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nothing exists that resembles a methodology, rather, most discussion
centers around "style" as if every manual should be different for some
unspecified reason -- in fact, there is an annual contest at the
university of waterloo that gives merit for "best looking manual".
As a recent UW grad and winner of the Beltz Award for Professional Writing (a writing contest open to Grad Students in English at UW) for a software manual that I wrote while employed as a co-op student at my present job, I am somewhat offended at the suggestion that UW and, by extension, other schools with excellent rhetoric or technical writing programs, are more interested in teaching students how to create manuals that look good rather than teaching students how to write and design manuals that effectively and efficiently teach end-users how to use the product. I don't want to start the degree argument again, I just want to express my resentment at the flippant dismissal of excellent school based on three out of context words put in quotation marks.
Andrea Kelso
Technical Writer, Astound Incorporated
Andreak -at- astound -dot- com
My opinions don't necessarily agree with those of the company. My opinions don't even necessarily agree with my other opinions.
O God, O Venus, O Mercury, patron of thieves,
Lend me a little tobacco-shop,
or install me in any profession
Save this damn'd profession of writing,
where one needs one's brains all the time.
(Ezra Pound)
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