Technical Writing In The Information Age

Accelerate your career with the power of writing!

What you'll learn
Communicate effectively in a technical workplace
Document descriptions, specifications, instructions etc.
Create user manuals for software applications
Become part of a technical team even if you don't know programming
Requirements
No prior programming experience is required, however a working understanding of the English language will help.
Description
Do you have a passion for technology? Do you have a passion for writing? Well, now you can combine your passions! Introducing the wonderful world of technical writing. Learn how you can become a valued member of any tech team, even if you do not have any prior experience. See how you can contribute towards creating useful documentation, such as user manuals, training material and so much more!The audience for this course is any junior member of a software team that wishes to make a contribution. This is especially useful for people who are not too technical-minded, meaning they have trouble with complex code. They are more suited to quality assurance and documentation activities.Also, an established technical expert can benefit if they are being held back in their career due to poor communication skills. Often times a person may be technically sound but may find it difficult to satisfy management or the business team. With this course, these shortcomings can be addressed.After taking the course, students will be able to communicate effectively in a technical workplace. Be able to work in teams. Document descriptions, specifications, instructions, etc. Be able to give presentations, write for the web. Conduct research and persuade others.

Overview

Section 1: Communication in the workplace

Lecture 1 What is Technical Communication?

Lecture 2 Importance of technical communication

Lecture 3 A process oriented approach to technical communication

Section 2: Working in teams

Lecture 4 First two stages of team development

Lecture 5 The last two stages of team development

Section 3: Managing Ethical Challenges

Lecture 6 What are ethics

Lecture 7 Resolving ethical dilemmas

Lecture 8 Ethics in the technical workplace

Section 4: Technical Descriptions and Specifications

Lecture 9 Planning and researching for your document

Lecture 10 Partitioning your subject

Lecture 11 Organizing and drafting your technical description

Section 5: Instructions and Documentation

Lecture 12 The difference between instructions, specifications and protocols

Lecture 13 Best practices for writing instructions

Section 6: Starting your career as a technical writer

Lecture 14 How to prepare your resume

Lecture 15 How to write effective application letters

Lecture 16 Creating a portfolio of our work

Section 7: How to be creative

Lecture 17 How to organize our thoughts

Lecture 18 Generating new Ideas

Section 8: Making persuasive arguments

Lecture 19 Persuading others with reason

Lecture 20 How to persuade with values

Lecture 21 How to persuade online readers

Section 9: Researching in Technical Workplaces

Lecture 22 How to Understanding concept mapping

Lecture 23 Note Taking

Lecture 24 How to appraise evidence

Section 10: Designing Documents and Interfaces

Lecture 25 Creating well designed documents

Lecture 26 Transcultural Design

Section 11: Preparing and Giving Presentations

Lecture 27 How to choose your presentation style

Lecture 28 How to deliver a presentation

Lecture 29 Rehearsing for a presentation

Section 12: Writing for the web

Lecture 30 How to write for websites

Lecture 31 Creating blogs and microblogs

Lecture 32 Writing articles for wikis

Section 13: How to edit and proofread your writing

Lecture 33 Editing your document

Lecture 34 Why you need copy editing skills

Lecture 35 How to proofread

Section 14: Creating and Using Graphics

Lecture 36 How to display graphics

Lecture 37 How to use graphics

Lecture 38 Guidelines for using graphics

Newbies looking to enter the tech industry but may not have any tech skills.,Veteran programmers who are looking to shift into Quality Assurance or Business Analysis roles.