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Are You "Military"? Then you should give Technical Writing a try…

By Ugur Akinci | April 9, 2010

I was listening to my car radio this morning and I heard an Iraq War veteran volunteering because he could not find a job. Volunteering is a great community service. I think everyone should try it at least once in their lives. I, for example, used to be a “Meals on Wheels” volunteer and learned…

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Reusable Components in Structured Authoring

By Ugur Akinci | April 6, 2010

© Ugur Akinci It is useful to take an inventory of all the reusable components (text strings) in your technical documents as a prelude to structured authoring. Whether you use DocBook, DITA, or some other XML-based system, identifying the reusable components in your documents is an important prerequisite before you make the switch to XML-based…

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English – Eliminate Phrases that Start With "in" from your Technical Documents

By Ugur Akinci | April 4, 2010

© 2010 Ugur Akinci There are a number of filler phrases in English that start with “in.” You can improve the readability of your technical documents by eliminating such phrases and using much shorter equivalents. For example: ORIGINAL: “Switch to another frequency IN CASE the reception is weak.” BETTER: “Switch to another frequency if the…

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English – How to Use "Can" and "May" Correctly in your Technical Documents

By Ugur Akinci | April 3, 2010

© 2010 Ugur Akinci It’s easy to remember the correct way of using “can” and “may” in your technical documents: CAN expresses the ABILITY to do something. MAY has to do with the PERMISSION to do it or the POSSIBILITY of something happening. For example: ORIGINAL: “The circuitboard can overheat.” [Of course; just like ANYTHING…

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