Technical Writing, a form of technical communication, is a style of formal writing and business communication, used in fields as diverse as computer hardware and software, chemistry, the aerospace industry, robotics, finance, consumer electronics, and biotechnology. Good technical writing clarifies technical jargon; that is, it presents useful information that is clear and easy to understand for the intended audience.
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Policies and Procedures 1996 PIC Meeting 
This session is intended for those interested in (a) policies and procedures as a subject, (b) networking with others concerned with policies and procedures, (c) learning about this PIC, (d) influencing the direction of this PIC, or (e) listening, commenting, or volunteering. The first portion of the meeting will briefly review the PIC's history, mission, membership, budget, teams, goals, and progress. The second portion will be open to discuss new business.
Urgo, Raymond E. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Writing>Policies and Procedures>Technical Writing
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A Process Model For Creating Accessible End-User Documents
Electronic information products can be made accessible to blind and low-vision individuals. This is easier to accomplish with thorough planning and execution. This paper describes a five-step model for creating accessible documentation. The steps are (1) Preparing a source file (2) Producing accessible output, (3) Testing output for accessibility, (4) Modifying a source file if needed, and (5) Modifying a production process if absolutely necessary.
Herring, Richard D. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Documentation>Writing>Technical Writing
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Academic and Practitioner Perspectives on Essential Works in Technical Communication
As I began to create categories for a list collected from many academics and practitioners, I discovered a dramatic difference in the works valued by the two groups. While some works were valued by both practitioners and academics, I also found a clear dividing line between works recommended by academics and those recommended by practitioners.
Alred, Gerald J. ATTW Bulletin (2005). Resources>Bibliographies>Technical Writing
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Accelerated Authoring @ Method M
The Method M blog for technical writers, marketing staff, product managers and others who spend hours each week creating documents. This blog is dedicated to helping you work more efficiently and create better documents.
Reichman, Katriel. Method M (2007). Resources>Documentation>Technical Writing>Blogs
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When the opportunity arose in 1990, I purchased a franchise from the Success Motivation Institute and presented literally hundreds of workshops on goal setting. I was overjoyed at the opportunity to finally achieve all my dreams through a business such as this. I learned about goal setting and Paul Meyer's Million Dollar Personal Success Plan. I loved the idea of teaching people how to help themselves become self-motivated and achieve their goals. But, there was a problem in my dream world. In order to run a business you must sell your products or services, and I simply hated being in sales! I just wouldn't get out and ask people to buy the goal setting plan. It wasn't that I didn't believe in it, because I do! When I finally started listening to myself as I taught others how to achieve happiness, I actually used goal setting to make the decision to give up that business and go back to technical writing.
Laurent, J. Suzanna. Prodigy (2002). Presentations>Slideshows>Technical Writing>Business Communication
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Adding Life to Your Documentation
Suggests several techniques technical writers can use to enliven their writing and improve their documentation.
Potsus, Whitney Beth. Intercom (2003). Articles>Documentation>Writing>Technical Writing
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Adopting Minimalism in a Corporate Environment 
Minimalism is more a methodology or set of principles than a set of measurable qualities. In order for your writers to move to a minimalist approach to documentation, you must be able to explain what you mean by the term and what you expect from your writers.
Swallow, Lisa and Matt Laney. STC Region 7 Proceedings (2002). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Minimalism
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Technical writing is a growing and dynamic field. Technical writers work in scientific, medical, and technological contexts, and because of that, need to be both good writers and active learners: they need to learn how to understand technologies and scientific concepts; they need to learn how to analyze and understand work and workplaces; they need to learn to write for and with audiences; and they need to learn how to conduct research.
Grabill, Jeffrey T. Michigan State University (2003). Academic>Courses>Writing>Technical Writing
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There are several facts of contemporary business or technical communication that are now nearly universal: the acts of writing or managing any project occur in group settings; directions from employers are goal-oriented and the responsibility for development is left to a team (usually either external or internal to the assigning agency); organizations possess and frequently reassess corporate personae; and communication occurs with multiple audiences, with varying levels of knowledge. The purpose of this course is to give you practice in all of these skills. In addition, I intend to explore at length an issue far too rarely considered today: the ethical considerations of business and technical communication. For all these reasons, the design and specific requirements of the course are unusually (and, you should note, very intentionally) ambiguous. Given some goal, and composition into small teams of four to five people each, you will design and implement your own instruction in technical writing. Operating under certain requirements, constraints, and limitations, groups will propose, design, test, and recommend a specific solution to a particular need. I will base evaluation upon a percentage that reflects how well the groups (and individuals in them) achieve set criteria.
Maddux, Clark. Michigan State University (2001). Academic>Courses>Writing>Technical Writing
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Advice about Technical Writing
Technical writing doesn't always mean 'computers.' Many companies hire technical writers to document policies and procedures for auditors. This means you would actually sit with someone and write down the steps they follow to do a function. Technical writers must be excellent communicators. Verbal and written skills must be of the highest caliber. A technical writer must be methodical, organized, and succinct.
Taylor, Vicki M. Suite101 (2001). Careers>Advice>Writing>Technical Writing
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Advice for the Novice Tech Writer: Be Like an Empty Cup
Technical writing is one of those jobs in which you're constantly learning. New tools, new techniques, new methodologies. No one knows it all. That's especially true for the new technical communicator. If you've graduated from a writing and rhetoric course or a technical writing course, you have a pretty good grounding in craft. But you're really only at the base of the mountain. There's still a lot to learn, and if you keep your eyes and ears and mind open then you can quickly pick up what you need to know.
