#20760
Contracting and Consulting for Policies and Procedures Engagements 
As the number of persons employed by some U.S. organizations declined since the late 1980s, so have employment opportunities for Policies & Procedures (P&P) practitioners. During this period, the number of contractors and consultants has increased to meet the needs of newly changed organizations. A useful way for P&P practitioners to learn how they can provide contracting and consulting services is to understand three roles in leveraging such services: an extra pair of hands, expert, and collaborator.
Urgo, Raymond E. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Business Communication>Policies and Procedures>Technical Writing
#22231
Contracts: An Introduction to the Skills of Legal Writing and Analysis 
Contracts is a computer program designed for first year undergraduates studying Obligations in Glasgow University's School of Law, written by Paul Maharg and Professor Joe Thomson. It aims to improve students' written work.
#13842
A Contrary View of the Technical Writing Classroom: Notes Toward Future Discussion 
Rather than acting as training departments for students’ future employers (a mission reflected in most textbooks and journal scholarship), technical writing programs should be teaching skepticism, critical thinking, and paradigm-breaking. They should be highlighting the agendas and “narratives” inherent in any text, rather than sustaining a positivist faith in neutrality and objectivity, because students who understand the power of language to shape the workplace (not simply to transmit information) turn out to be the most effective, most successful professionals. This article questions the widespread, largely uncritical importing of corporate paradigms into the technical writing classroom and calls for the university to remain separate from the corporation in its purpose. The article goes on to describe a recently developed senior seminar that challenges students’ assumptions about scientific and technical writing, including their own. Through courses like this, it is hoped that students will enter their professions as savvy, questioning thinkers rather than simply as efficient, problem-solving doers.
Bushnell, Jack. Technical Communication Quarterly (1999). Articles>Education>Writing
#27339
Control the pace of the story by varying sentence length.
Clark, Roy Peter. Poynter Online (2004). Articles>Writing>Grammar>Rhetoric
#24105
Conversation by Blog: Expanding Personal Technology into the Academic Community
In the last two years, individuals on the Web have begun to maintain personal Web sites which are referred to as Weblogs (blogs). A blog is distinct from other forms of electronic documentation in that it functions as a public, electronic diary, consisting of short, frequently-updated personal reflections and reports of activity. A typical blog is composed of daily entries of no more than a paragraph. Blogs are often accompanied by and supplemented with image galleries, curricula vitae, and archives of past postings. Blogs are also subject to trends: for example, many blogs in December include Christmas wish lists. Like e-mail and unlike other traditional forms of publication, blogs often include a comments feature which allows the reader to engage in discussion with the blog's writer and other readers by directly attaching a posting to the daily or topical entry. Although this approach to Web site design has been widely adopted by technophiles under the age of thirty, it also holds promise as a mechanism for a conversational form of knowledge development that previous technologies have not readily facilitated. This paper outlines the potential expansion of the blog as a venue for professional and philosophical discussion by the visual communication design community and other similar professional groups.
Radzikowska, Milena. University of Alberta (2003). Articles>Writing>Online>Blogging
#25492
Conversations in the Blogosphere: An Analysis "From the Bottom Up"
The 'blogosphere' has been claimed to be a densely interconnected conversation, with bloggers linking to other bloggers, referring to them in their entries, and postingcomments on each other's blogs. Most such characterizations have privileged a subset of popular blogs, known asthe 'A-list.' This study empirically investigates the extent to which, and in what patterns, blogs are interconnected, taking as its point of departure randomly-selected blogs. Quantitative social network analysis, visualization of linkpatterns, and qualitative analysis of references and comments in pairs of reciprocally-linked blogs show thatA-list blogs are overrepresented and central in the network, although other groupings of blogs are moredensely interconnected. At the same time, a majority of blogs link sparsely or not at all to other blogs in the sam-ple, suggesting that the blogosphere is partially interconnected and sporadically conversational.
