#27764
Common Mistakes: Functional Specification for Web Development
What are pitfalls that companies should avoid when specifying Web applications for internal or external development?
Buerki, Nicolas. E-Consultancy (2004). Articles>Writing>Specifications>Functional Specifications
#25436
Common Visual Design Elements of Weblogs
Weblogs (blogs) have been heralded as a new space for collaborative creativity, a medium for breaking free of the constraints of previous forms and allowing authors greater access to flexible publishing methods. This generalization seems extreme: genre studies done by Crowston and Williams (2000) and Shepherd and Watters (1998) lend credence to the notion that weblogs are evolutionary descendents of other visual media, such as newspapers and pamphlets. In this study, we apply content-analytic methods (Bauer, 2000) to a random sample of weblogs as a means of exploring current visual trends within the blogosphere.
Scheidt, Lois Ann and Elijah Wright. Into the Blogosphere (2004). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Blogging
#27251
Companies place little emphasis on the quality of an engineer's writing. An engineer's writing is usually only for evidence a particular transaction took place, or for proof they did the appropriate research. There is hardly ever any emphasis on the readability or usefulness of the writing. In this article, the author states several reasons for this problem and that development teams must come to understand in order to find a solution.
Brogan, Nate. StickyMinds (2006). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Engineering
#25935
Communicating Clearly: It Often Pays to Repeat Information
A common observation of clients who're reading first drafts of the work they've ordered is that, 'You said that once already, so we can take this sentence out.' In fact, a certain amount of redundancy helps to get the point across.
#20095
Communicating in Spite of TLAs (Three-Letter Acronyms) 
The unchecked use of acronyms and initialisms in technical writing presents a huge obstacle to clarity and readability. Although technical communicators are certainly more aware of this problem than are the engineers, scientists, and managers with whom they work, they need concrete guidelines and at least a small degree of self-righteousness on this subject to help them cope with the onslaught. That acronyms frustrate communication is well-founded in linguistic theory and common sense. Suggestions for mitigating their effect include issues of audience, term selectivity, frequency and occasion of use, and aesthetics.
Miller, Diane F. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Writing>Style Guides
#19566
Communicating the Impossible: Is Technology Creating Information Overload?
It is sometimes puzzling why so much of the information to which present-day people are being exposed is so weak. One possible explanation is that because technology makes it so easy to create and distribute large quantities of information in a very short period of time, the creators of the information become more concerned with quantity rather than quality. Is this simply an oversight, a result of too many technocrats who believe that because they created the tools, they are also the best qualified to use them? Or is this phenomenon a deliberate mechanism that has been devised to justify the need for continued technological progress (i.e., more sophisticated communication tools)? One fact is becoming clear: the people driving technology into the future often do not devote enough attention to the quality of information.
Vasdi, Peter and Peter Zvalo. Writer's Block (1996). Articles>Writing>Communication
#28418
Communication in Technology Transfer and Diffusion: Defining the Field 
Provides an introduction to our field’s connections with technology transfer and diffusion. Technology transfer, the complex social process that moves technology from bench to market, drives global economic growth; technology diffusion, the market-driven process by which innovations are adopted and implemented, follows similar patterns. Indeed, technology transfer and diffusion may be considered synonymous with the phenomenon of growth in a global economy.
Coppola, Nancy W. Technical Communication Quarterly (2006). Articles>Communication>Technology>Technical Writing
#31915
Company Name First in Microcontent? Sometimes!
Typically, you should deemphasize your company's name in links, but a new guideline recommends frontloading the name for search engine links under certain conditions.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2008). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Hypertext
#23585
Comparative Assessment of Document Usability With Writing Quality Measures
Measures of writing quality were developed on the basis of research findings on reading, writing, and cognition. From among the over twenty measures developed by the quality project, this paper illustrates theoretical and methodological issues for two kinds of measures: agents of action in sentences and task-oriented headings. When applied to a sample set of documents, these measures showed the writing to be inconsistent in style among the documents and only partly in conformance with suggestions derived from research. Though technical communication writing guidelines may be well thought out and grounded in years of practice, to have credibility in the new quality environment, writing guidelines need to be supported by testing. This paper discusses the development and testing of document quality measures that can be used as the basis of writing guidelines. The measures were tested both by using them to score technical documents, which will be discussed here, and laboratory testing with document users, which will not be discussed in this paper.
