Letter to Cousin

Dear Cousin Sarah,

When you asked me what technical and professional writing is I decided that I needed to get my facts in line before I gave you a response. I turned to the internet as I Googled “what is technical and professional writing?” The first link I clicked on was http://www.ncte.org/college/briefs/tpw. Although it did provide a definition, I felt as though they were speaking a different language. This was too technical for me at the time. I next turned to Wikipedia for a more simplified answer to the same question. Wikipedia broke the definitions up into two parts: Technical Writing and Professional Writing. It is segments from these two definitions that I would like to base the rest of my letter from. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_writing, “Professional writing… is writing to a standard and style demanded by a particular profession. It involves the use of clear language to convey information in a way that is easily understood by the intended audience, and may be focused on information, persuasion, or to stimulate debate.” The definition of technical writing was as follows, “…is any written form of writing or drafting technical communication used in a variety of technical and occupational fields.” After reading these two definitions I have formed my own thoughts on how technical and professional writing is defined. I define is as a form of writing that is specific to an occupation or situation where information is portrayed in a clear and clean manner, so that the specific audience may understand the ideas.

In a formal business email one writes completely different than they would a letter to a brother or sister. An email written to a sister would be completely different from a letter written to a lover. In any type of writing there is a specific tone that is used while writing. Owl Purdue gives a great definition as well as some tips on how to decide on the tone. I feel that in technical writing it is very important to ask your self one of the questions from Purdue Owl, “Who am I writing too?” Without a knowledge and understanding of who you are addressing, it will be very difficult to know what is and is not appropriate in your writing. Once you have recognized who you will be addressing and the tone of the paper, it is important to be concise. As mentioned in the earlier definition of professional writing it is important to use “clear language.” Too often our writing, and even our speech can be too “wordy” and distract from the point we are actually trying to make. In technical and professional writing, it is important to minimize the words that are used, and only use language that is necessary.

We have learned about proofreading numerous times throughout our school years, but do we actually know what proofreading is? This week in class my professor presented to us a poem that had been reviewed by Microsoft Spellchecker, but almost all of the words were incorrect. They may have been spelled correctly in some text, but not in the context we were using them. I was blown away. I know that I am guilty of “proofreading,” or in reality pushing the spell check button, before quickly submitting an assignment. In technical and professional writing, it is imperative that you proofread, and actually take the time to reread your writing. This rereading of the paper may have to be done several times to catch all of the mistakes or misspelled words. This might be time consuming, but I cannot express how important it is in this form of writing. A future employee or a professor will completely look over you for a few simple spelling or grammar mistakes. Sarah, believe me, I am not an expert about technical and professional writing. These are the things that I do know, and I can see how they can be very beneficial in both of our professional lives.



Loves,


Ashton