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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Technical Writing Part Five: Education
Education and skills development are vital to a technical writing career. While there are no set-in-stone educational requirements for a technical writer, there are very few writers in the field who do not have a college degree.
Hewitt, John. Writer's Resource Center (2004). Articles>Education>Writing>Technical Writing
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The technical writing process consists of four phases: planning, writing, delivery and archiving. The phases of the technical writing process are not necessarily discrete. You might start the writing phase before you complete the planning stage, for example, or you might have to deliver the documentation before you feel it is finished. It is highly unlikely, however, that you will ever archive the documentation before you deliver it! Some products are released several times. In this situation, you might be in the delivery phase of the first iteration of the project while you are in the planning phase of the second iteration. Don't panic: overlap in the technical writing process is quite normal.
Docsymmetry (2003). Articles>Documentation>Workflow>Technical Writing
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Technical Writing Textbooks: Current Alternatives In Teaching 
The textbook one chooses for a technical writing course will contribute a definition of the subject, whether implicit or explicit, but the definition and scope of what is loosely called technical writing are by no means agreed
Miller, Carolyn R. ADE Bulletin (1983). Articles>Education>Writing>Technical Writing
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Technical Writing Tips, Tricks and Tutorials
This page talks about technical writing and how to create technical documentation that is accurate, readable, and helpful to its target audience.
Klariti (2007). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing
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The main modes of communication are written, verbal, and visual. As a scientist or engineer, you will want to share your work. This is commonly done through thesis, journal papers, and books. This type of writing has a different purpose than creative story telling or other types of writing you may have done. There are rules, standards, and formats which are commonly used. You should know these before you embark on publishing your work.
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Technical writing is used to report information. This is different from creative and other types of writing styles in many ways. We will discuss these later. Why is this important? As a scientist/engineer, it is important for you to be able to to be able to communicate your work to others in writing.
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Technical Writing vs. Science Communication: What is the Difference, and Why Should We Care? 
Many technical writer/editors at Los Alamos National Laboratory feel that we (and our colleagues at other institutions) do a good job of helping scientists communicate with each other, but we do not do so well in communicating with the general public. We have done a literature search and interviewed target audience members to learn how to better communicate science. Our research falls into the four following areas: the need for this special knowledge, characterization of audiences, communications strategies, and evaluation of the resulting communication products.
Garnett, Anne E., Amy Marie Longshore, Ann Mauzy and Amy Reeves. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Scientific Communication>Writing>Technical Writing
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Technical Writing, Writing, and Having More Fun as a Techwriter
I've been in and out of techwriting for 15 years and I learned long ago that manuals sometimes suck because they're software bandaids.
Haugland, Solveig. TypePad.com (2006). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing
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Technical Writing: A Candidate for Outsourcing?
Nowadays, outsourcing seems to be a de facto approach in the IT industry. As a part of the software development process, it seems reasonable to consider technical writing as a candidate for outsourcing. Through this article, I propose to explore the pros, cons, risks, and opportunities for outsourcing your technical documentation.
Talbot, Fabrice. LiveTechDocs (2008). Careers>Management>Outsourcing>Technical Writing
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Technical Writing: A Technical Writer's Skill Set
Discusses writing skills, technical skills, tools skills and other skills.
Hewitt, John. Writer's Resource Center (2004). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Technical Writing
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Technical Writing: An Overview
A PDF document intended as a resource for teachers. The overview handout defines technical writing, lists examples, states rationale for teaching technical writing, reviews principles for writing instruction, explains basic technical writing concepts to be taught to students, and outlines methods for evaluating technical writing.
Zuidema, Leah A. Michigan State University (2003). Presentations>Writing>Technical Writing
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Technical Writing: Desktop Publishing Tools
The production of printed documents using a computer is called desktop publishing. At its most basic, desktop publishing requires a computer, a printer, and some sort of text or graphics program. While you can achieve desktop publishing using something as simple as a word processor, the applications used by technical writers are often more sophisticated and expensive than those used for common office applications. Because technical documents are often longer and more graphically complex than general business or personal documents, they require programs that are designed to handle these tasks. When technical writers do use common office applications, they are frequently required to use features that most users never need. For example, Microsoft Word has index and table of contents tools. Those tools aren’t very flexible and can be difficult to use, but if Microsoft Word is the only desktop publishing application at your disposal you may find yourself putting those tools to use.
