Technical Writing
How to Tolerate Ambiguity in Technical Writing and Keep Anxiety Under Control
© Ugur Akinci Technical communicators need to have a healthy capacity to tolerate ambiguity; not permanently throughout a project, but during certain phases of it. William Goldman, the award-winning screenplay writer and filmmaker, is famous for describing Hollywood as a place where “nobody knows anything.” And he meant it. The situation is not that bad…
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How to Prevent Compounding Editing Errors While Copy Editing a Long Technical Document
Introduction Editing errors are an important issue in all types of writing. There are some tips and techniques in technical communication that do not make much sense unless you’ve been a technical writer for a long time and you’ve seen the same issues arising over and over again. One such technical writing issue is the…
Read MoreHow to Switch Templates for a MS Word 2007 or Word 2010 Technical Document
© 2011 Ugur Akinci When you create a technical document with MS Word 2007 or 2010 the application uses its default Normal template. But you do not need to use the Normal template all the time. You can switch to any template you like. Here is what the top three-level Word headings created with the…
Read More"Manual Writer," "Technical Writer" or "Technical Communicator" — What’s in a title?
A reader asked the other day if it’s okay for his customer to address him as a “manual writer.” “Is this really a big deal?” he asked. My short answer is — yes, it is a big deal and of course it matters, for more reasons than one. First off, “manual writer” is not correct…
Read MoreLIZ POHLAND, Editor, STC and INTERCOM — Technical Communication Interview
In the days ahead we’re planning to bring you detailed interviews with the prominent figures in Technical Communication both to acknowledge and honor their good work and to inform ourselves about the current state of affairs in our dynamic field. Here is our first interview with Liz Pohland, the Editor of STC and its flagship…
Read MoreHow to Write About Internet Connectivity — An Introduction
Telecommunications and internet connectivity are hot items not only for the consumers but for writers as well. Those writers specializing in these topics have countless magazines and web sites to which they can sell their articles. But first things first… If you’re a technical communication professional who’d like to write articles and reviews about Internet…
Read MoreHow to Slide Sideways into Technical Writing
© Ugur Akinci “Ugur, I know technical writing is a good niche, it pays well, and I want to do it. But how and where do I begin? I have not done it before and any time I apply for a technical writing position they ask me to show what I did earlier…” is a…
Read MoreShould You Always Write to Communicate? How About Good'Old "Talking"?
© Ugur Akinci OK, I admit the irony upfront: this is a written argument about talking 🙂 But given my daily workload, I unfortunately still don’t have the time to create well-produced videos. So writing is still the quickest way for me to put an idea across. Yet, this is an important issue that also explains…
Read MoreIndoition Honors TCC as a "Top 50 Blog" in Technical Communications
Recognition is always nice. We all do what we do because we’re fascinated with the topic. We love it. Chances are we’d continue doing it even if nobody was aware of it. But still… we’re all human. And a little recognition does not hurt either 🙂 We are happy and proud to share with you…
Read MoreHow to Map Out a Process for a Successful Technical Communication Department
© Ugur Akinci How do you run a technical communication department? How do you make sure your team works on a documentation project as it’s supposed to and pulls the oars in the same direction effectively? One way to do this is to draw (mentally or literally) a Process Map. Here is one offered by Chris…
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