Personal notes taken from Unit 1 Definition of technical writing, English Technical Writing, a MOOC course issued by Southeast University, China.

Common Features of Technical Docs

1. Reader-centeredness

   Information are presented to better serve reader's purpose.

2. Clear organization and page design

   Use list to highlight the points. Arrange comfortable page design to help easy information navigation.

3. Readable style and effective visuals

   Use tables or lists to help readers to catch information.

Purposes of TW

1. To inform > answer questions
2. To instruct > help people do something
3. To persuade > encourage people to take a desired action or make decision

Meet the need of your audience

Explore audience's need

Explore the need of audience requires to know:

1. Who will use your document?

   Audience	Features
   Primary audience	Immediate readers who make decisions
   Secondary audience	Those outside the immediate circles, who advise the decision makers or are affected by the decisions in some way.

2. Why will they use it?

   Purpose	Notes
   Primary purpose (of writing the docs)	Directly affect the overall shape and organzation of the docs.
   Secondary purpose	A document may have more than one secondary purposes.

3. How will they use it?

   In addition, it is necessary to consider the way that the readers use the docs. (Will they read carefully or just skim for information?)

Level of technicality

Who will use the document?	Level of technicality	How much do these readers need?
Expert	Highly technical	Just facts & figures
Informed persons	semi-technical	facts & figures explained
Laypersons	Non-technical	facts & figures explained in simplest terms

• Experts (such as doctors):

  Writers and readers reach concensus on their technical background.

• Informed persons (such as med students):

  They know something technical, but no as much as the experts.

• Laypersons (patient's spouse)

  They don't have technical background at all.

Ethics in technical writing

1. Reporting and analyzing the data honestly
2. Balancing between production and safety
3. Avoiding burying bad information (in the middle of a paragraph)
4. Using type size properly

Process of technical writing

Diction refers to word choice. Mechanics refers to matters like use of number and abbreviation.

Writing style and tone

这些要求与谷歌的pre-class materials类似，谷歌的材料甚至更加详细。