Technical Writing - Emergency Management Institute

UNIT 3: COMMUNICATION CONSIDERATIONS AND MODELS
Ethical Communication
The Society for Techincal Communication (STC) provides the following guidelines in
sustaining ethical communications:
Legality
Technical writing may require communications
that express legal rights and duties as they
relate to the subject of your project. This may
involve a level of analysis and interpretation
that provides legal direction to your audience.
As a technical writer every attempt should be
made to eliminate ambiguous or confusing legal
jargon. The structure of legal directives should
remain simple and clear for ease of
comprehension.
Honesty
Honesty in writing is a behavior that will dictate the success and longevity of a
technical writing career. A single instance of written work proven to be dishonest in
content or design is difficult to recover from. All future work may fall under
scrutiny and suspicion. Not a risk any technical writer should consider.
Confidentiality
The principle of confidentiality is an ethical practice that ensures frankness with
individual sources of primary information obtained through such methods as
interviews and surveys. A break in confidentiality is another variable that will
assuredly have a negative effect on a technical writer’s future and professional
reputation.
Quality
Quality is achieved through the accuracy which defines the credibility of your
project. If your technical writing appears inaccurate then the credibility of the
message is called into question. This creates another ethical dilemma that is
difficult to recover from. Poor quality production is not a credential any technical
writer wants associated with their work.
IS-613 Technical Writing Page 3.8