Technical Authoring > Correct Use of Language

One of the most important technical authoring skills is the need to identify and use the correct language 'subset' in a document (that is, determine how best the document should be written). Failure to do so will often render the document ineffective.

As an integral part of document production, Ipsitech will therefore ensure that:

	The document is meaningful to its intended readers
	Correctly identifying the intended readers of a document is paramount. In order to determine how a document should be written, we need to know (for example): Will the document be solely for 'lay' readers, or is it intended to be read also by people with some knowledge of (for example) any procedures or processes to be described in the document ? Is the document a 'technical' one, where it should be assumed that the reader already has in-depth knowledge of the underlying technologies/processes ?
	Industry/company standard terminologies are used
	Many industries use standards which define terminologies and how they should be used, to prevent confusion where synonyms or informal terms exist for specific types of components, processes, materials and so on.  (For example, the AECMA standard.) Similarly, many companies use their own internal standard terminologies. Where such standards already exist, Ipsitech will ensure that the correct terminology is used.  Where no standards exist, but where confusion may arise, we will agree a synopsis of standard terms with you when we start writing.
	The language used is as concise/formal as necessary
	Will the English document be read by people with English as a second language (which is often the case with companies which have a multinational presence) ? Alternatively, will the document be translated into another language ? In either case, the language used in the document should be as clear as possible, with few 'informal' (or slang) terms, which might otherwise be acceptable.