Technical Writing for Dummies (Paperback)

by Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts (Author) "Whether you realize it or not, technical documents are part of our everyday lives - both personal and business..." (more)
Key Phrases: The Write Stuff, Types of Technical Documents, The Part of Tens (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Technical writing is one of the fastest-growing occupations in the U.S. today. Yet, many people are uncertain about what technical writing entails -- and how it differs from other types of business writing. Technical Writing For Dummies clears away the confusion and shows you how to research and write terrific technical documentation. It includes:

• How to use the Internet to effectively research technical documents
• A guide to creating different types of technical documents, from abstracts to user manuals
• A how-to guide to crafting technical documents for online and computer presentations

From the Back Cover
"Technical Writing For Dummies is a must-have reference for both the aspiring and seasoned technical writer." — Carol Szatkowski, CEO, Clear Point Consultants, Inc. "This book puts you on a good track for designing and writing documents your readers will really appreciate. It gives many useful tips (even for seasoned writers)." — Greg Bartlett, Director of Documentation of The Mathworks, Inc. and President of Society for Documentation Professionals "Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts does a remarkable job of balancing examples and practical advice as useful to those new to technical writing as it is to pros looking for ideas to apply to upcoming projects." —Tonya Price, former OpenAir.com Director of On-line Marketing and President, Association of Internet Professionals-495 Massachusetts Chapter

Get tips on writing computer- and Web-based training courses

Find out what it takes to produce terrific technical documents Whether you're contemplating a career as a technical writer or you just got tapped for a technical writing project, this friendly guide is your ticket for getting your tech writing skills up to par. Wordsmith Sheryl Lindsell-Roberts shows you step-by-step how to get organized, write clearly, and produce everything from spec sheets to online help systems.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (February 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764553089
• ISBN-13: 978-0764553080
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #201,895 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Strong on content, but a bit weak in presentation., January 16, 2003

By	"words4nerds" (Victoria, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews

As an experienced technical writer already, I bought this book as a general desk reference. It has been a helpful guide when I needed to check something in particular, but I would not use it as a "course textbook" if I was learning the trade.

Generally, the content is excellent - it covers all the basics a novice tech writer needs to know. However, I question the way the content has been organized and presented... it doesn't follow a logical order. There's a section on editing, then a section on brainstorming and figuring out how to start writing, and then later on it swings back to proofreading. Ideally, the information should be presented the same way the writing process generally works: brainstorming, writing the first draft, THEN proofing/editing, and so on.

I also found the short section on "preparing the technical brief" inadequate, considering planning and scoping out requirements is THE most important phase of any documentation project. And for some reason, this information is buried in the "understanding your reader" section, when it should be a separate section all its own (as information about your audience forms only PART of a project plan).

The author has included a few too many personal experiences in this book - understandably she wanted to inject some fun into what could be pretty dry reading material, but her style sometimes comes off as too "cute".

Overall, this book contains a lot of excellent content - the structure and presentation just need to be re-tooled for maximum effectiveness.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative, May 7, 2001

By	Todd Hawley (San Francisco CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

From the Introduction to the Appendixes in the back, the author covers a lot of different and important topics about the business of Technical Writing with this book. Pointing out that all of us deal with various kinds of "manuals" in our everyday lives, the author builds on that as she discusses knowing your audience (including filling out a "technical brief"), creating a document plan and outline (an excellent first step in any document creation), creating your draft, visualizing the document layout, and stressing the idea to keep your documents concise and to the point. I liked that especially, considering how many manuals I've read that were full of "gobbledgook."

There are also sections on various kinds of technical documents, including the famous "user manual," abstracts, specification sheets (with detailed explanations of the different kinds of spec sheets), giving presentations and "white papers." Also informative were chapters on doing online research (and the type of search criteria to use when doing this), computer-based and web-based training, and online help. The book also contains some excellent reference information, such as tips for getting published in a technical journal, writing a grant proposal, punctuation and grammar information (and done in a very concise way), even a short glossary of terms.

Well-written and full of excellent information for any new or "veteran" technical writer.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for the newbie and veteran!, April 27, 2001

By A Customer

I was a little skeptical about this book at first. How can you create a Dummies book on Technical Writing?. After reading the first few chapters, I realized that this book is an excellent reference for the veteran technical writer or the newbie. I've been technical writing for over five years now and I still found things in here that I did not know. Great job to the authors of this book!