Technical Writing and Documentation - 2 day course
Module 1
Technical Writing Skills
Introduction to technical writing
What is technical writing?
How is it different from others forms of writing?
What is plain English?
What is minimalism?
What is content management?
Writing models
Writing and words
The four levels of writing
The ten common faults in technical writing
Problems with words
- Verbs–passive verbs–weak verbs
- Nouns–weak nouns–nominalisation
Appropriate words
Sentences and punctuation
Sentence structure
Problems with sentences
- Sentence length and structure
- Problems with clauses
- Misplaced modifiers
- Subject-verb agreement
- Parallel construction
- Long sentences
Punctuation
- Punctuation rules and examples
- Hyphens and apostrophes
Alternatives to the paragraph
Good technical writing and style
What is style?
- Common style faults
- Style conventions and Style manuals
Writing for online
Module 2
Technical Documentation
Audience and task analysis
Why you need to do an audience analysis
When to do an audience analysis
How to do audience analysis
Task analysis
Getting it all together–using the matrix concept
Structuring and designing
effective documentation
Organising and planning information
Structuring the document
The concept of information types
- document-specific information types
- content-specific documentation types
Placement of information for maximum impact
Document design
Techniques for different types of documents
Technical reports
Proposals
Specifications
Procedures and instructions
Manuals
Online information
Managing the Documentation Process
Publications development life cycle–the 5-phase model
Information plans–content and strategy
Content specifications
Tracking and estimating
Usability testing
Document maintenance
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