Here is a list of essential technical writing books. Are they on your shelves?
- Technical Communication: A Practical Approach (7th Edition) (William Pfeiffer and Kaye Adkins)
- Technical Writing 101: A Real-World Guide to Planning and Writing Technical Content (Alan Pringle)
- Developing Quality Technical Information: A Handbook for Writers and Editors (2nd Edition) (Multiple authors)
- Technical Editing: The Practical Guide For Editors And Writers (Hewlett-Packard Press) (Judith Tarutz)
- Effective onscreen editing: new tools for an old profession (Geoff Hart)
- Conversation and Community: The Social Web for Documentation (Anne Gentle)
- Content Management for Dynamic Web Delivery (JoAnn Hackos)
- Managing Writers: A Real World Guide To Managing Technical Documentation (Richard Hamilton)
- The Chicago Manual of Style
- Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications (Microsoft)
Are there other books that you feel are essential reading for technical writers? If so, please leave a comment and share your suggestion.
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6 comments:
I have all the books, I have the BA in Communication, I've taken seminars, and I have 10+ years of experience--but I still have to deal with people (non writers) who think they know more about documentation that I do. There are no books for that. :-(
So true! If they had a book for that, I'd definitely be the first in line.
Thanks for commenting!
P.S. I checked out your blog. You have some great content! I'll be sure to mention it to my readers.
If you document non-Windows OSes, I'd recommend Read Me First, the Sun Style Guide. It is complementary to MMoS, but one or the other might be better for particular OSes.
Craig, thanks for including Technical Writing 101 in your list.
We released the third edition a few months ago, and it's available as a printed book and as a PDF download. The third edition includes new information about DITA and Web 2.0 technologies.
I wrote an article in the Sept/Oct 2009 issue of Intercom ("Foundation Books: A Lone Writer's Annotated List") on this same topic. http://bit.ly/1ejFMN
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone!
@Alan: I've updated the link so that it points to the 3rd edition. Thanks for the update!
@davkow: Great, thanks very much for sharing the URL for your Intercom article!
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