Introduction to Technical Writing for Industry

Learn technical editing, documentation design and formatting from a Personal Writing Coach!

Technical Writing is one of the hot-shot careers today. If you want to make a successful career in technical writing or improve your on-job writing skills, this Course is for you. It is appropriate both for beginners and those with some on-the-job experience. Each student will focus on the areas most applicable to their level of experience, field of work, and future plans for technical writing.

Our Course teaches you technical writing the way it should be done – individually! Once you join, we assign you a personal writing coach with over 20 years technical writing experience, who will tailor the course to meet your specific needs. He will work with you to teach, monitor, evaluate and perfect your skills.

The course emphasizes the basics of writing for particular audiences; achieving a readable, graceful, concise technical writing style; technical editing; and technical documentation design and formatting. In addition to readings and individual assignments, students will interact with each other and the instructor through discussion message boards and optional online chats. Students will also receive a weekly mailing containing the best internet sites to explore on technical writing or related issues.

Learning activities may vary somewhat as students work with their writing coach to focus on particular needs. The course will typically proceed as given in our weekly plan that follows. Throughout the course, students will receive in-depth feedback from the instructor on assignments and may discuss any issues related to technical writing with other students on the discussion boards.

The course may be taken alone or as one of several courses leading to a certification in technical writing.

Outcomes:

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

A. Identify characteristics that separate technical writing from exposition, including style, format, graphics, audience and purpose, and subject matter.

B. Design and produce several simple technical writing documents that reflect awareness of the principles of effective technical writing: conciseness, clarity, consistency, sense of audience and purpose, improved readability, effective grammar and sentence structure.

C. Develop and refine demonstrated editing skills and the ability to collaborate with other writers.

D. Develop a sense of professionalism and craftsmanship in technical writing as manifested in conscientious fulfillment of class assignments.

Week 1 :

Introduction to style in technical writing; defining technical writing style; The importance of audience and purpose; Case Study on the perils of ineffective communication.

Week 2 :

Creating an appropriate style; rhetorical choices and style; Readability in technical writing (clarity, conciseness, consistency).

Week 3 :

Readability continued: effective sentence and paragraph construction; transitions and document design considerations.

Week 4 :

Document design considerations, continued.

Week 5 :

Basics of technical editing; Using MSWord as a revision tool; Spelling checkers and grammar checkers; Strategies for editing. Collaborating and co-operating.

Week 6 :

Ethics and Technical Writing: Kinds of bias; gender neutral language; political savvy; ethics and the technical writing profession.

This course: KSA  233 and those below are found under the Subcategory "Techwriter Certification Courses" in database.

