Technical writing

Question

Is technical or expository writing more persuasive? Which is used more often in the corporate environment?

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Persuasive to me means "expressing opinions" or argument for a point of view, or idea. Neither expository nor technical essays have opinion at their core.

Expository essays (see LINK) are essays that explain something with facts, as opposed to opinion. Samples of expository essays include:
Essays that described how to do something.
Essays that analyze events, ideas, objects, or written works.
Essays that describe a process.
Essays that explain/describe an historical event.

Technical essay: Used primarily in scientific inquiry or engineering classes, this type of essay is used to formally and informally record observed data, note procedural steps, and provide explanations of terminology.

Depending on how clear the language is, and how convincing the facts are, and a clearly unbiased attitude of the author, either type of essay could be very persuasive as to the conclusions.

I suppose the frequency of corporate use depends on the corporation. In a scientific research laboratory, the technical essay would be often seen. In other situations, the expository essay would be more frequent.

Technical writing

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