What do you Know about Tech Writing?

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What do you Know about Tech Writing?

9/17/2025

For this week's ICRN: I'd like for you to think about what you think you know about technical writing--what does that mean? who does that kind of a job? Etc. And, also, to think about what in your college writing career has prepared you to do this kind of writing--and what in your college writing career has not prepared you to do it?

10 Comments

Paul Sweeney

9/17/2025 02:20:51 pm

I had a technical writing class in spring 2024 with Professor McPherson. The main thing I learned from that class is how technical writing is very literally about writing in the technical sense. Every professional document, every email, every user interface on a website, all of it employs technical writing in how it requires you to think about the details very specifically. You cannot have words wasted, you have to balance the right tone and send the right message, and often times formatting is just as important as the actual words themselves.

What was also interesting in that class is how every Monday would be dedicated to learning a new AI software, be it ChatGPT or ones more focused on research. I don't fully agree with the degree to which we're encouraged to use AI in our every day lives, but it's impossible to ignore its growing ubiquoty as well as the processes it can streamline, formatting being a major one. In that sense, my college experience with technical writing has taught me what to focus on going forward, and that very likely I will be using AI to assist with the process. I just hope it does not end up replacing it entirely, especially when it comes to art, which is an area where I believe AI has no place beyond rudimentary planning stages, if that.

Anna Dykhoff

9/17/2025 02:24:46 pm

Hi Paul,
Super interesting that your teacher had you guys working on learning different AI softwares - I'm not big on AI either but I think it's definitely helpful to learn about as much of it as we can even without using it, so that we know what they are capable of and the areas of human-produced work that cannot be replaced, especially in the field of technical writing

Anna Dykhoff

9/17/2025 02:21:07 pm

I think technical writing is any type of writing that will be used to help someone do something, learn something, or test something. People who do technical writing for a job could be in business, media, education, or any other field that requires widespread relaying of information in a clear, concise way. Some things that have prepared me to do this kind of writing have been working in research and tutoring, as both activities require clear and concise directions and explanations for complex ideas and concepts. I have had to adjust information depending on my audience's understanding of the concepts, and had to adjust the ways in which I delivered the information, which is something you have to do often in technical writing. However, in college there have been few classes that have given the opportunity to present information, test out responses, and revise based on responses, which I imagine is how technical writing functions in the workplace.

9/17/2025 02:23:02 pm

I have a story about teaching a tech writing class that I will share with you momentarily, so that is not what I'm going to write about here. But I am going to write about my experience in technical writing. While I was earning my PhD I worked as an editorial assistant at business to business publisher. They published a lot of different kinds of industry related journals. I worked on two "QM Quality in Manufacturing" which don't even ask me to explain what that means and then something called Metlfax which was actually facts about Metal. I ghost wrote articles with engineers who yelled at me for misusing a preposition because in their industry they are using that word very differently than I was. And I did product reviews where I would condense 9 pages of PR stuff from a company to 35 words--about drill bits and eye wash stations stuff like that. What I can tell you about that experience is that is where I became a fast, accurate writer. It's where I learned how to use punctuation to great effect. I would say that all that had come before was practice. But it wasn't what made me a good writer. I was a very unconfident writer before I had that job and after that I was confident and, also, not so precious about my writing. My name never appeared on a single article I wrote. And at least three people read everything I wrote except the product reviews and inevitably there were mistakes found, changes that had to be made, things that had to be cut. School did not teach me how to write in the world. But working in the world taught me things about how to teach writing.

Anna Dykhoff

9/17/2025 02:29:09 pm

Hi Dr. Torda,
I remember you telling us about this job in Writing about Writing. It is an interesting dynamic in technical writing where you may not have your name attached to the piece, but in some cases you are producing life-saving material. I imagine this field to be a great way to build the important writing skills that you mention, while also producing something that is purposeful rather than completing busywork.

