Archive for July 2010
Tips for Writing Technical Papers
Here is the outline of a presentation about “Writing Technical Papers” that Jennifer Widom gave in January 2006 at the Stanford Info Lab: Paper Title The Abstract The Introduction Related Work The Body Performance Experiments The Conclusions Future Work The Acknowledgements Citations Appendices Grammar and Small-Scale Presentation Issues Mechanics Versions and Distribution
Read MoreMS Word 2010 — Great TABS for Increased Productivity
© 2010 Ugur Akinci MS Office is in a way like McDonald’s for me… They are both Great American Institutions. But that’s not all. They are also both the kind of icons that some people love to hate… However, show me someone who is trashing McDonald’s and I’ll show you one who has not been…
Read MoreUniv of Washington offers Technical Writing and Editing Certificate
Here is a technical communication certificate program offered by University of Washington, Human Centered Design and Engineering (HCDE) department. HCDE’s 2010-2011 Technical Writing and Editing program begins on September 30, 2010. Applications for this program are now being accepted. The deadline for receipt of applications at UW PCE is 5 pm on August 20, 2010.…
Read MoreMS Word 2010 – All the TEMPLATES you need and then some…
© Ugur Akinci MS Word 2010 is a delight to use for so many reasons… It really is an improved product with many user-friendly features. One such feature is the rich gallery of free TEMPLATES that it comes with. When you want to create a new document and select File > New, Word immediately displays…
Read MoreWhy "Game Machines" make Excellent Computers for Technical Communicators
© 2010 Ugur Akinci As a result of my recent research into what makes a good new desktop or laptop machine I’ve made an unexpected discovery that saved me a lot of time and energy, if not money: the category of computers (desktop, laptop, notebook) generally referred to as “game machines” are excellent for technical…
Read MoreMayfield Handbook of Technical and Scientific Writing
There are so many good free resources out there to help technical writers at all levels. Here is one such resource: Mayfield Handbook of Technical and Scientific Writing Authors: Leslie C. Perelman, Edward Barrett, and James Paradis Click here to have free and instant access to this resource
Read MoreHow Learning SQL can Help your Technical Communication Career
© 2010 Ugur Akinci SQL stands for “Structured Query Language” and is pronounced either as “S-Q-L” or “sequel”. It is the most wide-spread language used around the world today for interacting with relational databases. If you already know or planning to learn SQL you have a great advantage over those technical communicators who don’t since…
Read MoreHow to Add Sound to an OpenOffice 3.0 Impress Slide
© 2010 Ugur Akinci (1) Open the OpenOffice Impress slide to which you’d like to add a sound clip. This sound file will play each time you load the slide. (2) Click the Gallery button on the Graphics Toolbar (bottom of page). This will display the Gallery screen at the top of the selected slide:…
Read MoreTechnical Writing — NASA's list of "Weak Phrases"
When writing a technical document or specification, you should get rid of the following phrases whenever you can. They were found to be ineffective by NASA Software Assurance Technology Center: adequate as a minimum as applicable easy as appropriate be able to be capable but not limited to capability of capability to effective if practical…
Read MoreOpenOffice 3.0 Impress — an Impressive Slide Presentation Program Indeed
© 2010 Ugur Akinci I have used Microsoft Office for god knows how many years and I’ll continue to use it in the foreseeable future. But OpenOffice is a great productivity suite too, and it’s free as well. Here is a quick look at Impress, OpenOffice 3.0’s impressive slide presentation program, the full equivalent of…
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