From [Link] by Ken Hanson:
Technical writing
- The Mayfield Handbook of Technical and Scientific Writing
highly recommened; complete guide to technical writing from MIT authors, L. C. Perelman, J. Paradis, and E. Barrett; concise explanation of all aspects of technical writing; available in printed form, but perhaps most useful is this free online hypertext version- Handbook of Technical Writing, G. J. Alred, C. T. Brusaw, and W. E. Oliu (St. Martin’s, New York, 2003, seventh edition)
complete guide to technical writing and other forms of professional communication; includes succinct summary of the writing process; entries arranged in alphabetical order; excellent index; helpful supporting material at bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/alredtech/- Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization: A Handbook for Technical Writers and Editors
NASA report that summarizes the rules relevant to technical writing- AIP Style Manual with searchable text
American Institute of Physics provides this helpful guide, which has a lot of useful advice about technical writing in the physical sciences- MIT Guide to Science and Engineering Communication, J. G. Paradis and M. L. Zimmerman (MIT, Cambridge, 2002)
treats all means of technical communication; includes a useful brief handbook of style and usage- An Outline of Scientific Writing: For Researchers With English As a Foreign Language, J. T. Yang (World Scientific, 1995)
especially useful for ESL writers- Prentice-Hall Handbook for Writers, M. G. Kramer et al. (Prentice Hall, 1994)
comprehensive and concise reference
English writing
- Online Writing Lab (OWL)
Purdue University guide to effective writing at college level; grammar and punctuation with exercises; English as a Second Language (ESL)- Bartleby Classic Online Books (http://www.bartleby.com/ )
has a wonderful collection of writers’ aids: the American Heritage Dictionary, Roget’s Thesaurus, quotations, and more:
- Elements of Style, classic handbook, written by William Strunk in 1918
- King’s English, by H. W. Fowler (1908), another well-known writers’ aid
- Politics and the English Language, George Orwell (1946)
essay on basic rules for clear writing- Guide to Grammar and Style
useful online guide to many grammatical rules and aspects of style; J. Lynch (Rutgers)- Elements of Style, W. Strunk Jr. and E. B. White (Allyn & Bacon, 1995)
highly recommended short book giving the basic rules for writing; updated in 1957 by White, it is more complete than the online classic, written by Strunk in 1918- Gregg Reference Manual: A Manual of Style, Grammar, Usage, and Formatting, William A. Sabin (McGraw-Hill, 2004)
very complete and easy to use manual on English grammar and usage- Rules for Writing, Diana Hacker, (Bedford/St. Martins, Boston, 2004, fifth edition)
excellent compact reference book and textbook on writing at the college level; additional material at dianahacker.com/rules- Writing: A College Handbook, J. A. W. Heffernan and J. E. Lincoln (W. W. Norton, 2000)
excellent textbook on writing at the college level- Guide to Technical Editing: Discussion, Dictionary, and Exercises, Anne Eisenberg (Oxford University, New York, 1992)
useful guide to technical editing
Dictionaries and Thesauruses
- American Heritage Dictionary, an excellent dictionary with pronunciation sound clip
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus
usable, gives etymology and pronunciation sound clips- Wordsmyth Dictionary and Thesaurus
very usable, although definitions are brief; identifies parts of speech- Synonym Finder (Rodale, 1986)
a thesaurus in dictionary form; very easy to use
Articles on technical writing
I recommend the following articles on technical writing (reproduced by permission). I provide a list of keywords for each. More recent issues of IEEE Transactions on Professional Commmunication are listed at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?punumber=47.
- “Creative obfuscation,” J. Scott Armstrong, IEEE Trans. on Profess. Comm. PC-25, pp. 30-32 (1982)(pdf, 750 KB): technical writing, communication, communication for knowledge, fog index, clarity, obfuscation, unintelligibilty, journal reviewer
- “Ten Rules for Writing Readably,” Arn Tibbetts, IEEE Trans. Profess. Comm. PC-25, 10-13 (1982)(pdf, 1225 KB): English writing, readability, style, clarity, sentence structure, premise, subordinate clause, parallel structure, surprise
- “How well do you inform?,” Thomas P. Johnson, IEEE Trans. Profess. Comm. PC-25, 5-9 (1982)(pdf, 1608 KB): technical writing, communication, handling details, handling ideas, concrete nouns, active verbs, tests
- “Brainstorming: in search of an idea,” Richard A. Taylor, IEEE Trans. Profess. Comm. PC-25, 38-40 (1982)(pdf, 784 KB): brainstorming, green lighting, synergy, recording ideas, free expression, overcoming lulls, stimulating ideas
- “The use of repetition in technical communication,” Muriel Zimmerman, IEEE Trans. Profess. Comm. PC-25, 9-10 (1983)(pdf, 607 KB): technical writing, communication, clarity, repetition, repeating key points, redundancy
- “How to write with style,” Kurt Vonnegut, IEEE Trans. Profess. Comm. PC-24, 66-67 (1981)(pdf, 605 KB): technical writing, style, simplicity, conciseness, be yourself, say what you mean, value reader
- “To publish or not to publish,” Richard A. Conway, IEEE Trans. Profess. Comm. PC-26, 17-19 (1983)(pdf, 670 KB): technical publication, publish or perish, decision to publish, validation, trade information, patent concern, compensation, legal review
- “Proposal writing: approaching the approach,” Jeffrey M. Seisler, IEEE Trans. Profess. Comm. PC-26, 58-60 (1983)(pdf, 702 KB): proposal writing, approach, rigor, request for proposal, RFP, contractor perspective, purpose, activities, output, anticipated problems, schedule
- “Proposals: write to win,” Clark E. Beck, IEEE Trans. Profess. Comm. PC-26, 56-57 (1983)(pdf, 564 KB): winning proposal, request for proposal, RFP, organization, approach, technical evaluation, descriptive writing
Article on conference organization
- “Planning and organizing an annual conference,” Janet H. Potvin, IEEE Trans. Profess. Comm. PC-26, 123-152 (1983)(pdf, 8061 KB), [first two pages only] : conference planning, registration, organization, schedule, steps, officers, committees, hotel, site, planning decisions, contingencies, post-conference, publication, proceedings
Slides from my course on Technical Writing for Publication
- “Writing for publication,” K. M. Hanson, slides selected from a short course presented at SPIE Medical Imaging Symposium, San Diego, CA, February 13, 2010 (abstract), slides (pdf, 2146 KB, 168 slides)
This page provided by Ken Hanson, kmh@hansonhub.com/
Go to my home page: kmh-lanl.hansonhub.com/
