The biggest difference between technical communication and the other kinds of writing you have done is that technical communication has a somewhat different focus on audience and purpose. These are the same skills and processes you use when you write in college, and the principles you have studied in your earlier writing courses apply to technical communication. Technical communication uses the four basic communication modes-listening, speaking, reading, and writing-to analyze a problem, find and evaluate evidence, and draw conclusions. Technical communication encompasses a set of activities that people do to discover, shape, and transmit information. Although these documents are a key component of technical communication, so too is the process: writing and reading tweets and text messages, for example, or participating in videoconference exchanges with colleagues. What Is Technical Communication? Technical information is frequently communicated through documents, such as proposals, emails, reports, podcasts, computer help files, blogs, and wikis. The purpose of Practical Strategies for Technical Communication is to help you learn the skills you need to communicate more effectively and more efficiently in your professional life. Even if you do not plan on becoming a technical communicator (a person whose main job is to produce documents such as manuals, reports, and websites), you will often find yourself writing documents on your own, participating in teams that write them, and contributing technical information for others who read and write them. THIS TEXTBOOK EXPLORES how people in the working world find, create, and deliver technical information. What Is Technical Communication? Why Technical Communication Skills Are Important in Your Career The Challenges of Producing Technical Communication Skills and Qualities Shared by Successful Workplace Communicators A Process for Writing Technical Documents A Look at Three Technical Documents Introduction to Technical Communication