WRTG 393 students,

To begin the course, we will examine definitions of technical writing.

In Content for week 1, the first set of resources available to you is title What is Technical Writing? Included in that list of resources is a link to the Society for Technical Communications (STC) and access to chapter 1 of a textbook, Technical Writing for Business People.

Based on the information in these resources, please answer the following questions:

1. What writing have you done at work or in your community that you think could be labelled technical writing? Why do you think it can be labelled technical writing? Please describe the writing situation and draw upon the information in either the website from STC or chapter 1 of the textbook to illustrate why it would be technical writing.
2. Do technical writing tasks have to involve technical subjects? Why or why not?
3. How is technical writing different from writing an essay? Reading 1 WHAT IS TECHNICAL WRITING? Technical writing is about communicating key information to the people who need it in the most suitable way and format. That might be printed material, but it could also be a graphic or a video. That information might be a tutorial for a software application, a guide to using heavy machinery safely, a diagnostic aide for medical practitioners or a guidance note about new legislation. If you work in a technical or specialist field of any kind you may be a technical writer already. According to the Society for Technical Communications, technical communication has one or more of the following characteristics:1 1. Communicating about technical or specialised topics, such as computer applications, medical procedures or environmental regulations. 2. Communicating through printed documents or technology, such as web pages, help files or social media sites. 3. Providing instructions about how to do something, regardless of the task's technical nature. According to the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators:2 1 Society for Technical Communications (n.d.) Defining technical communication. Available from www.stc.org/about-stc/defining-technical-communication/ 2 Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (n.d.) Why do we need technical communication? Available from www.istc.org.uk/value-of-technical-communication/