Section Numbering

["D.T. Robertson" <drobertson -at- NM-US -dot- CAMPUS -dot- MCI -dot- NET>]

Greetings all!

I'm delurking for a moment to respond to Mary Anthony's posting concerning
section numbering.

By training/education (PhD Chemistry) and experience I'm a technical person.
Most of the documents I come across have section numbers.  I use them
extensively myself.  Us techies tend to like numbers!  But, I agree
wholeheartedly with the majority opinion that their use must be determined
by the preferences of the audience.

I manage environmental compliance for a small US Dept. of Energy contractor
and I often write environmental permit applications, and the internal
guidance documents needed to ensure compliance with permit conditions.  For
both of these types of documents, section numbering is a great help when it
comes time to incorporate comments and changes mandated by persons from the
DOE Site, consultants, regulators, and my own organization.  I can, as Iain
Harrison recently noted, make changes to the appropriate sections and leave
the rest of the document alone.  The applications tend to be rather long
(except for the research, development, and demonstration types) and it helps
to cross-reference the sections in the guidance document with the associated
permit.

Even Sandia National Labs, in their "Guide to Preparing SAND Reports",
recommends using section numbering for long documents.

Just wanted to chime in.  Thanks.

Don R.

*************************************************************************
Donald T. Robertson
Manager, Enviroment, Safety, and Health
Delphi Research, Inc.
Albuquerque, NM

e-mail:  drobertson -at- nm-us -dot- campus -dot- mci -dot- net
****************************************************************************
********

Donald T. Robertson, PhD                        "Worry is the
Manager, Environmental Compliance                       misuse of imagination" -
Delphi Research, Inc.                                   Author Unknown
Albuquerque, NM
E-mail:  drobertson -at- nm-us -dot- campus -dot- mci -dot- net
~~~~~~~~

                  TECHWR-L List Information
To send a message about technical communication to 2500+ list readers,
E-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot-  Send administrative commands
         ALL other questions or problems concerning the list
       should go to the listowner, Eric Ray, at ejray -at- ionet -dot- net -dot-