These five (5) techniques will change your writing skills – Smart Updates

Technical writing is a type of writing where the author is writing about a particular subject that requires direction, instruction, or explanation. This style of writing has a very different purpose and different characteristics than other writing styles such as creative writing, academic writing or business writing.

Here's the gist of a conversation I had some years ago with a scientist. I taught a one-day technical-writing course which she attended (with reluctance).

‘What do you write?’

‘Mainly records of experiments and field trials.’

‘And do you enjoy writing?’

‘No, I absolutely loathe it.’

‘Why?’

‘Because it’s just going to sit in a dusty folder somewhere and no one will ever read it.’

My first impression was this would be a long , difficult day. Fortunately I was wrong.

I'm not going to go through the protocols and conventions that are unique to technical writing in this short post, because it's not necessary to get results (although you might find this article about how to write a paper useful). No, the key is to approach it from the first principles-every writer, technical or otherwise, should be aware of and practice the disciplines.

1. Be transparent, and make sense

I normally like to train scientists. They have one critical quality which is a writer's gold dust-they are qualified to think critically and clearly. While their doctoral degree may be in low-temperature physics or fluvial dynamics, they bring a rigorous way of thinking that is incredibly helpful when writing up their work. They 're also, refreshingly, often among the most enthusiastic and knowledgeable learners.

The one thing I want to take away from people when I'm training is the power and importance of writing. Obviously it helps if you also have a love and respect for language, but that is personal. If I could instill a sense of pride in her writing in the scientist, at least that would be a start, I thought.

2. Emphasis on listeners

I've been lead writer for Jaguar for some 15 years. I wrote their car launches and all the big conferences and speeches about the business, some of which were highly technical. But the first question every writer has to ask is always the same, regardless of the subject-who will read this? Or, if it's a speech, who would listen?

For example, an automotive engineer will have a clear understanding of terms like 'horsepower' and 'torque' and how they influence the performance of an automobile. They will also know the host of abbreviations and acronyms commonly spoken in the engineering community. (Are there any fields that do not have their own jargon or buzzwords?)

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If a piece of writing is peer to peer, it is generally fine, without explanation (but sparingly, please), to use those terms. The performance of an engine can be expressed simply in measurements, graphs and charts – if the information is presented plainly and clearly, the knowledgeable reader will be able to extract and interpret what they want. The writing will have served its primary purpose, which I have served its primary function, which is to communicate.

3. Take every single word

However, most drivers will be unable to describe 'horsepower' and 'torque,' let alone their difference. If they are completely paid-up petrol heads, all they that know is that there will be a lot of both for a powerful vehicle. Car manufacturers know this, of course, and that’s when (supposedly sexy) language starts creeping into the writing. ‘Effortless’ and ‘refined power’, for example, are words Jaguar often use to describe torque delivery for the layman. (I fought long and hard to suppress the truly awful ‘waftability’, but it seems to have crept into the marketing.)

The argument is that you are using the language suitable for the audience. The engineer who writes the technical report doesn't sell the vehicle, so they don't have to use adjectives and adverbs (word modifications) to express results – they can let the stats talk. In fact, if they submit their findings to scientific journals, they’ll find that most editors delete modifiers anyway, because at best they’re subjective, and at worst vague and confusing, especially for an international audience. Editors encourage authors to ‘unpackage’ concepts – to present them in simple, clear sentences.

4. Keep it quick

Most people have a lot of things they could be doing rather than wading through 50 pages of turgid, unfocused waffle. Know your reader, know what you want to say and know why you’re saying it. Is it relevant to your reader? If not, why are you making them read it? And although you may have spent ages writing something, be aware of ‘Mr Skippy’ – the person who will just skim through the text. He may only read the sub-heads, so make sure they tell the story clearly.

5. Be active and engaging

Get in your writing people. In most technical literature, the passive voice ('the trials were conducted ...') might be the norm, but the active voice is more straightforward ('we conducted the trials ...'). You don’t have to do it all the time: a balance between passive and active is best. But we’re people and we like to read about ourselves, even if it’s just a humble pronoun (‘we’). Incidentally, a surprising number of journals recommend the active voice in their instructions for authors, including Nature.

And on my course, the reticent scientist? A few months later, I saw her for a follow-up class and her writing had improved tremendously, largely because she was thinking clearly now and writing brief, clear sentences. Most importantly, she took pride in writing, and even began talking about publishing her work. It had been a well spent day.