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By popular request. (Okay, so it's not popular and the request was actually for
something else, but bear with me, folks. The last couple of months have been
difficult.)
--- "Eric J. Ray" <ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com> wrote:
>
> So, how _does_ one teach students (or new tech writers)
> how do be resourceful? Or how does one find resourceful
> writers to hire? Or distinguish between resourceful
> or non-resourceful writers?
Eric, I think this is both a good question and a hard one to answer. I remember
teaching basic composition at the college level 15 years ago. We spent a lot of
time with students trying to get them to develop their theses in their 3-5 page
papers. One of my collegues became known as the "Why?" lady, because she would
constantly ask that question on student drafts as a way to point them toward
developing a paragraph more.
Beyond a facility with words and an ability to coexist with technology, I think
a Technical Writer needs to be able to ask questions. How does this work? Why
did you do it this way? Where does that go? How often should you do this? (And
so on).
Ask questions. Be an idiot. "I don't know. Explain it to me." Listen to the
explanation. Try things out. Make mistakes. Try again.
I dunno. Does that teach resourcefulness? I do know that a writer who asks
questions and digs for answers is usually a good writer.
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