulate words and lan-
guage to create scenes, moods, and effects so readers can feel as
though they are unobserved, passive participants to the events
described. Nonfiction writers present facts and data in a variety of
formats, including magazine and newspaper articles, books (text-
books, biographies, how-tos, self-help, travel guides, and more),
booklets, reports, brochures, memoirs, manuals, journals, newslet-
1
Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click here for terms of use.
ters, advertising copy, and even the text inside the pages of the
phone book.
What Is Technical Writing?
Technical writers write, edit, and prepare publications in many
fields of technology, science, engineering, and medicine, including
articles for technical and scientific journals, both in print and
online. The publications may be technical reports, instruction man-
uals, articles, papers, proposals, brochures, and booklets and even
speeches for technical meetings and conferences.
Technical writers must remain objective and factual about the
subject matter they are dealing with. Their sole function is to write
dispassionately about facts and objects and to relate useful, relevant,

present and interpret scientific data and subject matter so that the
reader would be properly informed.
The need for technical writers arose because these situations
almost always guaranteed poor results. Managers were often less
concerned with the quality of the writing than with simply having
the work done. Sometimes the writing was so poor that readers
failed to derive any usable information from it. For example, if the
assignment was a construction manual for a process or a use man-
ual for a piece of equipment, the results could be disastrous and
detrimental to business.
Sharing Your Knowledge
Technical writers have another important function: to teach others
about their profession. One technical writing graduate who works
for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has led instruc-
tional seminars in technical writing for her colleagues.
The Field of Technical Writing 3
This writer has the potential to go far because she has jumped
into a new area and demonstrated her ability to explain, describe,
and illustrate. These characteristics will help her immeasurably in
preparing training programs.
Making a Name for Yourself
Will you become famous as a technical writer? It’s highly unlikely.
In fact, technical writers are often, by necessity, anonymous authors
who don’t get to see their byline attached to their work. (The excep-
tions to this rule of anonymity are people who write scientific or
technical articles for newspapers, magazines, and scholarly publi-
cations under their own names or who write popular how-to
guides.)
If you’re wondering why most technical writers don’t have a
byline, think about the last time you tried to assemble a new bar-

Documentation specialist
Education specialist
Information systems writer
Instructional designer
Junior technical writer
Knowledge analyst
Lead technical writer
Senior technical writer
Software technical writer
Technical communicator
Technical editor
Technical intern
The Field of Technical Writing 5