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Advice for the Novice Tech Writer: Hold on to Your Passion
Passion, though, is a funny thing. It's easy to become passionate about something. But the fire of that passion can also be easily dimmed or extinguished, often due to circumstances that are beyond your control. Throughout your career, you'll definitely find your passion waxing and waning. But holding on to that passion and nurturing it will make you a better technical communicator.
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Advice for the Novice Tech Writer: Think Long-Term
So you've just started out as a technical communicator, or you've been on the job for a year or two. And you've decided that maybe, just maybe, technical communication is the career for you and you're in it for the long haul. Now what? Think about the future and how you want your career to develop.
DMN Communications (2008). Careers>Advice>Technical Writing>Blogs
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A friend asked the going rate for author's royalties on a technical or trade paperback, so I asked some people what they received. A few wrote back with extremely enlightening and fascinating comments. I passed these notes on to other authors, and received yet more interesting reading back. I have now edited all these comments down a bit, mostly taking out the names of authors and publishers and removing publisher specific comments.
Tognazzini, Bruce. Ray Tracing News (1996). Careers>Writing>Pricing>Technical Writing
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Aligning Theme and Information Structure To Improve The Readability Of Technical Writing 
The readability of technical writing, and technical manuals in particular, especially for second language readers, can be noticeably improved by pairing Theme with Given and Rheme with New. This allows for faster processing of text and easier access to the "method of development" of the text. Typical Theme-Rheme patterns are described, and the notion of the "point of a text" is introduced. These concepts are applied to technical writing and the reader is then invited to evaluate the improvements in readability in a small sample of texts.
Moore, N.A.J. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2006). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Rhetoric
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'It's all in the manual.' How many times have you heard that - or said it in frustration? After all, when you are the person who wrote the manual, you know that all the answers are there. But time and again readers can't find what they need to know, or don't understand the material. Before you blame the reader, look again at how you've presented the material.
Hollis Weber, Jean. Technical Editors Eyrie (1989). Articles>Editing>Technical Writing
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Ankush Avhad's Technical Writing Links
A collection of categorized links to online technical writing resources.
Avhad, Ankush. DocumentorG. Resources>Directories>Writing>Technical Writing
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Anything That Can Go Wrong: Lessons Learned from A Decade of Toolkit Documentation
Writing software toolkit documentation for programmers is a special challenge and opportunity for technical writers. Compared with writing software documentation for lay users, toolkit documentation is more demanding and exacting. Checking facts and finding tiny errors is like riding a motorcycle through a swarm of gnats. However, for me at least, toolkit writing has opened doors to a larger role and greater input into product design. Engineers treat me like a peer and I get to see into their culture. I know my readers and salespeople need me.
van Oss, Joseph E. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Documentation>SDK>Technical Writing
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Apple Publications Style Guide (2003)
An updated version of the style guide used by writers and editors in Apple publications groups.
Apple Inc. (2003). Reference>Style Guides>Technical Writing>Technical Writing
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Apple Publications Style Guide (2003)
The May 2003 edition of the standard reference for Apple publications.
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Applying Common Sense to Technical Writing
How can budding writers achieve a middle path in their approach to documentation? This no-model approach is an attempt at busting the myth that only a model-based approach works.
Chitkara, Promila. International Journal for Technical Communication (2007). Articles>TC>Writing>Technical Writing
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Applying Web 2.0 Technologies to Technical Documentation
This article is based on my presentation at the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators' annual conference in October, 2006. Every now and then, there is a change in the value of what technical authors deliver. These are moments when organisations pay attention to technical documentation. This is because they recognise that these changes mean they can create something that will be of real value to the business and to their customers. In recent years, there have been three "waves of interestingness". The first wave was the introduction of Windows Help (WinHelp). The second major wave was the introduction of the Internet and intranets. This was a time when organisations looked at how they could transfer large amounts of information from paper to online. They were faced with issues such as how users could access and understand all this information easily - issues that technical communicators deal with on a day-to-day basis. I believe we're just about to approach the new wave, which we have called "Tech Writing 2.0".
Pratt, Ellis. Cherryleaf (2006). Articles>Web Design>Documentation>Technical Writing
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An Approach for Applying Cultural Study Theory to Technical Writing Research
When the idea of culture is expanded to include institutional relationships extending beyond the walls of one organization, technical writing researchers can address relationships between our power/knowledge system and multiculturalism, postmodernism, gender, conflict, and ethics within professional communication. This article contrasts ideas of culture in social constructionist and cultural study research designs, addressing how each type of design impacts issues that can be analyzed in research studies. Implications for objectivity and validity in speculative cultural study research are also explored. Finally, since articulation of a coherent theoretical foundation is crucial to limiting a cultural study, this article suggests how technical writing can be constituted as an object of study according to five (of many possible) poststructural concepts: the object of inquiry as discursive, the object as practice within a cultural context, the object as practice within a historical context, the object as ordered by language, and the object in relationship with the one who studies it.
Longo, Bernadette. Technical Communication Quarterly (1998). Academic>Research>Cultural Theory>Technical Writing
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Are We Giving Readers What They Want, in the Way They Want and Need It?
With all the talk about Web 2.0 and the attendant technologies, are readers actually being better served by documentation now than they were in the past?
DMN Communications (2008). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>User Centered Design
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I started by saying that I wish to make everyone a technical writer. But I think I have taken the easy way out and am saying everyone is a technical writer. Welcome to technical writing!
Kamath, Gurudutt R. ITpeople (2000). Careers>TC>Writing>Technical Writing
