Communication Courses
As a technical writer, I like helping colleagues improve their writing skills.
Sometimes a one-hour workshop with a writer can be an eye-opener for colleagues with engineering or computer science backgrounds.
by Maria Sivenkova
Writing Tips That Work No Matter What
Avoid clusters of nouns longer than three words
to communicate your technical content more effectively
They are difficult to process for the reader and to rewrite for the writer. Yet many authors love such clusters for the possibility to include as much technical detail as possible in one phrase.
"We describe an A, B system" is OK.
"We describe an A, B, C system" is usually too long, especially if you replace "A", "B", and "C" with some complex acronyms and abbreviations. It's a readability killer.
Avoid nominalizations
Languages like German or Russian favor them. In English they mostly sound dull and inactive.
"Visualize" is usually much better than "visualization".
Avoid gerunds and participles
if you write for non-native speakers of English
Instead of "installing", "logging", and "connecting" we can always use "install", "log", and "connect". Simple verb tenses are always better. It's a real readability booster.
Use active voice
80-90% of your sentences should be in the active voice. Passive voice usually significantly worsens readability.
Layout
less is more
Turn everything you can into bulleted lists and use brackets less often. Readers love whitespace on a page that contains writing.
Here is an example from Philip Tory's wonderful book Professional Technical Writing Course:
"With the cover removed, tighted the screw using a hexagonal key while holding the nut with a spanner before replacing the cover."
- Remove the cover.
- Use a spanner to hold the nut, and tighten the screw with a hexagonal key.
- Refit the cover.