Guide to technical writing
nirav May 16th, 2007
Writing is one of my passions. I actually started as the founder editor of India’s first ezine - MagNet (which we later converted to a software company!) Most of the people write really bad emails, let alone technical documentation, articles or reports. It’s not just the English usage, it’s not just the punctuation but it’s much more.
I was talking to someone about technical writing. Wanted to suggest some resources so that he can polish his writing style and be ready for bigger assignments. A little bit of web surfing opened may doors. If you are interested in writing, planning to write an article, or dream of authoring a book, I strongly recommend going through these resources.
- The Elements of Style by William Strunk is a classic book on composition and plain English.
- Jack Lynch’s Guide to Grammar and Style covers grammatical rules, style and usage. His explanations on usage of some common (and not-so-common) words is fantastic.
- An early piece from AskTog talks about How to Publish a Great User Manual - and is complete with good advice as usual.
- Docsymmerty has lots of resources for technical writers. Including common errors and “Getting a Technical Writing Job, Even If You Have No Experience“.
- Norman Fenton’s “Improving your technical writing” is a superb collection of practical recommendations. You should read it if nothing else!
I guess I too have a lot of reading to do next 
