8 Tips: Effective Technical Writing for a Non-Technical Audience
By: Dana Casey
Tags: Content Writing, Technical Writing, Technical Editing, Construction, Engineering

As a communicator in the “E” and “C” sectors of the AEC industry for nearly twenty years, I have encountered my fair share of excessively written content. By “excessively written,” I simply mean too many words for the intended message and audience. I also found traces of this during my copy editing stint for an academic journal.

My background involves working with purveyors and writers of complex concepts to transform their knowledge and expertise into digestible information for more general consumption. Thanks to wordy engineers, executives and philosophers, this skill of refining content has evolved into one of my specialties.

A few weeks ago, I was editing a document when I was motivated to start compiling some of my observations over the years. The writer in this case is obviously knowledgeable and had good intentions to present the material in a professional manner. However, it almost seemed as if they were trying too hard by injecting unnecessary or extra words and phrases into their writing. Whether this was deliberate, I do not know. But something about this writer’s intent and technique prompted me to pick up the proverbial pen.

Most content creators in the fields I have worked in are not traditionally trained in writing. In addition, the weight and intricacies of their subject matter often make it difficult for them to approach writing from different angles because they are so consumed by their expertise (as they should be!).

Whether up against a proposal deadline in response to an RFP/RFQ or a media deadline for a construction project press release, they are sometimes tasked with writing about a technical subject for a non-technical audience. The final product is typically intended to be concise and direct.

Which leads me to the basis of this listicle. When I started reflecting on what I had learned and what to write about it, I soon realized there is much more to this topic lurking beneath the surface of this article that I could expound upon. I settled on a quick and dirty approach instead and eventually whittled my list down to eight basic items that I try to keep in mind while writing or editing this type of specialized content.

Avoid overusing jargon.

I get it — experts and professionals are eager to share their knowledge and establish credibility. However, take the time to read the intended audience. For example, when proposing solutions for a complex infrastructure project to a small-town city council or rural county commission, consider the representatives’ likely limited exposure to the topic, particularly when there has been recent turnover in the local government.

When using technical terminology be sure to define it as early in the document and in as plain language as possible. This is where relevant or familiar analogies may come in handy. For instance, consider something the audience may be familiar with (e.g., agricultural practices in their rural area or a local industry) and try to make a simple comparison between that and the proposed solution(s). A little audience research can go a long way, especially in business development, marketing and public relations.

Break it down.

People can get lost in run-on sentences and paragraphs when their concentration is challenged or they’re faced with a large volume of documents to review. Long paragraphs and sentences can also be intimidating for a non-expert trying to understand the sophisticated concepts being presented.

One way to avoid long-windedness is to break down your thoughts into digestible chunks. If you can sense a natural pause between two or more complete thoughts in one long sentence, it’s usually a safe bet to break them apart. The same idea can be applied to paragraphs as well.

Vary sentence length.

Mike Markel, notes in his book, Technical Communication,

“Sometimes sentence length affects the quality of the writing. In general, an average of 15 to 20 words is effective for most technical communication. A series of 10-word sentences would be choppy. A series of 35-word sentences would probably be too demanding. And a succession of sentences of approximately the same length would be monotonous.”

It would seem, based on the evolution of technology, short attention spans and increasing demand for immediate consumer gratification, that the shorter the sentence, the better. And as a professional initially trained in the field of journalism, I have always naturally gravitated towards that theory.

However, technical communication allows for some flexibility due to the complex nature of the subject matter. Variable sentence length is one way to help keep a reader’s attention on otherwise pedantic material.

Use a thesaurus.

Another way of keeping the reader’s attention is to vary your word usage. Though we may not necessarily notice it in our own writing or speech, we all probably have words or phrases that we unknowingly use too much. Try to be conscious of that as you write. If you notice a repetitive word or phrase you tend to use, consult a thesaurus or similar online resource to help rephrase the passage.

Full disclosure, I am a true word nerd and a huge proponent of the thesaurus. I love learning new words and appreciate the challenge of finding different ways of expressing my thoughts. Nevertheless, I am also vigilant about retaining the preciseness of technical concepts in this situation.

Keep it clean.

When presented with a wordy phrase, I always try to clean it up. Consider this example:

“All the qualifications that the requester possesses will be reviewed by the project manager” is much easier to read when written as, “The project manager reviews the requester’s qualifications.”

I used three thought processes in making this sentence more direct:

It is obvious and implied that the project manager is going to review “all” of the requester’s qualifications, so we don’t need to note that distinction.

The example refers to an existing procedure so I used present tense active voice (“the project manager reviews”) instead of future tense passive voice (“will be reviewed by the project manager”).

The “qualifications the requester possesses” can be easily simplified by making the word “requester” possessive.

What’s your point?

To further streamline your message, bullets are an efficient tool to make the most important and impactful points stand out. A bulleted list provides a quick and easy summary that can be used either at the beginning or end of a descriptive passage.

For a distracted or busy reader, bullet points can be key to ingesting critical substance quickly. If the reader reads nothing else, make sure the bullets recapitulate the most essential and compelling elements of your argument(s) or solution(s) as succinctly as possible.

Put it away.

If you have time, set the piece aside for a day or two. Because an expert is inherently close to their subject matter, which is often heavy and deep, they may find that physically taking time away from a document allows their brain to recalibrate. (That usually works for me.) If you don’t have the luxury of extra time, I find that even an hour or two can provide a fresh perspective.

Upon returning, grammatical errors and personal writing quirks (e.g., repetitiveness) may become more obvious. This may also be accomplished by reading the final draft out loud. If you trip on your own words, chances are your reader will too.

Ask for assistance.

According to Carol Fisher Saller in The Subversive Copy Editor,

“Writers need another set of eyes on their work because they compose at a high level of abstraction and detail. Few brains can simultaneously monitor conceptual progress and mechanical detail without lapses.”

If you have access to a professional editor, great — use them! But even a second pair of non-professional-editor eyes can be a tremendous help in identifying “lapses” in clarity and issues like missing articles or prepositions, for example. Those can be difficult to spot when you’re so immersed in what you’re writing about.

I like to think of the process as a musical performance: as the performer, you’re playing all the correct notes, it’s just that some of your notes might be a little sharp or flat. An objective vantage point may help you fine tune and make your voice clearer.

Wrapping it up.

Obviously, there are several ways to approach this subject. I can think of ten more items to add to this list off the top of my head and you can probably think of ten more.

My point is that awareness of techniques similar to those described above will only sharpen your own writing. As you experiment with different approaches, you will hopefully develop some methods that work best for you and make this type of writing less daunting and [gasp] maybe even enjoyable!