English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

Chapter 8, Organization and Drafting, begins to identify key points of acceptable elements in technical writing. Generally, technical writing contains the same basic platform you would typically find in any other work with an introduction, body, and conclusion.

However, in order to successfully write a technical document there are procedures and guidelines to follow in order to relate important information to those you intend to inform. First, the author must choose a genre the material fits because it can dictate which direction the writing may lead. For example, correspondence subjects have the option to be written as email, letter, or memo. Next, as you may remember your fifth grade teacher telling you, it is important to outline your work before anything concrete is set in place. Though this step seems adolescent, in many cases outlining may be difficult and prove the only way necessary to complete a piece of work such as outlining a presentation. After all preparations have been made, the next step is to construct the opening, body, and closing while following some simple guidelines.

There are very tedious and complex paths a person can follow in order to write a successful technical piece. For example, does the author choose to use the “cause and effect” method of arrangement or a “problem / needs / solution” technique? Why does it need to be this complicated?

A technical document proves to be important on several levels because of their primary, secondary, and tertiary audiences. Like the resume, Chapter 15 explains the imperative values in keeping a resume in shape. This example is a little bit more extreme, because this is one sheet of paper that represents a person’s professional experience for a career path. But in the same respect, technical documents hold the same professional significance as it will be read by many specialists and superiors. This chapter offers so many guidelines to prevent mistakes from happening similar to the consequences in Chapter 3 from ignoring potential audiences.