Posts Tagged ‘grammar’

How to Succeed as a Technical Writer

August 24, 2008 - 6:03 pm

If you have great passion for words and have a degree or diploma in any technology field, then your chances of success is beyond your wildest imaginations. You can be part of that clan of writers out there, who make anything from a thousand dollars to several thousands every month from writing technical articles online for freelance websites, building their brands and getting noticed.

It’s a really wonderful field of writing. And, with the advent of Internet and web publication technologies, the traditional text publication platform has tasted a whole revolution. Today, as an author you are free to publish anywhere at your own will. All you need is some talent in writing, which most of us inherently have.

However, in order to succeed, the most important thing is your brand. You may be a great writer offline, you may know it yourself, and possibly, your nearest friends may know of this fact as well. But the world doesn’t, your prospective client doesn’t. In such a scenario, come the freelance websites. These websites give you a platform to show off your merit and get sales for the content you make.

Examples of the best freelance websites are Guru.com, Elance.com, getafreelancer.com, and so many others. You may just do a search from Google and you will stumble upon a million of them.

What you need to succeed?

One and the most important thing you need for success in freelancing industry is a flawless language and an extensive vocabulary. This will come about as a result of a lot of reading. But do not read any ordinary web publication. You should strive hard to find out the best publications to read. Those, which can enrich your mind, give you some thoughts, and give you new words and ideas. There are not too many of them. And I assure you, top bloggers may not get one sentence correct!

So, look out for authentic sources to read or those sites or blogs, which help you in writing. There are many.

Secondly, you should have quality content in your writing. Writing anything would not make you successful. The quality comes inherently. Naturally. All you have to do is understand what you are writing about and do an in depth research on the topic. Find out the important information on the technology you are going to write about:

It’s advantages and disadvantages

It’s issues and glitches

It’s benefit on the ordinary people

The ways people may use to tweak it to their advantage

The ways to use the tool productively

Any issue with particular groups of people: like children, adults, senior citizens, etc.

Any future improvements

The general statistics of the service provider and the service itself

In any writing about technologies hitting the market and those already in, these points are very important.

To do the research, you can use tools like Google. Do an in depth search for all the terms associated with the technology and find out everything available related to it. Once you get enough information, should read through it. Reading will generate more ideas in you, and will strengthen your points. Start your writing only after you read your research content.

Topic to find

You can find out the topic of writing by various means. The best way is by looking at the current technology news from Fox News, CNN, New York Times, Reuters, BBC World, etc. Such news channels and their websites provide you with the latest happenings in the technology field. What you have to do is read through a specific interesting post and find out the proper keywords. Then do an in depth research on these keywords with Google and Wikipedia. You can get a number of research pages to concentrate your writing on. And such content-rich articles are what the people want, and what hit high in search results. So, they will be purchased for any price you set on them.

All the best to all those who wish to get successful technical writing careers.

How To Write Better Instruction Manuals

July 2, 2008 - 8:44 pm

If you know how to do something — and can do it well, almost without thinking — it makes sense that you’d want to share this information. What better way to do it than with an instruction manual. Writing an instruction manual may seem complicated and overwhelming, but it is easier than you think. The following tips will instruct you what to do and how to do it.

OUTLINE YOUR TOPIC

Before you can teach someone how to do something successfully, you need to conceptualize which aspects of the project they need to know. If your topic is complicated, such as how to play the piano, list each chapter and outline the points you need to make. If it’s simpler, such as the task of changing a tire, briefly jot down all the steps that come to mind. Don’t worry about the details or if you list the steps out of order; we will fix these things later.

START WITH THE SUPPLIES

The most logical way to start an instruction manual is to list the supplies the reader will need for the project. Be as exhaustive with this as possible; your students will thank you. If any of the supplies are expensive or difficult to find, list alternatives or stores that carry the item.

MOVE STEP BY STEP

Instead of explaining the task in long paragraphs, break your instruction manual into specific, detailed steps. Give as much direction as possible; if one step requires slightly different tasks, create sub-steps. Think of these as an outline; number or letter the steps accordingly (and logically).

