The Writing of Marketing Materials as Technical Communication  

Writers of marketing materials seem to be stepchildren at best in the family of technical communication. Yet one cannot engage in writing effective marketing materials about technical products or services without being a technical communicator. And the more "typical" technical writer--such as an author of documentation--will perform better when she understand-s the marketing component of her work. We will serve the marketing communicator and his technical writer counterpart well by breaking down the barrier that seems to exist between the disciplines.

Baker, Dina. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing>Writing

Writing Press Releases

A press release is a (candidate) news story written by a firm for distribution to the media. The purpose of a press release varies from announcing new products, services, and business activities, to introducing the hiring of a new employee. It is not advertising in the classic sense, i.e., there is no hard sell involved although there is a more subtle intent to reach the prospective buyers.

Tech-Writer. Articles>Business Communication>Writing>Press Releases

Writing Technical Press Releases  

Explains how technical communicators with no public relations experience can take charge of their companies' media plans and press releases.

Greiling, Dunrie A. Intercom (2001). Articles>Business Communication>Writing>Press Releases

Writing to Learn in Mathematics    

The majority of people, mathematicians included, think that writing out formulas is exactly what we call writing in mathematics. I was guilty of the same preconceptions before I started to work with the Writing Across the Curriculum Project at Medgar Evers College. The definition of writing to learn that we use at MEC helped me come up with the idea that served as the basic principle for my further experiments and conclusions as I implemented writing to learn in mathematics.

Flesher, Tatyana. WAC Journal, The (2003). Articles>Scientific Communication>Writing Across the Curriculum

Writing When You Are NOT the Expert

Have you ever been asked to write a white paper about a topic that is completely foreign to you? If not, you most certainly will. This article will help you set your foot down the right path.

Stelzner, Michael A. WhitePaperSource (2006). Articles>Writing>Business Communication>White Papers

実務文章と楽しみ文章との違い

文章には大きく分けて、実務文章と楽しみの文章があります。実務文章と楽しみの文章とでは、目的や役割、読み手の姿勢が異なりますので、その書き方もおのずと異なります。この２つの文章を、あたかも同じであるかのようにとらえている本がありますが、そのような本はビジネスの現場では使えませんので注意してください。

Technical Writing World. (Japanese) Articles>Business Communication>Education>Writing

Procedural Explanations in Mathematics Writing: A Framework for Understanding College Students' Effective Communication Practices    

This study analyzes the procedural explanations written by remedial college mathematics students. Relevant literatures suggest that six communication activities might be key in effective procedural explanations in mathematics writing: (a) orienting the learner, (b) providing kernels or definitions of concepts and procedures, (c) using exemplars or worked examples, (d) providing descriptions of the process or procedure, (e) solidifying learner understanding, and (f) facilitating linguistic control of mathematical terms. Using this framework, 18 practices or types of difficulties were discovered in students' written explanations. Independent experts consistently evaluated student explanations more highly when the explanations contained arithmetic or algebraic exemplars, described specific actions and their meanings, linked new with prior knowledge, and used descriptive language; experts evaluated student explanations more negatively when students displayed difficulties reasoning with kernels, reasoning with exemplars, or with describing processes.

Kline, Susan L. and Drew K. Ishii. Written Communication (2008). Articles>Writing>Scientific Communication>Mathematics

The Life of a Lone Writer

Lone writers are found across all industries, as junior- and senior-level employees, contract workers and direct employees. Sometimes, they’re not even the only writers in their company, but rather are the only writers in their division with either little to no contact — or little to nothing in common — with the other writers in other company divisions.

Potsus, Whitney Beth. TechCom Manager (2006). Articles>Writing>Business Communication>Workplace

An Ergonomic Format for Short Reporting in Scientific Journals Using Nested Tables and the Deming's Cycle    

The typical structure of a scientific report involves highly standardized sections. The key concept of a scientific report is the reproducibility of results. Because not only clarity but also conciseness is a tool for the advancement of science, a new format using nested tables is proposed with the aim of improving the design of short reports in scientific journals, namely short communications, short technical reports, case reports, etc. This format is based on the ergonomic philosophy of visual encyclopaedias (one topic, one page) and on the quality system of the Deming's cycle (plan--do--check--act) for continuous improvement. This new editing tool has several advantages over existing forms, because it provides quick and ergonomic, reader-friendly research reports that, at the same time, would render a saving in terms of available space and publishing costs of the printed version of scientific journals.

Hortol, Policarp. Journal of Information Science (2008). Articles>Scientific Communication>Research>Technical Writing

Toward a Post-Technê: Or, Inventing Pedagogies for Professional Writing    

This article examines the concept of technê in relation to situatedness. Technê is conceived as techniques for situating bodies in contexts. Although many theorists and practitioners in technical communication are working from ecological and posthuman perspectives with regard to interface designs, this article argues for extending those perspectives to workplace and classroom situations. Starting from a Heideggerian reading of technê, the article moves toward the concept of post-technê, which remakes pedagogical techniques for writing and inventing in institutional contexts.

