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.

University of Minnesota. Articles>Education>Writing

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

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

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

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

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

The Creative Tech Writer

The Creative Tech Writer is a work in progress, loosely centered around the art and craft of technical writing as it applies to a variety of fields, and vice versa.

Berger, Jenny L. Creative Tech Writer, The. Resources>Writing>Technical Writing>Blogs

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

The Cure for Content-Delay Syndrome

It is perhaps the market forces driving web development projects that find us aligning ourselves with the lexicons of marketing and advertising rather than publishing. As a result, we have lots of “brand identity guidelines,” but not so many “style guides” (for content, at least). We have “strategists,” but no “commissioning editors,” and we more often “go live” than “publish.” Hence, we tend to first think “copywriter” when trying to get our content sorted, whereas very often an editor is the person we should be engaging. That’s not to say there aren’t editors in our industry—there are—but they tend to be a part of large online publishing projects after launch rather than a part of the development lifecycle from the beginning. (Somehow, we’ve become a kind of freak cousin of publishing, ignoring that industry’s expertise.) In many cases, an editor would be a great addition to our process as well as, in some cases, a better and more rational investment than a copywriter.

Ronalds, Pepi. List Apart, A (2008). Articles>Web Design>Writing

Current Status Of Business And Technical Writing Courses In English Departments

We have heard a great deal of talk in recent years about the growth of business and technical writing courses in English departments. But very little, if any, factual information exists on how much enrollments have grown and whether they are expected to grow in the near future. Furthermore, no study has attempted to assess the impact these relatively new, rapidly expanding courses are having and will continue to have on English departments and their faculty members.

Rivers, William E. ADE Bulletin (1985). Articles>Education>Business Communication>Technical Writing

A Curriculum for a Corporate Technical Writing Department: Providing Cost-Effective, Ongoing, Quality Training  

This paper develops a cost-effective, ongoing, process-oriented writing curriculum for a technical writing department. This curriculum meets the needs of adult learners and the corporation and provides training for all experience and expertise levels while also allowing writers to meet the demands of their projects.

Gyure, Gloria M.D. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Education>Writing>Technical Writing

Customer-Supplier Relationships in the Writing Process  

Do you know your customers? They may be in the next office. The collection of people involved in the writing process need certain things from each other; they compose a contained group of customers and suppliers. In order to effectively produce documents, these internal customers and suppliers must recognize and meet each other’s needs. Evaluating the documentation process and determining how well all parties’ needs are met will promote teamwork as well as process improvements.

Ward, Brian. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Writing>User Centered Design

Cut Big, Then Small

Precise and concise writing comes from disciplined cutting.

Clark, Roy Peter. Poynter Online (2004). Articles>Writing>Rhetoric

Cut Paper Text By Half

Reading from computer screens is about 25% slower than reading from paper. As a result, people don’t want to read a lot of text from computer screens: you should write 50% less text and not just 25% less since it’s not only a matter of reading speed but also a matter of feeling good.

Communication Circle, The (1998). Articles>Web Design>Writing

Dangers of Personal Blogging

Bloggers who recklessly gush all types of personal details in their blogs may regret it. Stalkers, child predators, identity theft criminals, fanatics, and others are seeking photos and names of children, home addresses, home phone numbers, etc. Learn about the Dark Side of blogging and be smart.

Streight, Steven. Blogger.com (2005). Articles>Writing>Security>Blogging

Dangling for Position

Dangling modifiers can be humorous for the reader, but humiliating for the writer. They're insidious, creeping into our prose and undermining our sentence structure. But they're easy to find if you know what to look for.

Wenger, Andrea. Carolina Communique (2006). Articles>Writing>Grammar

A Day in the Life of a Senior Technical Writer

Any technical experience helps, because once you have a little, it's easy to get more. For example, if you understand the basics of programming, it's easier to learn about additional languages. Once you know the basic terminology, it's easier to learn more and you have the words to ask the right questions. I've found that degrees are not required if you can perform, but a technical or writing degree is always welcomed.

Sereno, Lynda. Binary Girl (2000). Careers>TC>Writing>Technical Writing

Dead Tree or Detailed Treatise: What is a White Paper?

So what exactly is a white paper? This is one of those questions many people have been wrestling with for some time. If you look up the term in a dictionary, you'll find an outdated response describing a government report.

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

Deadly Sins of Technical Writing  

Some technical writers enter the field with strong writing backgrounds and moderate technical backgrounds. Others enter the field with strong technical backgrounds and moderate writing skills. This workshop is designed to help the latter group polish their writing skills.

Cox, Donna H. and Loretta F. Albert. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing

Deadwood Phrases

Deadwood phrases are found in all types of writing. In technical writing they are to be avoided at all costs as documentation needs to be crisp, concise and accurate.

Klariti. Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Minimalism

Dealing with “Enronitis”: Written Communications for Building Investor Confidence  

Recently, investor confidence has deteriorated, in part due to the discovery of fraud at several large companies. As a result, many communications from those in the financial industry have attempted to regain investor trust and confidence. This paper reports my analysis of five such communications and the themes I found appearing in them: need for trust, history of continuous improvement, continued existence of high ethical and professional standards, and investor wisdom. In writing trust-building communications, technical communicators should note: trust is built in several ways, history does not always repeat itself, and emotions are very powerful factors in decision-making.

Bloch, Janel M. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Writing>Business Communication>Emotions