Showing posts with label Technical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Technical. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

A Career In Technical Writing

Technical writing calls for an understanding of certain technical tools and effective written communication. Its main purpose is to convey technical information in the simplest form to a target audience. You do not require any special training or experience to start a career as a technical writer.

To become a technical writer, you need to have the desire to work in a challenging technical field. You do not need to be a technical person to succeed in this field - you just need to understand the importance of documenting technical work in a user-friendly manner.

Areas of Work

A Career In Technical Writing

Work is available in a number of fields. They are in demand in almost every field of work, especially the software and hardware industries. They are also required in the field of chemistry, robotics, consumer electronics, biotechnology industry and aerospace industries.

The main task of a technical writer is to translate technical information into an accurate, readable, understandable and accessible form. Some of the major areas of work include proposals, sales promotions, catalogs and instruction and assembly manuals. Technical writing also involves rewriting various design specifications, managing chart preparation, diagrams and illustrations and planning, preparing and editing technical material.

It is more about explaining complicated technical subjects and not developing creative literature. Though it is a very rewarding field, you need you need to understand the technology thoroughly. In a world of rapid technological advancements, technical writers need to work independently, as engineers and programmers may not be available every time to explain each step. The ability to understand technology on your own is considered an advantage.

Technical writers need to determine the target audience for a particular project to write in a simple, non-technical manner. It calls for a fair familiarity with the project at hand. As a technical writer needs to handle different types of audience, it is essential to be able to write difficult technical matter in simple English. For example, if a technical writer writes about a how-to play a DVD player, it needs to be able to be understood by a user as well as a DVD technician, who has advanced knowledge about the device.

Technical Writing Courses

Technical writing courses mainly focus on documenting specifications and user manuals for computer software. They also provide instruction on writing manuals on technology like kitchen appliances, vacuum systems, medical device manuals, construction equipment and more. Therefore, it is important for you to decide on the area that you are interested in and evaluate technical writing courses. It will help you understand the prerequisites of working as a technical writer in a particular field.

A technical writing course enables you to understand, organize and present technical aspects in a polished form of documentation. There are a number of online technical writing courses. There are also many universities that offer technical writing courses through accredited online programs.

A Career In Technical Writing
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Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solutions - Six Sigma Online ( http://www.sixsigmaonline.org ) offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

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Sunday, February 17, 2013

Technical Writing - What's the Difference Between Business Writing and Technical Writing?

There are a number of books, programs, and classes out there today offering to teach "technical writing." Some of these are excellent; prepared by industry veterans who know what they're doing. But some others are basically rehashing old "business writing" concepts and techniques under the guise of "technical writing."

"So what?" you may ask, which is a fair question. And here is the answer: if you are seriously considering to go out there and find yourself a job as a "technical writer" then you need to have at least one technical document prepared according to industry standards and expectations. Business writing in general will of course help you communicate better and conduct your business more efficiently. That's why it's a good thing. But when it comes to finding a technical writing job, business writing won't help you much. No recruiter will accept a business writing sample as a proof of your technical writing skills, especially in the hi-tech sector where I've been working for over 10 years now.

Business writing is all kinds of copy generated to administer, communicate with and control others in a work environment. It covers all office communications, and topics like how to write a memo; how to write an e-mail; how to prepare a report; how to write meeting minutes; all kinds of business letters, etc.

Technical Writing - What's the Difference Between Business Writing and Technical Writing?

While helpful, such knowledge will not be enough to find a job in the highly competitive field of modern technical communications. Instead, what you need to learn is the kind of documentation generated every day in such hi-tech industries as software, hardware, networking, telecommunications, manufacturing, chemicals, finance, defense, etc.

Does your instructor help you learn what a "scope" document is, for example, and how it is written? How do you prepare and write "release notes"? What's the crucial difference between an "interface guide" and a "procedural guide"? Do you know how to write a QCP for a defense contractor?

There are many other similar topics that a beginner needs to learn to prepare him or herself for a great career in technical writing. Once you know the crucial difference between "business writing" and "technical writing," you can make a better decision as to which questions to ask before buying a technical writing book or registering in a technical writing program. That way you won't waste your time, money and energy on a product or a program that won't help you reach your main goal. As always the case, knowledge is power in this particular issue as well.

