Tech Biz Writing

This is not an easy area for technical writers who convey facts above all. Those who write commercially, in magazines, for example, need to have a larger vocabulary and a better sense of “style” than those who write simple handbooks.

The hallmarks of a good style are:

* Clarity
* Cadence, or balance
* Appropriateness
* Brevity

The enemies of bad style are many, but include:

* Jargon
* Cliché
* Inappropriate ornament
* Somnambulism (putting the reader to sleep).

Style is something you develop as you get used to using the language in an expressive and lucid way. Technical writers should not ignore it. It make you a “real” writer!

We recommend you read the units on Business Writing for this course. Links at the top of the sidebar.

Next: 29. Technical Vetting.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 15th, 2006 at 3:12 pm and is filed under Technical Writing, Business Writing, Publishing, TechBiz Writing, Documentation, Research. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.