Ashley Luise

9/17/2025 02:24:19 pm

Technical writing involves any type of writing created by professionals in myriad fields to communicate specialized information to their field to an audience who may not be as familiar with it. As mentioned in the readings for this week, audience is an inherently specific idea and can vary from writer to writer. Technical writers work to prepare professional documents in so many fields, including but not limited to appliance brands and engineering companies. Professionals in any of these industries can be technical writers for any company. Even English majors can work in a field so drastically different from their existing knowledge, like engineering, and can pick up the terminology and necessary skills on the job.

My college coursework has informed me a bit about the world of technical writing, but I wish I had more time practicing relevant applications in the classroom. I’ve gotten to design numerous slideshows to make the main points of a spoken presentation consumable to my classmates, and have advocated for better awareness of campus services in a poster/flyer too. However, most of my writing experiences have been academic; they’ve required me to respond to, reflect on, or synthesize/analyze others’ work. I wish I had gotten more specialized knowledge in how to create clear, concise information for an audience who wasn’t my professor or classmates.

Nina Hamel

9/17/2025 02:24:25 pm

Technical Writing is a type of writing that we see in the professional world. Its purpose is to clearly communicate information in a way that is reader-friendly for all. For instance, technical writers are tasked with discussing a topic, such as a cure for a disease, and they must discuss it in a way that someone who may not be familiar with common terminology for that field could understand. While anyone can be a technical writer, I would say that it is common for people who studied English, Communications, business, and other similar fields during their undergrad. While I have not taken a specific technical writing course, I have taken a business communication class as well as several public relations classes that have taught me about technical writing. Something that I realized from my experience is that there is no opportunity to learn about technical writing in foundational writing classes in college, yet it is one of the most common forms of professional writing. Unless you are an English major and for some communication majors, I don't think this would be common to learn otherwise. I think it is definitely worthwhile for ENGL 101 and 102 classes to consider teaching a section on technical writing.

Glen Beaulieu

9/17/2025 02:25:41 pm

I've always considered technical writing to mean writing that is intended for the business world and academia. In my technical writing class, we spent a lot of time on the business side of things, like writing memorandums, technical explanations, presentations, etc. But, I also think technical writing applies to work like copyediting, working as a paralegal, or preparing an article for an academic journal. For me, the course that most prepared me for this type of work was a copyediting course I took with Dr. Kimberly Davis. I feel as if, when writing traditional essays, you learn to focus more on the information inside the essay rather than the way that information is presented, if that makes sense. So, when it comes to technical writing, where I think there is a larger emphasis on how the information is presented, it's a strange leap away from what I was used to.

Alexandra O'Brien

9/17/2025 02:25:54 pm

Technical writing practices clearly and concisely explaining specific information in a very professional and well-laid-out manner. Something one of our other classmates already mentioned was user manuals, such as the one you can find in your car. And any kind of proposal for work or even reports on the work you're doing on certain jobs can be considered technical writing. I used to write reports for an engineering company showing how much time and money we were spending on different building jobs, and argue how to improve our numbers. Or if you buy a handbook on how to knit or sew, and it explains clear instructions. So many people can do this job, but being a communications major, I think, has helped prepare me to do this kind of writing. Assessing my purpose in communicating something, my message, my audience, and my goals. As well as my tone in writing. A lot of my learning has been based in analyzing language, texts and communcation to better help me communicate - and I think this would be helpful for me in technical writing. I can't think of anything that might hinder it.

I.S.

9/17/2025 02:27:35 pm

I think technical writing is the type of writing used for websites, manuals, instructions, brochures, and other similar documents. There’s a specific message that is being communicated to a certain audience. You also have to know how to get your message across in the most effective way possible. Technical writing shows up in jobs in science, law, business, and journalism. My college writing career has prepared me to do this kind of writing by having to do lots of research, writing about various topics, and explaining my arguments clearly and concisely. However, there isn’t a big focus on technical writing in college, which doesn’t help with being prepared after graduation. I think I’ve only taken one class about it.

What do you Know about Tech Writing?

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