TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Mary Anne Donovan-Wright [mailto:maryann5 -at- frontiernet -dot- net] asked "for
suggestions on what six courses/topics you would recommend we include in ..a
six-course[technical writing certificate] program."
One course I had in the Scientific Writing program I took at IIT many years
ago was a history of scientific writing. It made a great impression on me,
because the materials presented showed that writing about science or
technology did not have to be the dry, dull, passive-voice drivel that so
many technically trained specialists think is how technical subjects should
be written.
The textbook was T.R. Henn's Science in Writing, and we also read and
discussed copied excerpts from a range of historical expositions of
scientific discoveries, including an article by Humprey Davey, The Chemical
History of a Candle, a translation from Gregor Mendel's work on pea-plant
genetics, Darwin's Origin of Species, a few historical patents, up to Watson
& Crick's article on DNA's double-helix structure. And my professor stressed
that these guys were not afraid to use active voice, or exclamation marks,
or even a Eureka! or two, because the discovery or creation of something new
is an exciting undertaking.
In addition to a couple of writing courses, we also had an information
storage and retrieval course, which included library classification systems,
indexing techniques, and database structures and theory. Tools were not an
issue, the choices being limited to manual or electric typewriters, and
freehand or mechanical drawing. CAD and most graphic tools were still in
the furure. In programming, there were COBOL and FORTRAN, and a new
introduction called BASIC. The Mechanical Engineering department had a
couple of mechanical plotters. Page makeup and layout was done on a light
table with a T-square and an exacto knife.
Margaret Cekis
Margaret -at- mediaocean -dot- com
Atlanta GA
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