Technical Writing - What's the Difference Between Business Writing and Technical Writing?
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If you are interested to read more about what technical writing is all about and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"

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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Technical Writing - Definition of White Paper

Although it started in government, the term white paper is showing up more and more in business writing, and, like a technical report or executive summary, it's a type of document you may be asked to write.

Companies use white papers to present a case for a particular method as the best way to approach a problem. It's often aimed at an audience outside the company, but it can also be used to present a case internally for following a certain path. While it's not technically a marketing tool, it definitely presents one POV as being superior to another with the intention of influencing the reader's decision-making process. The audience may be a specific client, multiple clients, or the general public, but if they have a problem, and you can show how it can be solved, they'll consider the content first and then look kindly on the source.

The principal difference between a white paper and a straight marketing piece is that there is no sell in the sense of "Here's our product. It's great. Buy it." A white paper begins by recognizing a need. Then it shows how, by following a certain path, the need can be met. It's not unusual for a white paper to make no reference to the source company's products at all. Specific systems and products may be referenced as being used by the source company, but not in such a way as to recommend they be purchased by the reader.

Technical Writing - Definition of White Paper

Examples

Poor: This is an introduction to the new Guffman, Inc. rolling mill.

Better: This paper focuses on how to select a rolling mill that reduces your production down-time.

The important thing is to recognize a problem and provide a solution - in that order. When you focus on the negative situations the reader has and the problems they cause, you show the reader that you understand. This accomplishes three important things:

- You establish that you're a credible source because you understand.

- Being altruistic makes points with readers and increases the odds that they'll read the paper - and recognize the value of your product.

- Readers self-select because people who don't have those problems won't read the paper.

By immediately identifying problems and concerns readers have, you can spend the balance of the paper showing them the direction they should take to reach a solution - hopefully, one provided by your company.

Bottom line: The emphasis is on the reader's interests and not the interests of the source company.

Typically, the contents of a white paper include:

- Identification of the market drivers that produce the negative situations

- Discussion of the problems that result from the situations

- An overview of the problem in the industry

- A broad discussion of solutions in the industry

- Specific elements involved in the solution

- Benefits derived from the solution

- Examples of where the solution has worked

- How to identify the best solution

Technical Writing - Definition of White Paper
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If you can write a simple sentence in English and organize your thoughts then technical writing may be a rewarding field. You can easily make it a second income stream in your spare time.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average salary for technical writers is ,380. Freelance technical writers can make from to per hour.

The field of technical writing is like a golden city. It's filled with wealth, rewards and opportunities. After learning technical writing you can branch out into business writing, marketing writing and communications writing. All of these can become additional income streams.

But to succeed you must learn how to market yourself to clients. You have to prove to them that you are an invaluable asset. That's where ProTech - Your Fast Track to Becoming a Successful Technical Writer can help. It's a technical writing course that does two equally important things:

1. It teaches you the skills to become a technical writer in the shortest time frame. You'll learn to create manuals, procedures, tutorials, processes, proposals, spec sheets and other documents that businesses need.

2. It shows you how to market yourself to clients so you can start your income stream as soon as possible.

In fact, you'll get a complete marketing toolkit which has templates and technical writing job sites to get started immediately!

You can download two sample lessons by clicking the link below.

This could be your chance to create a prosperous future.

Click the link below to download your two sample lessons.

[https://www.techwritingcourse.com]

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Friday, January 25, 2013

Technical Writing - Definition of Foreword, Introduction, and Preface

Definition of foreword, introduction, and preface OK, let's get started. Easy enough to say, but what do we start with? What comes first, a foreword, an introduction, or a preface? The best way to approach the subject is to look at what they do.

A foreword, if we follow the generally accepted definition in publishing, is an introduction to a book by someone other than the author. It comes right after the Table of Contents, and the pages are numbered with lower-case Roman numerals, e.g., i, ii, iii, etc., rather than the Arabic numerals used for the text of the book.

Ideally, it's written by an expert on the subject of the book who says that the author did a good job writing about the subject. The foreword generally speaks well of the author.

Technical Writing - Definition of Foreword, Introduction, and Preface

A foreword, as the spelling indicates, is a word that comes before. It's not a forward, which is a direction, or a foreward, which is a misspelling.