DO THE PROJECT

If your instruction manual details a tangible project, then complete it using only your written guide. Don’t improvise and don’t go on your prior knowledge. If it’s difficult for you to do this (subjectivity is sometimes next to impossible to ignore), ask a friend to use your manual to complete the project. Look carefully at the finished product; did it turn out as you’d envisioned? Did you miss something important? Continue to revise and describe until your written words encompass every step in the most detailed and effective way possible.

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Writing an instruction manual is different from writing literary fiction; creative wordiness isn’t important here — it’s clarity you’re after. Use short sentences and simple words. Make sure your manual is clear and readable; if the reader can’t understand what you’re saying, they won’t be able to complete your project.

How To Write A Better Resume

May 8, 2008 - 9:26 am

Which word is more scarier to you? If someone yelled “fire!” or if someone whispered, “resume”? To most people, hearing the word “resume” induces panic attacks and beads of sweat across the forehead.

Writing a resume is hard work. You must write your resume correctly; it must be perfect! Any blunders in your resume could cost you the job. The entire resume-writing process can be confusing. We’ve all asked ourselves these questions: “Which information goes in?” “Which stays out?” “How exactly should I format my resume?”

If you jumped into a pile of books and articles on how to write the perfect resume, you’d drown in words, sentences and advice that all sound the same. So what in the world will make your resume leap out of the pile and scream out, “Grab me! I am the person you want to hire!”

Writing a resume is an art and a science. We need to know a successful formula of words, sentences and phrases to convey our selling points. The following tips are shortcuts to write a stellar resume for whatever sort of job you desire.

FORMAT WITH CAUTION

Your professional history will strongly dictate your resume format. We must choose one of three basic resume types: chronological, functional or combination.

THE CHRONOLOGICAL RESUME - This is the most common type of resume, the one that comes to mind when the word is mentioned. A chronological resume is appropriate if you’ve had steady work experience with little to no breaks, have kept each of your jobs for long periods of time, or have industry-related experience that shows your working toward a specific goal. The Chronological Resume is comprised of:

Objective (which we’ll discuss in a few paragraphs)

Employment history (starting from your most recent job)

Education

Optional section (for things such as military experience or any special skills/interests

that may pertain to the job at hand)

References

THE FUNCTIONAL RESUME - A variation of the chronological resume, a functional resume intends to highlight skills found outside of work experience; it’s useful if you’re in the process of changing careers, have little to no work experience or have held several, seemingly unrelated jobs. This sort of resume is comprised of:

Qualifications summary (a bulleted list of achievements or interests that qualify you

for the job for which you’re applying).

Employment history

Education

Optional section

References

THE COMBINATION RESUME - A combination resume is what it sounds like: a combination of the chronological and functional formats. It tends to be slightly more useful than the functional resume, as that format sometimes makes an employer suspicious that you’re hiding something (such as a lack of experience). The combination resume is comprised of:

Qualifications summary

Education (especially if it’s a particularly strong area for you)

Employment history (in reverse order as the chronological resume)

Optional section

References

RETHINK YOUR OBJECTIVE

Many books and articles extol the virtues of an objective; it is, after all, a great way to position yourself within a job and show an employer what you want and how willing you are to get it. A lot of job-seekers have been ditching the objective in favor of a qualifications summary, and employers seem to be responding well. The reason for this is simple: objectives are, by nature, focused heavily on you and not the employer. Your potential employer, while certainly interested in what you want, is far more concerned with your qualifications and what you can do for the company.

The idea isn’t all bad, though. It just needs a little tweaking. Instead of an objective, try creating a positioning statement.; it functions on the same way as an objective but puts the focus on you. Take a look at these examples:

Objective: To become an associate editor of children’s books at a major publishing house.

Positioning Statement: Children’s book editor with 10 years of experience in publishing.

These are loose examples, of course, but you get the idea; put the focus on you and the employer will take notice.

THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAIL

Be specific about what exactly you’ve done. Your former job responsibilities and achievements are excellent selling points in your resume. Avoid being vague, unless you want your resume to read like everyone else’s. Think about your previous jobs: what exactly did you do and how does that qualify you for a new position? For instance, don’t write that you “assisted the senior editor with a number of editorial duties.” Instead, write “contributed to editorial copy and content editing, cover design and overall concept of several major projects.” Detailing your specific job duties and accomplishments show the employer what you’re capable of and what he or she can expect from you as an employee.

