Glossary · 4 · Structure and semantics
Structured writing
In technical communication, structured writing is the practice of writing content to explicit, defined structures — patterns for what a given kind of content contains and in what order — whether those structures are followed by convention and templates or recorded and enforced in markup.
- Structured writing
- Information design
In one sentence
Structured writing is writing content to explicit, defined structures, followed by convention and templates or recorded and enforced in markup.
Example
A team agrees that every troubleshooting page states the symptom, the possible causes in order of likelihood and one remedy per cause. Written in a word processor with a template, this is structured writing; captured in an XML schema that rejects pages without a remedy, it is also structured authoring.
How it applies
- Two traditions: The term is used in two related senses. Robert E. Horn used it for his method of analyzing and presenting information in blocks and maps, which became Information Mapping; he reviewed its first quarter century in “Structured Writing at Twenty-Five” (1993). Information Mapping® is a trademark of Information Mapping International. Mark Baker, in Structured Writing: Rhetoric and Process (XML Press, 2018), uses structured writing for any writing to explicit structures and analyzes it in four domains — media, document, subject and management — and in its relationship to rhetoric and process.
- Structure without markup: Templates, style guides, checklists and editorial review can make writers follow a structure without any markup. This is how many organizations start, and it is the level at which the structure of a content type is designed.
- Structure with markup: When the structure is recorded in markup and checked by software, structured writing becomes structured authoring: a schema defines the allowed elements, and editors and validators enforce them.
- Machinery and software documentation: Fixed structures for safety instructions, procedures, troubleshooting and reference data help readers find what they need in every document and make completeness reviewable. The structure supports the content; it does not by itself make documentation complete or compliant.
Structured writing vs. structured authoring
Structured writing is the broader practice and concerns the structure of the content itself. Structured authoring is its markup-based implementation, in which structures are expressed in a schema, such as DITA or DocBook, and enforced by tools. Content can follow a structure without being authored in XML, and XML content can be poorly structured in the rhetorical sense.
External references
- Mark Baker, Structured Writing: Rhetoric and Process (XML Press, 2018), publisher page: https://xmlpress.net/publications/structured-writing/
- Robert E. Horn, “Structured Writing at Twenty-Five,” Performance + Instruction 32(2) (1993), 11–17: https://doi.org/10.1002/pfi.4170320206