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Technical writer
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==Roles and functions== To create effective technical documentation, the writer must analyze three elements that comprise the rhetorical situation of a particular project: audience, purpose, and context.<ref name=Kostelnick>{{cite book |last = Kostelnick |first = Charles |title = Designing Visual Language |year = 2011 |publisher = Longman |location = New York, NY |isbn = 978-0-205-61640-4 |pages = 3–390 }}</ref> These are followed by document design, which determines what the reader sees. ===Audience analysis=== {{Main|Audience analysis}} Technical writers strive to simplify complex concepts or processes to maximize reader comprehension. The final goal of a particular document is to help readers find what they need, understand what they find, and use what they understand appropriately.<ref name=Riordan>{{cite book |last = Riordan |first = Daniel |title = Technical Report Writing Today |year = 2005 |publisher = Wadsworth Cengage Learning |location = Boston, MA |isbn = 978-0-618-43389-6 |pages = 1–546 }}</ref> To reach this goal, technical writers must understand how their audiences use and read documentation. An audience analysis at the outset of a document project helps define what an audience for a particular document requires. When analyzing an audience the technical writer typically asks:<ref name=Riordan /> * Who is the intended audience? * What are their demographic characteristics? * What is the audience's role? * How does the reader feel about the subject? * How does the reader feel about the sender? * What form does the reader expect? * What is the audience's task? *Why does the audience need to perform that task? * What is the audience's knowledge level? * What factors influence the situation? Accurate audience analysis provides a set of guidelines that shape document content, design and presentation (online help system, interactive website, manual, etc.), and tone and knowledge level. ===Purpose=== A technical writer analyzes the purpose (or function) of a communication to understand what a document must accomplish. Determining if a communication aims to persuade readers to “think or act a certain way, enable them to perform a task, help them understand something, change their attitude,”<ref name=Kostelnick /> etc., guides the technical writer on how to format their communication, and the kind of communication they choose (online help system, white paper, proposal, etc.). ===Context=== Context is the physical and temporal circumstances in which readers use communication—for example: at their office desks, in a manufacturing plant, during the slow summer months, or in the middle of a company crisis.<ref name=Kostelnick /> Understanding the context of a situation tells the technical writer how readers use communication. This knowledge significantly influences how the writer formats communication. For example, if the document is a quick troubleshooting guide to the controls on a small watercraft, the writer may have the pages laminated to increase usable life. ===Document design=== Once the above information has been gathered, the document is designed for optimal readability and usability. According to one expert, technical writers use six design strategies to plan and create technical communication: arrangement, emphasis, clarity, conciseness, tone, and ethos.<ref name=Kostelnick /> ; Arrangement : The order and organization of visual elements so that readers can see their structure—how they cohere in groups, how they differ from one another, how they create layers and hierarchies.<ref name=Kostelnick /> When considering arrangement technical writers look at how to use headings, lists, charts, and images to increase usability. ; Emphasis: How a document displays important sections through prominence or intensity.<ref name=Kostelnick /> When considering emphasis technical writers look at how they can show readers important sections, warning, useful tips, etc. through the use of placement, bolding, color, and type size. ; Clarity: Strategies that “help the receiver decode the message, to understand it quickly and completely, and, when necessary, to react without ambivalence.”<ref name=Kostelnick /> When considering clarity the technical writer strives to reduce visual noise, such as low contrast ratios, overly complex charts or graphs, and illegible font, all of which can hinder reader comprehension. ; Conciseness: The "visual bulk and intricacy" of the design—for example, the number of headings and lists, lines and boxes, detail of drawings and data displays, size variations, ornateness, and text spacing.<ref name=Kostelnick /> Technical writers must consider all these design strategies to ensure the audience can easily use the documents. ; Tone: The sound or feel of a document. Document type and audience dictate whether the communication should be formal and professional, or lighthearted and humorous. In addition to language choice, technical writers set the tone of technical communication through the use of spacing, images, typefaces, etc. ; Ethos: The degree of credibility that visual language achieves in a document.<ref name=Kostelnick /> Technical writers strive to create professional and error-free documentation to establish credibility with the audience.
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