Technical Writing for Business People: Business and Technical Writing Series

Technical writing is about communicating key information to the people who need it. It might be a manual for an application, a guide to using heavy machinery, a diagnostic aide for medical practitioners or a guidance note about new legislation. It needs to be clear and it needs to be precise. This book shows you how to achieve this and more. Whatever the content or context, in this book you'll discover the essential tools and resources that you need to create technical writing that works for everyone. -- 'A short no-nonsense guide to technical writing in any context.{..}This guide provides a useful formula to get good results every time, emphasising the importance of audience perspective, including accessibility considerations.' Tracey Torble, ITSM specialist, manager and writer Cover Copyright Page CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES AUTHOR PREFACE 1 WHAT IS TECHNICAL WRITING? THE TECHNICAL WRITER’S TOOLKIT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU NEED AS A TECHNICAL WRITER (AND NO, IT ISN’T A REALLY GOOD PEN) KEY TAKEAWAYS 2 SEVEN STEPS TO HEAVEN: THE TECHNICAL WRITING CYCLE 1. SPECIFICATION, AUDIENCE AND SCOPE 2. PLANNING 3. RESEARCH AND WRITING 4. TESTING, REVIEWING AND REVISION 5. DELIVERY 6. EVALUATION AND FEEDBACK 7. REVISION, ARCHIVING OR DESTRUCTION TECHNICAL WRITING IN A TEAM A QUICK WORD ABOUT WRITING APPS A QUICK WORD ABOUT FORMATTING TEXT KEY TAKEAWAYS 3 KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE WHO ARE YOU WRITING FOR? PERSONAS IN TECHNICAL WRITING WHAT DO THEY ALREADY KNOW? WHAT DO THEY NEED TO KNOW, AND WHY? WHERE AND WHEN DO THEY NEED TO KNOW IT? KEY TAKEAWAYS 4 BREAK IT DOWN: THE IMPORTANCE OF A TASK-BASED APPROACH BREAK IT DOWN (BUT NOT TOO MUCH) THE OTHER BIG BENEFIT OF A TASK-BASED APPROACH KEY TAKEAWAYS 5 ASSUME NOTHING MAKING ASSUMPTIONS ASSUMPTIONS AND ACCESSIBILITY JUNK THE JARGON, BANISH BUZZWORDS AND ABOLISH ACRONYMS KEY TAKEAWAYS 6 VANQUISH VAGUENESS BE PRECISE DON’T LEAVE WIGGLE ROOM BE SPECIFIC KEY TAKEAWAYS 7 DON’T BE YOURSELF THE IMPORTANCE OF CLARITY KEY TAKEAWAYS 8 STICK TO THE STORY 1. LONG PARAGRAPHS 2. DENSE BLOCKS OF TEXT 3. IRRELEVANT OR USELESS GRAPHICS 4. POOR PUNCTUATION 5. TOO MUCH INFORMATION 6. FORGETTING TO INCLUDE THE ‘HOW’ 7. UNCLEAR NAVIGATION AIDS KEY TAKEAWAYS 9 BE ACTIVE: WHY YOU SHOULD AVOID THE PASSIVE VOICE AND WEAK VERBS WHY WEAK WORDS MAKE WRITING WORSE KEY TAKEAWAYS 10 DIAGRAMS, LISTS AND GRAPHICS LISTY BUSINESS GO WITH THE FLOW (CHART) OTHER KINDS OF CHARTS KEEP AWAY FROM THE CLIPART GOOD GRAPHICS KEY TAKEAWAYS 11 EVERYBODY NEEDS AN EDITOR LET GO OF YOUR EGO WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN YOU’RE EDITING ACCURACY SIMPLICITY BREVITY EFFECTIVENESS SHEER TEDIUM KEY TAKEAWAYS 12 THE TECHNICAL WRITING HOUSE OF HORRORS WHEN COMMAS COST THE CONVERSION THAT COST A SPACESHIP THE ‘S’ THAT KILLED A COMPANY WHEN XXX COSTS $$$ THE £52 MILLION COMMA AFTERWORD INDEX Back Cover Technical writing is about communicating key information to the people who need it. It might be a manual for an application, a guide to using heavy machinery, or a diagnostic aide for medical practitioners. It needs to be clear and it needs to be precise. This book shows you how to achieve this and more. Whatever the content or context, in this book youll discover the essential tools and resources that you need to create technical writing that works for everyone.