A preface is usually written by the author of a book and often gives an overview of how the book came to be written, its intended purpose, and to what extent it covers the topic. It may come before or after the foreword, but it usually comes after and follows the same page numbering system. The preface may also include acknowledgements.

An introduction is also written by the author (or, sometimes, the editor). It's an essay that sets up the full topic of a book. It states what the author's point of view is and may indicate what the reader's point of view should be. After reading the introduction to find out what's in the book, the reader can decide whether or not to read it. Since it's part of the text, the pages are numbered with the same numbering system as the text.

Technical Writing - Definition of Foreword, Introduction, and Preface
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If you can write a simple sentence and organize your thoughts then technical writing may be a rewarding field. Become a tech writer and quickly start an extra income stream.

To learn more go to [http://www.techwritingcourse.com/bright_future]

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Friday, January 4, 2013

Technical Writing - How to Format Your Technical Documents Consistently With a Template?

Consistency of a technical documentation is what creates that subliminal sense of trust and confidence in the end-users.

Someone once quipped: "it ain't technical documentation if it ain't boring." This of course is not literally true since I always found technical documents very interesting indeed.

However, this quip reflects the truth that a technical document must be "boringly consistent" in order to be taken seriously. I could also say "religiously consistent" as the phrase goes, but I thought I might inadvertently offend someone and that certainly is not my intention here.

Technical Writing - How to Format Your Technical Documents Consistently With a Template?

Just ask yourself: would you trust an airplane maintenance manual that has missing page numbers, has chapter headings printed in different fonts and sizes, has differently formatted figure captions for consecutively printed figures (like "Figure 2-14" on one page, and "FIGURE 15" on next)?

Consistency all starts with a document TEMPLATE.

It is harder to shift between different page templates if you are using MS Word as your main text editing program, and much easier if you are using Framemaker or InDesign since the last two are built on the "Master Pages" concept. But a page template is what you definitely must have.

When you have a template, you have consistent margins, sidebars, headers and footers, for starters. You have consistent page numbering and column, and page gutter(s) if you have more than one column.

If your text editor allows you to create Master Pages, I'd recommend you to create a document template starting off with the following 5 types of pages (assuming you are writing a book):

1) Front Cover.
2) First Page.
3) Right Page.
4) Left Page.
5) Back Cover.

And it wouldn't hurt at all of you design templates (Master Pages) for the following types of special pages as well:

6) Front Matter.
7) TOC.
8) List of Tables and Figures.
9) Index.

Have a template first before structuring your information. It's a must. "Don't leave home without it," as one credit card commercial used to say.

Technical Writing - How to Format Your Technical Documents Consistently With a Template?
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If you are ready to read more about what technical writing is all about and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?" You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit us now.

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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Technical Writing - How to Design Your Page Margins in a Microsoft Word Document Template (1)?

Microsoft Word is the world's most frequently used word processor with pretty good page layout functions. It's installed on a great majority of home and business computers in every country. So it makes sense for you as a freelance technical writer to learn how to design a document template in Word.

First create your margins and other basic page layout features.

Select File > New from the main menu and create a blank Word document.

Technical Writing - How to Design Your Page Margins in a Microsoft Word Document Template (1)?

Select File > Page Setup to display the Page Setup dialog box.

Select your Page Orientation (Portrait vs. Landscape).

Set your Top, Bottom, Right, and Left margins. The default values look good but you can change them to anything you want.

Set your Gutter dimension and position. Gutter is the blank non-text area to the LEFT or TOP of your text area. A lot of book-format documents leave a gutter to the left for ease of reading. Experiment with different gutter widths and see which one you like better; or set it to the width specified by your Documentation Guideline (if you have one).

Select a value for "Multiple Pages" from the drop-down menu. Here are your options:

NORMAL creates a single type of page, with the same margins and gutters, headers and footers. All pages of the document will look exactly the same. MIRROR MARGINS creates left and right pages with margins "mirroring" each other. That is, margins will be on the OUTER edge of each page. 2 PAGES PER SHEET creates two small equal-size pages out of the "normal size" page. For portrait-orientation pages, two smaller landscape pages are created. For landscape-orientation pages, two smaller portrait pages are created. BOOK FOLD creates a "spread" (a single page unit) out of 2 or multiples-of-2 pages. Your choices are All, 4, 8, 12, and 16 pages to a spread.

