Technical writing is meant to explain things in a clear, concise, and complete manner so that the reader can understand the information presented.Subdivide a large block of information into smaller chunks and label each chunk with an identifying headline to achieve this purpose.While fitting in with the overall purpose of the document, the headings introduce the reader to the paragraphs that follow.Creating technical writing headlines requires thought and understanding of both the material and the audience who will read it; the steps for creating headings are described below.
Step 1: Know who you are reading with.
What information you present and how you structure it will be determined by the audience for your document and the headlines you create to help present it.A quick start guide for a software application requires simpler language and less extraneous material than a paper in a scientific journal.If you're writing for an internal "discourse community" such as a school, hospital, or government agency, you will be provided with a company or agency style guide that details how to format documents for the people who will read your work.
Step 2: Determine what your reader wants to know.
You may have done a lot of research in preparing your document, but not all the information needs to be presented up front.Someone who wants to change a spark plug doesn't need to know the history of the internal combustion engine.He or she needs to know the type of plug, where it goes, and the right tool to remove the old plug and replace it with a new one.
Step 3: The document should be organized to fit your reader's needs.
The majority of readers read technical documents looking for solutions to their problems, for example, how to operate a lawn mower, using Microsoft Word's Track Changes feature, and what to do when a check engine light comes on.The documents answer these questions by defining the reader's problem and presenting solutions.To create an outline for your document, you'll need to create a headline that introduces the essential information.There are places for headlines marked in the sample structure.Appropriate background and context are needed for the definition of the problem.The section may be as short as a single sentence or as long as 3 paragraphs.There are recommendations to solve the problem.If you introduce this section with a headline, the recommendations could be single sentences or 1 to 2 paragraph subsections.Reasoning behind the solution.Each recommendation will likely be supported in a user manual.The research procedure is a section of the paper.The solution is being implemented.The section would be introduced with a headline.The section might be a list of single-sentence steps, or a series of paragraphs with the first sentence defining the step and subsequent sentences explaining the reason for performing it.There areAppendices.If you need to include a lengthy explanation of how you gathered the data for your solution, or if you want to use any graphs or charts in the main document, your document would include an appendix.If you have more than one appendix, you should use a heading for each one.
Step 4: The tone of the document should be decided.
Your tone will be serious and businesslike for most technical writing.Marketing materials may use a more upbeat tone to encourage people to buy a product or service, while articles for a scientific journal will tend to be more scholarly.A style guide will usually define an appropriate tone for the audience you're writing to, particularly when the prospective audience is large, as for a website.
Step 5: The tone of the headline should match the text.
An upbeat document should have an upbeat headline.
Step 6: What follows the heading should be described.
"Appendix", "About the Problem," "We Suggest," and "Doing It" are some of the more creative words that can be used.The exact wording would be determined by the tone of the article, your audience, and whatever style guide you may be writing to.
Step 7: It's important to keep the length reasonable.
Shorter headlines grab your readers' attention better than longer headlines, so you don't have to keep your headlines to 3 words or less.If you put the most important words close to the beginning, people will notice them and remember them better.One way to structure a headline is with a main point followed by a colon and a memorable subtitle, such as "Help Files: How to Write Them So Users Will Actually Use them."
Step 8: Where needed, use subheadings.
Sometimes the information in a document is more than a single headline can introduce.In those cases, the main heading can be an overview of the section, with each significant concept introduced within it.The importance of planning the document before you write headlines for it and then the process of writing those headlines is communicated in the article.
Step 9: A consistent style of capitalization is what you should do.
You can use headlines in a technical document.You can use a different style for a subhead than you do for the main headline, but you should always use the same style.The headline should be capitalized with the first letter of each word.The title case is in Microsoft Word.The first and last letters of the word should be capitalized.The first letter of the first word, the last word and each significant word should be capitalized.Unless the last word in the headline is a 2 or 3 letter word, words that aren't capitalized are the articles 'a, an,' conjunctions, and prepositions.The title should be capitalized with the only first letter of the first word and any proper nouns or adjectives.This is called "Sentence Case" in Microsoft Word.If you combine this style with one of the others, use the other for headlines.
Step 10: If possible, use parallel construction in headlines.
"Parallel construction" means to structure phrases the same way: if one headline begins with a word, the rest of the headlines should follow.Parallel construction is an example of the subheadings in this article, "Planning Your Technical Document" and "Writing Headlines For Your Document."In headlines, parallel construction is an effective way to show the similarities in content that follow each similarly phrased headline.It's more difficult to maintain parallel construction when you have a lot of headlines.
Step 11: Use a numbering system for headings and subheads.
Adding a numbering system to your headings and subheadings can help structure your technical document.Section headings begin with an Arabic numeral followed by a period.Then the text of the heading.Subheadings below the section heading begin with Arabic numerals with one decimal place, followed by a period.The first word of the heading is what the numeric label falls under.The next level of subheading begins with an Arabic numeral and a period.The first word of the subhead above the label falls under it.This method can be used for technical documents for an internal audience.It is rarely used for documents for other people.