Defining Technical/Professional Writing

For quite some time, technical writing has been a bit of an evasive term, even to professional writers working in the field. For example, in 1989, the Society for Technical Communication specifically stated that creating a more refined definition was one of their objectives in order to determine future goals for the organization. Unfortunately, the board members abandoned this goal when they found they could not reach a conclusion (Allen 68). In the past, many have attempted to define this definition in a variety of insufficient ways. David Dobrin in his piece “What’s Technical about Technical Writing?” defines technical writing as “Writing that accommodates technology to the user”.  Throughout his work Dobrin criticizes other definitions for being overly specific, but what is ironic about this is that Dobrin’s definition is too specific in that it assumes technology must be present in technical writing. It separates technical writing from the humanities. It is for these reasons that we should take into consideration Carolyn Miller’s discussion of the definition of technical writing.

Miller, in “A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing,” argues that “If we pretend for a minute that technical writing is objective, we have passed off a particular political ideology as privileged truth”.  By placing technical writing in a purely objective position, we remove the innovation from the discipline. Miller instead asserts that technical writing instead is heavily connected to rhetoric or context. This contextual approach is much more appropriate for the discipline because it is such an all-encompassing term. Moreover, referring to the discipline as “technical writing” may actually cause it a disservice because of the context that is inherently connected with the term “technical”. This is not to imply that there is nothing technical about technical writing—it simply means that technical writing is not exclusive to the sciences.

So, this begs the question, what do technical writers actually do? The answer to this question, however, is no less evasive. From editing, designing documents, and writing grants or proposals to public relations, project management, and instructional design, technical writing is really an umbrella term that covers a wide range of career fields. For this reason, it is imperative that an umbrella definition is used when defining the phrase. This is especially true in the case of my internship. At Pittsburg State University, I have been offered a unique opportunity to help design and prototype a game based on technical (or professional) writing to serve as my internship credit. Many people are perplexed as to how game design relates to technical writing because they are focused solely on the explicit roles a technical writer would have in the game design process: editing content or writing instructions. If we refer to the beginning of this paragraph, we can see that nearly every example I noted is present in this process. We will edit and write instructions, but we will also have to manage our project effectively and design the game itself. We will serve as the creative directors, the instructional designers, and the art directors. The list of roles a technical writer could have in the game design process continues on and in my internship we are being given the opportunity to practice all of these skills. A technical writer is especially appropriate for this type of internship or project because they are some of the few people who are trained in most or all of these skills.
It is because of the humanistic approach taken by my institution that I am able to perform all of the skills required to create this type of project. Teaching technical writing with the humanities allows us to take into consideration the technical and contextual aspects of technical writing. If I were simply trained in how to write an objective document, I would not be able to design the artwork of a game or create a meaningful play experience. This is a unique instance in where we can bridge the gap between the sciences and the humanities in order to aid and enhance the understanding of different audiences. This alone is why technical writing is an absolutely essential part of any English or other humanities department.

Sources

Allen, Jo. “The Case Against Defining Technical Writing.”
Dobrin, David N. “What's Technical About Technical Writing?”
Miller, Carolyn R. “A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing”