The Handbook of Technical Writing by 
The IEEE Guide to Writing in the Engineering and Technical Fields by 
Scientific Writing 2.0: A Reader and Writer's Guide by 
Technical Writing: A Practical Guide for Engineers, Scientists, and Nontechnical Professionals by There are several factors that set technical writing apart from other types of writing.
| Technical Writing | Creative Writing | |
| Purpose | To inform, instruct, or educate users | To entertain and captivate the interest of the audience |
| Audience | Is specific. The reader use the information to understand a subject. | Generic. The writing is generally used for entertainment. |
| Language | Is formal, academic, and standard driven. | Is informal, artistic, creative, fictional |
| Writing Style | Is clear and accurate. Emphasis is on utility over beauty. | Is clear but reflects thoughts of the writer. Emphasis is on beauty over utility. |
| Format | Is format driven. Focus is specific | The style and format depends on the writer |
| Organization | Is systematic and sequential | Is arbitrary and may not be systematic |
| Graphics | Are used to explain the text | Are used to make the piece more interesting |
| Tone | Objective | Subjective |
| Dependency | Depends on the development of the product, information received from the Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and other sources, and technical review performed by developers | Depends on the schedule of the writer and Publisher |
Source: S. Jayaprakash, How is technical writing different?
Anand Seetharam is an associate professor of computer science at SUNY Binghamton. In the video (20 minutes), he provides an overview of the different sections in a research paper and how to get started.
