The Insider S Guide To Technical Writing

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

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.

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

Practical, authoritative, and the first comprehensive guide tomanaging every phase of your publication project. The only bookdevoted exclusively to technical publication project management,Managing Your Documentation Projects arms you with provenstrategies and techniques for producing high-quality, extremelyusable documentation, while cutting cost and time-to-market. Dr.JoAnn T. Hackos, a top documentation design and project managementconsultant to major corporations, including IBM andHewlett-Packard, shares with you the fruit of her more than 15years of experience in the field. She gives you: * Clear-cut, rational guidelines to managing every phase of theproject from planning and development, through production,distribution, and project evaluation * Scores of usable templates, checklists, summaries, andforms * Dozens of real-life case studies and scenarios taken from theauthor's extensive experience at top corporations * Techniques applicable to virtually all fields ofdocumentation Managing Your Documentation Projects was designed to function as acomprehensive guide for new managers and a daily tool of survivalfor veterans. It is also an invaluable resource for technicalwriters, editors, graphic designers, consultants, and anyone calledupon to produce high-quality technical documentation on time andwithin budget. JOANN T. HACKOS, PhD, is President of ComtechServices, Inc., an information/design firm in Denver, Colorado andSan Jose, California. She is also president of JoAnn Hackos &Associates, Inc., a strategic planning and management consultingfirm. In 1993, she served as president of the Society for TechnicalCommunication (STC) and is a frequent conference keynote speaker onsuch topics as quality and usability of products and services, theimportance of meeting the needs of the customer, and projectmanagement.

Technical Writing: A Practical Guide for Engineers, Scientists, and Nontechnical Professionals, Second Edition enables readers to write, edit, and publish materials of a technical nature, including books, articles, reports, and electronic media. Written by a renowned engineer and widely published technical author, this guide complements traditional writer’s reference manuals on technical writing through presentation of first-hand examples that help readers understand practical considerations in writing and producing technical content. These examples illustrate how a publication originates as well as various challenges and solutions. The second edition contains new material in every chapter including new topics, additional examples, insights, tips and tricks, new vignettes and more exercises. Appendices have been added for writing checklists and writing samples. The references and glossary have been updated and expanded. In addition, a focus on writing for the nontechnical persons working in the technology world and the nonnative English speaker has been incorporated. Written in an informal, conversational style, unlike traditional college writing texts, the book also contains many interesting vignettes and personal stories to add interest to otherwise stodgy lessons.

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.