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
Chapters from 2016
1. Introduction: The Nature of Sexy Technical Writing, Cassandra Race
2. Business Correspondence and Resumes, David McMurray
3. Types of Technical Documents, David McMurray
4. Business Plans, David McMurray
5. Proposals, David McMurray and Jonathan Arnett
6. Progress Reports, David McMurray
7. Writing Instructions, David McMurray and Jonathan Arnett
8. User Guides, David McMurray and Jonathan Arnett
9. Standard Operating Policies and Procedures, David McMurray
10. Recommendation and Feasibility Reports, David McMurray and Jonathan Arnett
11. Handbook Basics, David McMurray
12. Titles, Abstracts, Introductions, Conclusions, David McMurray
13. Oral Presentations, David McMurray and Cassandra Race
14.Ethics in Technical Communication, Tamara Powell
15. Report Design, David McMurray and Jonathan Arnett
16. Book Design Overview, David McMurray
17. Common Page Design, David McMurray and Jonathan Arnett
18. Headings, David McMurray and Cassandra Race
19. Bulleted and Numbered Lists, David McMurray
20. Special Notices, David McMurray and Tamara Powell
21. Tables, Charts, Graphs, David McMurray and Tamara Powell
22. Graphics, David McMurray
23. Help Desk: Creating an Index, Cassandra Race
24. Writing Process: From Audience to Rough Draft, David McMurray
25. Audience Analysis, David McMurray
26. Task Analysis and Task-oriented Documentation, David McMurray and Tamara Powell
27. Articulating Technical Information, David McMurray, Jonathan Arnett, and Tamara Powell
28. Power-revision Techniques, David McMurray and Jonathan Arnett
29. Searching Libraries, Documenting Borrowed Information, and Cross-referencing, David McMurray and Cassandra Race
30. Basic Patterns and Elements of the Sentence, David McMurray
31. Common Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation Problems, David McMurray
32. Common Spelling Problems, David McMurray and Tiffani Reardon
33. Strategies for Peer-reviewing and Team-writing, David McMurray
34. Information Structures, David McMurray
35. Logic: Common Fallacies, Steve Miller and Cherie Miller
36. Logic: How to Do it Wrong, Steve Miller and Cherie Miller
37. Logic: Recognizing Fallacies, Steve Miller and Cherie Miller
38. Usability Testing, Cassandra Race
39. Collaborative Writing, Monique Logan
40. Technical Editing, Jonathan Arnett
41. Introduction to HTML, Tiffani Reardon
43. Examples, Cases, and Models Index
42. Standard Operating Policies and Procedures, David McMurray and Tamara Powell
Sexy Technical Communication, Tamara Powell, Jonathan Arnett, Monique Logan, et al.