Writing Tone, Style and Voice
Technical writing requires a specific tone, style, and voice to effectively communicate information to your audience. Follow these guidelines to ensure your writing maintains the correct tone, style, and voice for your organization’s standards.
Tone of Voice
Your organization’s tone of voice should be standardized to ensure consistency in written communication. As a technical writer, you set the tone of voice and establish rules for your readers. Use the second-person point of view when addressing the user, and write instructions in the imperative form. Be informative, clear, supportive, and positive, and avoid hype terms, slang, and jokes. Also, steer clear of content that could be politically, culturally, or gender sensitive.
Point of View
Develop your content from one of the three points of view: first-person, second-person, or third-person. Use the second-person point of view for procedure descriptions and instructions, and use the third-person point of view for descriptions. Never use the third-person pronouns indicating gender (e.g., he, she, his, hers) in technical product information. Avoid mixing second- and third-person point of view; consistency is key.
Active and Passive voice
In technical writing, use active voice whenever possible. Active voice is more direct and concise than passive voice, which can make it unclear who should perform a task. If a passive sentence doesn’t clearly indicate who should perform an action, make the sentence active. However, passive voice can be used when knowing who or what performs the action of the verb is unknown, unimportant, or unnecessary.
Gender-neutral language
Technical writing should use gender-neutral language to avoid using pronouns such as he, she, his, or hers. Instead, use the second-person imperative or plurals like “users.” Also, avoid using combinations such as “he/she,” “s/he,” “(s)he,” or “his/hers.” Use “service engineer” instead of “service men” to avoid gender-specific language.
Example:
- Do: Check the logs for errors every hour.
- Do not: The SME must check his logs for errors every hour.
