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Re: Question Marks in Titles?

Subject: Re: Question Marks in Titles?
From: Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2005 17:43:51 -0800


Janice Gelb wrote:


Greetings! My editing group is having a discussion
about the suitability of section titles phrased as
questions in technical documentation. I was wondering
how the Techwr-l group mind felt about this issue. My
personal view is that question titles are possibly
acceptable in tutorials or beginner-level material
but that for more advanced technical material this
type of phrasing should be avoided.

I'm with you as far as using questions in headings for beginners. It seems more friendly, and beginners may be looking for specific answers, so using questions may help them scan.

However, I can't follow the second half of your reasoning. Why do you think that advanced material shouldn't have headings that are questions? The only reason I can imagine is that questions might be too limiting for an advanced audience's scanning.

Thanks,

--
Bruce Byfield
http://members.axion.net/~bbyfield

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