Re: **Defining Tech Comm**

["Westra, Kayla L." <13718westr -at- KCPBLDG01 -dot- BV -dot- COM>]

Joe--

Since you're at my brother's alma mater in my home state, I'd be happy to
offer my .02 worth.

>So, if we were to compile a set of rules which all good
>technical communicators were to comply with, what would they be?

I teach a class in tech. writing to engineers, and one of the things I
stress to them is simplicity.  While the concepts they are describing are
certainly complicated, the sentence structure does not have to be convoluted
and difficult to understand.  "Write to your reader as if they were sitting
across the desk from you."  This assumes that the writer would speak
professionally, of course.  Think of it this way.  If I asked an engineer to
explain a heat recovery steam generator to me, he could rattle off a
definition that would be understandable.  The key is getting him to write in
a similar manner.  "The essence of clear writing is clear thinking."

I'm  not suggesting that writers "write down" to readers.  Even the most
educated readers want to be able to read a document once and understand its
meaning.


>What are our goals as technical communicators?

Certainly one goal for me is to communicate clearly and concisely so the
reader can read the document once and understand it.  One of the editing
"keys" I use is if I have to read a sentence more than once.  It may not
need extensive editing, but I go back to see why I glitched and how I can
improve the readibility.

Just a few thoughts at the end of a long day.

Kayla Westra
Black & Veatch
13718westr -at- kcpbldg01 -dot- bv -dot- com