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Texas ISD School Guide
Texas ISD School Guide







Writing and Public Speaking

3 Rules of Good English in Technical Writing
By:Ugur Akinci

Here are three rules that will help you write technical documents that are much easier to read, understand and remember.

1) Follow the subject of the sentence immediately with the verb.

For example: "The operator [SUBJECT], after consulting with her supervisor, normalized [VERB] the database."

BETTER: "The operator normalized the database after consulting with her supervisor."

2) Chain-link multiple sentences in a paragraph by ending and starting consecutive sentences with the same topic.

For example: "The new Xenon encrypted servers were installed yesterday after a two month delay. The wrong encryption key was the reason why the installation did not go smoothly. The Project Management, in order to prevent the same issue in the future, decided to implement a new encryption key management system."

TOPIC 1: Servers installed. Should be at the END of Sentence 1.
TOPIC 2: Installation not going smoothly. Sentence 2 should START with that.
TOPIC 3: Wrong encryption key. Should be at the END of Sentence 2.
TOPIC 4: A new encryption key management system. Sentence 3 should START with that.
TOPIC 5: Preventing the same issue in the future. Should be at the END of Sentence 3.

BETTER: "After a two month delay, the new Xenon encrypted servers were installed yesterday. The installation did not go smoothly due to wrong encryption key. A new encryption key management system will be implemented by the Project Management to prevent the same issue in the future."

3) Consolidate the group of short sentences written about the same topic.

For example: "When there is too much load, network should be shut down. Only an Admin can shut down the network. 10,000 logins per minute is the upper limit of what the network can carry."

BETTER: "The network, which can carry a maximum load of 10,000 logins a minute, should be shut down by an authorized Admin when that limit is superseded."

If you are interested to read more about technical writing as a career and how it can help you earn a steady living, visit http://www.learntechnicalwriting.com. You might be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find out. Join the thousands who are already helped and inspired by this information provided by a Fortune 500 Senior Technical Writer. Visit today and claim your free report "How Much Do Technical Writers Make?"

Dr. Ugur Akinci is a Fortune 500 Sr. Technical Communicator http://www.technicalcommunicationcenter.com/






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