In the Preview box, select from the drop-down list how many pages these page layout features should apply to.

WHOLE DOCUMENT applies the page setup values to every page in the document. THIS POINT FORWARD applies the changes from where you are in the document to the end.

Click the DEFAULT button to reset all values to their default values.

Click OK when you're done.

Technical Writing - How to Design Your Page Margins in a Microsoft Word Document Template (1)?
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If you are interested to read more about what technical writing is all about and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"

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Saturday, December 15, 2012

Technical Writing - About Flowcharts

"A route has no meaning in itself; its meaning derives entirely from the two points that it connects." - Milan Kundera, 1929-, Czech Author, Critic

What's a flowchart?

A flowchart can be defined as a graphical representation of a sequence of operations or steps. In other words, it's an illustration of the various steps involved in a project or process.

Technical Writing - About Flowcharts

Typically, a flowchart consists of a number of boxes, arrows, and text that combine to form a sequence.

Why create a flowchart?

The purpose of a flowchart is to show the various steps of a process in a snapshot. By looking at the flowchart, the viewer should be able to identify the various steps involved in the process.

Flowcharts can be very useful for a technical writer. If you're working on a complex process, a flowchart can show you the various steps involved in that process. For example, you could be working on a manual on how to troubleshoot the Autopilot Flight Director system for the Boeing 747 aircraft. There are various steps involved in troubleshooting this system. Each step has multiple sub-steps. By creating a flowchart, you can quickly see which step takes place at what stage in the process.

How to create a flowchart

When you're working on a complex project, creating the flowchart itself may be a time-consuming task. Here are six simple steps you can follow to create even complex flowcharts:

1. Start by defining the end result of the process or project. The end result could be anything such as completing a user manual, writing a complex software process, installing a new part, or performing a test.

2. List the various steps involved to achieve the end result. This will take some research. In complex processes, each step could have a series of sub steps. The steps involved to create a user manual could be:

a. Meet with SME
b. Research existing documentation
c. Videotape the procedure
d. Take photographs
e. Create illustrations
f. Develop the user guide
g. Test the user guide
h. Make changes/adjustments
i. Deliver final product

3. Define the starting point of the process of project. This is the first step that starts of the process. For example, the first step could be project planning or research.

4. Write down the starting point and the end result. Both of these should be in boxes with some space in between them. Adjust this space according to the number of steps and sub-steps involved in the process.

5. Draw an arrow from the starting point to the end result.

6. Along this arrow, list the various steps in order that are needed to go from the starting point to the end result. Include any sub-steps as needed.

Some processes may have multiple branches of steps involved. For example, to get from Step 1 to Step 2, there could be three options. You would illustrate this on the flowchart as three separate arrows going from Step 1 to Step 2.

A flowchart is like a roadmap. It has a starting point (A) and an ending point (B). Your objective is to get from Point A to Point B. The flowchart tells you what's involved in the process.

For a technical writer a flowchart can be a very useful tool to illustrate various operations and processes. Before you start your next project, see if you can illustrate the process via a flowchart. It will make life easier for you and your manager or client. The end result will be a better project which is good for your target audience.

Note: Microsoft Visio is a good software for creating flowcharts.

Technical Writing - About Flowcharts
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If you can write a simple sentence in English and organize your thoughts then technical writing may be a rewarding field. You can easily make it a second income stream in your spare time.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average salary for technical writers is ,380. Freelance technical writers can make from to per hour.

The field of technical writing is like a golden city. It's filled with wealth, rewards and opportunities. After learning technical writing you can branch out into business writing, marketing writing and communications writing. All of these can become additional income streams.

But to succeed you must learn how to market yourself to clients. You have to prove to them that you are an invaluable asset. That's where ProTech - Your Fast Track to Becoming a Successful Technical Writer can help. It's a technical writing course that does two equally important things:

1. It teaches you the skills to become a technical writer in the shortest time frame. You'll learn to create manuals, procedures, tutorials, processes, proposals, spec sheets and other documents that businesses need.

2. It shows you how to market yourself to clients so you can start your income stream as soon as possible.

In fact, you'll get a complete marketing toolkit which has templates and technical writing job sites to get started immediately!

You can download two sample lessons by clicking the link below.

This could be your chance to create a prosperous future.

Click the link below to download your two sample lessons.

