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Course Overview Effective writing is a critical component of clear and concise communication. Technical documents that successfully explain information or give instructions to readers result in lower costs, speedier acceptance of new or revised systems, and improved user efficiency. In this practical hands-on course, you gain the skills to assess the needs of your users and create technical documents for a variety of environments. You learn the mechanics of good writing, along with techniques for document design and page layout. Audience This introductory course is valuable for those who have to communicate information or instructions to others, or those entering the field of technical writing who need to create clear and concise high-quality manuals and white papers. Skills Gained - Write clear, effective technical documents, including user manuals and technical reports
- Assess your target audience and develop documents to meet their needs
- Choose the appropriate writing style to communicate to specialised audiences
- Build effective sentences, paragraphs and sections that explain information clearly
- Employ diagrams, tables, charts and other graphical tools effectively
- Create informative and interesting content that your readers will comprehend and utilise
Course Outline Introduction to Technical Writing The purpose of technical writing - Benefits of technical writing
- Avoiding the typical problems of the technical writer
The Writing Process Getting ready to write - Eliminating misconceptions that stall technical writing
- Driving your document design with scenarios
- Focusing on a document's purposes
Assessing your audience - The investigation process
- Experience
- Purpose
- What the audience brings to the table
Covering the knowledge domain - Exposing tacit knowledge
- Knowing when you've "covered it all"
Ensuring Clarity and Readability Writing technically - Organising information to meet the reader's needs
- Keeping the sentence focused
Architecting sentences that communicate - Creating strong subjects
- Building sentence variety
- The role of grammar
- Solving common grammar problems in technical writing
Managing style in technical writing - Evaluating readability using the Given/New technique
- Ensuring consistency with a style guide
- Eliminating reader recycling
The Mechanics of Writing Technical writer's tools - Structuring information with tables and lists
- Selecting the right words
- Two strategies for rewriting
Writing in the right style - Official
- Primer
- Nominal
- Telegraphic
- Studies on the most effective style
Editing for quality - Knowing when and what to edit
- The editing triage
- Editing throughout the document process
Maintaining document structure - Developing cohesive documents with Given/New and transitions
- Applying useful headings to support skimming
- Structuring information around the reader's scenarios
Methods of explanation - Available writing styles
- General to specific
- Effect and cause
- Problems-methods-results
- Writing as a signalling system
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