Offers suggestions and examples of how to write clear and effective notes, cautions, and warnings. (SR)

Discusses how too much caution can lead authors to simple verbosity or to the overgeneralization of simple concepts. (SR)

Discusses a proposal's executive summary: its purpose, how long it should be, what should be in it, when it should be started, who should write it, and how it should be reviewed. (SR)

Examines the paradigm "the writer is self-contained," which underlies current writing practices in business and education. Discusses how creating a supportive climate for the writing process relates to the paradigm "every writer needs an editor." Discusses the implications of making such a change in business, industry, and education. (SR)

Discusses kinds of jargon found in technical writing, how much jargon is acceptable, and the best way to handle jargon. (SR)

Offers examples of what can happen when writers try to be impressive, and instead are vapid, grandiloquent, opaque, or absurd. (SR)

Makes suggestions for editing technical proposals. Discusses the marketeers, the hierarchy of hype, how to save days, managing story boards, expediting a laborious process, teaching engineers to write, writing incrementally, the art group, and the editing task. Argues that the best proposals come from starting to write early. (SR)

Argues that scientific style manuals provide much sound advice, but also pass along advice at odds with recently published literature regarding how scientists actually conduct research and write up their findings. Presents a revised model for the scientific article based on information in recently published research on communication in science.…

Shares practical information that technical writers can use when writing scripts for video presentations. Discusses the kinds of information needed for script writing, the steps involved in doing so, and the script's role in production and editing. (SR)

Argues that, given the expanding audience of non-native readers of English and the need to translate technical writing, technical writing should be unambiguous and predictable. Explains what syntactic cues are and why technical communicators should use them. Discusses integrating this approach into established documentation processes, and provides…