Five skills technical writers need

Abstract

This paper differs from many how-to-do-it guidelines for authors because it proposes that technical writers need to acquire various skills. One valuable skill is that of analyzing how a document will be used. Creating easy-to-read texts also requires the twin skills of language control and judicious selection among graphic and typographic options. Evaluating the cost-benefits of alternative presentations requires a fourth skill, sophisticated interpretation of the available research findings (laboratory findings are not suitable for rote application). A fifth set of skills that are useful to the technical writer concerns the management of the production process, where administrative and interpersonal factors must be deftly handled. Whether these diverse skills can be found within one person seems an open question which has important implications for the training of technical authors and the operation of technical writing departments.