Technical writing : a practical guide for engineers, scientists, and nontechnical professionals / Phillip A. Laplante.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- What Every Engineer Should Know: Series Statement -- References -- New for the Second Edition -- Errors -- References -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter 1: The Nature of Technical Writing -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 Who Writes Technical Documentation? -- 1.3 Taxonomy of Technical Writing -- 1.4 Technical Reporting -- 1.5 Business Communications -- 1.6 Scientific Writing -- 1.6.1 Books -- 1.6.2 Journals -- 1.6.3 Magazines -- 1.6.4 Conference Proceedings -- 1.6.5 Newsletters -- 1.6.6 Websites and Blogs -- 1.6.7 Vignette: Nontechnical Writing -- 1.6.8 Vignette: Technical Writing Sample -- 1.7 Exercises -- Endnotes -- References -- Chapter 2: Technical Writing Basics -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Structuring Your Writing -- 2.3 Positioning Your Writing -- 2.3.1 Know Your Audience -- 2.3.2 Are You Talking to Me? -- 2.4 Choosing the Right Words -- 2.4.1 Conciseness -- 2.4.2 Precision and Hedging -- 2.4.3 Universal and Existential Quantification -- 2.4.4 Negatives -- 2.4.5 Vignette: Brake Retarder Prohibitions5 -- 2.5 Avoiding Traps -- 2.5.1 Clichés -- 2.5.2 Anthropomorphic Writing -- 2.5.3 Malapropisms -- 2.5.4 Erroneous Heterographs -- 2.5.5 Opinion versus Fact -- 2.5.6 Acronyms, Domain-Specific Terms, and Jargon -- 2.5.7 The Laziness of "Very" -- 2.5.8 Other Pitfalls -- 2.6 Making Your Technical Writing More Interesting -- 2.6.1 Humor -- 2.6.2 Vignette:  The Joy of Spam -- 2.6.3 Allegory -- 2.7 The 5 Cs of Technical Writing -- 2.7.1 Qualities of Good Writing -- 2.7.2 Correctness -- 2.7.3 Clarity -- 2.7.4 Completeness -- 2.7.5 Consistency -- 2.7.6 Changeability -- 2.7.7 An Example -- 2.8 Referencing -- 2.8.1 Choose the Right References -- 2.8.2 Web References -- 2.8.3 Reference Styles -- 2.9 Exercises -- Endnotes -- References -- Chapter 3: The Writing Process.

3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 The Traditional Writing Process -- 3.2.1 Brainstorming -- 3.2.2 Drafting -- 3.2.3 Revising -- 3.2.4 Editing -- 3.2.5 Publishing -- 3.2.6 Vignette: A Paper on Software Control on Oil Rigs -- 3.3 Environment -- 3.4 Dealing with Writer's Block -- 3.5 Meeting Deadlines -- 3.6 Writing Tools -- 3.7 Permissions and Plagiarism -- 3.7.1 Permissions -- 3.7.2 Plagiarism -- 3.7.3 Self-Plagiarism -- 3.7.4 Detection Tools -- 3.7.5 Paper Generators -- 3.7.6 Vignette: Determining Authorship-The Federalist Papers -- 3.8 Making Your Writing Understandable to All -- 3.8.1 Hofstede's Metrics -- 3.8.2 British versus American English -- 3.9 Exercises -- Endnotes -- References -- Chapter 4: Scientific Writing -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Technical Reports -- 4.3 Tutorials -- 4.4 Opinion -- 4.5 Research Papers -- 4.5.1 Survey of the Field -- 4.5.2 Based on Survey Data -- 4.5.3 Based on Experimentation -- 4.6 Reviews of Books, Papers, and Reports -- 4.6.1 Reviews -- 4.6.2 Journal and Conference Paper Reviews -- 4.6.3 Book Reviews -- 4.6.4 Blind Reviews -- 4.6.5 Vignette: Scientific Proposal -- 4.7 Exercises -- Endnotes -- References -- Chapter 5: Business Communications -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Résumés -- 5.2.1 Name -- 5.2.2 Contact Information -- 5.2.3 Summary -- 5.2.4 Statement of Objective -- 5.2.5 Experience -- 5.2.6 Education and Training -- 5.2.7 Licenses and Certifications -- 5.2.8 Consulting -- 5.2.9 Hardware and Software -- 5.2.10 Foreign Languages -- 5.2.11 Security Clearance -- 5.2.12 Military and Other Service -- 5.2.13 Awards and Honors -- 5.2.14 Publications -- 5.2.15 Affiliations -- 5.2.16 Interests -- 5.2.17 References -- 5.2.18 Order Matters -- 5.2.19 Things to Avoid on a Résumé -- 5.2.20 Honesty Is the Best Policy -- 5.2.21 Examples -- 5.3 Transmittal Letters -- 5.4 Writing Letters of Reference.