Herring, Susan C., Inna Kouper, John C. Paolillo, Lois Ann Scheidt,Michael Tyworth, Peter Welsch, Elijah Wright and Ning Yu. (We)blog Research on Genre Project, The (2005). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Blogging
#24592
Converting Print Read to Web Scan Text
Web sites are full of print media text. Shame on them. Users are in a hurry. They hate dense blocks of lengthy blabbering. They ignore most text on their hunt for Relevant Content. Find out how to convert Print Read text into easily consumed information for the web.
Streight, Steven. Blogger.com (2004). Articles>Web Design>Scanning>Writing
#11891
Converting Science News for the Web
With the Internet emerging as a primary newsgathering source, many traditional media outlets have converted their products for online viewing. This paper explores how two science news magazines, New Scientist and Science News, have approached this challenge. Elements of hyptertext theory are also included.
Carsten, Laura D. EServer (2001). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Scientific Communication
#20553
Converting to Information Mapping: A Case Study
Cisco Systems, Inc., uses electronic media as the primary delivery means for customer documentation and training. Information Mapping® techniques are being developed as a methodology for creating and linking modules of customer information. After selecting the Information Mapping methodology, we found it necessary to customize it for our needs. To implement Information Mapping methodology, we defined a system architecture consisting of three main subsystems: a document management subsystem, an authoring environment, and a publishing or delivery subsystem, In parallel with the customization and development of a system architecture, several writers began to implement the Information Mapping techniques to provide content to be put into the system being developed.
Garrett, Aviva, Haggai Mark and Jan Johnston-Tyler. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Documentation>Writing>Technical Writing
#28081
Corporate Blogging and the Technical Writer
Corporate blogging is rapidly becoming another way for companies to communicate with their customers and increase internal communication. Learn about the advantages and future of blogging and how to get started.
Johnson, Tom H. Intercom (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Writing>Blogging
#27731
Research on the state of corporate writing and its impact on organisational health has revealed that the quality of writing is in bad shape, and that this matters a lot.
#27732
On average two thirds of employees spend approximately 80% of their time writing emails and other documents at work.
#27594
Course Design and Content Organization: A Psychological Perspective
While a lot of effort is spent on designing an effective structure of the course, individual memory is seemingly the more untouched and somehow neglected aspect of our efforts to develop effective learning solutions. There is a need to add a psychological perspective of memory and retention/recollection to the way we design learning solutions.
Singh, Atul. KeyContent.org (2006). Articles>Communication>Technical Writing
#25949
Create Effective Brochures (Paper-Based and On-Line)
In business circles, the value of brochures is a topic of endless debate. Are they effective marketing tools, or a waste of time and resources? The answer is that it depends very much on how they're designed.
#22742
Creating a New Microsoft Word Template
When you open a new file in Word, the font is probably set to Times Roman size 12. It doesn’t have to be like this; maybe you’d prefer a more glamourous font! In this tutorial, we'll explain how to create a new Word template.
#19450
Creating a Writer's Identity on the Boundaries of Two Communities of Practice
In this case study, we explore the way one student, who aspired to become a professional writer, learned through her writing activity in two communities: academia and public relations. We use activity theory to conceptualize the student's learning as an activity that balances between individual agency in meaning making and the social, historical and cultural forces that shape how individuals make meaning. Perceiving the two settings as communities of practice that provided opportunities for pursuing shared enterprises and engaging in collective learning, we show how the student's simultaneous participation in these contrasting communities challenged and refined her understanding of what it means to be an effective writer . We discuss how the work she engaged in on the boundaries of two writing communities enhanced her developing identity as a professional writer as she became aware of and tested the limitations of writing in these two communities. Our study shows the benefit of providing opportunities for teachers and students to explore how contrasting communities of practice define successful writing activity and how writing activity operates in the cultural and political sphere of each community.
Ketter, Jean and Judy Hunter. WAC Clearinghouse (2002). Articles>Writing>Rhetoric
#22765
Creating Course Objectives that Address Communication
A course objective that addresses communication simply states what you would like students to learn from or about communication in relation to scientific or technical knowledge in your course. We recommend placing this objective on the first page of your course syllabus, next to any other objectives you have listed for your course. If placed on your initial syllabus, students will see that communication is an important part of the course from the beginning.