Tech Writing, Certification, RoboHelp, XML KSA233 Introduction to Technical Writing for Industry $ 299 Enroll Explore the rewarding career of a technical communicator in the high-tech industry. KSA233-C Technical Communication, an Introduction for Current Technical Writers, Editors, & Designers $ 325 Enroll Get an overview of the whole field of technical communication. Expand your perspective. For current tech writers, editors, and designers. KSA234 Intermediate Technical Writing $ 299 Enroll Covers instructions, recommendation reports, headings, lists, notices, highlighting, and tables. KSA235 Advanced Technical Writing $ 299 Enroll Plan, write, and design one of the most common business/technical documents--a proposal. KSA250 SD Writers At Work: A Review for Professionals - Part I $ 145 Enroll Covers the most basic aspects of good writing on the job. KSA251 SD Writers At Work: A Review for Professionals - Part II: Punctuation $ 145 Enroll This, the second of four review courses, focuses on punctuation. KSA252 SD Writers At Work: A Review for Professionals - Part III: Achieving Clear, Concise Writing $ 145 Enroll Review helps you develop a clear, concise, and dynamic writing style. KSA254 SD Writers At Work: A Review for Professionals - Part IV: Achieving A Professional Style $ 145 Enroll Develop a readable style and design visually appealing documents. KSA254-E -P* Writers at Work Bundle $ 520 Enroll Enroll in all four of our best selling Writer's at Work Series and earn a Certificate. KSA255 So You Want to be a Technical Writer! $ 210 Enroll A 6-week course will introduce you to technical writing as a career. KSA280 Graphics for Technical Writers $ 265 Enroll Learn how to make "minor" changes in document illustrations or create illustrations for documents. KSA281 Using CorelDRAW - Part 1 $ 265 Enroll Learn CorelDRAW (Part1), the most widely used illustration package on the Windows operating platform. KSA281-B Introduction to CorelDRAW - Part II $ 265 Enroll Continuation of Part I with emphasis on use of the effect functions, page set up, advanced text handling, and technical illustration tools. KSA284-B Introduction to SnagIt [Without Software] $ 65 Enroll This online course teaches you the various tips on the latest version of the SnagIt screen capture program. For Beginners. KSA284-D A Technical Approach on How to Create Desktop Video Captures Using Camtasia® 3.0.1 $ 38 Enroll For Beginners and those who already own Camtasia--Learn to record windows screen movement, voice, sound with Camtasia® - Video capture the easy way! KSA285 Writing User Guides $ 285 Enroll Designed for people who want to focus on writing effective user (how-to) guides. KSA286 SD Mastering RoboHelp Office (Latest Release) $ 16 Enroll Why pay hundreds of dollars for basic/intermediate RoboHelp training? Learn the basics of WinHelp, WebHelp and HTML Help development--plus real world tricks and tips--with this 200-page tutorial manual. KSA287 A Workshop Approach to Mastering RoboHelp Office (Latest Release) $ 325 Enroll Learn from an expert and save hundreds of training dollars. (Optional purchase, full version RoboHelp for only $499, Reg.$999 See Details) KSA288 Systems Requirements Analysis and Design Writing $ 285 Enroll Learn how to effectively write business requirements for systems analysis and design. KSA289 Document Design and Usability $ 299 Enroll Learn how to make your technical documentation usable, user friendly, and to user-specifications. KSA290 So You Want To Be A Medical Writer $ 285 Enroll Skills and knowledge you will need to effectively write medically related materials. KSA293 Ready, Set, XML for Non Programmers $ 295 Enroll XML for writers, editors, managers, and other non-programmers. Learn to read and write documents in XML, the key to new Web content and e-commerce. KSA294 Intermediate XML: Creating a DTD $ 299 Enroll Read and write a Document Type Definition, modeling the structure for all your XML documents. KSA297 Creating Outstanding Online Help: A Self-Directed Study (Software Industry) $ 110 Enroll This course is for you if you have some experience as a Technical Writer (but not much creating online help)and are looking to enhance your skill set. This course demonstrates - through self-directed study - the initial process of creating effective online help by starting with a solid outline. KSA298 Creating Outstanding Online Help: Principles and Practice (Software Industry) $ 145 Enroll If you have little or no experience in creating online help this course is for you. It includes instruction about basic principals and practices and allows the student to create an online help system outline with the assistance of a “side-by-side” editor. NOTE: If you have experience as a Technical Writer - but not much creating online help - and are looking to enhance your skill set, another course offering - Creating Outstanding Online Help: A Self Directed Study - may be more relevant to your needs. KSA299-A FrameMaker I: Getting Your Feet Wet $ 299 Enroll Create simple documents using Adobe FrameMaker. Learn how to apply formats to FrameMaker documents, apply templates, create tables, and work with graphics and anchored frames. You can download the trial version of this software from the Adobe FrameMaker product site. KSA299-B FrameMaker II: Diving In $ 299 Enroll Create books with multiple files; generate and format tables of contents and indexes; use cross-references, footnotes, variables, and conditional text; and convert documents to other formats, such as Adobe PDF and HTML. You can download the trial version of this software from the Adobe FrameMaker product site. KSA900 -P* Certificate in Technical Writing900 $ 799 Enroll Career Advancement--Earn Technical Writing Certification from the premier provider of online training in Technical Communication. KSA901 -P* Certificate in Technical Writing For Current Technical Writers $ 824 Enroll A Certificate Program for current tech writers, editors, and designers. KSA920-A Master’s Specialist Workshop: Technical Writing in the Workplace (Modules 1-3) $ 399 Enroll Study of technical descriptions, processes, instructions, and formal recommendation reports, including revision and editing strategies. KSA920-B Master's Specialist Workshop: Information and Document Design (Modules 4-6) $ 399 Enroll Course work will consider visual rhetoric, including the principles of visual perception and how these principles apply to document design. KSA920-C Master's Specialist Workshop: Technical Documentation Quality Management (Modules 7-9) $ 399 Enroll Study of all phases of documentation project management, focusing on plans and models of publications management.

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