Five Powerful Techniques to Elevate Your Technical Editing Game

Discover How Expert Editing Techniques Can Transform Good Content into Great Content.

Technical editing catches errors that are often overlooked, enhancing clarity and impact. However, technical writing lays the foundation by clearly conveying the complex information that technical editing refines for clarity, consistency, and precision in the final product. Let's look at five powerful ways that technical editing can make significant impacts of written technical content. Elevating your technical editing with these suggested techniques can make your documentation more effective, user-friendly, and professional.

1. Know your audience. It is absolutely necessary to know your readers. When editing technical content, be sure that it is tailored to the knowledge level of your audience. Unnecessary jargon should be avoided unless the audience has a technical background.

   
   

2. Streamline content for readability. Remove unnecessary words to ensure verbiage adds value to the content. Ensure the document is written using clear, consistent, and straightforward language. For more engaging and direct sentences, use active voice rather than passive.

   
   

3. Create a Glossary of Terms. Creating and maintaining a glossary of terms is beneficial for ensuring consistency in technical terms and acronyms throughout the document. Access to a glossary within a technical document is essential for clarity and understanding, as it provides readers with precise definitions and explanations of specialized terminology (if used) within the document.

   
   

   A style guide should always be followed to uphold standards for writing, formatting, and structuring content. The style guide you choose to utilize can vary depending on the type of business you are editing for. Below is a list of popular style guides used today:

   
   

   1. Chicago Manual of Style: Widely used across various types of writing, including technical documentation.

   2. AMA Manual of Style: Used for medical publishing.

   3. Microsoft Writing Style Guide: Specifically for writing about computer technology.

   4. Scientific Style and Format: Used for scientific publishing.

   5. GPO Style Manual: For government publications.

   6. IBM Style Guide: Comprehensive guide covering all aspects of technical writing and editing.

   7. Google Developer Documentation Style Guide: Focuses on writing clear and accessible technical documentation.

   8. Apple Style Guide: Emphasizes writing about code, syntax, and technical notation.

      

      
      

4. Visual aids are essential in technical content. A visual should always be fact-checked, verified and is seamlessly integrated to ensure it aligns with the content and is identified accurately. When a technical writer includes screenshots, ensure that any added annotations are clear and offer step-by-step guidance. If a spreadsheet with charts, formulas, and other non-validated details are included as supporting material, every aspect should be thoroughly reviewed, edited, and verified for accuracy.

   

   
   

5. Conduct several passes focusing on different aspects—grammar, technical accuracy, readability, and usability. Ensure that formatting adheres to the house style or other applicable style guides to maintain consistency and facilitate a smooth flow of content. Consult with the technical writer and subject matter expert to provide different perspectives and to catch missed errors you found during the editing process.

I'm going to do a deeper dive into technical editing in the next post. I'll discuss the three levels of technical editing, refer to a couple of examples on my website, and further discuss the importance in collaborating with subject matter experts, technical writers, and project teams in general. I'll also discuss details on fact-checking and verifying content to ensure trust in the information provided. Follow along as we delve into the world of technical editing from my experiences. I hope you follow along. Contact me at susans6190@yahoo.com or leave a comment on the Contact Page of my website: www.wordwise-editing-techwriting.com. I look forward to hearing from you.