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Introduction to Technical Writing: A Beginner's Guide
A step-by-step guide on how to write and master technical documentation
Introduction
If you're new to technical writing and want to learn how to write articles and make money from them, follow me.
What is technical writing?
It is a type of writing that explains complex things in clear and simple language. It breaks down the hard words and makes it easy for a layman to understand.
It offers step-by-step explanations on how to do something. For example, a step-by-step guide on how to cook a particular food. It can also be a guide on how to fetch API and so on.
Technical writing Process
These are the things to do when writing technical articles:
Plan what you want to write about.
Explain the aim of the article.
Create a table of contents.
Make the article easy to understand for the readers.
Read books and documents to ensure your content is accurate, relevant, and up-to-date.
Use simple words to avoid confusing the reader.
Add images to make it easier to understand and follow instructions.
Maintain the same writing style.
Use active voice.
Read the article to find and fix errors.
Add examples to your article.
Add sources if your article contains data from other sources.
Technical writing tools
These apps allow you to gather and present the correct information for the readers. These include:
Google Docs: To create, edit, and work with others on a document.
Adobe FrameMaker: To create, edit and publish long complex documents on different devices.
Grammarly: It helps to detect grammatical errors and fix them.
Canva: To create and add images for your article.
Snagit: A tool for recording your screen.
Markdown: A markup language for documentation. You can also add formatting styles such as bullets, headings, and italics to documents.
SharePoint: Tool for collaboration.
WordPress: You can use this to turn your technical writing article into a blog post and host it on a website.
Where to publish your technical writing articles
To publish your article online, you can use these websites:
Technical Writers program
Some companies pay technical writers to write for them. These include:
Malgamves Community Writer Program
Technical writing Courses
To learn and earn certificates in technical writing, check out the websites below:
Google Technical Writing Course
W3school Technical Writing Course
Saylor Academy Technical Writing Course
GitLab Technical Writing Fundamentals
Introduction to Technical Writing - Oregon State University
Technical writing style guide
Technical writing style guides are rules for creating technical writing articles.
Google Developer Documentation Style Guide
GitLab Documentation Style Guide
Conclusion
Congrats on making it to the end of this article. You can now start writing articles right away. All you need is to choose a niche, review the technical writing process, and start writing.