[https://www.techwritingcourse.com]

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Friday, November 30, 2012

Technical Writing - How to Use Fonts Properly in a Technical Document

As a technical writer, you should be aware of certain basics about fonts and some basic rules to observe in your documents. The most basic distinction about fonts is whether they have a "serif" or not. That's why font families are split into two major categories: Serif and Non-Serif fonts.

A serif is a small tail- or wedge-like appendage that extends outward from the end fo a letter or symbol. "Times Roman," for example, is a famous serif font and "Arial" is an equally famous non-serif font.

RECOMMENDED RULES of font selection for technical writers:

Technical Writing - How to Use Fonts Properly in a Technical Document

1) Select your headlines from NON-SERIF fonts (like Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Tahoma, Futura, Optima) and your body text from SERIF fonts (like Roman, Times Roman, Times New Roman, Georgia, Bookman).

2) ITALIC is designed to attract attention to itself by virtue of being hard to read. That's why, in a block of readable text, it makes sense to emphasize a word or a phrase by printing it in Italic.

However, some authors print whole web or print pages in Italic! That defies the whole purpose of the Italic style. Every time you use Italic font, be aware that you are making your words harder to read. Thus use it sparingly, like using pepper while cooking.

3) Do not use more than two or a MAXIMUM of three typefaces in your technical documents. A profusion of typefaces creates confusion in the reader's mind. When it comes to fonts, less is always more.

4) Do not assume that all computers have access to every font you have. All computers, however, come with a set of built-in "system fonts" that are installed automatically by the operating system. The most famous of these system fonts are Arial, Times Roman, and Courier. If you use these three fonts you can rest assured that your document will appear in the receiving end in the same fonts that you have used on your machine.

If, however, you use a hard-to-get fancy font, the reader's machine will substitute the "closest font available" to render your document readable. "Optima" for example may be replace with "Arial" and sometimes such substitutions change the way a page is composed, usually for the worse.

Thus, to be safe, stick to the basic "system fonts" when designing a document that you expect to be distributed and read online.

Technical Writing - How to Use Fonts Properly in a Technical Document
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If you are interested to read more about technical writing as a career and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"

Dr. Ugur Akinci is a Fortune 500 Sr. Technical Communicator http://www.technicalcommunicationcenter.com/

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Monday, November 19, 2012

Technical Writing - What's a Copyright and How Long Does it Last in Technical Documentation?

There'll be many times when as a technical writer you'll be using text and images created by others. In order not to violate anybody's intellectual property rights, you need to know the different types of copyrights that exist (at least in the United States).

The standard copyright is expressed either with the word "Copyright" or the universal copyright symbol "©" (letter "c" inside a circle). Best information on U.S. copyrights is available at U.S. Copyright Office (at copyright-dot-gov).

The interesting thing about a copyright is that an original intellectual property, like this very article for example, has copyright protection the minute it is created. However, if there were a law suit, those technical documents officially registered with the U.S. Copyright Office has a better chance of winning the case. Copyright registry is voluntary but is the only sure-fire way of claiming ownership of an intellectual product.

Technical Writing - What's a Copyright and How Long Does it Last in Technical Documentation?

In general, copyright of a technical document created after January 1, 1978, lasts as long as its author is alive, plus 70 years after his or her death. For example, if someone registers a user manual with the U.S. Copyright Office on January 1, 2009 and then dies in 2010, the work would still be copyrighted until 2080.

Once you copyright-register your technical document, you do not need to renew the registration again.

One thing you should know as a technical writer: all text and images created and owned by the U.S. government have no copyrights for the U.S. citizens. They are in "public domain." Why? Because if you're a U.S. citizen, you have already paid for it through your taxes. But still you have to be careful not to use public domain work in a libelous manner.

NOTE 1: If you're a technical writer working for a company, the copyright of the work you are creating almost always belongs to the company and not to you as an individual writer.

NOTE 2: All the information quoted in this article was correct when the article was written in December 2008 but it may have changed by the time you're reading this. Please consult copyright-dot-gov and your attorney before making a decision on all copyright matters.

