Technical Writing Basics: A Guide to Style and Form, 1/e
Brian R. Holloway, The College of West Virginia
Published July, 1998 by Prentice Hall Career & Technology
Copyright 1999, 212 pp.
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See other books about:
Technical Writing-Tech Writing
Technical Writing-General Engineering
Technical Writing-Business Communications
Technical Communication (Reading, Writing, Oral)-Business Communications
For one-semester freshman sophomore level courses in
Technical Writing. Using a reader-friendly approach that is incremental
and cumulative, this short, uncluttered guide to technical writing
shows students how to take the structures, patterns, and strategies
of writing learned in a Basic Composition course (summary, process,
analysis, and persuasion) and apply them in different kinds of technical
documents. Direct practical explanations, copious real-world examples,
and a variety of role-playing exercises lead students through
the process of document production and assessment or what the
author calls transactional writing: getting another person
to read one's material, presenting such material clearly and accurately,
and adhering to standards of format acceptable in the field. Unlike
most other texts (which focus on the writing needs in the executive
domain of the major corporation only), this guide covers a
variety of non-corporate working environments that also require
skill in technical communications (e.g., social service agencies,
institutions, and small businesses).
Would you like a practical, easytouse guide for
preparing technical documents for both non-corporate and corporate
Contains practical examples showing how technical
writing applies to a variety of job and personal situations.
Offers progressive, yet stand-alone sections, to
allow content to be covered in any order, if desired.
- Provides not only examples, but also the detailed
contexts of their production and function.
- Considers technical documents in the major company,
as well as in nonprofit organizations, small businesses, and agencies
- About half of the figures are derived from business,
technical, and institutional writing in content or format.
Draws upon a variety of perspectives in surveying
holistic challenges within business and technical writing, e.g.:
Features a cumulative and sequential approach:
- The requirements of information writing.
- How the techniques of persuasion operate in writing
in the workplace.
- How information and persuasive writing can be cast
into an appropriate format.
Uses a straightforward, student-friendly writing style
interspersed with humor throughout.
- Begins with the basics of technical writing
proceeding from fundamental components of technical communication,
to templates of presentation, to construction of letters, memos, announcements
- Then helps students put the basics to work in
constructing short and long reports and a job-search portfolio.
Provides copious exercises to illustrate practical
- Exercises and longer assignments respond to and build
from the real world examples in a variety of work environments.
- Assignments build in complexity, chapter by chapter,
as well as within chapters.
- Many of the exercises once completed are then taken
to the next level to challenge students, e.g., assignments begin with
the creation of a work-experience file; move through the creation
of resumes, cover letters, and followup correspondence; and then
require students to prepare an interview presentation using visual
aids, a researched topic, and a persuasive format previously discussed.
2. Organizing Information.
3. Letters, Memos, and Related Forms.
4. Our House to Yours: Using Summaries to Inform.
5. Directions and Instructions: Writing about Process.
6. Using Analysis: Writing a Report.
7. Writing the Formal Report.
8. Selling Yourself.
Appendix: Enhancing Your Document with Graphics.