Technical writing applications in corporate environments

¶ … Technical Writing Is Used in the Corporate Environment

Technical is the preferred form of organizational written communication in the work place. Its diversity makes it takes varied forms, from simple instructions to codes of conduct to manuals. On the other hand, expository writing has both a different audience and different instruments by which to reach that respective audience. This paper will aim to investigate the main differences between expository and technical writing and refer to how technical writing is used within an organization.

The differences between expository and technical writing can probably be group in different categories, depending on the approach. However, there is a common denominator which will show that the expository and technical writing differ in terms of purpose, audience, tone and formatting. Technical writing will always be something aimed at communicating and explaining issues in a speedy manner. A set of instructions, for example, will be a technical document. On the other hand, expository writing is less targeting towards facts, but more towards storytelling: the presentation of the company's history turned into a document, could take the form of an expository document.

The purpose of a technical document is to present facts in a concise manner and to explain procedures, if that is the case sometimes. Usually, the technical document in an organization is a set of instructions that has been expanded as it was included in a manual. The software documentation manual may be a good example in this sense: originally started with just a small set of instructions that would have helped the user deal with something like creating a button, it has grown to incorporate instructions for the entire application, so that the user will be able to understand how to use it. The purpose of an expository document is somewhat similar in that it has the same descriptive objective as the technical writing. The differences most likely reside in other aspects, such as tone and style.

The audience for technical writing is usually very limited. There are often situations when a code of conduct, for example, addressing the entire organization, is created, but usually the technical writing addresses a very small group of individuals who need to use those instructions because they are working with a machine or an instrument or using an application. In the case of expository writing, the audience can and usually is the entire company. The introduction to an annual report, for example, a good case of expository writing, is in fact addressing an audience that goes outside the organization and includes investors or consumers.

The difference in tone is perhaps the most important between the two categories of writing. On one hand, technical writing emphasizes the instructions that it needs to send to its audience, which is why the tone of these instructions is usually brisk and short. The expository writing, because it is often a description, can often sometimes take even a literary tone in addressing the audience. It sometimes aims at linking causes and effects: like in the case with the annual report, the plan is not only to give out the facts, but also to explain the causality behind these and the things that have led to those effects and to those elements that can be improved in the future.

The tone of the writing actually gives the format as well. In the case of technical writing, the purpose of the writing (the necessity to give out a fast set of instructions for the end user) and the tone (brisk and technical) mean that the formatting needs to be adapted as well to these elements. This is why the format is also usually structured as a set of instructions. We will thus expect to have plenty of bullet points, lists and enumerations, all for a simpler and more efficient use of the set of instructions provided with the technical writing. On the other hand, expository writing takes much more the form of a narrative and does not need to strictly abide by such criteria.