Krull, Robert. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Writing>Assessment
#27159
The Complete Beginner's Guide to Writing Articles
So how do you get started? What do you write about? What do you actually DO with your articles once you've written them? It seems daunting, I know. I was petrified myself when I first started writing articles, I still get nervous every time I start submitting a new article all over the net.
Stewart, Anna-Marie. DevBay (2005). Articles>Writing>Publishing>Online
#31049
Composing Across Multiple Media
This is a qualitative case study of two students' composing processes as they developed a documentary video about the Dominican Republic in an urban, public middle school classroom. While using a digital video editing program, the students moved across multiple media (the Web, digital video, books, and writing), drawing semiotic resources from each as they did so. Using sociosemiotic and dialogic-intertextual theoretical frameworks, the author examines how the interface of the video editing program influenced the students' composing by making new types of semiotic resources available and new means of combining these resources. As they moved across these media in a nonlinear fashion, the students created an interactive context for composing that transcended the individual possibilities of each respective medium. This suggests that multimedial composing environments offer a rich intertextual landscape and unique ways of making meanings.
Ranker, Jason. Written Communication (2008). Articles>Education>Writing>Multimedia
#20880
Composing New Media in the Humanities: A Disciplinary Study of Design Heuristics 
Because computers and writing as well as other related areas, like professional writing and increasingly even first-year composition are interested in new ways of composing, more and more heuristics are being brought in from other fields.
Agena, Kate. Purdue University (2003). Articles>Writing>Computers and Writing
#23545
Composing Organically With Reader Engagement: The CORE Method
The CORE method of teaching technical writing begins with a short core document and builds up from there. The method follows advances in writing technology and pedagogy, realizing the advantages of computer-assisted writing as well as the 'process' approach to teaching composition. The workshop creates opportunities for participants to evaluate the CORE method and apply it to their own teaching or training tasks.
Killingsworth, M. Jimmie. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Education>Writing>Technical Writing
#13978
The Composing Process of Technical Writers: A Preliminary Study
Janet Emig's 1971 study, The Composing Process of Twelfth Graders, spurred an interest in the writing process: how writers compose rather than simply what they compose. However, a survey of current literature indicates that little has been published on the composing processes of technical writers. Perhaps we have assumed that technical writers compose as other writers do. In order to test this assumption, we conducted the research on which we base this study.
Roundy, Nancy and David Mair. JAC (1983). Articles>Writing>TC
#23336
Composition Teachers: No Experience Necessary?
It's Monday, September 8, your first day in law school. Tonight you'll start your classes. You'll be taking Criminal Law and Procedure on Mondays, Basic Contract Law on Tuesdays, and Property and Law on Wednesdays. But before going to any of those classes, you are, at eight o'clock this morning, given your first task as a law student. You'll be trying a case in superior court. It doesn't matter what the case is; the defendant's future is on the line, and you are responsible for it. The fact that you've never taken a law course before and basically have no idea what to do in court also doesn't matter. After all, the way to learn to do something is by doing it. And if this defendant gets cheated out of the right to the best lawyer possible, and if the next several defendants also get cheated, does that really matter? Someday, chances are, you'll be a great lawyer. The above scenario is nothing less than ridiculous, yet in English departments across the country a similar scenario takes place at the start of every semester.
Webster, Janice Gohm. ADE Bulletin (1989). Articles>Education>Writing
#23831
Since 1949, when the Conference on College Composition and Communication was founded in Chicago, the terms composition and rhetoric have been linked in a social-constructionist move that is now ubiquitous in many United Statesian English departments as well as in many free-standing composition-rhetoric programs.
Welch, Kathleen E. Enculturation (2003). Articles>Education>Writing>Rhetoric
#29015
A Computer Writing Environment for Professional Writers and Students Learning to Write
While some models of computer writing environments have emerged in the literature on writing, most of them are done with the purpose of helping writers in an academic context and very few, if any, with the aim of facilitating the work of professional writers or students in professional writing. We think, however, that we can learn from the previous models to build a multi-purpose computer writing environment that will take into account the needs of the professional writers as well as those of the students learning to write. We will begin by looking at some models of writing proposed by Hayes and Flower in 1980 and also at the model of White and Arndt. Afterwards, we will review the model of professional writers developed by Clerc and link it with the previous models. We will then have to look at some computer writing environments described in the literature and see how these environments take into account the process and tasks identified in writing. Finally, we will suggest our model.
