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Subject:RE: Help wanted for a newbie Technical Writer From:"Carnall, Jane" <Jane -dot- Carnall -at- compaq -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 7 Dec 2000 12:14:37 -0000
Abhay wrote:
>I am a newbie in Technical Writing and also have
>joined the list just now. My company has asked me to
>document a product, which includes creating online
>help for the product.
In no particular order:
Try looking at other online help systems and see what kind of information
they provide, and how that relates to the kind of information *you* need to
provide.
There have been many discussions on this list in the past (check the
archives) on good books for a beginning tech writer: pick a couple of titles
and either ask your company to buy them for you or buy them for yourself.
Even if there are no other technical writers at your firm, there should be
some software manuals lying about somewhere. Or spend some time in the
software manuals section of a bookshop. In any case, take a look at the kind
of information provided, how the manuals are structured, how they are
written, etc.
Learn the product. What's it's purpose, what's it's context, how does it
work? Take notes as you study: what do you need to know first of all? What
order do things need to be done in? What, after gaining a good familiarity
with the product, did you wish you'd known at the start? What kind of tasks
do users need the product to help them perform? Can you provide examples?
What does your company expect from the documentation/online help? (If you
are their first and only technical writer, they may not have a very clear
idea about this, but it is usually worth finding out what ideas they *do*
have.)
Bear in mind that on this list, asking specific questions and making it
clear that you have done a certain amount of research first will tend to get
you better answers than asking open-ended questions without indicating where
you have already looked for answers. (That has also been discussed in the
past. Repeatedly...)
Happy doc'ing!
Jane Carnall
Technical Writer, Compaq, UK
Unless stated otherwise, these opinions are mine, and mine alone.
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