{"id":5364,"date":"2016-12-16T09:48:22","date_gmt":"2016-12-16T14:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/?p=5364"},"modified":"2016-12-16T09:54:53","modified_gmt":"2016-12-16T14:54:53","slug":"slides-for-a-tech-writers-craft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.encoretechresources.com\/insights\/2016\/12\/16\/slides-for-a-tech-writers-craft\/","title":{"rendered":"Slides for a Tech Writer’s Craft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wow, what a resource Google is! You knew that already, but here’s absolute proof from a technical writer’s perspective: From 2006, 10 years ago, we’ve come across, via Google, a set of slides<\/a> on “Sentence Structure of Technical Writing.” <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The slides are by Nicole Kelley, who in 2006, anyway, was in the Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies @ MIT. They apparently were some of her lecture materials. And they lead off with a quote from George Gopen and Judith Swan from The Science of Scientific Writing<\/em>:<\/p>\n

“The fundamental purpose of scientific discourse is not the mere presentation of information and thought but rather its actual communication<\/em>. It does not matter how pleased an author might be to have converted all the right data into sentences and paragraphs; it matters only whether a large majority of the reading audience accurately perceives what the author had in mind.”<\/p>\n

Accurate perception, of course, is especially critical in technical writing. Enough said about that particular point.<\/p>\n

Ms. Kelley’s Google-enshrined thoughts go on to discuss Planning\/Rethinking, Writing and Revising, key components of a tech writer’s craft. “Planning” includes “Know your purpose, Know your material.” Don’t start writing and guidance materials until you’re clear on who you’re trying to communicate with. If it’s, say, a power plant, it’s most likely the entire workforce, whose members have differing backgrounds and needs \u2013 as doesn’t anybody when you think about it?<\/p>\n

So clarity and avoiding jargon come next. And they lead to a host of other timely principles, with examples. What a great, Google-summoned resource! There are 24 slides in all, and they amount to a one-stop education in productive technical writing. Have at them! \u2013 Doug Bedell<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wow, what a resource Google is! You knew that already, but here’s absolute proof from a technical writer’s perspective: From 2006, 10 years ago, we’ve come across, via Google, a set of slides on “Sentence Structure of Technical Writing.” The slides are by Nicole Kelley, who in 2006, anyway, was in the Program in Writing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-communication","category-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t