Benefits of Using a Professional to Write User Documentation

Studies have shown organisations value the following benefits: overall organisation, the sales team, and documentation meets the customer's requirements.

Cherryleaf (2003). Articles>Writing>Professionalism>Documentation

The Death of the Technical Author?

Technical Authors do not have high prominence in the workplace, and they don't have the best of images (as can be seen by the movie 'The Technical Writer'). Today, there are a number of Technical Authors struggling to find new employment in the current IT sector, and one can find messages on Internet newsgroups questioning the future employment prospects for Technical Authors in North America and Europe. Some wonder whether the role of the Technical Author will disappear, like other careers have in the past. In this article we look at the problems faced by Technical Authors in defining their role, and make some recommendations for the future.

Birn, William. Cherryleaf (2003). Articles>Writing>Professionalism>Technical Writing

The Expanding Dimensions of Technical Writing    

Scientific and technical writing as a profession has much greater dimensions than many people realize.

Souther, James W. CCC (1971). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Professionalism

The Great Instauration: Restoring Professional and Technical Writing to the Humanities    

If you wish to start an undergraduate professional and technical writing program at a small liberal arts college, you will find good arguments for your project in the educational writings of Sir Francis Bacon. Unlike other Renaissance Humanists, Bacon located the New Learning (what we now call the humanities) within the related contexts of scientific discovery and invention and professional training and development. His treatise, The Advancement of Learning, proposes to draw knowledge from and apply knowledge to the natural and social world. Bacon's curricular ideas can benefit emerging PTW programs in the humanities in three ways: They make a convincing apologia for most English departments and writing programs, wed humanistic education to public service, and provide a rich but practical theoretical framework for program development and administration.

Di Renzo, Anthony. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2002). Articles>Education>Professionalism>Technical Writing

How to Write for an Overwritten World

Have you noticed that everyone is a writer these days? Besides all the people who want to publish books, from heads of corporations to bloggers to people who've had tough lives, the digital revolution gives us professionals of every kind issuing their own e-newsletters, vendors deluging us with e-mail messages, and virtually everyone creating web sites and blogs.

Canavor, Natalie and Claire Meirowitz. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Writing>Professionalism

Time for Content to Become More Scientific

I'm all for formulaic writing. I love hierarchies and classification. I'm all for measuring content. There is a 'right' way to write content. Sure, it may not be the 'perfect' way, it may not be the way Shakespeare or Joyce would have written it, but it'll do. It'll get results and deliver value. A production line can be set up where this content can be mass produced, tested, and measured.

McGovern, Gerry. User Interface Engineering (2007). Articles>Content Management>Writing>Professionalism

Talk Your Walk

We confuse people when there is a disconnect between our stated beliefs and our theories in use. When managers say they demand teamwork but evaluate employees based on individual accomplishments, they do a disservice to the person who puts the team's overall needs ahead of his or her specific goals. That person gets punished for believing what the boss said and acting on it. But don't be so quick to blame the disconnect on your behavior--It could be you are reciting scripts that describe what you think you should do.

Hughes, Michael A. User Assistance (2009). Articles>Writing>Theory>Professionalism

The Seven Deadly Sins of Blogging: Sin #5, Being Irresponsible

As you blog, remember that you have a relationship with your readers -- a relationship that requires you to disclose any important information, especially monetary, that might bias your views. Don't ruin relationships with those around you by revealing private details of their lives without approval. Ensure you don't represent your company in a negative light. And choose balanced, honest posts rather than sensationalism.

Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2009). Articles>Writing>Blogging>Professionalism

Basic Etiquette of Technical Communication 

Parents spend years trying to teach their children to be polite, and some of us had to learn at school how to properly address an archbishop. Yet, it seems that advice on courteousness and politeness in technical communication is in short supply; most of us learn these skills through what is euphemistically called “on the job training.” With enough bruises on my back to demonstrate the amount and variety of my experience in this area (though not my skill), here are some of the things I’ve learned.

Spinellis, Diomidis. IEEE Software (2009). Articles>TC>Technical Writing>Professionalism