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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lauren [mailto:lauren -at- writeco -dot- net]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 5:40 PM
> To: 'Bonnie Granat'; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: RE: Definition of Tech Writer, was STC is broken
>
> The FAQs you linked do not state that legal writing is a form
> of technical writing. Just because the FAQs you link state
> that lawyers prepare specialized reports (technical writing)
> does not mean that legal writing is technical writing.
>
The essay is about technical writing. Are you seriously going to maintain
that the following text does not clearly include the types of writing
mentioned under the essay's subject of technical writing?
<begin quote>
"While technical writers need to have good computer skills, they do not
necessarily have to write about computers all their lives. "Technical" comes
from the Greek techne, which simply means "skill".
Every profession has its own special specialized forms of writing. Police
officers, lawyers and social workers all write specialized reports -- and
someone has to learn, perform, critique, and teach each one. Every major
politician hires staff members to design, administer, and analyze surveys --
and to write the secret reports that get leaked to reporters. Somebody has
to design tax forms and the accompanying instruction books, assembly
instructions for toys, and scripts for product demonstrations or multimedia
presentations.
<end quote>
If you are alleging that the essay does not speak of legal writing as being
a type of technical writing, I would allege there is something amiss in your
ability to comprehend the essay, itself an example of technical writing.
> Legal writing can be analytical, adversarial, or technical.
> Technical legal writing can be technical writing, if you
> really need to hear that, but analytical and adversarial
> writing is certainly not technical. Technical writing is
> one-sided since it is specialized to one subject, analytical
> and adversarial writing requires discussion of at least two
> sides, which is not consistent with technical writing.
>
Read this sentence again: "Every profession has its own special specialized
forms of writing." That's the subject of the essay. I'm not interested in
the subsets of legal writing at this point. If you cannot accept that most
people in the field of technical writing think according to the ideas
presented in the essay you've read on the URL I submitted, then it seems as
if we are at an impasse. In addition, if you cannot back up your assertions
with any recognized authority, then your allegations have the weight of just
your own private idiosyncratic opinion, which, if I read this thread
correctly, you alone hold in this community.
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