Hewitt, John. Writer's Resource Center (2004). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Technical Writing
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Education and skills development are vital to a technical writing career. While there are no set-in-stone educational requirements for a technical writer, there are very few writers in the field who do not have a college degree. There are occasional exceptions to this rule (Some companies provide in-house training, generally to employees who have lost their current position due to a restructuring such as the closing of a manufacturing plant), but for those wishing to enter the field, an academic education is essential.
Hewitt, John. Writer's Resource Center (2004). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Technical Writing
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Technical Writing: Emerging Opportunities
How often do we, as consumers, wish that the producers provide us adequate information about their products in a simple language that we understand?
Thakur, Kiran. Times of India (2004). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>India
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Technical Writing: How to Find Technical Writing Jobs
Step One: Be Qualified Step Two: Demonstrate Your Qualifications Step Three: Make a Contact List Step Four: Call the Employers Step Five: Master the Interview Step Six: Follow Up Step Seven: Go Back to the Beginning
Hewitt, John. Writer's Resource Center (2004). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Technical Writing
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Technical Writing: Look Before You Leap
To many aspiring novelists, poets and journalists, working as a technical writer seems like the perfect stepping stone to their dreams. After all, you'll be paid to put pen to paper--something every wannabe writer dreams of. So what if it isn't the Great American Novel? You'll still have time for your own writing in your off hours. Or will you? If you are thinking about transitioning from your current non-writing position to technical writing because it's a hot market, you like technology, and/or you want to round out your freelance portfolio, you're on the right track. But if your main reason for considering the technical arena is that you enjoy writing, then re-evaluate your decision.
Chroust Ehmann, Lain. TECHWR-L (2008). Careers>Writing>Technical Writing
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Technical Writing: On the "Write" Note
A technical communicator can enhance the value of a product by bridging the gap between it and the user. But there are numerous issues technical writers face. Akhtar Pasha and Neema George analyse this field and discover that with the right incentives, technical writing could create immense job opportunities.
Pasha, Akhtar and Neema George. Express Computer (2003). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing
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Technical Writing's Big Secret
Technical writing tells the reader how to use a product. If the product can be used successfully by a technically unsophisticated reader, the manual can be written by an unsophisticated writer. It helps if the writer has enough background to understand the product designers' technical jargon, but this isn't absolutely necessary.
Plamondon, Robert. High-Tech Technical Writing. Articles>Writing>Technical Writing
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Technical Writing's Big Secret
The big secret in technical writing is that most of the harder documents aren't written by the technical writers at all. In fact, many "technical writers" never do any writing at all. Instead, the drafts are written by engineers or marketers. The technical writers perform editorial functions and provide publications services -- copy-editing, layout, review management, and so on.
Plamondon, Robert. High-Tech Technical Writing (2008). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Technical Editing
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Technisch Schrijvers Schuwen Onderzoek: Toch Kunnen Onderzoeksresultaten Praktisch Toepasbaar Zijn
This article, which appeared in the Dutch journal Tekst[blad], describes four recent studies that are relevant to help developers, and suggests how help developers can use the knowledge gained from those studies to improve the performance support systems they build.
Hayhoe, George F. Tekst[blad] (2000). (Dutch) Articles>Documentation>Usability>Technical Writing
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Der Technische Redakteur erstellt und aktualisiert aussagefähige, umsetzbare, verständliche technische Dokumentationen aller Art.
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A website that publishes numerous articles for technical communicators, journalists and documentation specialists.
George, Ginu. Technocrats (2004). Resources>TC>Writing>Technical Writing
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Technocrats-me is a group that was organized on 17th July 2004, for communication professionals and writers all over the world. The organization started its mailing list and discussions on the online group, because the community for communication is in a mounting stage, and anyone can access the new changes very fast via internet and the wireless communication systems. For more details visit www.technocrats-me.org
George, Ginu. Technocrats (2004). Resources>Mailing Lists>Writing>Technical Writing
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Technology for Professional Writers
This course is a variation of Utah State University's twice-annual Technology and the Writer Course. The Technology and the Writer course is based on research done in the 1990s to determine which writing professions demanded the best salaries and were most likely to survive overseas outsourcing.
Hailey, David E. Utah State University (2005). Academic>Courses>Technology>Technical Writing