SHOW THEM WHAT YOU CAN DO

It’s tempting to outline your responsibilities to save some space and not appear overly conceited, but remember — you’re here to sell to yourself. You have one shot to make an impression. Chances are good that the employer will already know a bit about the duties of your last job (especially if it’s linked to this job), so they need to read about what you’ve accomplished as opposed to what you did. Anyone could go through the motions of a nine-to-five day, but what did you actually achieve? What were the results of your work? Don’t be modest with this; if a book you edited hit the best-seller list, then by all means, let the employer know. Never withhold important information about your achievements.

WORD IT WELL

The words you use in your resume are just as important as the results you’ve achieved or the jobs you’ve held. Make sure you use lively, engaging words and always avoid the passive voice; it reads in a boring, trite manner. Always write in active voice so you sound more formal and direct. Stay concise — are you using more words that necessary? Would a great action verb effectively replace a whole sentence? Are there any obvious clich

How To Write A Better Thesis

April 24, 2008 - 10:29 am

The idea of writing a thesis is terrifying for many people. Not only is it quite possibly the longest paper of your college career, it’s also the most important. A good thesis will essentially sum up the skills and knowledge you’ve acquired as a student and show readers that you’re truly ready to enter your chosen field (or, perhaps, that you already have). It’s an overwhelming task, to be sure, one that almost always needs a guiding light. The following tips will help you understand the process of thesis writing before you begin work on your masterpiece.

START EARLY

This is perhaps the most crucial element. Starting early (at least eight months to a year in advance of your presentation) enables you to try possible topic ideas and dig deep with your research. Come up with several research possibilities, and get your hands dirty immediately; sift through research related to these ideas, read as much as possible, see what’s out there. In the course of this preliminary research, you may stumble upon an interesting fact or concept that you’d like to make the focus of your entire thesis, even it’s a departure from your original plan. Starting early allows you to do that.

WRITE OUT OF ORDER

Though you’ll most certainly be expected to present your thesis in a pre-determined order, there’s no law stating that you write in that same order. Start with what most interests you or with an area for which you’ve nailed down sufficient research. Write paragraph by paragraph; you can always go back and delete or change things if they don’t fit later. But do make sure that you’re always writing a little something. Even if it eventually gets trashed, you need to establish this sort of writing habit to stay productive and truly capture your voice.

UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE

Unlike other student papers, the readership of your thesis is typically far greater than one professor. In addition to at least three professors, your thesis might also be scrutinized for possible publication, so you need to consider that audience as well. Most people reading your thesis will somehow be involved in your field, so write with the understanding that they know many of the things you do. That being said, don’t expect them to know everything. If a piece of information isn’t extremely common knowledge, make sure to include its back story. And even it is common knowledge, think for a minute about how its exclusion might affect your thesis. If your story is contingent on this piece of information, include it no matter what.

USE YOUR RESEARCH

Probably the most common problem with the early stages of thesis writing is the inability to support your claims. You need to back up every idea, result or claim in a thesis with data that logically supports it; it isn’t enough to base a hypothesis on a simple hunch. If you’re having difficulty finding data to support a point in your thesis, consider deleting it; not being able to support an idea might mean the idea isn’t presently valid.

EDIT THE COPY AND CONTENT

Be prepared: you’ll probably spend almost as much time editing your thesis as you did writing it. Consider the content first: is your argument logical? Does each section make sense in relation to those before and after it? Is each bit of information relevant and backed up with supporting data? Are there repetitions? Does the style adhere with the audience? Then, move on to the copy: are there misspellings or punctuation and grammar mistakes? Run-on sentences? Are all your pronouns and antecedents crystal clear? Are the acronyms explained? Strive to make everything completely and perfectly understandable. Use a grammar program like WhiteSmokeSoftware (.WhiteSmokeSoftware.com) or StyleWriter (.StyleWriter-USA.com) to rid your paper of embarrassing writing errors.