Technical writing

The furniture manufacturer's technical writing department is responsible for creating the assembly manuals for their flatpack furniture.

Only one sort of writing can afford to go voiceless, and that is the sort in which a technical writer speaks to a technical reader — as in a medical treatise on the inherent risks of performing appendectomies. In such writing, the writer deliberately, carefully removes him- or herself, getting out of the way so the message can have center stage and consume the reader’s full attention. Writing that plays to our emotions is out of place in such a context; we need to get on with the operation. Good technical writing is sleek as polished steel. It is the essence of message, from which all fingerprints have been wiped clean.

User manuals, training manuals, textbooks, signs, and cooking instructions on food packaging are all examples of technical writing.