What Is Technical Writing (Communication)?
- Technical Communication. From Wikipedia.
- What Is Technical Communication? From University of Central Florida.
- What is Technical Communications? From TECHWR-L
- What is Technical Writing? From WiseGEEK.
- Introduction: Technical Writing and Technical Writers. David A. McMurrey
- 14 Widespread Myths about Technical Writing. Post at the I'd Rather Be Writing blog, focusing on the latest trend in technical communication.
- Succeed in Technical Writing. From Ron Kurtus's School for Champions.
- ACC Subject Guide for Business & Technical Communications. Developed by Adrian Graham and Teresa Ashley, Austin Community College professional librarians
- Technical Writing World. Social network for technical communicators
- Staples, Katherine, and Cezar Ornatowski, Eds. Foundations for Teaching Technical Communication: Theory, Practice, and Program Design. Greenwich, CN: Ablex, 1997. Read Grice, Roger A. "Professional Roles: Technical Writer"
- Fearing, Bertie E., and Sparrow, W. Keats. Technical Writing: Theory and Practice. New York: MLA Association, 1989. Read Grice, Roger A. "Document Development in Industry" and Debs, Mary Beth. "Collaborative writing in Industry"
- Hackos, JoAnn T. Managing Your Documentation Projects. New York: Wiley. The entire book—yes, the entire book. However, chapters 1 - 4 (about eighty pages) may suffice for an overview.
- Michael Bremer. Untechnical Writing - How to Write About Technical Subjects and Products So Anyone Can Understand. Untechnical Press. The most recent edition.
- Alan S. Pringle, Sarah S. O'Keefe. Technical Writing 101: A Real-World Guide to Planning and Writing Technical Documentation. Scriptorum. The most recent edition.
- Jay Gould. Opportunities in Technical Writing. McGraw-Hill, 2008.
- Alan S. Pringle, Sarah S. O'Keefe. Technical Writing 101: A Real-World Guide to Planning and Writing Technical Documentation. Scriptorium. Gives you a thorough sense of technical writing in the computer industry.
- Michael Bremer. Untechnical Writing - How to Write About Technical Subjects and Products So Anyone Can Understand. Untechnical Press. Also, gives you a thorough sense of technical writing in the computer industry.
- Gerald J. Savage, Dale L. Sullivan. Writing a Professional Life: Stories of Technical Communicators on and off the Job, Allyn and Bacon, 2001. There is no better place to get a detailed sense of the profession than the 23 articles in this book.
All of the articles are great, but if you are pressed for time, don't miss these:
"Glimpse into Reality"
"How I Became a Goddess"
"Three Months, Three Pages"
"Conquering the Cubicle Syndome"
"Try and Try Again: The Story of a Software Project"
"Tech Writing and the Art of Laziness"
"Daze at the Round Table"
"Diary of a Tech Writer"
"Thumbnails"
"Madame Mao in the Midwest"
Comprehensive Resource Sites
Employment Prospects and Salaries
Job Listings
In these generalized job sites, search on "technical writer," "technical communicator," "information specialist," "technical editor," "online help writer (or developer)," "content developer (or specialist)".
Internships and Volunteering
Employment Interviews
Technical-Writer Resumes
Resumes. McMurrey
Portfolios
-
Building an NDA-Compliant Portfolio. techwhirl.com
- Creating an ePortfolio Using Google Sites. Provided by Montclair State U.
- Where Should I Host a Technical Writing Portfolio?. ClickHelp, 2020
- UI/UX portfolio: 13 best practices. Shilpa Tripathi. Jun 6, 2018
- Top 5 Free Portfolio Sites. Vitamin T Blog. These are in addition to WIX and Weebly, free portfolio sites also.
- Where Should I Host a Technical Writing Portfolio?. Anastasia, ClickHelp, 2020.
- Presenting Your Professional Portfolio in the Digital Age. From TECHWR-L.
- Developing an Annotated Portfolio. From TECHWR-L.
- Search . Search on "portfolio," Provided by TECHWR-L.
- Portfolios. Search "portfolios" in Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal.com.
- Building a Technical Writing Portfolio. Kesi Parker, 2018.
- How to Build a Technical Writing Portfolio. ClickHelp, 2019.
- My Adventures in Creating an Online Writing Portfolio . Stacey Stevens, STC, n.d.
- 7 Technical Writing Projects Ideal for a Technical Writing Portfolio. Ugur Akici, 2017.
- Put together a portfolio (TW Job). Tom Johnson, 2009.
Gender & pronoun issues
What Are Personal Pronouns and Why Do They Matter?. pronuns.org
Chicago Style for the Singular They. Chicago Manual of Style's big change! Published spring 2017.
The Singular 'They' Must Be Stopped. A decidedly opposite point of view published in The Atlantic, 2013.
Gender-Inclusive Language. Provided by the Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Gender Pronouns. Provided by the
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Teaching Beyond the Gender Binary in the University Classroom. Provided by Brielle Harbin, CFT Senior Graduate Teaching Fellow, Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University.
Using Gender-Neutral Pronouns in Academic Writing. Provided by the Writing Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison. "themself"—are you kidding?
Nonbinary gender pronouns. Provided by the Writing Center, in collaboration with Melinda Lee, Assistant Director, Gender and Sexuality Center for Queer and Trans Life, University of Minnesota
Gender Pronouns Guide. Provided by the LGBT Campus Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Gender Pronouns. Provided by the Trans Student Educational Resources.
Software Tools
These are overviews of a variety of tools:
Please see these pages that focus on individual tool areas:
Telecommuting and Freelancing
Process
- McMurrey, David A. Chapter on documentation process
- Price, Jonathan and Henry Korman. How to Communication Technical Information: A Handbook of Software and Hardware Documentation. Redwood City, CA: Benjamin/Cummings, 1993. ISBN 0-8053-6829-9. Read:
- Chapter 1, "The Project Cycle—What You Do at Each Stage"
- Chapter 2, "Gathering Information"
- Chapter 3, "Understanding Your Audience and Their Work"
- Chapter 4, "Learning about the Product"
- Chapter 5, "Planning the Documentation"
- Chapter 6, "Developing a Schedule and Estimating Costs"
- Alan S. Pringle, Sarah S. O'Keefe. Technical Writing 101: A Real-World Guide to Planning and Writing Technical Documentation. Scriptorium.
- Michael Bremer. Untechnical Writing—How to Write About Technical Subjects and Products So Anyone Can Understand. Untechnical Press.
- Hackos, JoAnn T. Managing Your Documentation Projects. New York: Wiley, 1994. The entire book—yes, the entire book. However, chapters 1 - 4 (about eighty pages) may suffice for an overview.
- A Week in the Life of a Technical Writer. All about Shawna, technical writer, at National Instruments.
- TECHWR-L articles. Search "process," "organization," and similar terms in the TECHWR-L.
- TECHWR-L archives. Search the same terms in the TECHWR-L archives.
- TechComm Plus Resources. From-the-trenches discussions of writing documentation in corporations, getting reviews, working with SMEs. Read these articles for what they say about roles, processes, and organization in technical documentation:
Professional Organizations and Societies
Technical Writing Genres
Basic, Simplified English
Basic English. wikipedia
Simple English. wikipedia
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