Training a new writer

[Karen Gloor <karen_gloor -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

Hi All-

Due to downsizing and all that jazz, I've been "given"
a person, part-time, to be on my team as a technical
writer.  Catch is, she has never had any training
whatsoever in the field (though she does at least know
what Word is and does!).  Her background is in the
testing arena.  She knows a lot about the products,
but not how to actually put that knowledge into
legible sentences.

I have worked with people who actually are technical
writers, but I have never taken someone who isn't and
taught them from scratch.  Any ideas on how to do
this?

Currently I have her learning our template by taking
docs that are in our old template and transferring
them to the new one.  I am also having her go through
some Quick Reference Cards I made up that explains how
to use the template, the styles included in the
template, along with the standards used by the group. 


Since we have websites that we maintain, I also have
her in charge of one of the lesser used sites so that
she can learn how to code without being under any
pressure.  

What else can I do?

Thanks-

Karen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karen Gloor
IT Technical Communications Lead
Motorola SPS IT
(480) 634-2176
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



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