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Subject:RE: Lingua Franca Today From:"Beilby, Margaret" <MBeilby -at- ebuilt -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 17 Jan 2002 13:18:18 -0800
Bruce wrote:
<<Many of these writers, especially if they're just out of academia, think
that
writing well involves adding gingerbread to every possible literary
gable and eaves trough, and it's just not so.>>
After several years of technical writing, I read my Master's thesis again. I
was horrified! The very first paragraph was a single sentence of 65 words
(more or less) and nearly every word (except articles) had more than one
syllable (androcentrism, misogynist [I don't think I can even spell it
anymore], and so forth). However, my committee never said a word and were
thoroughly delighted with the "scholarly tone" of the writing.
A few years after that, I received a newsletter from my Alma Mater that was
written and edited by the head of the Technical/Scientific writing program.
It was almost as bad as my thesis. At that point, I edited the newsletter,
returned it to the professor, and included a note that said, "If this is how
you're teaching your students to write technical documentation, they'll
never get jobs."
It's a real challenge to move from academic writing to technical writing
and, frankly, some people are simply unable to do so. No one will ever make
a movie based on one of my technical documents (can you imagine, "Contract
Tracking Wars" or "Return of the Storage Subsystem"), but at least they're
usable, clear, technically accurate (usually), and make good reading if you
need some sleep.
Margaret Beilby
mbeilby -at- ebuilt -dot- com
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