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Eric wrote:
> So, how _does_ one teach students (or new tech writers)
> how do be resourceful?
And Tom wrote:
>Beyond a facility with words and an ability to coexist with technology,
I think a
>Technical Writer needs to be able to ask questions. How does this work?
Why did you
>do it this way? Where does that go? How often should you do this? (And
so on).
>Ask questions. Be an idiot. "I don't know. Explain it to me." Listen to
the explanation. >Try things out. Make mistakes. Try again.
It seems to me that sometimes the problem isn't that people aren't
resourceful, it's that they are afraid to actually ask questions, be an
idiot, not know all the answers (as opposed to pretending in order to
provoke responses from another person). They're afraid to make a first
stab and appear ignorant.
It's hard to come up with an idea and then put it out there and say,
"this is what I think this is supposed to look like," and then take the
criticism. But it is one of those things you have to learn. That's why
when I hand out copies of drafts I sometimes have to say, "I made up
this section." (One has to pick and choose with this tactic though:
sometimes reviewers see it on paper and say "yeah, that's fine," without
thinking about either the words or the completeness of the content. It's
on paper, it must be right, right???)
Somehow, as Iggy said, you have to get people to be willing to
articulate that first idea. I don't know how you teach that.
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