Technical Writing, a form of technical communication, is a style of formal writing and business communication, used in fields as diverse as computer hardware and software, chemistry, the aerospace industry, robotics, finance, consumer electronics, and biotechnology. Good technical writing clarifies technical jargon; that is, it presents useful information that is clear and easy to understand for the intended audience.
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Estimating a Technical Writing Project
How do you go about estimating the number of hours that a project would take?
Kamath, Gurudutt R. IT People (2000). Careers>Consulting>Writing>Technical Writing
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Estimating Resources in Technical Writing
Project management principles that can easily be applied to working as a documentation manager.
Prabhakar, Rahul. Blogspot (2006). Careers>Management>Project Management>Technical Writing
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One of the more challenging parts of being a contractor or managing a writing project is developing an estimate of the fee or costs. Sure, there are various techniques out there, some more accurate than others, but generally no hard and fast rules applicable across the spectrum of potential assignments. Therein rest at least part of the key to doing a viable estimate, i.e., what kind of document development are you doing.
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Estimating the Cost of Writing and Editing
The cost depends on how long and complex the document is, and how much editing is required. Most editors have a fixed hourly rate, and will quote for a job after they have studied the document. Skilled wordsmiths usually charge more per hour, because they do the job faster. When you find a fine wordsmith, handle with care. They are not exactly thick on the ground.
McAlpine, Rachel. Quality Web Content (2004). Careers>Consulting>Writing
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Estratégia Para a Elaboração de Uma Tese
Resume-se, em duas páginas, uma estratégia para a elaboração de uma tese de mestrado ou de doutoramento. Partindo de um modelo de acção em duas fases, cada uma das quais decomponível em três sub-fases, esclarece-se o percurso mais desejável para obter resultados de forma eficaz e eficiente. Apesar da simplicidade deste roteiro conciso, que contrasta com a complexidade efectiva da elaboração de uma tese, os cuidados apresentados são quase sempre suficentes para superar as principais situações de impasse.
Dias de Figueiredo, Antonio. Universidade de Coimbra (1998). (Portuguese) Articles>Writing>Rhetoric
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Ethical Aspects of Writer-Client Relationships 
Experts in the field have defined the essential criteria of ethical behavior in a number of fields. This presentation attempts to translate those criteria to the typical working environment of full-time writers. It examines these criteria in terms of the skills, task, and responsibilities of those individuals who create the documentation and directives by which America does its work.
Vaughan, David K. STC Proceedings (1994). Presentations>Writing>Ethics
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Ethical Intercultural Technical Communication: Looking through the Lens of Confucian Ethics 
Studies of intercultural communication focus little on the ethical principles that inspire specific communication practices. The ethics of Confucius (including the virtues of goodness, righteousness, wisdom, faithfulness, reverence, and courage), however, genuinely illuminate communication behaviors within China. Analysis of a cultural artifact of technical communication reveals the substantial insight offered by the lens of ethics. A comprehensive understanding of differences in ethical perspectives is necessary to achieve ethical intercultural technical communication.
Dragga, Sam. Technical Communication Quarterly (1999). Articles>Writing>Regional>China
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Because the role of the modern technical writer and communicator is expanding rapidly and will continue to do so, the ethical scope of the technical writer's responsibility is comparably expanded too. The technical writer is now seen as an information developer in the formative stages of creating technical information, as a communicator in disseminating information, as an interpreter in explaining information, and as a usability expert in guiding the application of information. As a result, ethics becomes in involved in technical writing in many ways both traditional and new, obvious and non-obvious. In this course we will study the role of ethics in technical writing and communication at various levels. Ethics is the study of what is right and good, whether as abstract theories or as concrete actions, usually involving deciding a course of action in a dilemma offering several possibilities. Ethics here is understood broadly as encompassing both conventional theories of ethics and values and value systems.
Dombrowski, Paul M. SUNY Institute of Technology (2002). Academic>Courses>Ethics>Technical Writing
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The Ethics of Technical Publishing: Trust Yourself
A researcher needs grit and self-trust to do this kind of work in the first place. Letting someone other than a ghostwriter or a reviewer do it for you will be self-defeating. An unethical deal here will corrupt you, the project, and your employer. You must finish the job in a straightforward accountable manner.
Delm, Jay. WritersWrite.com (2007). Articles>Publishing>Technical Writing>Ethics
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Evaluating Training Workshops in a Writing Across the Curriculum Program: Method and Analysis
Program directors could use data from protocols and interviews to identify 'natural sources of resistance', and 'translation and follow-up problems'.
Blakeslee, Ann M., John R. Hayes and Richard Young. LLAD (2002). Articles>Education>Writing>Assessment
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When is a noun not a noun? When it's been verbed. A lot of verbing is going on, as you've probably noticed. In fact, it's happening so frequently that I think we'd better come up with a name for the part of speech produced by verbing a noun.
Allison, Nancy. Boston Broadside (1989). Articles>Writing>Diction>Grammar
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Everything I Know About Technical Writing I Learned by Writing Fiction
This session is about writing, that daunting task of putting nouns and verbs together to see what they can say. If you are interested in good writing, and if putting nouns and verbs together is essential to what you do for a living, or essential to what your life is about, then you may find this session valuable. We will discuss what fiction writing and technical writing have in common, and how the fiction writer's use of plot, character, narrative voice, and style may be adapted for use by the technical writer.
Ferguson, Paul F. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing
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Eviter le Langage Trop Promotionnel
Internet n'est pas un mass media réceptionné passivement comme peut l'être la télévision ; Internet est un média qui est activé par l'utilisateur. C'est ce qui explique sans doute l'échec relatif de la publicité en ligne à laquelle les internautes ont tout le loisir de ne pas prêter attention. Les surfeurs n'ont pas de temps à gaspiller : ils s'orientent tout droit vers les informations qui leur sont utiles et fuient tout ce qui ressemble à de la publicité.