Hawk, Byron. TCQ (2004). Articles>Education>Business Communication>Technical Writing

Writing For the Market

If you’re a generalist, as most tech writers are, you write about many things in a variety of media with a number of objectives. Each new job involves determining who your audience is, what their needs are, and how your product or service can satisfy those needs. Then you need to recognize, understand, and adjust your writing so one time it appeals to the camper and the next time to the business owner.

Moore, W. Leonard. Technical Communication Center (2009). Articles>Business Communication>Technical Writing

Writing Like a Doctor

The mere act of reading good books, if you are not stopping to scrutinize the moves and tools used by the writers, examining and dissecting the choices they have made and why they work, will do nothing for you when you sit down to write. If you want a journal to accept your paper, or a federal agency to grant you coin, you have to make clear what is at stake and why the reader should care. Then you have to put forward the strongest reasoning based on evidence you provide in the clearest language you are able to rally. And then you need to know when you need help.

Toor, Rachel. Chronicle of Higher Education (2009). Articles>Education>Writing>Scientific Communication

“About Us” Doesn’t Have to be All “Ugh.”

No matter how beautifully designed, if a site’s voice doesn’t ring true, it’s easy to spot an “ugh.” Rather than using this section of a site like a congratulatory press release, consider approaching “About Us” like a magazine’s Editor Letter.

Vollenweider, Julie. Brain Traffic (2009). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Business Communication

How Do People at FDA Read Documents On-Screen?

With the substantial move to submitting electronic documents versus paper documents to FDA, it is useful to pause and consider how a regulatory reviewer actually reads a large complex technical document on screen.

Cuppan, Gregory P. Brainery.net (2009). Articles>Scientific Communication>Regulatory Writing>Biomedical

Why Tech Writers Need To Understand Business: Yet Another Example...

For some years, people, myself included, have noted the lack of interest, even disdain, that many tech writers have for business issues. This reduces these writers' ability to affect company decisions, including decisions that may affect them. Writers from fine arts or English backgrounds can rarely discuss cost-justification in finance terms, so they have little input on buying decisions.

Perlin, Neil E. Blogspot (2009). Articles>Business Communication>Technical Writing

Team Virtual Discussion Board: Toward Multipurpose Written Assignments    

What do teams, writing, time, technology, and critiques have in common? If you said they all have the letter 't' in them, you were correct. There can be so much more, though, when we connect each of these words in our course written assignments. Most of us use teams in our graduate and undergraduate organizational communication classes. What follows is a brief description of written (letter) assignments that use student pairs in a virtual Blackboard-based discussion board.

Barker, Randolph T. and Robert H. Stowers. Business Communication Quarterly (2009). Articles>Education>Business Communication>Writing

Writing for Business: a Graduate-Level Course in Problem-Solving    

When I was assigned to teach graduate-level business writing in a Master's of Professional Communication (MPC) program, I was unsure what to do with the course. What kind of writing instruction do students need that they have not already received in their undergraduate business writing classes or in other required graduate writing courses? What makes an advanced writing class advanced? In order to answer those questions, I began looking for articles by other teachers and scholars in the field of professional and business writing. I discovered that in terms of assignments, teachers and scholars seem to agree that client projects form the cornerstones of business writing curricula.

Seifert, Christine. Business Communication Quarterly (2009). Articles>Education>Business Communication>Writing

How to Select a Proper Article Writing Method

Here are two main methods you can use to launch off your article marketing campaign.

How to Write Anything (2007). Articles>Writing>Marketing>Business Communication

What Reviewers Need to Know About the Regulatory Reader, Continued

One of the big problems in document review is that reviewers often fail to recognize that their principal job as a reviewer is to act as a surrogate for the document end-user, in this case the regulatory reader. In this article, we offer a characterization of the reading style of the regulatory reader which is useful to keep in mind when reviewing any document or group of documents to be submitted to pharmaceutical and medical device regulatory agencies.

Cuppan, Gregory P. Brainery.net (2009). Articles>Scientific Communication>Regulatory Writing

White Paper Writing: Strategies for Success

White papers are a fundamental part of your marketing arsenal. And if you think technical writers don't need to worry about marketing, read on to see why white paper writing is an essential skill, and how to turn a ho-hum paper into a killer communications tool.

HelpScribe (2009). Articles>Business Communication>Technical Writing>White Papers

A Simple Shortcut For Writing Irresistible Benefits 

Do you know if you're promoting features or benefits in your marketing materials? The answer to this question plays a significant role in the effectiveness of your marketing message. While features are facts benefits explain why facts are important. Its these benefits that target your prospects emotions a key factor in selling situations.

Marketing Tips (2009). Articles>Business Communication>Writing>Marketing