Lessons from Benjamin Franklin, America's first great technical writer

Benjamin Franklin acquired the qualities of style that have given him the title “America's first great technical writer” through self-study of the style of others, notably Addison. Franklin rewrote Addison's Spectator papers from notes, then compared his imitation with the original to see where he had failed to be as concise and readable. Other great writers have testified to the efficacy of this kind of imitation as an exercise in style improvement, and the technical writer of today will find it still one of the best ways to attain clarity and fullness of expression.