Communicating Technical Information: A Guide for the Electronic Age

Giving users the tools and know-how to become proficient technical writers, this state-of-the-art guide takes a hands-on approach to learning the ins and outs of the craft, organizing material around a series of task-oriented chapters that each focus on a typical kind of technical writing assignment. Centered around the belief that writing is a step-by-step process, it addresses the expanded roles and needs of the today's technical writer, and emphasizes the importance of technical communication in the professional workplace. Provides varied, real-life examples that show how writers progress from start to finish, emphasizing the choices writers make and why they make those choices. Covers traditional forms as well as specialized contemporary forms, such as abstracts, literature reviews, impact studies, user manuals, on-line documentation, and hypertext authoring. Focuses on the computer as an integral part of all areas of communication, and shows how to utilize the newest computer-based tools, including how to write for the World Wide Web. Now devotes an entire chapter to ethical issues encountered in both technical writing and in general writing classes. For technical writers.

This practical approach to technical writing is organized around a series of "task oriented" chapters, each of which focuses on a typical kind of technical writing assignment. As new forms, techniques, and writing tools become appropriate to the task at hand, they are discussed in detail.