#14764
Creating Documents in Another Language
Del Papa discusses some of the challenges faced by technical communicators who are non-native speakers of English and who produce English-language documentation.
Del Papa, Lisa A. Intercom (2002). Articles>Writing>Translation>Localization
#20763
Creating Online Acrobat Documents with Word
This demonstration illustrates approaches to designing and implementing tools and procedures that have been used successfully at Unisys Corporation to deliver documentation to customers on CD-ROM and the Web. These include release management and production tools, program suites to organize and restructure documents so that they can be accessed and displayed effectively online, and tools to integrate and access multiple document types. Will describe several special techniques to generate links and set parameters directly in Word. Will demonstrate linking from other file types into PDF documents and dynamically attaching updates to legacy documents.
Teague, Tommy K. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Writing>Software>Microsoft Word
#27457
Creating Professional Documentation with Linux Tools
While Linux lacks standard Windows tools such as FrameMaker, RoboHelp, and WebWorks Publisher, it's still a viable environment for technical writers. Linux users can take advantage of a number of documentation tools, including both free or open source software (FOSS) and proprietary software. All of them give technical writers the ability to author and publish professional documentation.
Nesbitt, Scott. Linux.com (2006). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>Linux
#19743
Creating User-Friendly Documentation
We often hear that users do not read documents. To lure readers into reading our documents, we must make documents user-friendly.
Bhatia, Neeraj. Indus (2002). Articles>Documentation>User Centered Design>Technical Writing
#26815
Google returns well over 15 million search results to the technical question of how to code hyperlinks in HTML. However, a question on how link texts should be formulated, so that the reader can understand them clearly, fetches only a handful of usable tips. Even most style guides and authoring guidelines are reticent on this topic. In this article you will find tips on this rarely dealt with, though important subject for Technical Communicators.
Achtelig, Marc. indoition engineering (2005). Articles>Writing>Document Design>Hypertext
#22693
Creating World-Class Documents
The world chooses India for software development. But this is not true for documentation. Having written User Manuals and Online Help mainly for software exports companies for the last 15 years, I can claim to have written for the world market.
Kamath, Gurudutt R. IT People (2003). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>India
#12935
Creative Problem Solving: Getting the Best from Yourself 
You might think that as a technical writer, you don't have much room for creativity in your job. Not true. Although you may be writing about the intricacies of a network system rather than creating poetry about the summer sun, technical writers have as much room--and need--for creativity as any other kind of writer. Taking a creative approach to your work doesn't mean just thinking up fourteen synonyms for 'display.' It means using different ways of thinking and interacting to solve on-the-job problems, from personnel concerns to how to fit all those graphics on the same page.
Chroust Ehmann, Lain. TECHWR-L (2000). Articles>Writing
#24090
A Critical Assessment of the Minimalist Approach to Documentation
Carroll's (1991) minimal manual has been considered an important advance in teaching first-time users the basics of computer programs. Unfortunately, it is not very clear what minimalism really means. Practitioners, for example, will find it difficult to create their own minimal manual because the principles of minimalism have not been described in enough detail (see Horn, 1992; Tripp, 1990). It is also not yet settled that a minimalist approach is the most effective one because critical experiments have hardly been conducted. This study therefore closely examines the minimalist principles and claims. This paper describes the basic ideas of minimalism, its design principles and how they can be operationalized. A parallel is drawn between a minimalist and constructivist perspective on learning and instruction. Like minimalism, constructivism places a high value on experience-based learning in context-rich environments. Like minimalism, it stresses the need to capitalize on the learner's prior knowledge as much as possible. And like minimalism, constructivists urge learners to follow their own plans and goals, to make inferences, and to abstract principles from what they experience (see Duffy & Jonassen, 1991, 1992). An experiment is reported that examines the claims of minimalism. Strong and significant gains on several factors were found, all favoring the minimal manual over a control (conventional) manual. The discussion points to several issues that minimalism has yet to address.
van der Meij, Hans. ACM SIGDOC (1998). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>Minimalism
