2 Chapter One: What Is Technical and Professional Writing

Did you know that you probably read or create technical and professional communication every day without even realizing it? If you noticed signs on your way to work, checked the calories on a cereal box, emailed your professor to request a recommendation, or followed instructions to send money using an app, you have been involved with technical, professional, or business communication.

Today, writing is a more important skill for professionals than ever before. The National Commission on Writing for America’s Families, Schools, and Colleges declares that writing today is an essential skill for many, and that much of what is important in American public and economic life depends on strong written and oral communication skills.^[1] Unfortunately, not all college students are entering the workforce well-equipped to write successfully. A survey by the Workforce Solutions group at St. Louis Community College asserts that many employers are concerned at the lack of communication and interpersonal skills the large number of college graduates applying for jobs possess.^[2]

Good communication skills, particularly in writing, are essential if you are going to succeed in the workplace. The working world depends on written communication because almost every action within modern organizations is documented in writing. Furthermore, many kinds of writing through a variety of communication channels or platforms—including correspondence, presentations, articles, technical reports, and formal reports—are prevalent in most workplaces. The communication within those documents needs to be relevant to the mode of delivery, accurate, and clear. Along these lines, “technical” and “professional” are used interchangeably throughout this textbook when referring to writers and/or the writing produced by them. While we use these terms interchangeably throughout this book, we can consider the differences between them as well as how they relate to each other by looking at what technical and professional writing encompass:

Technical communication—or technical writing—is writing about any technical topic. The term “technical” refers to specialized knowledge that is held by experts and specialists. Whatever your major is, you are developing expertise and becoming a specialist in a particular technical area. And whenever you try to write or say anything about your field, you are engaged in technical communication.

Professional (or business) writing covers much of the additional writing you’ll be doing in your profession. Professional writing includes correspondence such as emails, memos, newsletters, business letters, and cover letters, as well as other documents such as résumés, social media posts, blogs, and vlogs. While professional writing may convey technical information, it is usually much briefer than technical writing and targets an individual or small group of readers who may or may not be experts in the field.

In this textbook, the word “document” refers to any of the many products of technical writing, whether a web page, an instruction manual, a lab report, or a travel brochure.

Professional and technical writing courses build on what you have learned in other writing courses as well as on your own work experience. But there is plenty new to learn! If you currently have a job in which you do some writing, you will discover that you can put what you learn in your technical writing course to immediate use.

To see different professional writing careers, check out the Appendix of this book that describes several careers where writing and communication is key.

About Technical and Professional Writing

Taking an introductory technical and professional writing course is a good way to start if you are interested in a career in technical and professional communication, or any career in which writing is a component. Many students in technical and professional writing courses are not necessarily planning for careers as technical writers. That is why this book provides you with an introduction to the kinds of writing skills you need in practically any technically oriented professional job. No matter what sort of professional work you do, you are likely to be required to write—and much of that writing may be technical in nature. The more you know about some basic technical writing skills, the better your writing is likely to be, which will be good for the projects you work on, good for the organizations you work in, and—most of all—good for you and your career.

Importance of Audience

A key component of technical and professional communication is the receiver of the information—the audience. Technical communication is the delivery of technical information to readers (or listeners or viewers) in a manner that is adapted to their needs, level of understanding, and background. In fact, this audience element is so important that it is one of the cornerstones of any professional and technical writing; you are challenged to write about technical subjects but in a way that a beginner—a non-specialist—could understand.

In a world of rapid technological development, many people are falling behind. Technology companies are constantly struggling to find effective ways to help customers or potential customers understand the advantages or the operation of their new products. The ability to “translate” technical information to non-specialists is therefore a key skill for any technical communicator.

What Does Technical and Professional Communication Look Like?

If you are a technical and/or professional writer, that does not necessarily mean you are solely a writer. While several companies and organizations may hire technical writers to compose, edit, and distribute documents, writing is done by individuals across jobs. A mining engineer, for example, must complete technical reports for sites and equipment. A public health nurse may write grants to obtain funding for a new program. Teachers compose progress reports for students and evaluations for peers. Academic and government researchers write articles and reports on their findings.

Examples of technical and professional communication are everywhere, if you know what you are looking for. Check out the CDC’s (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) statement about their mission and purpose.^[3] Who is the target audience? What information does this document provide? What task or goal will it help to accomplish? What elements of this document do you think make it useful? Does it solve a problem? What about the style of the writing in this government document? Is it concise and accurate? This is just one example of the many kinds of technical documents you may work with.

This chapter was derived from:

Gross, Allison, Annemarie Hamlin, Billy Merck, Chris Rubio, Jodi Naas, Megan Savage, and Michele DeSilva. Technical Writing. Open Oregon Educational Materials, n.d. https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/technicalwriting/. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

McKinney, Matt; Kalani Pattison; Nicole Hagstrom-Schmidt; and Gia Alexander. Howdy or Hello: Technical and Professional Communication. 2nd Edition. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Libraries, n.d. https://pressbooks.library.tamu.edu/howdyorhello/front-matter/introduction/. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

McMurrey, David. Online Technical Writing. n.d. https://www.prismnet.com/~hcexres/textbook/. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Reardon, Tiffani, Tamara Powell, Jonathan Arnett, Monique Logan, and Cassandra Race, with contributors David McMurrey, Steve Miller, Cherie Miller, Megan Gibbs, Jennifer Nguyen, James Monroe, and Lance Linimon. Open Technical Communication. 4th Edition. Athens, GA: Affordable Learning Georgia, n.d. https://alg.manifoldapp.org/projects/open-tc. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.