Redaction (2004). (French) Articles>Web Design>Writing
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The Evolving Role Of Writers in Design
The role of the writer is evolving as companies and teams evolve in what they produce and how they produce it. Web products demand the involvement of design-savvy writers, and GUI products in general demand writers ready to work within a design process. The writer not knowledgeable in design or design processes will not be ready to design in today’s software development environment. This paper examines one case study of writers’ involvement in the development of a GUI product and shows through the case study and through helpful tips how today’s writers can make a difference in product design.
Olsen, Eric. STC Proceedings (2001). Presentations>Writing>Design
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One of my earlier careers was in manufacturing management, and it grounded me in the principles of project planning and management. When I moved into technical communication, I brought my project management disciplines with me, and I embraced the prevailing tools of my new profession. I dutifully produced documentation plans in Microsoft Word and supported them with detailed project plans in Microsoft Project. However, the problem is that—like bad relationships—these artifacts never gave back results that were sufficient to reward the effort I put into creating them.
Hughes, Michael A. UXmatters (2008). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>Microsoft Excel
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The Executive Summary: A Key to Effective Communication
Presenting the correct written information to a business decision maker in the appropriate form is often critical to the success of the project. A lengthy report is not likely to be read, while a project abstract with insufficient information may not allow the decision maker to act. In these cases, the executive summary may be the writer's only opportunity to convince the decision-maker to act.
Emanuel, Joseph T. Technical Communication Online (1996). Articles>Communication>Writing
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Exercise Central is the largest collection of editing exercises available online that provide practice for mastering the skills of editing grammar, style, punctuation, and mechanics.
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Expand your Income by Writing for Magazines
Technical writers know how to explain things clearly and logically. This makes us perfectly suited to write how-to articles for magazines. There is an increasing number of markets for informational articles, from lifestyle publications to specialized trade magazines. A query letter convinces the editor that you should get the assignment. You don’t need to be an expert in the subject matter because you have the skills to interview SMEs for the right information. Good article ideas come from your own interests. Writing for magazines generates part-time income, establishes you as a published writer, and gives you a creative outlet.
Agnew, Beth. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Writing>Journalism
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Expand Your Income by Writing for Magazines
Technical writers know how to structure information in a logical way. This makes us perfectly suited to write howto articles for magazines. There are many markets for informational articles, from lifestyle publications to specialized trade magazines. A well-crafted query gets the editor’s attention and can land you an assignment. Getting ideas for good articles is as simple as following one’s own interests. Writing for magazines can generate part-time income, help establish your “name” and give you a creative outlet.
Agnew, Beth. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Writing>Journalism
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Expand Your Income by Writing for Magazines
Technical writers are well-equipped to write how-to articles for magazines. There are many markets for informational articles, and by creating a well-crafted query, a competent technical writer can get an assignment. This work is ideal for generating part-time income and it provides a more creative outlet for writers.. Getting ideas for good articles is as simple as following oneâ*™s own interests. Writing for magazines can become a lucrative â*œsecondâ** career for technical writers.
Agnew, Beth. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Writing>Scientific Communication>Technical Writing
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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
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Experiencing Technical Writing as Textual Coordination
This paper describes a recent study of how of four technical writers managed the many artifacts (existing texts and information technologies for producing and manipulating text) that mediated their writing process. The author describes the study and characterizes several recurrent patterns of mediation, including textual reuse, remediation of information, and the staging of texts and software programs. The author describes the value of a repertoire of information technologies to technical writing and argues that technological skill should be considered a core competency of the field.
Slattery, Shaun. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Writing>Technical Editing>Technical Writing
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Expert Judgments Versus Reader Feedback: A Comparison of Text Evaluation Techniques
Are technical writers able to predict the results of a reader-focused text evaluation? In this article we report a study with fifteen technical writers, who were asked to point out the reader problems in a public information brochure. The brochure was also evaluated with thirty readers from the target audience (using a combination of the plus-minus method, a questionnaire, and user protocols). The results of both kinds of text evaluation show little overlap. The technical writers only predicted a small proportion of the reader feedback, and produced a lot of new problem detections. In addition, there was little agreement among the technical writers with regard to their problem detections.
de Jong, Menno D.T. and Leo R. Lentz. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (1996). Articles>Writing>Assessment>Methods
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Process explanations have become an important part of the workplace. However, professionals don’t create process explanations only for auditors. Process explanations are used to communicate sequential activities to a variety of audiences and for many different reasons. As Technical Communication, 5e illustrates in Chapter 12 (“Creating Process Explanations”), several forms of process explanations exist, though they have some common characteristics that you should be familiar with. In this exercise you will revise a set of detailed instructions into a process explanation. You have to decide what type of information is most appropriate for your audience and the purpose of your document.
Burnett, Rebecca E. Thomson (2001). Academic>Course Materials>Writing
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While the importance of "expressive writing," or informal, self-directed writing, has been well established, teachers underutilize it, particularly in technical writing courses. We introduce the term expressive/exploratory technical writing (XTW), which is the use of informal, self-directed writing to problem-solve in technical fields. We describe how engineering students resist writing, despite decades of research showing its importance to their careers, and we suggest that such resistance may be because most students only see writing as an audience-driven performance and thus incompletely understand the link between writing and thinking. The treatment of invention in rhetorical history supports their view. We describe two examples of using XTW in software engineering to plan programming tasks. We conclude by discussing how a systematic use of XTW could shift the technical writing curriculum, imbuing the curriculum with writing and helping students see how to problem-solve using natural language.
Warnock, Scott and Michael Kahn. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2007). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Engineering
