Technical Writing
"Do you have any tips or advice for those interested in breaking into technical writing?"
My top advice would be to develop a personal portfolio to break into tech writing. Nothing speaks louder for your skills than a finished work or two at hand. One thing I recommend to my readers and students is to write a user’s manual for a freely available software like OpenOffice. It does not need…
Read MoreTechnical versus Content Writing
Technical versus content writing — are they the same or different? The answer is YES and NO. It is similar to content or article writing in the sense that you need to create prose that is easily understood, logically consistent, and conveys useful information. Where it separates from regular non-fiction writing is in its procedural…
Read MoreCatherine Hibbard – A Technical Communication Interview
We’re kicking off the new year with a new series of interviews with veteran technical writers and communicators. Our first guest for this column in 2012 is Catherine Hibbard of Cypress Media, a veteran writer and trainer who offers Technical Writing Training and Writing Effective Policies and Procedures Training. In January 2012, she is selected…
Read MoreTechnical Writing and Editing Online Course (was "Technical Editing" Online Course)
We are proud to offer our beginner-level technical communication online course: Technical Writing and Editing This is a practical hands-on introduction to technical writing for all beginner writers or those who are considering to make a career change and become technical writers. Comes with 30-Days 100% Money Back Guarantee! “Why should I learn technical writing?”…
Read MoreTCC Honored as MindTouch's "Top 10 Most Followed" Web Site
© Ugur Akinci I’m happy to report that, thanks to you TCC readers, our Twitter account @technicalwriter has been selected by MindTouch as one of the “Top 10 Most Followed” technical communication accounts on Twitter. To be included in such a distinguished list of industry pioneers and leaders is a great honor indeed. I’d like to…
Read More2 Golden Principles of Technical Document Peer Review
There will be instances in your career as a professional writer when you will be asked to “peer review” (which is, yes, a compound “verb” these days) someone else’s work. This may happen in group meeting (or teleconference/webinar) situations when you may be invited to offer you views on how to improve a certain copy…
Read MoreWhat Does a Technical Writer Working for the U.S. Government Look Like?
Let’s start by asking the question — what does a “typical” technical writer who is employed by Uncle Sam really look like? Technical writers are sometimes called “technical communicators” because in reality that’s what they do – they communicate. Writing is just one of the several tools that they use to do that. Those writers…
Read MoreThe Discipline of Punctuation in Technical Writing
© Ugur Akinci Today let’s talk about the discipline of punctuation Technical writing is nothing if it’s not about discipline, precision and consistency. That’s how tech writers impose order on disorder. One of the most basic we impose that order on an otherwise unruly collection of information is the application of stringent punctuation rules. When…
Read More2 File-Naming Tips for Higher Productivity
Every technical writer at some point in his or her career faces this problem until a solution is found: too many files thrown together in a folder, without any easy way to tell which is what. Here are some of my own file naming tips that have helped me a lot over the years. File…
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7 Tips to Write Effective Technical Magazine Articles
Introduction Writing effective technical magazine articles could be great to heighten your visibility as a technical writer. There are many respectable industry magazines and journals like STC’s INTERCOM where you can try to publish your articles both to share your valuable knowledge with the vast technical writing community out there and to market your services…
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