Technical Writing vs. Academic Writing

The biggest mistake people make when they start writing is not identifying the type of writing they're attempting. Each style or mode of writing is situational; no one style is better than another. All writing is a purposeful act, meaning it has a clear goal or desired outcome, and the style used should be the best to achieve that goal. Two of these effective but entirely different styles are technical and academic writing.

Technical Writing

Technical writing is closely related to the process, or "how to," essay. Its function is to clearly explain the steps to accomplishing a task so anyone can do it. As such, its audience is the average layperson. Many technical writing assignments are reminiscent of instruction manuals; this is because manual writing is one type of technical writing. Other types would include business letters, memos, product descriptions, warning labels and, to some extent, editorial letters.

Academic Writing

Academic writing is by definition more complex because most academic writing is tied to a specific discipline or field, which means it can become jargon-laden. This occurs even in the business and computer sectors, two areas known for their emphasis on technical writing. Scholarly articles and textbooks in either of those disciplines will contain as much jargon and as many complex ideas as the most challenging essay in literature, art or music. This is to be expected because all fields have both specialized knowledge and specialized terminology.

Choosing a Style

The important thing to remember is the first rule of writing taught in most composition classes at every level: know the audience. The Plain Language Association International identifies audience and purpose as the first two considerations in writing. You determine whether to write in a technical or academic style based on who you are writing for, which is related to the intent of your writing. For example, if you are trying to place an article on crayfish genetics in a journal, you would write in the style the editors will most likely accept, which would be scholarly or academic. If you were creating a study guide on crayfish genetics for college freshmen, you would use a technical writing style to make sure that important points are understood. By the same token, if you were adapting this study guide to high school students, you would make it even more basic.

Outcomes

When you choose between technical and academic writing, begin by thinking who will read the document, and then ask yourself what it is you want the document to accomplish. If your main goal is to inform a diverse, generalized audience, you will likely need to use a technical style. If the desired outcome is to persuade, it's likely you will want an academic style, unless your audience is the layperson, as with a letter to the editor.

Every one does not have the flair for writing as not every one is a good orator. However, there are ways to improve one’s writing to make it more compelling, error free and clear to reach the minds of the writers. Words are mightier than a sword in the sense that they inspire, educate and entertain people. But not all writing is equal or same. General writing, such as writing your thoughts and opinions about a social issue, is totally different from another style of writing called as technical writing. One should not confuse between the two styles,  technical writing and general writing, as they serve very different purposes and are also meant for vastly different audiences.

General Writing

While writing on general subjects, the writer must place himself in the shoes of a reader to see the effect of his own writing. Writing a weak piece of prose is not that serious when compared to a piece full of errors. This is when the readers get confused and distracted. People respect high quality writing and tend to take the writer seriously when the piece is error free and the message comes out clearly.

Spelling and grammar mean a lot to a reader. He gets irritated when he sees such mistakes as he expects nothing less than perfect from a printed piece of paper. This is where spell check and editing after you have finished writing comes handy. After this of course is the content, it should be logical and sequential so that there is no reason for ambiguity and obscurity in the minds of the readers. Another important ingredient is life. The content should be lively to keep the reader interested.

Technical Writing

Technical writing is a form of writing that is more seen than any other type of writing with people not even realizing the fact. The essence of all technical writing is HOW. At a simple level, you can take the examples of a cookbook full of recipes or an instruction manual on how to operate a mobile as technical writing. A good part of technical writing is not meant for general public. This includes business writing to communicate with management, employees and other businesses and is full of jargons related to the world of business.

In a wider sense, textbooks of science subjects are also examples of technical writing. If you are a student of photography, any book containing information that is valuable to you is a form of technical writing as it contains words that common public may not understand or appreciate.

Whether intended for general audience or for specific readers, technical writing should be clear and concise. It should be helpful for the readers it is intended for. Although technical writing is certainly different from writing a story or a poem, any technical writing must have content presented in as such a manner that it has the ability to engage the reader. It should have material arranged in a manner that the reader gets the information that he is seeking and also understands the subject matter easily.

In brief:

General writing vs Technical writing

• General writing and technical writing are two different styles of writing

• Though the basics remain the same (both need to engage the reader and must be free from spelling mistakes and grammatical errors), technical writing is considered a little more difficult than general writing as it needs to provide information in a clear cut manner that the reader is able to assimilate and understand.

• General writing is more about arousing the interest of the reader whereas technical writing has the sole objective of making the reader understand a topic in an interesting manner.

• Technical writing has general guidelines to follow and it has to be clear and concise. It has to be in first person and avoid passive voice.

Technical Writing vs. Academic Writing

TYPES of WRITING

• PERSONAL
• ACADEMIC
• PROFESSIONAL

PERSONAL WRITING

Purpose/Objective: 

to entertain

to inform

Evaluation:

desired emotional response

informed

“Technical writing conveys specific information about a technical subject to a specific audience for a specific purpose… The words and graphics of technical writing are meant to be practical: that is, to communicate a body of factual information that will help an audience understand a subject or carry out a task.” A majority of technical writing involves revising, editing, and improving existing documents, not creating new documents.

Characteristics of Technical Writing:

• Clarity – easily understood by intended audience

• Accuracy – factual, correct, free from bias

• Comprehensiveness – all necessary information included

• Accessibility – headings, indexes, table of contents

• Conciseness – clear without excess verbiage

• Correctness – grammatical and follows conventions

While general writing, the writer must place himself in the shoes of a reader to see the effect of his own writing. Writing a weak piece of prose is not that serious when compared to a piece full of errors. This is when the readers get confused and distracted. People respect high quality writing and tend to take the writer seriously when the piece is error free and the message comes out clearly