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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Style Manuals and Guides for Technical Writing 
Style manuals show how to format bibliographies and footnotes; some also provide information on outlining, editing and writing. If your instructor has not specified a particular format or recommended a style manual, consult one of the following, widely-used manuals.
Arizona State University. Reference>Style Guides>Writing>Technical Writing
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Style That Economizes Mental Energy 
Perhaps the most important feature of good writing style for scientific and technical communication is economy: writing that reduces the mental labor of the reader or user. I describe the principle of "conservation of mental energy" as developed by Herbert Spencer and extended by later studies in readability and psycholinguistics. Stylistic techniques that make reading easier have powerful application to the prose crafting that sci/tech communicators do every day. The idea of conserving mental energy, or being "efficient" in communication, gives us a touchstone for thinking about good style and a rationale for explaining why it's valuable.
Hirst, Russel. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Minimalism
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Succeeding as a Technical Writer
A list of rules that have served me in good stead over my entire career.
Knowles, Michael. Writing World (2001). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing
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A Survey of Technical Writing Practitioners and Professors: Are We on the Same Page?
Do technical writing professors teach what practitioners practice? Do practitioners practice what professors preach? We surveyed writers and teachers nationwide, asking each group to rate the importance of types of writing, writing skills, electronic communications, computer usage, and nonwriting topics, such as oral presentations and graphics. Teachers and writers agree that ethics, revision, and document design are important. However, writers focus on manuals, whereas professors teach reports and resumes. Writers emphasize grammar, punctuation, hypertext, and total quality management, whereas teachers emphasize passive voice and personalization. The two groups differ often and significantly.
Gerson, Sharon J. and Steven M. Gerson. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Education>Writing>Technical Writing
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Taking Advantage of Reflexive Responses
None of us likes to admit that we have conditioned reflexes that override our higher cognitive abilities, yet such denials notwithstanding, each of us does occasionally respond without thinking something through clearly. As technical communicators, it's important for us to accept this fact of human nature and plan for it in our documentation, and to work with the developers of the products that we document to both take advantage of the helpful reflexes and find ways to ward off the harmful ones.
Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (2001). Articles>Documentation>Writing>Technical Writing
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A Tale of Two Technical Writing Teams 
Sometimes considered an afterthought in the product development lifecycle, technical writers often struggle to become part of a performing Agile team.
Broderick, Stacia. Rally Software Development (2007). Articles>Project Management>Agile>Technical Writing
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A Tale of Two Weeks: A Good Start on a New Job
Many articles discuss how to hire a great writer, but relatively few tell us what to do when we get one. The first weeks on a new job set the tone for a writer's experience at a company. If both manager and writer pay attention to getting a good start, the result will be that the writer settles in, feels welcome and at ease, and becomes productive quickly.
Brown, Dennise C. STC Proceedings (1993). Careers>Writing>Technical Writing>Workplace
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Das Blog behandelt verschiedene Aspekte der Technischen Kommunikation aus der Sicht eines Dokumentations-Dienstleisters. Derzeit werden folgende Themen angeboten: Internet, News, Redaktionelles, Software, Veranstaltungen.
Ratz, Günter. CPTec GmbH (2005). (German) Resources>Writing>Technical Writing>Blogs
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Teaching Business and Technical Communication
English 504 introduces students to varying perspectives about the design and implementation of instruction in business and technical communication—with primary attention to academic classroom instruction but some attention to workplace training.
Burnett, Rebecca E. Iowa State University (2003). Academic>Courses>Education>Technical Writing
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In light of growing interest in technical communication around the world, cross-cultural teaching opportunities may challenge basic assumptions about teaching and learning for both teachers and students. A faculty-development project in the People's Republic of China illustrates various ways facilities, educational practices, and worldviews from each side of the exchange require significant compromise. A negotiated, student-centered classroom environment may be a significant strategy for instruction in such settings.
Dautermann, Jennie. Technical Communication Quarterly (2005). Articles>Education>Technical Writing>China
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Teaching Critical Thinking in The Technical Writing Class 
It is probable that the Technical Writing course provides for upperclassmen the most intensive and extensive experience with written English that they will have during their undergraduate education. Traditionally, the course has bridged the world of work and the world of school. We instructors try to prepare our students for on-the-job professional writing, and it would seem that this objective is met through the special goals of the course: writing to particular audiences, using precise language, mastering formats, and using graphics. Such observable skills are valuable: indeed, Green and Nolan indicate, in their piece in the recent 'Education' issue of Technical Communication, that the fundamental requirements of an entering technical communicator's job are writing, editing, and researching. Yet, what are we to make of the prediction that Paul V. Anderson cites in that very same issue, that the advent of more highly sophisticated computer software will eliminate up to 75 percent of the present jobs in technical communication, rendering entire categories of jobs obsolete? We must teach, then, in addition to these surface writing abilities the deep structure reasoning skills that nourish them, those skills that are highly esteemed by business, industry, and academia.
