Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts 
Technical Writing For Dummies [EPUB ebook] 

A complete and friendly guide to technical writing!

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.

Содержание

Introduction.

PART I: What It Takes to Write Technical Documentation.

Chapter 1: Accelerating Your Career the ‘Write’ Way.

Chapter 2: The Person to Whom You’re Speaking.

PART II: The Write Stuff.

Chapter 3: Creating a Team and a Plan.

Chapter 4: Don’t Be a Draft Dodger.

Chapter 5: Visualize This!

Chapter 6: Going In for a Tone Up.

Chapter 7: Dotting the Eyes and Crossing the Tees.

PART III: Types of Technical Documents.

Chapter 8: The Ultimate User Manual.

Chapter 9: Writing in the Abstract.

Chapter 10: Writing Spec Sheets.

Chapter 11: How Am I Doing? That Is the Question(naire).

Chapter 12: I Came, I Spoke, I Conquered.

Chapter 13: Executive Sum-Upmanship.

PART IV: Computers and More.

Chapter 14: Doing_Research_Online.com.

Chapter 15: Sights and Sounds.

Chapter 16: Computer-Based Training (CBT).

Chapter 17: Web-Based Training: CBT on Steroids.

Chapter 18: Creating Online Help.

PART V: The Part of Tens.

Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Make Your Technical Documents Shout ‘Read
Me!’.

Chapter 20: Ten Tips for Publishing in a Technical Journal.

Chapter 21: Ten Things to Know about Filing a Patent.

Chapter 22: Ten Tips for Writing a Grant Proposal.

Appendix A: Punctuation Made Easy.

Appendix B: Grammar’s Not Grueling.

Appendix C: Abbreviations and Metric Equivalents.

Appendix D: Technical Jabberwocky.

Index.

Book Registration Information.

Об авторе

Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts runs business-writing seminars for Fortune 500 companies and is the author of several books, including For Dummies guides to business writing and business letters.