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1. Historical Background Of Technical Writing It is extremely diffcult to trace

1. Historical Background Of Technical Writing It is extremely diffcult to trace the exact origin of written instructions. It is even more difficult to understand and form a history sheet of technical writing events. T echnical writing, as you know is systematic writing of instruction for the users to perform a given task. It is also about documenting information that users can use. Examples of Ancient Technical Writing If you do a careful study and research, you will realize that this type of writing reflects in many historical and ancient scripts. So it is true to say that technical writing have been around for centuries. We gave this art of writing a formal name only a few decades ago. Some examples of ancient technical writing are:  The Code of Hammurabi written in 1780 BC by King Hammurabi, which describes the laws and punishments for of the ancient Mesopotamian civilization.  The Art of War written in 500 BC by Sun Tzu, a Chinese general is the world’s first book on war tactics. The principles taught in this book can be applied to all walks of lives business, sports, management, personal lives, etc. Hence, people have been referring to this book for years, even now!  The Kamasutra by sage Vatsyayana, which happens to be the world’s oldest and well-known erotic literature.  Darwins Origin of the Species, which discusses the evolution. Joseph D. Chapline is probably the first technical writer to have written computer related documentation (users instruction manual for the BINAC computer). According to some sources, the early books on technical writing are:  A Guide to T echnical Writing, T. A. Rickard, 1908  The Theory and Practice of T echnical Writing, Samuel Chandler Earle, 1911 Samuel Earle is hence considered to be the father of technical writing. The gradual, but the steady growth of the field of electronics, motors, engineering, medicine, pharmaceutical, biomedical, finance, and space industries created a big upsurge in the US. This probably increased the demand for technical writers. Technical Writing—A Timeline It is true to say that the advancement of technical writing started with the invention of the computer and it took the form of a upcoming and respected career with the advanced use of computers for creating software and software products.  It is believed that the first ever published advertisement for technical writer was in the year 1951.  By 1960, degree programs in technical (and scientific writing were offered by many colleges in the US.  In the 1980s, the U.S. Department of Justice ruled that technical writing is a profession. Hence, this period can be said to be the golden era of technical communication.  In 1988, a Globe and Mail article described that the technical writers emerged in response to the explosion in the number of systems being developed.  In the mid 90s, new job opportunities for technical writers were created, thanks to the increase in the ISO 9000 certification requirements. It is true to say that most of the organizations initially started recruiting writers to fulfill the ISO requirements more than the documentation requirements. https://sajithajayaprakash.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/history-of-technical- writing/ 2. Technical Writing T echnical writing is sometimes defined as simplifying the complex. Inherent in such a concise and deceptively simple definition is a whole range of skills and characteristics that address nearly every field of human endeavor at some level. A significant subset of the broader field of technical communication, technical writing involves communicating complex information to those who need it to accomplish some task or goal. 3. Five Basic Principles Of Technical Writing Five Basic Principles of Good T echnical Writing 1. Always have in mind a specific reader, real or imaginary, when writing a report; and always assume that this reader is intelligent, but uninformed. 2. Before you start to write, always decide what the exact purpose of your report is, and make sure that every paragraph, every sentence, every word, makes a clear contribution to that purpose, and makes it at the right time. 3. Use language that is simple, concrete, and familiar. 4. At the beginning and end of every section of your report check your writing according to this principles: “First you tell your readers what you are going to tell them, and then you tell them what have told them.” 5. Make your report attractive to look at. Well-written and accurate documentation plays a major role in any company’s customer support strategy because it helps to reduce support costs. T echnical writing plays a big part in the support equation. T echnical writing is much more than just technical jargon, and structured, concise instructions. As the intended audience for the technical writing could be for both technical and not-technical people it must to convey its message so that both sets of people understand it. The main purpose of a technical writer when approaching a new technical writing project is to ensure that they maintain focused on what they are writing about. The information they are producing has to be organized and structured within the laid down style that is appropriate for the intended audience. By sticking to the basic principles of technical writing the technical writer is ensuring that the documentation is clearly understood by the reader. The following is the six basic principles of technical writing that a technical writer has to take in to consideration. Content There are five basic questions a technical writer has to ask themselves when starting a new project – who, why, what, how and when. Answering these questions will allow the technical writer to be able to develop the content for any type of technical documentation. For example, let’s say the technical writer has to create a user guide for a new video recorder. Before creating the user guide, they will have to plan the content of the user guide by applying following key questions to the situation: 1. Who will read the user guide? 2. Why do need to create the user guide? 3. What is this user guide going to offer its intended audience? 4. How is the user guide going to be delivered? 5. When does the user guide have to be ready (publishing date)? The audience and purpose of the documentation Before beginning any new writing project, the technical writer has to analyze the intended audience and identify the purpose for the document. The technical writer will need to ask the following questions about the audience: 1. Who will read the documentation? 2. What are their biases? 3. What responsibilities does the technical writer have when communicating the information to the audience? With regard to the purpose of the documentation, technical writer will need to know what the documentation will accomplish and also what should it do. Styleguide T echnical writers will more than likely use a company styleguide (if there is one) to ensure that their documentation has a structured and organized pattern so that it gives consistency to their writing. A styleguide will provide the document with continuity so that the audience can comprehend the information. For example, technical writers need to organise their ideas in a specific chronological format because without a specific layout and structure to the documentation it will be very confusing for the reader to understand. Writing Style T echnical writers will need to change their writing style depending on the audience and situation they are writing about. If they are writing technical documentation then it needs to be formal and devoid of any emotion as you get with creative writing. Whereas, if say they were an email to one of the senior managers involved in the project then their approach would more casual than formal. Accessing the information Accessibility applies to the ease at which the intended audience can gain access to the information they need from the technical documentation. A technical document must at least contain a table of contents, headers and footers, list of illustrations/tables, page numbers, etc. Also a technical document must adhere to a specific heading and sub heading structure to break down the information into relevant areas that the reader can access easily. Grammar A technical writer must adhere to all the rules of conventional grammar. Also it is the technical writer’s responsibility to proofread and edit their documentation to detect and correct any errors in the writing, graphics, typography and layout. In summarising, a technical writer must ensure that they incorporate the above mentioned principles into their everyday writing style. This will go a long to make them not only a better writer but their technical documentation will be appreciated by both their peers and readers alike. 4. Characteristics of Technical Writing T echnical writing, just as any other form of writing, has certain characteristics which distinguish it from other types of writing. It is very different from writing opinion pieces, essays, prose, non-fiction or fiction.  It is clear and straight forward. If you are interested in technical writing for professional purposes, it is very important to uploads/s1/ historical-background-of-technical-writing 1 .pdf