Meyers, G. Douglas. JAC (1985). Articles>Education>Writing>Technical Writing
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Teaching Documentation Writing: What Else Students--and Instructors--Should Know
Discusses knowledge, problem-solving strategies, and desktop publishing skills students need to learn about documentation writing. Describes a course that provides these skills. Also applies to in-house training programs.
Boiarsky, Carolyn and Michael Dobberstein. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Education>Documentation>Technical Writing
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The demands of former students, of industry, and of the accreditation board have prompted the engineering education community to investigate the integration of communication proficiencies into the four-year engineering curriculum. While much literature has been devoted to this task in the last several years, the engineering communication programs at most institutions can be described as employing either a peripheral or diffuse model to offer technical communication instruction. Each of these models is problematic. This article describes a novel 'hybrid' engineering communication education model under development at NC State University that is vertically integrated and discipline conscious.
Kmiec, David M., Jr. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Education>Technical Writing>Education
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Teaching Technical and Professional Communication
This course is designed to provide you a theoretical and pedagogical foundation for teaching an introductory undergraduate course in technical communication.
Dragga, Sam. Texas Tech University (1998). Academic>Courses>Business Communication>Technical Writing
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Teaching Technical Communication
Course materials and teaching suggestions for the Technical Communication classroom (as taught at New Jersey Institute of Technology); website contains current assessment criteria and goals.
Johnson, Carol Siri. New Jersey Institute of Technology (2003). Academic>Course Materials>Writing>Technical Writing
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Teaching Technical Writers to Be Anthropologists
Ethnographic research, traditionally conducted by academic researchers, yields valuable knowledge on the ways in which workplace cultures and technical communication interrelate. This paper describes an MA course in which practicing technical writers composed workplace ethnographies with a focus on writing and reading processes. Conclusions outline the value of such research for individual technical communicators, for their employers, for the discipline of technical communication, and for the profession.
Henry, James M. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing
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Teaching Technical Writing Through Student Peer-Evaluation
Individual students in two different sections of an undergraduate civil engineering laboratory were tasked with preparing three professional-quality laboratory reports. The teaching assistant and/or instructor used established criteria to grade the first two reports prepared by students in one section. The first two reports prepared by students in the other section were peer evaluated by assigned fellow students within the same laboratory section using identical grading criteria. The peer evaluated section had a higher class average than the teaching assistant/instructor graded section on the fist two reports. The third report prepared by students from both sections was graded by a professional educator/architect without knowledge of a student's class section. The peer evaluation students also had a higher class average on the third report, suggesting that the peer evaluation process may have positively contributed to those students' writing skills.
Jensen, Wayne and Bruce Fischer. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2005). Articles>Education>Technical Writing>Collaboration
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Teaching Web Design in the Technical Writing Service Course: Steps Toward a Planned Evolution
This study uses an online survey of technical communication educators to examine trends in the technical writing service course with regard to web design. Participants for the study were representatives of programs in technical communication in four-year institutions of higher education throughout the United States. The study contributes to research into the function of the technical writing service course in the current technological climate. Identifying trends is one component in an evaluation that will aid effective evolution of this significant course.
Brewer, Pam Estes. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Education>Web Design>Technical Writing
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The Team Approach to Writing Policies and Procedures
Although many companies claim to have working teams within their corporate structure, it may be difficult to use the same approach for writing documentation. With the demands for controlled documentation to meet quality standards, involvement in policy/procedure writing is an important factor in developing a sense of ownership and commitment to maintaining a document control system. A team approach to writing procedures may involve more time, but the results are operations consensus, improved writing skills, and a boost of professional confidence.
Whitmer, Diane L. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>Collaboration
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Tech Write Tips is a collection of authors with a variety experience in the technical writing industry. We all have in common a technical bent, the desire to get the technology to work. We aim to provide posts that both explain and expand our readship’s understanding of this rapidly evolving field.
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This wiki is a central directory for technical writing blogs. If you are a technical writer/communicator and you blog, or if your blog contains information of interest to technical writers, please list it here.
Tech Writer Blog Directory. Resources>Directories>Technical Writing>Blogs
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Review: A Tech Writer Crosses Over to Marketing and Becomes a "Webinarian" 
Have you ever considered taking on marketing duties at your present job, or even transitioning to a new career as a 'marketeer'? Wistfully, you dream of sipping martinis with your attractive new coworkers under the department’s neon sign, 'Marketing—Two Drink Minimum,' before heading home empty-handed at 5 p.m. Oh, wait a minute—that was a Dilbert cartoon.
Janczy, Amy. STC Four Lakes (2002). Resources>Reviews>Presentations>Technical Writing
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A Tech Writer Dies and Goes to Heaven
A joke about what technical writers' heaven might be like.
Hughes, Michael A. Blogspot (2008). Humor>Writing>Technical Writing>SMEs
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Tech Writer Salaries in the U.S.
It's hard to say how much money full time freelance technical writers make. But we do have some data on salaries made by full time technical writers working for a company.
Adar, Bryan S. Blogspot (2008). Careers>Writing>Salaries>Technical Writing
