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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Grease on the Keyboard: Making Composition Work in a Technical College 
Times have changed. The industrial age has become the information age, and technology and equipment evolve at such a rapid pace that it is wasteful to train a person for only specific psychomotor skills. Employers are calling for the hands-on training to be combined with more communication and critical thinking skills so that employees have a broader education that allows them to switch speeds or tasks.
Lourey, Jessica. NCTE TETYC (2000). Articles>Education>Writing
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The Great Instauration: Restoring Professional and Technical Writing to the Humanities 
If you wish to start an undergraduate professional and technical writing program at a small liberal arts college, you will find good arguments for your project in the educational writings of Sir Francis Bacon. Unlike other Renaissance Humanists, Bacon located the New Learning (what we now call the humanities) within the related contexts of scientific discovery and invention and professional training and development. His treatise, The Advancement of Learning, proposes to draw knowledge from and apply knowledge to the natural and social world. Bacon's curricular ideas can benefit emerging PTW programs in the humanities in three ways: They make a convincing apologia for most English departments and writing programs, wed humanistic education to public service, and provide a rich but practical theoretical framework for program development and administration.
Di Renzo, Anthony. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2002). Articles>Education>Professionalism>Technical Writing
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The Great Myth That Plain Language Is Not Precise 
Occasionally, when you try to convert from legalese to plain language, someone will come forward and assert that you made a mistake. You missed something in the translation. You inadvertently changed the substance.
Kimble, Joseph. Plain Language Network (2000). Articles>Writing>Rhetoric>Minimalism
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Greater than the Sum of Parts: A Poetry/Science Collaboration
Collaborations between disciplines in middle school usually occur between language arts and social studies, or between math and science; however, we found a collaboration between language arts and science to be a fruitful experience for our students in their learning both disciplines and in improving our own teaching.
Abrams, Nancy and Nadine Feiler. LLAD (2002). Articles>Education>Writing
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Greatest Copy Shot Ever Written
Anyone can be a copywriter, but the best copywriters actually think about what they're writing.
Padmore, Nick. List Apart, A (2007). Articles>Writing>Business Communication
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Group Work and Collaborative Writing
Working with a group on a project can be a pleasure: responsibilities are equitably divided, the tedium of work is punctuated by conviviality and commiseration, and large problems dissolve under scrutiny from a variety of perspectives. Working with a group can also be frustrating, the seemingly indirect and digressive, as well as anxiety-ridden and inconvenient. But still, the product of group work has better odds for success than does the product of an individual.
Connery, Brian A. and John L. Vohs. University of California Davis. Articles>Collaboration>Writing
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Growth Prospects for a Technical Writer
Are there practical chances of growth and scope for learning/improving oneself while working as a technical writer?
Kamath, Gurudutt R. IT People (2004). Careers>Writing>Technical Writing>India
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Guerilla Upgrades: Start with Your Newsletter
Persuading your managers to allow some testing in the tone and voice of a newsletter isn’t half as hard as persuading them to make changes to your site’s homepage.
Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2003). Articles>Web Design>Writing
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Guerilla WriteFare: When Clients Don't Listen
What do you do with a perfectly good client who, despite your recommendations, embarks on a course of action you believe to be wrong or even disastrous? I know of only one answer to that question: let it go. After you've given it the old college try, of course. I never did let go easily. There are few things more disturbing than watching a client jump off a cliff. You just know they're going to crash onto the rocks below, because you've seen it happen so many times before. Is there anything you can do? Yes, and here's my list of things to do when clients don't listen.
Knowles, Michael. Write Thinking (2002). Articles>Writing>Consulting
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A Guide to Careers in Technical Writing
Contrary to what many assume, working as a technical writer involves much more than sitting alone at your PC. The job requires plenty of contact with technical professionals, from programmers and project managers to machine operators and medical technicians. Solitary? Not quite. Collaborative? Most definitely.
Hoffman, Allan. Monster.com (2007). Careers>TC>Writing>Technical Writing
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Leaving a comment on someone's weblog is like walking into their living room and joining in on a conversation. As in real life, online there are some people who are a pleasure to converse with, and some who are not.
