Reading Response #2

So far what I’ve found the most interesting about this class is that there is so much more that goes into technical communication that you’d think. Not only is it about writing, it is also about connecting with people, being persuasive, and being ethical. I honestly thought that technical writing would mostly involve writing instruction manuals, but I’m starting to see that I was very wrong about that.

Like any writer, a technical writer does need to be able to connect with an audience. If a writer can’t determine his/her audience, then who does the piece go out to, and who will read it? No one. The reason most people write is to reach out to an audience, and the same goes for this field as much as creative writing, for example. Knowing your audience becomes as important as figuring out what you’re going to write about—if you don’t know your audience, or don’t know anything about it, then you’re in trouble.

Technical writing also seems to involve a fair amount of persuasion. Yes, I suppose you can argue that an instruction manual can persuade you to put together a piece of furniture correctly; if you don’t follow the instructions, then there’s a very good chance that your furniture will fall apart.This persuasion doesn’t only extend to instruction manuals, though, because, as we learned in class, technical writers also play a part in companies. Sometimes these companies have unfair practices, and it might take a writer to be able to effectively protest these practices if they see something wrong in it. A writer needs to be persuasive in order to get others to see his/her side of things.

And what surprised me most is how often ethics plays a part in technical writing. I think that this goes along with the persuasive aspect, and the “unfair practices” example. Sometimes a company wants to hide the fact that something might be wrong with one of its products, or wants to sort of sweep under the rug unfair employee practices. A company might exaggerate some of the better features of a product in the hopes that the more negative ones will be ignored, or might just ignore altogether something that harms rather than helps their employees. Sometimes, it’s up to a technical writer to be able to put together a coherent, persuasive argument protesting these practices.

 
I really am impressed at all the different ways technical writers play a part in bringing people together for a common goal. It’s definitely not just instruction manuals!