The Technical Communication Handbook

The Technical Communication Handbook, a life-long companion for technical communicators, is a comprehensive reference guidefor technical communication students at all levels, as well as by practicing technical communicators and others writing in the technical workplace. The handbook boasts a full-color design, extensively annotated model documents, and coverage of current topics in intellectual property, digital communication, collaboration, and accessibility issues.

The Handbook of Technical Communication brings together a variety of topics which range from the role of technical media in human communication to the linguistic, multimodal enhancement of present-day technologies. It covers the area of computer-mediated text, voice and multimedia communication as well as of technical documentation. In doing so, the handbook takes professional and private communication into account. Special emphasis is put on technical communication by means of web 2.0 technologies and its standardization in system development. In summary, the handbook deals with theoretical issues of technical communication and its practical impact on the development and usage of text and speech technologies.

Teaching Professional and Technical Communication guides new instructors in teaching professional and technical communication (PTC). The essays in this volume provide theoretical and applied discussions about the teaching of this diverse subject, including relevant pedagogical approaches, how to apply practical aspects of PTC theory, and how to design assignments. This practicum features chapters by prominent PTC scholars and teachers on rhetoric, style, ethics, design, usability, genre, and other central concerns of PTC programs. Each chapter includes a scenario or personal narrative of teaching a particular topic, provides a theoretical basis for interpreting the narrative, illustrates the practical aspects of the approach, describes relevant assignments, and presents a list of questions to prompt pedagogical discussions. Teaching Professional and Technical Communication is not a compendium of best practices but instead offers a practical collection of rich, detailed narratives that show inexperienced PTC instructors how to work most effectively in the classroom. Contributors: Pam Estes Brewer, Eva Brumberger, Dave Clark, Paul Dombrowski, James M. Dubinsky, Peter S. England, David K. Farkas, Brent Henze, Tharon W. Howard, Dan Jones, Karla Saari Kitalong, Traci Nathans-Kelly, Christine G. Nicometo, Kirk St.Amant

To live is to communicate, and to communicate with confidence is a craft that one will do well to master early rather than later in life. If only the gift of the gab were enough to sail smoothly through the rough waters that the tough world is teeming with, every glib conversationalist would have a successful vocation, but that’s not the case. The means of communication come naturally to human beings, but the skills that make communicating worthwhile and meaningful do not. Thankfully, anyone who wishes to can learn—and even perfect—these skills. This concise handbook focuses on the ways in which students can develop a robust career after completing their academic studies. The foundational work of nurturing and strengthening individual abilities begins during university life, but these skills need to be complemented with strategies that help the student turned professional to not only interact well with society but also earn its respect through clear, precise, and honest communication. Talent needs to be matched with competence, and the book shows exactly how one goes about doing that. It spells out the ingredients of a sound and strategic action plan that definitively aligns one’s goals with one’s aspirations, no matter how lofty. This plan has to be closely related to the choices, conditions, and possibilities that will be available for the kind of education and experience that individuals have and the aspirations they harbor. Students entering high school or university can use the book to review the necessary courses to choose during their academic life. Young people will find solid guidelines in it that provide a structure for planning and focusing on the skills needed when one embarks upon a fulfilling career.

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

New to this edition: Up-to-date information on on-line research and computer resources. A unique four-way access system enables users of the Handbook of Technical Writing to find what they need quickly and get on with the job of writing: 1. The hundreds of entries in the body of the Handbook are alphabetically arranged, so you can flip right to the topic at hand. Words and phrases in bold type provide cross-references to related entries. 2. The topical key groups alphabetical entries and page numbers under broader topic categories. This topical table of contents allows you to check broader subject areas for the specific topic you need. 3. The checklist of the writing process summarizes the opening essay on "Five Steps to Successful Writing" in checklist form with page references to related topics, making it easy to use the Handbook as a writing text. 4. The comprehensive index provides an exhaustive listing of related and commonly confused topics, so you can easily locate information even when you don't know the exact term you're looking for.

A Strategic Guide to Technical Communication incorporates useful and specific strategies for writers, to enable them to create aesthetically appealing and usable technical documentation. These strategies have been developed and tested on a thousand students from a number of different disciplines over twelve years and three institutions. The second edition adds a chapter on business communication, reworks the discussion on technical style, and expands the information on visual communication and ethics into free-standing chapters. The text is accompanied by a passcode-protected website containing materials for instructors (PowerPoint lectures, lesson plans, sample student work, and helpful links).

Practical, research-based overview of careers in technical communication featuring narratives from working professionals in a range of careers and international contexts Technical communication is a diverse, growing, and rapidly changing field, and an up-to-date guide to careers will be useful for students and junior professionals in the US and Europe Competing books on technical communication careers are outdated and do not include non-US contexts; this book contains current research and practitioner narratives that most closely examine careers as they operate today