Bisaillon, Jocelyne, Isabelle Clerc, and Jacques Ladouceur. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (1999). Articles>Education>Computers and Writing>Writing
#27488
Conciseness is Key to Good Technical Documentation
One of the most important and difficult parts of technical documentation concerns writing in a concise manner. Technical writing is different than writing fiction or magazine articles, where a mood may be set or--in some cases--where space must be filled. (People seldom buy thin books.)
Kurtus, Ron. School for Champions (2005). Articles>Document Design>Technical Writing>Minimalism
#19265
Conducting Successful SME Interviews
Interviewing subject matter experts (SMEs) is one of the most common and useful methods for obtaining the information needed to create quality documents. Successful SME interviews require careful research and preparation in advance. During the interview, good listening skills, critical analysis, and the ability to maintain control of the range and depth of the interview with appropriate tact are crucial to successful outcomes. After the interview, give prompt attention to notes and any required follow-through. When working with hostile SMEs or those with poor communication skills, emphasize the strengths of the relationship and develop strategies to work around any weaknesses.
Lambe, Jennifer L. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>Interviewing>Writing>SMEs
#31143
Confessions of a Technical Author: What Can Technical Communicators Learn from David Ogilvy?
David Ogilvy was an advertising genius who distilled his successful concepts and techniques into a bestselling book I've just finished reading, called "Confessions of an Advertising Man". I wanted to read his book, because I often find it useful to look at other professions and ask whether their ideas could be applied to the world of technical authoring.
Pratt, Ellis. Cherryleaf (2008). Articles>TC>Writing>Technical Writing
#23962
Conseils de Rédaction pour les Rapports Techniques
Ce document est une compilation de remarques et de conseils divers applicables à la rédaction de rapports, mémoires, thèses... et plus généralement de tout document technique. Il ne s'agit pas d'un traité exhaustif de la question, mais plutôt d'un corpus minimal de règles qu'il est indispensable de respecter.
Torzynski, Marc. Université Louis Pasteur Strasbourg (1997). (French) Articles>Writing>Technical Writing
#32046
As a technical writer, every decision you make is influenced by several discrete things, considerations for either the audience of the information, the process you’ll need to follow to collate and verify the information, and so on. Every decision requires such considerations but is it possible to model these?
One Man Writes (2008). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Theory
#26146
Content for Tourism and Hospitality Sites
My worst experiences with hospitality sites have been to do with vague location, online timetables, poor follow-up communication, and out of date information. I have wasted days as a result, which I hate.
McAlpine, Rachel. Quality Web Content (2004). Articles>Web Design>Marketing>Writing
#13508
Contexts and Criteria for Evaluating Student Writing
Of all responsibilities you have as a composition instructor, evaluating student writing occupies most of your time and has furthest reaching material effects. Though you may spend lots of hours preparing for class, conferencing with your students, and actually teaching, chances are you'll spend many more grading. Though we instructors often place the highest value on the content and methods of our classrooms--be they critical pedagogy and Marxist interpretations of Clinton's impeachment trials or traditional grammar drills and a New Critical reading of Paradise Lost, the grades that we assign our students are the only concrete, as well as the most valuable, cultural capital that our teaching creates.
Hindman, Jane. Lore (2001). Articles>Education>Writing>Rhetoric
#31787
To teach students how to write for the workplace and other professional contexts, technical writing teachers often assign writing tasks that reflect real-life communication contexts, a teaching approach that is grounded in the field's contextualized understanding of genre. This article argues to fully embrace contextualized literacy and better teach workplace writing, technical writing teachers also need to contextualize how they assess student writing. To this end, this article examines some of workplaces' best assessment practices and critically integrates them into an introductory technical writing classroom through a method called student-centered assessment instruments. This method engages students, as workplaces engage employees, in the assessment process to identify local requirements for writing tasks. Aligned with theory and practice, this method is not only an effective classroom assessment method, but becomes an integrated part of students' genre-learning process within and beyond the classroom.
Yu, Han. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2008). Articles>Education>Technical Writing>Assessment
