TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Here's a writing exercise to foster discipline, structure, quality and
brevity. Have them write a micro-report. Constrain them to one side of one
sheet of paper. Require specific components to exist. Require the end result
to contain concise, complete, grammatically correct sentences which are also
information-dense.
This suggestion is based on one of my best experiences learning to write. It
was a young-adult lit class, part of the curriculum for a degree in
education. We read a book a week, then wrote structured reviews with
required components. We hand-wrote or typed our reviews on a single side of
an index card. Along with the obvious (title, author), we had to provide a
plot summary and identify the audience the book was especially suited for.
I'm probably leaving out a couple of other requirements, but I imagine you
get the gist--and I'm too lazy to look for those cards.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help.
Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need. Try
Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days. http://www.doctohelp.com
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
