Technical Writing Two helps technical people improve their technical communication skills.
Target audience
We've aimed this course at people who have completed Technical Writing One and are still hungry for more technical writing training. If you've never taken any technical writing training, we recommend completing Technical Writing One before taking this class.
Learning objectives
This course focuses on several intermediate topics in technical writing. After completing this class, you will know how to do the following:
- Choose among several different tactics to write first drafts and additional tactics for writing second and third drafts.
- Use several techniques to detect mistakes in your own writing.
- Organize large documents.
- Introduce a document's scope and any prerequisites.
- Write clear figure captions.
- Pick the proper information density in technical illustrations.
- Focus the reader's attention in illustrations.
- Establish context through a "big picture" illustration.
- Revise technical illustrations effectively.
- Create useful, accurate, concise, clear, reusable, and well-commented sample code that demonstrates a range of complexity.
- Identify different documentation types.
- Describe just about anything.
- Empathize with a beginner audience and write a tutorial for them.
It takes years of focused practice to become a great engineer or a great technical writer. This course will improve your technical writing but will not instantly transform you into a great technical writer.
Pre-class and in-class components
The course consists of the following two components:
- pre-class
- in-class
You are currently viewing the start of the pre-class component.
The in-class component enhances the lessons taught in the pre-class components. That said, the pre-class lessons on their own still provide a valuable educational experience.
Hardware and network requirements
Although this course is optimized for a laptop or desktop, you may take the course on a tablet or phone. If you are taking the in-class component, please note that you'll type a lot.
You need an internet connection to take the course. You cannot download the course. The course is not available on tangible media.
The course contains a few short videos, all of which are optional viewing. If you want to skip the videos, then you can take the course on a low-bandwidth internet connection.
Next unit: Self-editing