The textbook has been updated as of 2019. Please see Open Technical Communication for the latest version.



Sexy technical writing…we’ve got to be kidding, right? But no, we aren’t. Good technical writing is powerful and clear and gets the job done. It brings people together and solves problems. Good technical writing purrs and hums like that BMW you plan to be driving someday. What’s not sexy about that? On the other hand, poor technical writing skills may lead to a lifetime of asking people if they want fries with that…or worse, selling vacuum cleaners door to door. There’s no need to ask what’s not sexy about that!

WE – your textbook authors – are a team of dedicated writers, tech writing teachers, designers, artists and professionals who are absolutely passionate about technical writing. That’s why we decided to create a text for you that we all loved, a text that would be free and always available to you. Now, that’s sexy.

We hope you love what we have done as much as we have loved doing it…and notice…we haven’t even asked for a donation!

Our Team

Dr. Tamara Powell, Director, Kennesaw State University College of Humanities and Social Sciences Office of Distance Education and Associate Professor of English, Kennesaw State University, tpowel25@kennesaw.edu

Dr. Jonathan Arnett, Assistant Professor of English, English Department, Kennesaw State University -- Kennesaw Campus, earnett@kennesaw.edu

Dr. Monique Logan, Lecturer, Digital Writing and Media Arts Department, Kennesaw State University -- Marietta Campus, mlogan15@kennesaw.edu

Dr. Cassandra Race, Lecturer, Digital Writing and Media Arts Department, Kennesaw state University -- Marietta Campus, crace@kennesaw.edu

Ms. Tiffani Reardon, Instructional Designer, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Kennesaw State University, treardo2@kennesaw.edu

Mr. Lance Linimon, Closed Captioner, linimon@me.com

Mx. James Monroe, Student Worker, College of Humanities and Social Sciences Office of Distance Education, Kennesaw State University, krm0540@students.kennesaw.edu

Ms. Megan MacDonald, Manager/Supervisor, Department of History and Philosophy and Intern, College of Humanities and Social Sciences Office of Distance Education, Kennesaw State University, mmacdon3@kennesaw.edu

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Chapters from 2016

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1. Introduction: The Nature of Sexy Technical Writing, Cassandra Race

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2. Business Correspondence and Resumes, David McMurray

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3. Types of Technical Documents, David McMurray

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4. Business Plans, David McMurray

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5. Proposals, David McMurray and Jonathan Arnett

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6. Progress Reports, David McMurray

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7. Writing Instructions, David McMurray and Jonathan Arnett

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8. User Guides, David McMurray and Jonathan Arnett

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9. Standard Operating Policies and Procedures, David McMurray

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10. Recommendation and Feasibility Reports, David McMurray and Jonathan Arnett

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11. Handbook Basics, David McMurray

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12. Titles, Abstracts, Introductions, Conclusions, David McMurray

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13. Oral Presentations, David McMurray and Cassandra Race

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14.Ethics in Technical Communication, Tamara Powell

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15. Report Design, David McMurray and Jonathan Arnett

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16. Book Design Overview, David McMurray

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17. Common Page Design, David McMurray and Jonathan Arnett

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18. Headings, David McMurray and Cassandra Race

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19. Bulleted and Numbered Lists, David McMurray

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20. Special Notices, David McMurray and Tamara Powell

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21. Tables, Charts, Graphs, David McMurray and Tamara Powell

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22. Graphics, David McMurray

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23. Help Desk: Creating an Index, Cassandra Race

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24. Writing Process: From Audience to Rough Draft, David McMurray

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25. Audience Analysis, David McMurray

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26. Task Analysis and Task-oriented Documentation, David McMurray and Tamara Powell

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27. Articulating Technical Information, David McMurray, Jonathan Arnett, and Tamara Powell

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28. Power-revision Techniques, David McMurray and Jonathan Arnett

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29. Searching Libraries, Documenting Borrowed Information, and Cross-referencing, David McMurray and Cassandra Race

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30. Basic Patterns and Elements of the Sentence, David McMurray

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31. Common Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation Problems, David McMurray

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32. Common Spelling Problems, David McMurray and Tiffani Reardon

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33. Strategies for Peer-reviewing and Team-writing, David McMurray

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34. Information Structures, David McMurray

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35. Logic: Common Fallacies, Steve Miller and Cherie Miller

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36. Logic: How to Do it Wrong, Steve Miller and Cherie Miller

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37. Logic: Recognizing Fallacies, Steve Miller and Cherie Miller

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38. Usability Testing, Cassandra Race

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39. Collaborative Writing, Monique Logan

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40. Technical Editing, Jonathan Arnett

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41. Introduction to HTML, Tiffani Reardon

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43. Examples, Cases, and Models Index

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42. Standard Operating Policies and Procedures, David McMurray and Tamara Powell

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Sexy Technical Communication, Tamara Powell, Jonathan Arnett, Monique Logan, et al.