Grammar

Developing a Departmental Style Guide

By debrayThu, 04/15/2010 - 11:48

by Jean Hollis Weber

As a technical writer, you may be asked to develop a style guide for the hardcopy and online documents you produce. Sounds easy enough. After all, commercial style guides and, potentially, examples shared by your colleagues should provide enough information to get you started. In researching your task, though, you may find a variety of definitions and explanations of what a style guide is and why companies use them. What's more, you many find that style guides don't seem to have consistencies among them that can help guide you in developing one.

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The Bold Approach: How Reporting the Facts Can Invigorate Your Writing

By debrayThu, 04/15/2010 - 11:32

by Herman Holtz

Some people in the flying business are fond of reminding people that there are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots. That sounds as though it ought to be true enough in flying, where boldness often winds up in morning headlines, but in the writing biz, many of us can probably do with a bit more boldness. There is an enormous amount of competition for the attention of your intended reader. A bit of boldness in attracting and holding our intended readers' attention can only help, but far too many writers tend to play it safe--or what they think is playing it safe--by writing plain vanilla prose and being as general and vague as possible.

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Escape from the Grammar Trap

By debrayThu, 04/15/2010 - 11:13

by Jean Hollis Weber

Too many editors focus on the details and don't pay enough attention to the bigger picture. Editors can--and should--add even more value through substantive, technical, and usability editing. Copyediting is important, but the details are only part of what an editor can and should be reviewing. After all, a document can be correctly spelled and punctuated, grammatically correct, use only approved terminology, and follow the style guide perfectly--and still not serve the audience's needs.

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