Posts by Ugur Akinci
"I’m a journalist. A reporter… Can I become a successful technical writer?"
Can a journalist become a successful technical writer? I don’t see why not. I was a journalist once upon a time too. After I made the switch to technical writing, I never looked back. Two Skills of Journalists Journalism teaches you mental concentration and time-discipline. When you’re working as a reporter for a daily newspaper…
Read MoreU.S. Federal Government as a Source of Employment for Technical Writers
The U.S. federal government is a major source of employment for technical writers, as the government employs more than 7,000 writers who produce manuals and instructions for federal agencies and departments. Technical writing is a field that requires an understanding of the subject matter being written about, as well as the ability to communicate clearly…
Read MoreSurvey: British Office Workers Hate Business Speak
If you’re miffed to hear hackneyed expressions like “think outside the box” you’re not alone: a lot of office workers in Britain reported they also can’t stand the expression, according to a British survey of 2,000 cubicle dwellers. Tweny five percent of those surveyed ranked “blue sky thinking” and “hit the ground running” as number…
Read More10 Principles for a Great Technical Tutorial
I’ve compiled these 10 Principles for a Great Technical Tutorial on the basis of my experience as a technical writer who worked for Fortune 100 companies for over 20 years. As a technical writer you may be asked to write and design on-line tutorials on topics ranging from how to set up a customer service…
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How to Insert a Placeholder to a MS Word Document for a Book or Article Citation
Introduction Insert a placeholder to an MS Word document when, while working on the document, you would not have the citations at your fingertips. Problem Yet if you stop to make a search for the citations you may lose your rhythm and momentum. Solution So it makes sense to keep going full-steam ahead and to…
Read MoreThe Difference a Comma Makes
© Ugur Akinci Technical writers must watch their punctuation like a hawk because of the dramatic difference a misplaced punctuation mark makes. Here is a great example from the Understanding Uncertainty web site: “how unlikely the result is due to chance” versus “how unlikely the result is, due to chance” Click here to read the…
Read MoreEbook Self-Publishing Alternatives: Amazon Kindle, Moodle, Tizra
Every week I hear about yet another self-publishing alternative platform. Today I had the chance to have a look at Tizra.com and wanted to compare it to Kindle and Moodle, two of my favorite publishing platforms. KINDLE (http://kdp.amazon.com/) The advantage of Kindle is obvious: where else can you expose your content to millions of daily…
Read MoreScoville Pepper Heat Chart – Information Graphics that Shape the Conversation
© Ugur Akinci Sometimes information graphics hit the bulls-eye. Here is one such graphic, throwing precious light on a recent news event: spraying the UC Davis students with “pepper gas.” When I first read this story, I couldn’t help but assume that “pepper gas” would hurt just like jalapeno pepper, but only a lot more…
Read MoreHow to Combine Individual MS Word Files into a Master Document with IncludeText Field
The question of how to combine individual MS Word Files into a Master Document is a question that most technical writers face frequently during their careers. Perhaps you work in a large company and you need to pull together separate Word files into an updated document; or perhaps the task is to combine files written…
Read MoreOccupational Outlook for Technical Writers: My Opinions and the Facts
From time to time I hear from technical writers who had their own share from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 30s. There is no doubt, the market right now is not as good as it had been just four or five years earlier. But I still have reasons to maintain…
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