The Handbook of Technical Writing

by Alred, Gerald J.; Oliu, Walter E.; Brusaw, Charles T.

• ISBN13: 9781319058524
• ISBN10: 1319058523
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781319107345
• Additional ISBN(s): 9781319362201, 9781457675522
• Edition: 12th
• Format: Spiral Bound
• Copyright: 2018-10-05
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's
• More Book Details

Summary

From abstracts to online professional profiles, from blogs and forums to formal reports and manuals, the Handbook of Technical Writing uses smart, accessible language to spotlight and clarify technical writing today. Hundreds of topic entries, 90+ sample documents, at-a-glance checklists, and clear, explicit models, communicate the real-world practices of successful technical writers.

Developed by a legendary author team with decades of combined academic and professional experience, the book’s intuitive, alphabetical organization makes it easy to navigate its extensive coverage of grammar, usage, and style. Plus, updated, in-depth treatment of pressing issues like the job search, audience awareness, source documentation, and social media use on the job resonate both in class and at the office.

With a refreshed, integrated focus on the ways technologies shape writing, the Twelfth Edition of the Handbook is the indispensable reference tool for writing successfully in the workplace.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations
Abstracts
Abstract / Concrete Words
Acceptances/Refusals (for Employment)
Acknowledgments
Acronyms and Initialisms
Adapting to New Technologies
Adjectives
Adjustment Messages
Adverbs
Affectation
Agreement
Allusions
Ambiguity
Antonyms
Ampersands
Apostrophes
Appendixes
Application Cover Letters
Appositives
Articles
Audience
Awkwardness
Biased Language
Bibliographies
Blogs and Forums
Brainstorming
Brainstorming
Bracket
Brochures
Buzzwords
Capitalization
Case
Cause-and-Effect
Chronological
Clarity
Clauses
Clichés
Coherence
Collaborative Writing
Colons
Comma Splice
Commas
Comparison
Comparison
Complaints
Complements
Conciseness
Compound Words
Conclusions
Conjunctions
Connotation / Denotation
Content Management
Context
Contractions
Contractions
Copyrights, Patents, and Trademarks
Correspondence
Cover Messages (or Transmittals)
Dangling Modifiers
Dashes
Dates
Defining Terms
Definition
Description
Description
Direct Address
Division-and-Classification
Document Management
Documenting Sources
Double Negatives
Drawings
Ellipses
E-mail
Emphasis
English as a Second Language
English, Varieties of
Environmental Impact Statements
Ethics in Writing
Euphemisms
Exclamation Marks
Executive Summaries
Expletives
Expletives
Exposition
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Feasibility Reports
Figures of Speech
Flowcharts
Foreign Words in English
Formal Reports
Forms
Forms
Functional Shift
Functional Shift
Garbled Sentences
Gender
General and Specific
Global Communication
Global Graphics
Glossaries
Gobbledygook
Grant Proposals
Grammar
Graphs
Headers and Footers
Headings
Hyphens
Idioms
Indexing
Incident Reports
Infographics
Inquiries and Responses
Instant Messaging and Live Chat
Instructions
Intensifiers
International Correspondence
Interjections
Interviewing for Information
Interviewing for a Job
Introductions
Investigative Reports
Italics
Job Descriptions
Jargon
Job Search
Laboratory Reports
Layout and Design
Letters
Listening
Lists
Literature Reviews
Literature Reviews
Logic Errors
Manuals
Malapropisms
Maps
Mathematical Equations
Mathematical Equations
Meetings
Memos
Methods of Development
Minutes of Meetings
Modifiers
Mixed Constructions
Mood
Narration
Newsletter Articles
Newsletters
Nominalizations
Note-Taking
Nouns
Number (Grammar)
Numbers
Objects
Online Professional Profile
Order-of-Importance
Organization
Organizational Charts
Outlining
Pace
Paragraphs
Parallel Structure
Paraphrasing
Parentheses
Parts of Speech
Periods
Person
Photographs
Persuasion
Phrases
Plagiarism
Plain Language
Point of View
Positive Writing
Possessive Case
Preparation
Prefixes
Prepositions
Presentations
Process Explanation
Progress and Activity Reports
Pronoun Reference
Pronouns
Proofreading
Proposals
Proofreading
Punctuation
Purpose
Question Marks
Questionnaires
Questionnaires
Quotation Marks
Quotations
Reference Letters
Readers
Refusal Letters
Repetition
Reports
Repurposing
Requests for Proposals
Research
Resignation Letters
Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Elements
Résumés
Revision
Rhetorical Questions
Run-on Sentences
Scope
Selecting the Medium
Semicolons
Sentence Construction
Sentence Faults
Sentence Variety
Sequential
Slashes
Social Media
Spatial
Specifications
Spelling
Style
Subordination
Sentence Fragments
Synonyms
Suffixes
Syntax
Tables
Tables of Contents
Technical Writing Style
Telegraphic Style
Tense
Test Reports
Text Messaging
Titles
Thesaurus
Tone
Trade Journal Articles
Transition
Trip Reports
Usability Testing
Usage
Unity
Vague Words
Verbals
Verbs
Visuals
Voice
White Papers
Word Choice
Writing a Draft
Writing for the Web
“You” Viewpoint