5 common pitfalls in technical writing

There's a difference between writing and writing well. I don't mean the mechanics of writing, like verb tense, writing out numbers, and punctuation inside quotes. Writing well means that your writing is clear and your audience can understand you. After all, writing is about communicating and transferring knowledge. If your audience doesn't understand what you've written for them, you've failed.

In my experience, I've found several common mistakes that people make when they write something. That could include an article, a report, an email, a progress update, or recommendations. These are the five common pitfalls in technical writing:

1. Not having a clear idea of what you're writing about

You should have a "target" for what you're writing about. What's your research question? What's your goal? Who will read it? What do they need to know? Answer these questions before you start writing, and you'll have an easier time.

2. Not having an outline

Writing out an outline before you start writing will save you a ton of time later on. An outline doesn't mean to write out a structured list with Roman-numerals; it can just be an empty document with headings as place holders. Once you have an outline together, the rest is just an exercise of filling out the outline, writing paragraphs to fill in the blanks.

3. Telling, not showing

You don't always have to write lengthy prose to describe something. Consider the information you need to communicate: Would an image better help illustrate your point? Could a chart explain a trend? Maybe you could draw a diagram to explain a process? These aren't always additions to the text, an image or chart or other data display can often replace text.

4. Not rewriting

You might be halfway through writing a document when you realize it's just not coming together. Despite creating the outline and identifying your goal, it just doesn't feel right. That happens to even very experienced writers. If it happens to you, that could be a sign to take that attempt as a first draft and start again. Don't delete what you've written before; start a new document and borrow any elements from the first draft that worked well.

5. Missing your audience

Remember, you're writing a report or other document to transfer knowledge. Let that be the focus for how you write it, and make decisions from that starting point. Consider what your audience needs to know, and what they already have as background information, and let that inform how you approach your topic. Meet your audience where they are, and use language that they would use, including terminology. Avoid writing overly complicated phrases in an effort to impress them; often, using everyday speech will "land" better than writing something that might appear in a Ph.D. thesis.