5.4.1 Letter of Reference for a Subordinate -- 5.4.2 Letter of Reference for a Casual Acquaintance -- 5.4.3 Generic Letter of Reference -- 5.4.4 Form-Based Letter of Reference -- 5.5 Memos -- 5.6 Meetings, Agendas, and Minutes -- 5.6.1 Meeting Invitations -- 5.6.2 Agendas -- 5.6.3 Meeting Minutes -- 5.7 Customer Relations Writing -- 5.7.1 Vignette: A Customer Inquiry Letter -- 5.7.2 Vignette: Response to a Customer Inquiry Letter -- 5.8 Press Releases -- 5.9 Presentations -- 5.9.1 Vignette: A Presentation on Cyberpandemics -- 5.10 Marketing and Sales Materials -- 5.11 Exercises -- Endnotes -- References -- Chapter 6: Technical Reporting -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Technical Procedures -- 6.2.1 Vignette: PC Repair Book -- 6.2.2 Vignette: Building an Aquarium -- 6.2.3 Vignette: Operational Instructions for Krav Maga -- 6.2.4 Vignette: Recipe for Fennell Pasta -- 6.3 Proposals -- 6.3.1 Vignette: Grant Proposal -- 6.3.2 Vignette: Proposal for Consulting Services -- 6.4 Panel Sessions -- 6.5 Strategic Plans and Planning -- 6.5.1 Executive Summary -- 6.5.2 The Mission Statement -- 6.5.3 SWOT Analysis -- 6.5.4 Competitive Market Analysis -- 6.5.5 Goals, Objectives, and Strategies -- 6.5.6 Budget -- 6.6 Problem Reports -- 6.7 User Manuals -- 6.7.1 Vignette: Disaster from a User Manual -- 6.8 Exercises -- Endnotes -- References -- Chapter 7: Using Graphical Elements -- 7.1 Breaking up the Monotony -- 7.2 Modeling Ideas with Graphics -- 7.2.1 A Picture Is Worth 1437.4 Words -- 7.2.2 Modeling Behavior -- 7.2.3 The Evolution of an Idea -- 7.3 Selecting the Best Model for a Schedule -- 7.4 Dealing with Figures -- 7.4.1 Callouts, Captioning, and Placement -- 7.4.2 Permissions for Figures -- 7.5 Dealing with Tables -- 7.6 Dealing with Equations -- 7.6.1 Using Microsoft Equation Editor -- 7.6.2 Using MathType -- 7.6.3 Using LaTeX -- 7.6.4 Vignette: Typesetting Books.

7.7 Dealing with Dynamic Content -- 7.7.1 Vignette: The Minard Map -- 7.8 Exercises -- Endnotes -- References -- Chapter 8: Publishing Your Work -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.1.1 What Kinds of Work Can Be Published? -- 8.1.2 Why Publish Your Work? -- 8.2 Making a Living as a Writer -- 8.2.1 Freelance Writing -- 8.2.2 Writing Technical Books -- 8.2.3 Getting Rich Writing Books -- 8.2.4 Why Are Technical Books So Expensive? -- 8.2.5 Vignette: A Writing Failure3 -- 8.3 The Review Process -- 8.3.1 Administrative Rejection -- 8.3.2 Review Flow -- 8.3.3 Review of Books -- 8.4 Handling Rejection -- 8.4.1 Rejection Letters -- 8.4.2 Responding to Rejection Letters -- 8.4.3 Succeeding at Publishing -- 8.4.4 Vignette: Experiences with Reviews -- 8.5 Open Access Publishing -- 8.5.1 The Traditional Publishing Model -- 8.5.2 The Open-Access Publishing Model -- 8.5.3 Vignette: Experience with Open Access Publishing -- 8.6 Self-Publishing -- 8.6.1 Vanity Presses -- 8.6.2 Online Publishing -- 8.6.3 Vignette: Bootleg Books -- 8.7 Exercises -- Endnotes -- References -- Chapter 9: Writing for E-Media -- 9.1 Introduction -- 9.2 E-Mail Can Be Dangerous -- 9.2.1 Rules for E-mails -- 9.2.2 The Signature Line -- 9.2.3 Use of Emoticons -- 9.3 E-Newsletters -- 9.3.1 Vignette: A Newsletter for CIO Institute -- 9.4 Blogging -- 9.5 Social Networks -- 9.6 E-Magazines3 -- 9.7 E-Readers4 -- 9.7.1 Common Features -- 9.7.2 Distribution Model -- 9.8 Online Courses -- 9.8.1 Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) -- 9.8.2 Vignette: Experiences with MOOCs -- 9.9 Exercises -- Endnotes -- References -- Chapter 10: Writing with Collaborators -- 10.1 Introduction -- 10.2 Writing in Different Voices -- 10.2.1 Using Metrics to Detect Nonhomogeneous Writing -- 10.2.2 Dealing with Different Voices -- 10.2.3 Paul Erdős: The Ultimate Coauthor -- 10.3 Very Large Collaborative Writing Projects.

10.3.1 Vignette: Building a Dictionary2 -- 10.3.2 Vignette: Building an Encyclopedia3 -- 10.4 Behavior of Groups4 -- 10.4.1 Tuckman's Model -- 10.4.2 Forming -- 10.4.3 Storming -- 10.4.4 Norming -- 10.4.5 Performing -- 10.4.6 Mourning -- 10.4.7 Vignette: Determining Author Order -- 10.5 Other Paradigms for Team Building5 -- 10.5.1 Group Writing and Improvisational Comedy -- 10.5.2 Team Technical Writing as Scriptwriting -- 10.6 Antipatterns in Organizations8 -- 10.6.1 Divergent Goals -- 10.6.2 Process Clash -- 10.6.3 Vignette: Experiences Co-Writing Books and Papers -- 10.7 Exercises -- Endnotes -- References -- Appendix A -- Appendix B: Templates -- Endnotes -- Glossary -- Index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed August 22, 2018).