Technical Writing - What's a Copyright and How Long Does it Last in Technical Documentation?
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If you are interested to read more about what technical writing is all about and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"

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Monday, November 5, 2012

Technical Writing - Writing in "Standard Written English"

There's them as say there ain't no right way nor wrong way to write. It's all in how you feel like writing and who cares. Thems what you call your descriptive grammarians. They don't tell you how it is people should write so much as describe how folks do write. One way's OK like another. Long's you get the idea across.

Then, there are those who believe that there are some consistent rules of standard, written English that are observed by the majority of educated people. They're called proscriptive grammarians. They'll cite rules of grammar, punctuation, and sentence construction that should be followed if what we write is to be clear and intelligible.

True, those on the proscriptive side don't always agree on the rules, even among themselves. They get very intense over things like whether you should write "in the early 80's" or "in the early '80s" or whether there should be a comma before the and in the series "glue, adhesive, and gum." But even when they don't agree, it usually comes down to two choices, and they do agree that if you don't use one, you should certainly use the other.

Technical Writing - Writing in "Standard Written English"

As individuals, we can agree with either side, but as technical writers, we're much better off when we write in a way that follows the dictates of Standard Written English (SWE). We can believe all we want that one person's way of writing is just as good as another. And, in private use, it is. But we know perfectly well that a person who writes the kind of material we do who doesn't have what's generally considered "good" language skills won't be considered a professional - and won't get work.

Clients may not know the rules, but they can sure spot it when they're not followed. Write "they was the ones who paid," and everyone in the review session will say it's wrong. Maybe no one will tell you that you made a pronoun/verb agreement error, but they'll all tell you you're wrong.

You don't learn SWE by being a tech writer. Being able to write well is what you bring with you to the job. It doesn't matter how you develop your language skills. Many writers get them from a good high school or college education. That's not the only way - or even the surest. Too many people get advanced degrees without ever learning that "They gave the prize to him and I" is bad grammar. You certainly don't have to be a college graduate to be a good writer, but you do have to be a good writer whether you've got a degree or not.

So, where do you learn to write SWE? There a number of good ways. Going to school is one. If you're getting your tech writing training at a college or university, writing skills are part of the curriculum. If you can't go that route, you can still take classes in writing. There are plenty of schools and training organizations that offer classes in both basic and advanced writing. Some communities colleges do, and there are a ton of resources online. It's worth checking out a number of them until you find the one that fits your personal needs.

Something you should do in addition to taking a class is read. Read the classics, read magazines and newspapers, read everything. The more you see good writing in use, the easier it will be for you to write well yourself. Then, write. Practice is as much a part of developing your writing skill as it is if you want to be a better musician, athlete, or artist. Writing well is a skill, but it's also a habit. The more you do it right, the better you get and the easier it is.

If you take a formal class, you'll be told to get a style guide. If you're not taking a class, get a style guide anyway. All successful writers have at least one good style guide. Some have half-a-dozen. Then get a good, up-to-date dictionary and a book of synonyms such as Roget's. These are a writer's basic tools. Use them to check what you write to be sure that you're following the same rules that the vast majority of writers do.

Is all this really necessary? Yes, it is, and I'll tell you why. Tech writing is a great career. If nothing else, it's just more interesting than a lot of jobs. But it's still a job, and every job has its own skill-set. For us, it's being able to write SWE. If we can't do that, we don't get work. Then, we don't get paid. And then we can't make a living. That's called bottom line. In this business, being able to write well is bottom line.

Technical Writing - Writing in "Standard Written English"
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If you can write a simple sentence and organize your thoughts then technical writing may be a rewarding field. You can easily make it a second income stream in your spare time.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the average salary for technical writers is ,380. Freelance technical writers can make from to per hour.

The field of technical writing is like a golden city. It's filled with wealth, rewards and opportunities. After learning technical writing you can branch out into business writing, marketing writing and communications writing. All of these can become additional income streams.

But to succeed you must learn how to market yourself to clients. You have to prove to them that you are an invaluable asset. That's where ProTech - Your Fast Track to Becoming a Successful Technical Writer can help. It's a technical writing course that does two equally important things:

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2. It shows you how to market yourself to clients so you can start your income stream as soon as possible.

In fact, you'll get a complete marketing toolkit which has templates and technical writing job sites to get started immediately!

You can download two sample lessons by clicking the link below.

This could be your chance to create a prosperous future.

Click the link below to download your two sample lessons.

[https://www.techwritingcourse.com]

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