The Complete Guide to Writing & Producing Technical Manuals


Book Description

Technical writing as a career; technical manuals and handbooks; planning a technical manual; publishing systems; layout and format; manual writing style; preparing a manual specification; front matter and introductory material; illustration; table preparation; operation; maintenance and repair instructions; illustration parts breakdown; appendixes and addenda; amending manuals; preparing camera-ready copy; priting and binding; the technical editor; a technical handbook department; appendixes: capitalization rules; mathematical and scientific terminoly; using the metric (SI) system; numbers in technical manuals abbreviations; footnotes; punctuation; glossary of technical terms; bibliography; index.




The Complete Idiot's Guide to Technical Writing


Book Description

Covers the field of technical writing, providing information on such topics as building a portfolio, writing an effective resume, finding well-paying jobs, passing a writing exam, and creating a document online.




The Insider's Guide to Technical Writing


Book Description

Every complex product needs to be explained to its users, and technical writers, also known as technical communicators, are the ones who do that job. A growing field, technical writing requires multiple skills, including an understanding of technology, writing ability, and great people skills. Whether you're thinking of becoming a technical writer, just starting out, or you've been working for a while and feel the need to take your skills to the next level, The Insider's Guide to Technical Writing can help you be a successful technical writer and build a satisfying career. Inside the Book Is This Job for Me? What does it take to be a technical writer? Building the Foundation: What skills and tools do you need to get started? The Best Laid Plans: How do you create a schedule that won’t make you go crazy? How do you manage different development processes, including Agile methodologies? On the Job: What does it take to walk into a job and be productive right away? The Tech Writer Toolkit: How do you create style guides, indexes, templates and layouts? How do you manage localization and translation and all the other non-writing parts of the job? I Love My Job: How do you handle the ups and downs of being a technical writer? Appendixes: References to websites, books, and other resources to keep you learning. Index




User Guides, Manuals, and Technical Writing


Book Description

This book is intended for anyone whose job involves writing formal documentation. It is aimed at non-native speakers of English, but should also be of use for native speakers who have no training in technical writing. Technical writing is a skill that you can learn and this book outlines some simple ideas for writing clear documentation that will reflect well on your company, its image and its brand. The book has four parts: Structure and Content: Through examples, you will learn best practices in writing the various sections of a manual and what content to include. Clear Unambiguous English: You will learn how to write short clear sentences and paragraphs whose meaning will be immediately clear to the reader. Layout and Order Information: Here you will find guidelines on style issues, e.g., headings, bullets, punctuation and capitalization. Typical Grammar and Vocabulary Mistakes: This section is divided alphabetically and covers grammatical and vocabulary issues that are typical of user manuals.




Technical Writing Process


Book Description

"Plan, structure, write, review, publish"--Cover.




Storycraft, Second Edition


Book Description

Jack Hart, master writing coach and former managing editor of the Oregonian, has guided several Pulitzer Prize–winning narratives to publication. Since its publication in 2011, his book Storycraft has become the definitive guide to crafting narrative nonfiction. This is the book to read to learn the art of storytelling as embodied in the work of writers such as David Grann, Mary Roach, Tracy Kidder, and John McPhee. In this new edition, Hart has expanded the book’s range to delve into podcasting and has incorporated new insights from recent research into storytelling and the brain. He has also added dozens of new examples that illustrate effective narrative nonfiction. This edition of Storycraft is also paired with Wordcraft, a new incarnation of Hart’s earlier book A Writer’s Coach, now also available from Chicago.




The Author Training Manual


Book Description

If you want to write a book that's going to sell to both publishers and readers, you need to know how to produce a marketable work and help it become successful. It starts the moment you have an idea. That's when you begin thinking about the first elements of the business plan that will make your project the best it can be. The reality is that you don't want to spend time and energy writing a book that will never get read. The way to avoid that is to create a business plan for your book, and evaluate it (and yourself) through the same lens that an agent or acquisitions editor would. The Author Training Manual will show you how to get more creative and start looking at your work with those high standards in mind. Whether you're writing fiction or non-fiction, or intend to publish traditionally or self-publish, author Nina Amir will teach you how to conduct an effective competitive analysis for your work and do a better job at delivering the goods to readers than similar books that are already on the shelf. Packed with step-by-step instructions, idea evaluations, sample business plans, editor and agent commentaries, and much more, The Author Training Manual provides the information you need to transform from aspiring writer to career author.




