Lesson 1: What is Technical Writing?
The importance of audience
The audience is a key element that many people fail to consider. When your job is to convey knowledge to someone, you need to understand what that person already knows and develop a sense of the teaching methods likely to work for that person. If you're writing instructions for a customer service representative don't assume they understand database theory or any of the associated terminology. It sounds obvious, but the failure to properly analyze intended audience is the single largest pitfall facing technical writers. Consequently, we'll devote an entire lesson to audience in this class.
