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Subject:Tech Writing courses for the masses From:Thom Remington <remingtf -at- FREENET -dot- SCRI -dot- FSU -dot- EDU> Date:Thu, 16 Jun 1994 13:18:56 -0400
Someone wanted info on texts and style guides for teaching tech writing
to programmers.
Where I work, we in Technical Publications offer a short writing course
to folks who write reports. We try not to get very deep; we cover the basics:
o know who your audience is
o aim your writing at your audience
o use the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid!)
o avoid over-formatting
o avoid overuse of fonts
o have someone else read your stuff
We also try to get these folks to use our services, especially having us
involved in projects from the beginning. We can thereby provide a full
service ranging from consulting on documentation needs through
information-gathering and research and finally into producing the
finished document. It works, and it's a whole lot easier than trying to
fix something that someone else has already written.