Trapani, Gina. LifeHacker (2005). Articles>Writing>Community Building>Blogging
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Guidelines for Authoring Comprehensible Web Pages and Evaluating Their Success
The guidelines presented in this article should enable authors to create Web pages that their readers can understand. They should also enable evaluators to judge the comprehensibility of Web pages. The guidelines are explained and supported by an examination of relevant research and usability studies.
Spyridakis, Jan H. Technical Communication Online (2000). Design>Web Design>Writing>Usability
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Guidelines for Technical Writing
The rules here apply to all classes in the Chemical Engineering Department at Ohio University. Most of them will apply in 'the real world', too, although your employer may have some specific format requirements.
Young, V.L. and K.J. Sampson. Ohio University. Reference>Style Guides>TC>Technical Writing
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Guidelines for Writing English-Language Technical Documentation
In 1999 the member societies of INTECOM recognized there was a need to help technical writers in all countries who have to write English-language technical documentation for products that will be sold worldwide. If they are writing for an audience solely in the UK, the Scandinavian countries, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, then British style is appropriate. Similarly, if they are writing for an audience solely in North and South America, the Philippines, and many Asian countries, then US style is appropriate. But if they have to write a single set of documentation for use in all countries, then a difficult decision has to be made.
Intecom (2005). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>International
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Guidelines for Writing Technical Documentation for an International Audience
A guide to help technical writers in all countries who have to write English-language technical documentation for products that will be sold worldwide.
tekom (2003). Articles>Documentation>International>Technical Writing
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Pointers to information about research and writing, intended primarily for computer science.
Zobel, Justin. JustinZobel.com. Resources>Writing>Technical Writing
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A weblog of a California technical communicator interested in the Society for Technical Communication, programming, software, software standards, United Methodism, theology, genealogy, puns....
Haas, Guy K. TypePad.com. Resources>Writing>Technical Writing>Blogs
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Hall of Technical Documentation Weirdness
Lists wacky, bizarre, surreal and otherwise strange examples of technical documentation, particularly illustration.
Barefoot, Darren K. Hall of Technical Documentation Weirdness (2005). Humor>Writing>Technical Illustration>Technical Writing
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Review: Handbook of Technical Writing
As with previous editions, the editors have done a marvelous job. This is the type of book that every writer should have. As I stated before, it is not a how-to-write book, but more of a 'tools for writing' book. I find myself referring to it often when I'm thinking of how to pronounce a specific word or how to go about putting together a proposal, abstract or white paper, or even how to interview an engineer or programmer for information about a product I'm documenting.
Hawley, Todd. Technical Communication Online (2004). Articles>Reviews>Writing>Technical Writing
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Harry Miller's Technical Writing Blog
Podcasts about documentation, technical writing, and technical editing.
Miller, Harry. Microsoft. Resources>Writing>Technical Writing>Podcasting
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This recommendation is based on the American ANSI Z535 standard. I am not aware of any other similar standards from other standardizing organisations. If you know of such standards, please e-mail me, and specifically tell me if and where it differs from the information given below.
Ring, Peter. Peter Ring Consultants (1997). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing
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Heading Frequency and Comprehension: Studies of Print Versus Online Media
This paper describes a study that examined the effect of heading frequency on comprehension and perceptions of information presented in print versus online text. Results indicated that heading frequency did not differentially affect the comprehension of readers of print text while it did differentially affect the comprehension of readers of online texts who had considerably lower comprehension scores with text that had high frequency versus medium frequency headings.
Spyridakis, Jan H., Laura D. Schultz and Alexandra L. Bartell. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Document Design>Writing>Usability
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Health and Safety Information for Specialized Vocational Audiences
Using examples from commercial fishing and farming, this article shows how models of health beliefs and risk communication can inform the creation of health and safety materials and campaigns for specialized vocational audiences. These models state that risk communication efforts must balance strong statements of risk with equally strong statements of ways to reduce or avoid risk if they are to motivate change. Audience research can help communicators address attitudes that impair workers’ perceptions of risk, as well as workplace practices, norms, and conditions that the limit the methods that can be used to reduce risk.
Freeman, Krisandra S. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Writing>Biomedical>Risk Communication
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This is a site that links you to Web sites useful for finding venues and writing for publication.
Murdick, William. Comcast (2001). Resources>Directories>Publishing>Writing
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A news source for help authors and user assistance specialists.