Technical Writing For Dummies


Book Description

A complete and friendly guide to technical writing! Let’s face it, a lot of technical documentation reads as if it had been translated into English from Venutian by a native speaker of gibberish. Which is annoying for you and expensive for the manufacturer who pays with alienated customers and soaring technical support costs. That’s why good technical writers are in such big demand worldwide. Now, Technical Writing For Dummies arms you with the skills you need to cash in on that demand. Whether you’re contemplating a career as a technical writer, or you just got tapped for a technical writing project, this friendly guide is your ticket to getting your tech writing skills up to snuff. It shows you step-by-step how to: Research and organize information for your documents Plan your project in a technical brief Fine-tune and polish your writing Work collaboratively with your reviewers Create great user manuals, awesome abstracts, and more Write first-rate electronic documentation Write computer- and Web-based training courses Discover how to write energized technical documents that have the impact you want on your readers. Wordsmith Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts covers all the bases, including: All about the red-hot market for technical writing and how to get work as a technical writer The ABCs of creating a strong technical document, including preparing a production schedule, brainstorming, outlining, drafting, editing, rewriting, testing, presentation, and more Types of technical documents, including user manuals, abstracts, spec sheets, evaluation forms and questionnaires, executive summaries, and presentations Writing for the Internet—covers doing research online, creating multimedia documents, developing computer-based training and Web-based training, and writing online help Combining examples, practical advice, and priceless insider tips on how to write whiz-bang technical documents, Technical Writing For Dummies is an indispensable resource for newcomers to technical writing and pros looking for new ideas to advance their careers.




The IEEE Guide to Writing in the Engineering and Technical Fields


Book Description

Helps both engineers and students improve their writing skills by learning to analyze target audience, tone, and purpose in order to effectively write technical documents This book introduces students and practicing engineers to all the components of writing in the workplace. It teaches readers how considerations of audience and purpose govern the structure of their documents within particular work settings. The IEEE Guide to Writing in the Engineering and Technical Fields is broken up into two sections: “Writing in Engineering Organizations” and “What Can You Do With Writing?” The first section helps readers approach their writing in a logical and persuasive way as well as analyze their purpose for writing. The second section demonstrates how to distinguish rhetorical situations and the generic forms to inform, train, persuade, and collaborate. The emergence of the global workplace has brought with it an increasingly important role for effective technical communication. Engineers more often need to work in cross-functional teams with people in different disciplines, in different countries, and in different parts of the world. Engineers must know how to communicate in a rapidly evolving global environment, as both practitioners of global English and developers of technical documents. Effective communication is critical in these settings. The IEEE Guide to Writing in the Engineering and Technical Fields Addresses the increasing demand for technical writing courses geared toward engineers Allows readers to perfect their writing skills in order to present knowledge and ideas to clients, government, and general public Covers topics most important to the working engineer, and includes sample documents Includes a companion website that offers engineering documents based on real projects The IEEE Guide to Engineering Communication is a handbook developed specifically for engineers and engineering students. Using an argumentation framework, the handbook presents information about forms of engineering communication in a clear and accessible format. This book introduces both forms that are characteristic of the engineering workplace and principles of logic and rhetoric that underlie these forms. As a result, students and practicing engineers can improve their writing in any situation they encounter, because they can use these principles to analyze audience, purpose, tone, and form.




The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Christian Fiction


Book Description

They say there's nothing new under the sun, and the Christian fiction industry certainly didn't spring full blown with the advent of the Left Behindseries in 1996. Remember Christyby Catherine Marshall? Published in 1967, its inspiration was the life of Marshall's mother - and the Christy Award, presented annually since 1999 to recognize novelists and novels in several categories of Christian fiction, was named after it. What makes Christian fiction? There are several givens, despite the subgenres- the Christian worldview must be woven throughout both the book's plot and its character development. But must it put proselytizing before telling a good story? How much sex - if any! - is okay in a Christian romance? Is it all right to approach edgy subjects in a Christian mystery? Is it possible to seamlessly integrate a Christian message in a crackling good yarn? In The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing Christian FictionRon Benrey - himself the author of successful Christian fiction - offers readers chapter and verse of writing Christian women's, romance, thrillers and mysteries, warfare, historical, biblical, speculative, and young adult fiction that deliver strong, inspirational messages and sell!