Advanced technical communication books are becoming more and more available. However, each book is solely devoted to a specialized topic such as technical editing, design, illustration, usability testing, and online documentation. Despite all of these introductory and advanced books, not one is available specifically devoted to the challenges of style in technical communication. KEY TOPICS: This 12-point approach offers the most current and comprehensive instruction available in achieving an effective style in technical documents. It shows that technical prose style varies from the highly formal to the colloquial, from the pretentious to the plain, and it demonstrates the many stylistic strategies writers should consider for every technical document they write. Anyone who has to write professional and technical documents, specifically, engineers, software developers/consultants, medical writers, professional technical writers. Part of the Allyn & Bacon Series in Technical communication.