About this course
This course helps people in any role, and with any level of writing experience, to improve their technical writing.
- In any role
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Although the course is named "Tech writing for techies", anyone working in the software industry is technical enough. The name is intended to encourage people in technical roles to take it, not to discourage anyone else.
- With any level of writing experience
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There’s a lot of information in the course. Some of it is aimed at people who almost never write (and who hate writing! you’re welcome here too!). Other points are more useful for experienced writers. There should be something for everyone.
- Improve
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This course is not about making you a good writer. Only writing can do that. It’s about making you a better writer.
- Technical writing
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This means writing that explains technical matters, or teaches people to do technical things. It focuses on clarity and ease of reading. But a lot of what’s in this course is useful for any kind of business communication.
Course structure
The course is made up of modules. Each module covers a specific subject.
Each module contains a set of topics, discussions of specific aspects of the module subject. The topics are available as html pages for self-study and as slide decks for teaching purposes. If you’re using the slide decks, the self-study pages can serve as speaker notes.
There are also exercises for some of the topics. These are designed to reinforce the topic. They come with sample answers or hints.
Modules
- The writing process
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A step-by-step methodology for technical writing, from the moment you decide to write something to when it’s ready to send out.
- Editing deep dive
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Looking at the editing step of the writing methodology. How do you fix your first draft? How do you wrestle the text into a better, clearer form?
- Writing in English
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Many people who write in English aren’t very confident about it. What are the commonest mistakes, and how can you fix them? And what to do about those annoying words the, a, an if your native language doesn’t have them?
Links to all course materials
| No. | Module/Topic | Slide link | Page link | Exercise link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
00 |
Course overview |
This page. Hi! |
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00.01 |
Key concepts |
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01 |
The writing process |
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01.01 |
Planning |
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01.02 |
Writing |
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01.03 |
Editing |
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02 |
Editing deep-dive |
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02.01 |
Words |
— |
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02.02 |
Sentences |
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02.03 |
Lists and instructions |
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02.04 |
Paragraphs and tables |
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03 |
Writing in English |
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03.01 |
Common English errors |
— |
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03.02 |
Articles |
— |
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