Instructions and manuals are written to ease your life and help to install, launch, and set a technical product, software, feature or whatever it is. A good user-oriented technical writing is as simple as a piece of cake and must be equally understood by a teenager, adult, and elderly person. That means, clear instructions describe any process in an easy to follow way, have little or no technical jargon, and explain everything in a common vocabulary. Let’s put TV sets and DVD-players aside and get to the more complicated cases: a new software that’s just been introduced to your company. It’s a whole system with numerous commands and operations, a very powerful tool intended to streamline the company's activities. Your task is to write a comprehensible technical essay for employees from several departments: managers, executives, clerks, supervisors etc. Your text is to educate people with little or no knowledge of IT-sphere and software development. The completed task means a successful practical application of the program by all corporate users.
The growing demand for online technical writing has created a great supply of custom essay services. What’s needed is a simplified version of manuals and instructions general audience can work with. However, when the management seeks ways to reduce the costs, they tend to hire an individual freelance writer to do the job cheap. But since miser pays twice, the results don’t always meet the positive expectations. Quality technical writing service will cost a penny now and the companies are willing to pay a high price for clear and comprehensible essays.
If you possess a significant technical background and can turn a complex technical guide into a foolproof manual, you should consolidate your knowledge by completing a special course or online educational program. It doesn't have to be a degree in professional writing, but some tips to boost your skills and enhance your technical vocabulary. You may then continue as an individual expert and make a good living in online technical writing.
If you consider trying this role in the near future, here are a few tips that’ll give you a confident start:
- Do some practice to lose your technical jargon. Try explaining complicated terms in general words so that an ordinary user doesn’t have any clarifying questions;
- If there’s no simple explanation for a specific term, exemplify it with an illustration or analogy;
- Technical writing doesn’t differ much from an academic essay in terms of structure. Stick to a standard one: introduction - what we are going to learn; the main body - the learning process itself; the conclusion - summary of the new information;
- Organize all the guides and information into a logical structure. Avoid jumping from one topic to another, explain the new terms just along the text (not in footnotes). Make sure there are no disjointed parts and a user can easily follow the content. And don’t forget about graphics and illustrations: images are better memorized.
