OUTLINE. Advanced Technical Communication & Writing Skills. What is technical communication? Technical communication skills

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1 Advanced Technical Communication & Writing Skills What is technical communication? Technical communication skills Principles of technical writing Technical writing is interpreting Planning is crucial Technical writing is not creative writing Focus on user tasks Not just manuals Software for technical writers Summary Further reading Writing technical documents The Seven Cs Clarity Concreteness Conciseness Consistency Coherence Cohesion

2 Complete Active voice Positive and negative phrases Reader focus Parallel form Tone Jargon Gender-neutral words Chunking Minimalism Headings Descriptive headings Types of headings Parallelism in headings Capitalization for headings Task-oriented information Introductory information Using lists for instructions Single action in each step Providing one method of completing a task

3 Limiting the number of steps Graphics Standards for procedures Results or examples Preparing to write a manual Post your letter Read the letters Form a group Working in a group Description Requirements Submit the manual proposal Writing process Stage one Planning and setup Stage two Research Stage three Creating an outline Stage four Writing the manual Stage five Editing Get started

4 Understanding the audience The audience question What is an audience? Types of audiences Write for your audience Meet your audience s needs Be careful about assumptions Audience analysis Analyzing multi-faceted audiences Analyze your audience Identify the characteristics of the audience Assess the objectives of the audience Create a user profile Using personas General user characteristics Focus on the audience Planning a manual Learning about the product Preparing an information plan Defining the project

5 Describing the audience Completing a task analysis Defining the design implications Creating a project plan Writing a manual No one wants to read your user manual Types of manuals Online vs print manuals Understanding information types Reference information Procedural information Instructional information Conceptual information Combining information types Planning the manual outline Creating an outline Grouping related tasks Sample manual structure Writing the manual Writing modular content

6 Thinking like a user Maintaining a consistent style Writing content Ensuring retrievability Usability principles Table of contents Glossary Index Revising the manual Editing Substantive edit Copyedit Proofreading Peer review Testing for usability Using graphics Why use graphics? Graphics in technical documents Design issues Choosing your graphic

7 Captions Callouts Types of graphics Graphs Diagrams and illustrations Photographs Icons Sources of graphics Screen capture Scanning pictures Graphics in online documents Pixels in graphics Image formats File size Image maps Saving graphics from Web pages Making graphics with irregular shapes Guidelines for Web graphics Graphic software Graphic checklist

8 Writing the manual Publishing the manual to HTML Writing tips Manual checklist Submitting the assignment Testing the manual Verification phase Usability testing defined Mental models The costs of not testing Usability testing and product quality A do-it-yourself usability kit Simplified user testing Will usability testing help? Setting up the test Maintaining standards Why use standards? Setting standards Selecting authorities Determining your writing standards

9 Setting your tone Deciding on your writing level Organizing your material Capitalizing words Using foreign words and phrases Using words consistently Using bias-free language Punctuating lists Deciding on serial commas Using other punctuation marks Using bold, italics and underlining Representing numbers and fractions Reproducing phone numbers Setting standards for print Standards as an editing tool Sample style guide Sample writing standards Sample layout standards Conducting the usability test Preparing for your usability test

10 Creating a task list Conducting the usability test Writing the usability testing report Reporting Purpose of report writing What is reporting? Informal reports Formal reports Audience Specialized audience General audience Content and evidence Style Writing the report Determining the purpose Gathering the data Analyzing the data Organizing the information Writing the draft Revising the content

11 Formatting your report Preliminary pages Summary Main section Conclusion Recommendations References Glossary (optional) Appendix (optional) Writing effective reports Designing documents Design and technical writing Design for your audience Design principles Consistency and emphasis Balance Contrast Size of elements Page layout Using grids for page composition

12 Text organizers White space Using color Integrating text and graphic devices Design tips Typography What is a typeface? Typeface categories Type properties Type alignment Type size Emphasis Monospaced versus proportional fonts Choosing the right typeface Developing good design Writing guide Paragraphs Paragraph length Topic sentence Paragraph unity and coherence

13 Consistency of tense and pronoun Sentences Sentence structures Sentence problems Run-on sentences Sentence fragments Dangling and misplaced modifiers Lack of parallel structure Lack of sentence variation Wordiness Agreement Unclear pronoun reference Matters of style Non-sexist language Jargon and technical terminology Passive and active voice Punctuation Comma Semicolon Colon

14 Period Question mark Hyphen Dash