The field of technical communication is very broad and diverse. On the one hand, you have very technical documents used by programmers and developers to explain how a specific technology works. On the other hand, you have technical writing geared more towards marketing efforts. Then there’s your traditional cut and dry technical writing. Figuring out what type of technical writing services you offer as a newbie writer will require a bit of trial and error. Determining your document type is only the first half- you also have to determine who your audience is in order to effectively communicate the right message to the reader.
To get a better feel for the type of content technical writers produce, take a look at this quick guide to understanding the most common types of technical documents.
End User Documentation
API Documentation: API documentation is exactly what it sounds like: documenting APIs and providing examples on how developers can use the API. Common types of APIs include web APIs such as the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), Remote Procedure Call (RPC), and the most popular, Representational State Transfer (REST).
Technical White Paper: A white paper is a technical document used to describe how a product or technology solves a specific problem.
Quick Start Guides: These guides provide brief instructions to help consumers quickly get started with using a product or software. One thing to note is, quick start guides are not substitutions for full-fledged user guides.
User Guide: Similar to quick start guides, user guides explain how to use and understand a product or software. These guides are written in plain English and are easily understood by your audience.
Technical Marketing Writing
White Paper: A white paper is a technical document used to describe how a product or technology solves a specific problem.
Case Study: A Marketing Case study is a technical report detailing how your product or service benefitted a company or brand. These reports show how your product or service can add value to your customers’ lives.
Proposals: Many times in B2B (Business to Business) marketing efforts, technical writers will be asked to write proposals detailing the plans and specification for a solution. Proposal act as a point of reference established by the company and client to set expectations, objectives, and successes.
Brochures: Brochures give users a deeper understanding of how a product functions. They use clear descriptions, functions and uses to appeal to users.
Traditional Technical Writing
Scientific and Medical Papers: These traditional technical documents act as educational resources for medical and scientific practitioners to understand procedures and results. The technical writer’s role is to collaborate with practitioners to interpret and organize findings, and to help make sense of the results.
Reports and Reviews: Outside of the medical and scientific fields, technical writers are tasked with writing reports and reviews that includes law review, business status reports, personnel activity reports and more.
User Manuals: Common types of traditional user manuals technical writer produce are instructions on how to operate household appliances, toys, and other non-techie objects.
The field of technical writing is diverse, ever-evolving, and pretty awesome. Hopefully this brief guide has given you a better understanding of what types of documents technical writers produce and empowers you to get started in a career in technical communication!
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