Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking - An important mind function 

Every technical writer is taught to have an eye for the detail if they wish to excel in their field of work. And that means to write and bring out the nuances of a product or a subject that might otherwise be overlooked by the user while using a product or studying the subject. 


There are different concepts to critical thinking that will help a technical writer write a concise and crisp documentation. Information can be divided into:

1. facts, or truths that can be proven to be correct,    
2. conjecture, a theory or guess that is based on incomplete information,
3. inference, is drawing a conclusion that is loosely based on facts known to be true,
4. opinion, a shared belief and personal viewpoint that may or may not be true.
5. assumption, taking information for granted without finding out its accuracy.

Technical writer writes documentation based on what is the fact and that which is logical. All else fades away making the technical documentation product achieve its purpose of having the reader read and understand all that is logically true. Personal opinions, inferences and assumptions are a sure no-no for a technical writer.

Audience for the technical communication product is smart enough to do critical thinking and decide on the value of the product. Critical thinking using logic starts after the technical documentation has been read. Users are able to distinguish between fact, opinion, inference, or some other thought.  


Critical thinking then is really an ongoing process of understanding, questioning, observing, analyzing, and making judgments.

Happy to write!
Penworks