The Elements of Technical Writing [Paperback]

Gary Blake (Author), Robert W. Bly (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0020130856 | ISBN-13: 978-0020130857 | Publication Date: December 19, 2000 | Edition: 1st

  The essential guide to writing clear, concise proposals, reports, manuals, letters, memos, and other documents in every technical field.   Includes a section with examples and text that address the specialized writing problems of systems analysts and software engineers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Longman; 1st edition (December 19, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0020130856
• ISBN-13: 978-0020130857
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #99,390 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent guide, February 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Elements of Technical Writing (Paperback)

I found this book to be extremely useful. It was easy to read and clearly pointed out the major elements in technical writing. I recommend it to anyone who needs a boost in their writing, but not for someone looking for a thick reference guide. The only reason it gets 4 instead of 5 stars is it didn't have as many examples as I would have liked or any practice problems. Overall, it helped me organize my papers properly, avoid common writing flaws, and get my main points across.

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not necessarily for long term use, January 26, 2001

By 

Douglas A. Nickerson (Cotuit, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Elements of Technical Writing (Paperback)

This book is general in its coverage and doesn't attempt to teach writing. It does teach some mechanics and offer some adivce on how to structure reports and articles.

I found that I read this book once but now don't find it a useful reference. It does contain a number of style guidelines e.g., "representing numbers and math," but many examples are from chemistry and hard sciences; which I found less relevant to me. One chapter discusses what the authors call systems: computers and software.

Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style" provided, in a small space, rules that you might recall for a lifetime. This book is more like a grammar guidebook with a focus on technical material mixed in.

For more examples, you'll need a bigger book on technical writing; and if you want a style guide, you might do well to remember that the basic conventions of English apply to technical writing too. Bly is great writer; unfortunately this is not one of his best books.

35 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some value for the price, November 30, 2005

By 

Acolin "Acolin" (Tampa, FLA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Elements of Technical Writing (Paperback)

In order of size, but not importance, the four books Technical Writers need within easy rolling distance are:

1. Strunk and White's powerful Elements of Style
2. Michael Bremer's interesting and motivating Untechnical Writing - How to Write About Technical Subjects and Products So Anyone Can Understand (Untechnical Press Books for Writers Series)
3. Blake and Bly's Elements of Technical Writing (MacMillan)
4. Microsoft's Manual of Style for Technical Publications

I found a number of items are useful for SDK online Help documentation. Blake and Bly state a number of golden rules for Technical Writers, a few of which are useful:

#3) Numbers should appear in the same form they are familiar to readers
#4) Hyphenate numbers and unit of measure, such as 32-bytes
#5) Use singular when 1: .8-bit
#9) Write out approximations: half a glass of water
#11) Spell out numbers beginning a sentence
Center equations (2+2=4) on the page
#25) Hyphenate words compounded to form an adjective modifier. State-of-the-art technology, for example; the phrase state-of-the-art modifies the meaning of word, technology, following the phrase.

Hyphenate two adjacent nouns if they express a single idea: air-craft.

#29) Avoid dangling participles: verbs ending with "ing," when attached to the wrong subject.

Wrong: Turning over our papers, the exam began.
Correct: Turning over our papers, we began the exam.

Omit internal punctuation in acronyms and abbreviations: R.S.V.P
Acronyms for measurements are in lower case: cm for centimeter.
Avoid symbols for words: " for inch.
"that evaluates to" is a common enough phrase in program code documentation, but it is passive (not past tense).
Use imperative voice: begin sentence with a verb.